25 April 2005, 15:28
People come out against abuse
Residents of the Khasaviurt district, Dagestan, have been holding a public meeting for three days to express their discontent with actions of Chechnya's presidential security service under First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov's command in Dagestan.
Meeting members are discontent with the fact that Chechen security service officers can freely cross the administrative border to Dagestan and detain local residents under the pretext of combating terrorism.
Ramzan Kadyrov's recent statement that police officers in Dagestan connived at rebels became one of the grounds for indignation. The situation became even worse as he said the Dagestani police had disrupted a special operation his armed groups were going to carry out in Dagestan on 20 April.
On that day, Chechnya's security services were going to detain a resident of Toturbiikala, Khasaviurt district, when they faced armed resistance on the part of local residents. The clash was set to develop into armed action which was only prevented by more Dagestani police sent to the scene and Dagestan's Minister of Internal Affairs, Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, arriving there.
Government bodies and local media in Dagestan try to avoid discussing the situation not to exacerbate the state of affairs in the border area.
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Author: Timur Aliyev, CK correspondent