HRC "Memorial": law enforcers ignore fates of missing people in Grozny

For six months already, the Chechen law enforcement agencies have been skirting answering questions about the fates of Askhab Yusupov, Ismali Bergoev, and Madina Shakhbieva, detained during the December armed clashes in Grozny. This was reported by the "Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". The human rights defenders fear that equivocal answers "make people think the worst."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 9, journalist Elena Milashina wrote in the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" that at least 27 people were executed in Chechnya at night on January 26. According to the newspaper, those people were detained in connection with the attack on policemen in Grozny on December 17, 2016.

According to an answer from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), a criminal case had been instituted in connection with the attack on law enforcers, "and it involved Askhab Yusupov, born in 1990, and Ismayil Bergaev, born in 1998 (the human rights defenders believe that the latter was Ismali Bergoev, with name and surnames written with mistakes, - note of the "Caucasian Knot")".

"The document does not contain any information to state if they are alive. Besides, it can be seen from the MIA's answer that Madina Shakhbieva is not involved in the case. That fact serves as an indirect confirmation that she had been killed," reports the release of the HRC "Memorial".

On May 24, the human rights defenders sent another request to the Department for Chechnya of Russia Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN). However, the FSIN Department for Chechnya stated that "those inquiries cannot be answered" and referred to the Laws "On Personal Data", "On the Fundamentals of Citizens' Health Protection in the Russian Federation" and Article "Transportation of Prisoners to Prison for Serving a Sentence".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.