The case of Magomed Tsakhigov and Alikhan Ibragimov

The young men are also accused of taking part in the boevik attack on Ingushetia on 21-22 June, 2004. As of this report's release date, their case was being reviewed by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia.

Takhigov and Ibragimov were indicted under Articles 205.3 (terrorism), 208.2 (participation in illegal armed formations), 209.2 (banditism), and 222.2 and 222.3 (unlawful possession of firearms) of the criminal code of the RF.

Both defendants were detained during a "cleanup operation" at the Altievo camp on 23 June 2004, where they were living as IDPs. In addition to them, around 50 men were also detained that day (see above).

According to the prosecution, all night from 21 to 22 June Tsakhigov and Ibragimov were in position by a gas station near the bridge across the Alkhan-Churskii canal, not far from the Altievo milk farm. With them was, supposedly, another man by the name of Turpal. The three of them fired into the air and at targets — cars approaching the bridge on the road from the side of the weapons warehouse. Ibragimov fired one and a half magazines of 7.62-mm rounds from a Kalashnikov. Tsakhigov fired even more rounds.

During the preliminary investigation, both of the accused gave self-incriminating testimony.

"On that day [23 June, 2004, in the city Prim; — Memorial], Alikhan and I were at home. Suddenly we heard women screaming and ran out of the room. In the corridor we were immediately stopped. Armed men in uniforms and masks threw us to the ground, then took us away to the Interior Ministry and began beating us, without even saying why they were beating us. Then they started asking us about the combat uniform they found in our barracks — who did it belong to? Also they asked what boeviks I knew and whether I was a boevik myself and whether I'd participated in the boevik attack on Ingushetia on the 21st. During this time we were tortured in various ways. The next day the torture was even worse. They weren't asking me anything anymore, just trying to make me confess to being part of the attack on Ingushetia in a band of boeviks. I tried to tell them I was innocent and asked them to give me a lie-detector test. After the lie-detector they beat me less and demanded that I sign a paper admitting that I was at least part of an illegal armed formation. I agreed so they wouldn't torture me anymore, and I said I was in the band of Doka Umarov from May to September 2002 since I knew that I could later prove I wasn't in Ingushetia at that time, in the stanitsa Troitskaya. I lived in an apartment there, the owners of the house would testify. The district police officer made a note of my living there in his journal.

The following is excerpted from the statement of Ibragimov, which was delivered to Memorial's Nazran office from the temporary detention center of the Ingush Interior Ministry on 8 June, 2005.

In light of these statements, it is significant that the lawyer L. Khumaryants made no petition for a forensic medical examination and did not address a complaint to the public prosecutor's office regarding the torture of her client.

The statements of the accused naturally do not prove that his confession was obtained under torture. But they do some serious doubts regarding the admissibility of the evidence presented to the court and require further detailed investigation.

There are other facts which multiply these doubts. For example, according to witness testimony (a group of about six people who were situated in the immediate vicinity of the bridge by the milk farm Altievo), there were no boeviks at all standing around the gas station, and the gunfire did not come from that direction. Other witnesses and residents of milk farm Altievo confirmed that the young men were located that night on the premises of the milk farm.

In addition, 11 shell casings were found in the vicinity of the gas station (one 7.62-mm and ten 5.45-mm caliber). According to the prosecution, however, Tsakhigov and Ibragimov were carrying 7.62-mm-caliber rifles and each of them shot one and a half magazines. Therefore there should have been at least 90 shell casings and their caliber should have matched the rifle: 7.62 mm.

The court investigation in the matter of Tsakhigov and Ibragimov is drawing to an end. Memorial hopes for a fair decision by jury. According to Article 335 of the criminal code of the RF, however, questions on the admissibility of evidence are reviewed in the absence of jurors. Therefore, the prosecution has boldly built its case on the confessions of the accused, which were made during the preliminary investigation.

On August 3, 2005 the Jury of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia ruled that Ibragimov Alikhan and Tsakhigov Magomed were guilty of crimes stipulated by article 205.3 (terrorism), 208.2 (participation in illegal armed formations), 209.2 (banditism), 222.2, 222.3 (illegal storage of firearms) of the criminal code of the Russian Federation and sentenced them to to 13 years and 14 years in prison respectively.

3.5. The case of Bekkhan Gireev

On 4 May, 2005, in an interview with the radio station Echo of Moscow, Deputy of the Ingush Parliament Musa Ozdoev spoke about a resident of the city Nazran by the name of Gireev, with whom he was in the temporary detention center of the Interior Ministry in Nazran from 30 April to 1 May, 2005 (Ozdoev had been detained by Ingush police while attempting to carry out a protest in Nazran). Ozdoev asserts that Gireev and other people there were cruelly tortured by police officers and regularly beaten. According to Ozdoev, they were trying to obtain a confession from Gireev regarding his participation in a conspiracy to assassinate the president of Ingushetia.

The Ingush Interior Ministry refuted this information and threatened to take Deputy Ozdoev to court for libel.

In June 2005 another deputy, Mukhtar Buzurtanov (chairman of the commission on legislation, legality, law and order, and security of the People's Assembly of Ingushetia) stated that he had spoken personally with Gireev in the presence of Gireev's lawyer in the preliminary detainment cell. "Gireev told me personally that no unlawful actions of any kind on the part of the temporary detention center officers had been undertaken with regard to himself," Buzurtanov said (Interfax).

Memorial workers were able to ascertain that Gireev was in fact not tortured in an IVS in Ingushetia. He was tortured in law-enforcement establishments in the city Vladikavkaz.

Memorial is in possession of the following information in the matter of Bekkhan Gireev.

On 26 April in Nazran, the local resident Bekkhan Gireev (12/1 Mashinostroitelei street) was detained by the “Imperial” gas station.

According to Bekkhan's brother, Adam Gireev, district police officer B.M.-C. Ugurchiev came to the Gireev residence in the morning. He had a subpoena from the prosecutor's office obliging Bekkhan to appear on 26 April at the prosecutor's office to give testimony. The district police officer had already come to the house one week before to take written testimony from the owner of the house, Magomed Gireev, regarding the whereabouts of his son Bekkhan Gireev on the night of 21 to 22 June, 2004. This time (one week later) the officer explained that Bekkhan was being summoned on that matter. Ugurchiev said he had lost Magomed Gireev's testimony and that, therefore, Bekkhan would have to give it anew, but in the prosecutor's office this time.

Bekkhan was not at home, as he was repairing his car at a mechanic's. His brother asked the police officer to wait and himself telephoned Bekkhan. When Bekkhan came home, the police officer had tired of waiting and gone. Bekkhan stayed a short time at home and returned to the mechanic's. His brother Adam went with him.

They stopped on Kartoev street around the “Imperial” gas station. Adam was supposed to drop off Bekkhan and drive further to the city Karabulak. At that moment several men ran up to the car, one in civilian clothes and the others in camouflage. They spun Bekkhan around, bent him over the hood of the car, placed a cellophane bag over his head, and put him in a car (a VAZ-2109 or VAZ-2107, color mother-of-pearl, with the numbers 056). The men advised Bekkhan's brother Adam to address himself to the local Interior Ministry for an explanation. During the seizure Gireev's pistol was taken.

At 16:00 on the same day, officers of the mobile division of the Russian Interior Ministry came to the Gireev home, headed by Col. V.I. Safonov, Investigator for Particularly Important Matters of the Main Division of the Russian Interior Ministry in the Southern Federal District. The men had a search warrant and searched the home. Nothing unlawful was found during the search. On the evening of the same day an unidentified person telephoned the Gireevs at home and informed them that Bekkhan was located in the city Vladikakaz at the address 4 Kosta Khetagurova street (the North Caucasus office of the General Prosecutor of the RF) and offered to hire a lawyer for them.

Several days later Gireev was transferred to Ingushetia and placed in preliminary detainment in the Republican Police Department of Ingushetia. At this time Ibragim Bekov, the lawyer hired by Bekkhan's relatives, joined the case; the lawyer on duty there, Laura Khumaryants, who represented the interests of the suspect while he was in Osetia, left the case.

According to Bekov's testimony, Gireev had been badly beaten. At the insistence of his lawyer, the suspect was hospitalized in the Central Republic Hospital in Nazran, where in the course of three weeks he underwent two operations for his kneecaps. Forensic expertise medical office of North Osetia conducted a forensic medical examination to establish the state of Gireev's health. On the evidence of the violence applied to Gireev, a criminal case was opened by the republic's prosecutor's office of North Osetia (investigator Danshin).

Bekkhan Gireev is charged under Articles 209 (banditism) and 222 (unlawful possession of firearms).

The defendant does not deny his participation in an illegal armed formation.

3.6. The case of Khasan Egiev

On 1 April, 2005, at 14:30, in the town of Malgobek in the Republic of Ingushetia, Khasan Egiev, born 1978; resident of 65 Kievskaya street, was abducted by representatives of an unidentified law-enforcement agency.

According to Egiev's mother, Khasan was taken from a bus going to the village Voznesenovskaya in the Malgobekskii district. Four or six passenger cars approached the bus. Two men armed with machine guns got out of a car. They boarded the bus, seized Egiev, put him into a car, and left in an unknown direction. Before they left, Khasan had time to shout his name to the other people sitting in the bus.

On the night of 2 April, a stranger identifying himself as Khasan's lawyer telephoned Khasan's cousin. He said Khasan was being held in preliminary detainment in Vladikavkaz, North Osetia. Relatives hired the lawyer Kh.Yandieva. On 5 April she was able to speak on the phone with investigator of the prosecutor's office Krivorotov and agree on a meeting. On 6 April Yandieva met with Krivorotov and asked to be acquainted with the record of her client's detention. Krivorotov refused to provide this record. His words were literally as follows: "I have no doubt that Egiev is a bandit."

Kh. Egiev is charged under Articles 222 (unlawful possession of firearms), 208 (participation in an unlawful armed formation), 205 (terrorism), and 278 and 30 (attempting to take power by force) of the criminal code of the RF.

On the same day, Yandieva met with Khasan Egiev. In her conversation with him she learned that during Egiev's detention a hand grenade had been planted in his pocket. Khasan was subjected to violence and torture during his interrogations (hanging upside down, beaten with bottles on the head and body, jamming needles under his fingernails. As a result, Egiev was forced to sign a confession stating that he was already in possession of the hand grenade at the time of his detention but that he had supposedly found it only a short time before. According to his lawyer's description, Egiev's physical condition was very bad: there were bruises on his face and body and he had trouble moving around as his feet had been beaten.

Egiev's lawyer addressed a complaint regarding the actions of investigative services to Deputy General Prosecutor of the RF N.I. Shepel, head of the main division of the general prosecutor's office for the North Caucasus N.Ts. Khazikov, and public prosecutor of the Republic of North Osetia-Alania A.A. Bigulov. Egiev's lawyer requested that investigator Krivorotov be taken off the case as "a party personally interested in the outcome of the case" and that an official investigation be made into the application of physical violence to Egiev. She also requested that a forensic medical examination be carried out in light of Egiev's bodily injuries.

During the preliminary investigation, Khasan Egiev was hospitalized and spent some time in the Vladikavkaz city hospital. He was then returned to preliminary detainment in Vladikavkaz. Khasan was able to contact his relatives and inform them that he was being badly beaten, and that he had not held out under the beatings and had signed everything they put in front of him.

On 20 June around 15:40 in Ingushetia, Gelani Kholukhoev, born 1985; domicile address: 31 Nasyr-Kortovskaya street, Nazran) was detained by agents of the mobile division of the Russian Interior Ministry while leaving the city Karabulak.

Kholukhoev was detained while traveling in his car. According to the data of the Ingush Interior Ministry, also detained with him were Ismail Ortskhanov and Aslambek Chiliev. All the detainees were taken on the same day to the Directorate for the Fight against Organized Crime of the Ingush Interior Ministry. Relatives were not officially informed about Kholukhoev's detainment and learned his location days later from Israil Tsoroev, the lawyer appointed by the investigation.

On 22 June, Kholukhoev's brother Ilez was able to meet with Gelani for several minutes. The suspect told his brother that he had been forced under torture to sign confessions. Ilez personally noted the burn marks on Gelani's hands. Gelani's lawyer addressed a petition to the prosecutor's office of the republic in which he required that Kholukhoev's testimony be examined for signs it was forcibly obtained on the premises of the UBOP for the Ingush Interior Ministry "with the goal of obtaining ... invented confessions regarding crimes he did not commit"³³ and asked for a forensic medical examination.

According to the record of the questioning of the suspect, after his detainment he was taken to the premises of the Ingush Interior Ministry and beaten. "They beat my head against the wall, they kicked my legs. All this went on for two or three hours. At first the beatings were administered by agents of Russian nationality. It's possible I could identify them. Later, a police officer with the Ingush Interior Ministry — his name was Kharon and he was a guard — put wires on my fingers and periodically turned on the electric current. They demanded I confess to participating in a terrorist act, to participating in the events of 21-22 June, 2004, during the attack on the Republic of Ingushetia."³⁴

On 23 June Ilez Kholukhoev came to the Nazran office of the human rights organization Memorial with a written statement asserting that his brother, Gelani Kholukhoev, was innocent and that the accusations made against him were far-fetched. On 21-22 June, 2004, he was visiting relatives in the settlement Kartsa, helping them prepare for the wedding of his [female] cousin on his mother's side. This is confirmed by the witnesses Basir Kotiev, Lida Getagazova, and a neighbor, Murzabekov.

In the spring of 2005 the human rights organization Memorial receive statements from five defendants: Akhmed Tsuroev, Zaur Mutsolgov, Arbi Ibragimov, and Magomed-Khamid Tsechoev. These five are accused of participating in the attack on Ingushetia on 21-22 June and are being held in temporary preliminary detainment by the Ingush Interior Ministry in Nazran at the address 33 Itazova street. At the time this report is being written, their cases are being reviewed by the Supreme Court of Ingushetia.

Akhmet Tsuroev was charged under Articles 105.2 (murder); 30.3 and subparagraphs "a", "f", "g", and "h"; 105.2 (attempted murder); 127.3 (unlawful imprisonment), subparagraphs "a" and "c"; 162.4 (banditism); 166.4 (illegally occupying an automobile or other form of transport without the intent to steal); 205.3 (terrorism); 208.2 (participation in an illegal armed formation); 209.2 (banditism); 222.3 (unlawful possession of a firearm); 226.4 subparagraphs "a" and "b" (theft of a firearm); and 317 (infringement on the life of a law-enforcement officer).

On August 3 2005 the Jury of the Supreme Court of Republic Ingushetia sentenced Tsuroev to 25 years in prison.

The statement of Zaur Mutsolgov (sent to Memorial's Nazran office from the temporary detention center of the Ingush Interior Ministry 10 June, 2005)

"On the morning of 6 July, 2004, around 8 o'clock, I came home from the village Barsuki, where I spent the night with relatives. After about 10 minutes armed men burst into our house. They didn't present any documents or papers. They spun me around and put a polyethylene bag over my head, and took me away in an unknown direction.

"After about 15 minutes we came to some kind of building, where they took me to the second floor to an office which had some big safes. Here they handcuffed my hands under my knees and shoved a crowbar under my armpits and strung me up like that between the safes. Then they started beating me with truncheons, torturing me with electric shocks, and strangling me, demanding that I admit to participating in the attack on the Ingush Interior Ministry on the night between 21 to 22 June, 2004. They demanded that I sign documents which they put in front of me. I couldn't hold out under the torture and humiliation, I had to sign what they gave me. Then they took me to the prosecutor's office in Vladikavkaz, where I was interrogated by investigators of the General Prosecutor for the North Caucasus Lapotnikov and Sobol, who personally directed my torture and humiliation after my every refusal.

"On 9 June, 2004, they put me into preliminary detainment in Vladikavkaz, where they photographed the results of my beatings, which can be found in the registration book of the Vladikavkaz preliminary detainment facility for 10 July, 2004.

"Several times, over three weeks in one of the offices of the Ingush Interior Ministry, I was subjected to the most refined methods of torture, with a particular cruelty. They put a polyethylene bag over my head, suffocating me and beat me with truncheons, targeting vital organs (liver, kidneys, ribs).

"From the end of July until the first of August I was transported to the Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, where I was taken several times to a separate cell and humiliated and beaten.

"From the beginning of August, I was taken back to solitary in Vladikavkaz, and until 20 August I was taken to the Ingush Interior Ministry nearly every day, where they tortured me by hanging me with my arms behind my back and beating me with truncheons on the legs and on vital organs, so that I would sign the papers they gave me. If I didn't, it would all go on...

"The effects of my torture remain on my body. I ask you to undertake all possible measures for the defense of my rights..."

Zaur Mutsolgov was charged under Articles 105.2 (murder) subparagraphs "a", "f", "g", and "h"; 30.3 subparagraphs "a", "f", "g", and "h"; 105.2 (attempted murder); 127.3 (unlawful imprisonment); 162.4 subparagraphs "a" and "c" (banditism); 166.4 (unlawful occupancy of an automobile or other form of transport without the intent to steal); 205.3 (terrorism); 208.2 (participation in an illegal armed formation); 209.2 (banditism); 222.3 (unlawful possession of a firearm), 226.4 subparagraphs "a" and "b" (theft of a firearm); and 317 (infringement of the life of a law-enforcement officer) of the criminal code of the Russian Federation.

On August 3 2005 the Jury of the Supreme Court of Republic Ingushetia sentenced Mutsolgov Zaur to 25 years in prison.

Above, we described how, on 6 July, 2004, Zaur Mutsolgov was detained at his home in Karabulak (Oskanova street 86) under the basest and most unlawful circumstances, and how he "disappeared" for three days after his detention. As in all the other cases, we do not assert that Mutsolgov is innocent. However, the facts documented by Memorial regarding the base violations of law by organs of the Interior Ministry and the prosecutor's office in relation to him and his family weigh heavily in favor of the veracity of at least part of the assertions made in the statements. This gives us the right to form serious doubts regarding the evidence of the suspect's guilt obtained by the investigation, and to demand an inquiry into the methods by which the investigation was undertaken.

Magomed-Khamid Tsechoev was charged under Articles 205.3 (terrorism), 209.2 (banditism), 222.3 (unlawful possession of a firearm), and 317 (infringement on the life of a law-enforcement officer) of the criminal code of the Russian Federation.

Arbi Ibragimov was charged under Articles 166.4 (unlawful occupation of an automobile or other mode of transport without the intent to steal), 205.3 (terrorism), 208.2 (participation in an illegal armed formation), 222.3 (unlawful possession of a firearm), 209.2 (banditism), and 317 (infringement on the life of a law-enforcement officer) of the criminal code of the RF.

Ibragimov's case is not the only case when a young man informed, of his own volition, law-enforcement agencies of weapons caches, unlawful activities of boeviks, or his own refusal to participate in criminal acts. But he was subsequently tried for terrorist activity.

According to one witness, deputy commander of OMON Sakalov, who passed the Ekazhevo-Ali-Yurt-Magas intersection three times that night, there were no boeviks there. The data at hand indicate that no one died at that location. Dzangiev voluntarily surrendered his weapon and cooperated totally with law-enforcement agencies during the investigation. According to Russian legislation, a voluntary refusal to engage in criminal activity carries no criminal penalty. Dzangiev, however, is nevertheless charged with participating in the attack on Ingushetia on 21-22 June under Articles 209 and 205 of the criminal code of the RF. Memorial has received information that Dzangiev was cruelly tortured in the basement of the FSB building in Magas, in preliminary detainment in Vladikavkaz, and in the Ingush branch of UBOP.

On August 3, 2005 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia sentenced Musa Dzangiev to 14 years in prison.

In the opinion of Memorial, harsh sentences of these young men will inevitably frighten off other young men from cooperating with authorities in exposing terrorist groups.

According to the statement, on 16 February, 2005, around 6:30 in the morning in the village Kantyshevo in the Nazranovskii district of Ingushetia, agents of the Ingush branch of the FSB conducted a special operation, during which were detained the Kozdoev brothers: Magomed, born 1979, and Khavazh-Bagaudin, born 1984. Three armored personnel carriers, two Ural cars, Gazel and UAZ-452 minibuses, and other transport equipment were deployed in the operation. Since that time, the Kodzoev brothers have been missing.

It is known from statements made in mass media by official representatives of the Ingush branch of the FSB that on 16 February, agents of Ingush special services liquidated a representative of Shamil Basaev in the Kodzoev house in Ingushetia, the Al Qaeda emissary Abu-Dzeit, an Arab. He arrived from Kuwait and "ordered and paid for almost all the large-scale acts of terror committed recently in the region, including the seizure of hostages in Beslan" (Kommersant: 22 February, 2005).

"The operation was conducted by agents of the FSB on instructions from the General Prosecutor of Russia as part of the criminal investigation into the seizure of the school in Beslan. The terrorist was liquidated during arrest. Five machine guns, a carbine, a large quantity of explosive devices with radio detonators already prepared for use, and components for high-power mines with shaped charges were found in the house in which he was hiding" (Gazeta: 22 February, 2005).

Abu-Dzeit was found thanks to the vigilance of a local resident who, passing the house of his neighbor Musa Kodzoev, noticed the unusual construction of the building: "from the roof of the tiny shanty, which had somehow been knocked together from pieces of board, plywood, and rubberoid, two tall and big metal ventilation pipes were sticking out. The neighbor, suspecting something was wrong, told the local branch of the FSB about his observations" (Kommersant: 22 February, 2005). Agents of special services surveilled the Kodzoev house and established that there were frequent night gatherings of unknown suspicious people (Kommersant, 22 February, 2005).

According to Kommersant, in the early morning in Kantyshevo, special agents of the Ingush Interior Ministry and local branch of the FSB moved in. At that time everyone in the Kodzoev house was still asleep. The soldiers easily knocked out the windows and doors of the house and dragged out the scared-to-death owner of the home and incidentally liquidated two armed boeviks who attempted to resist. A preliminary search of the premises revealed nothing. The special agents wanted to go back, but at that time one of them for some reason kicked a nearby gas stove. The unit fell away and underneath was a hatchway. The agents descended through the hatch, turned on their flashlights and discovered the very premises for which the modern ventilation had been intended. Under Kodzoev's plywood was a rather spacious concrete bunker equipped with automatic heating systems and ventilation. The basement was lit with florescent lamps, and from the basement to the outside, to the masked agents, led lines providing the bunker with telephone and radio connections. There was also a refrigerator with a small supply of groceries, a writing table, and a bed. (Kommersant: 22 February, 2005).

Incidentally, relatives of Kodzoev deny the official version. According to the wife of Magomed Kodzoev, Zaira Kodzoeva, in the early morning armed men in masks burst into the courtyard of their home, which is situated at the intersection of Shkolnaya and Sadovaya streets. The men ran forward after the armed personnel carrier which had crashed the gates. Zaira Kodzoeva went outside to see what was happening. One of the soldiers asked her who was in the house. She answered that only her husband and two children were inside. The soldier then told the woman to call her husband outside. The husband came out and was seized.

The woman and kids were taken through the gates and put in a white Gazel minibus. Magomed Kodzoev was taken inside the house. All the "law-enforcement agents" in the house and outside spoke Russian without an accent. At 9:30 Magomed Kodzoev was taken out of the house in handcuffs and with a black bag over his head. His wife and kids sat in the Gazel until about 12:00. Then the soldier who was commanding the others allowed her to go to her relatives. All the time she was in the area of the house, she heard neither gunfire nor explosions. The district militia officer stood beyond the cordon and was not allowed into the area of the special operation.

After Zaira Kodzoeva left, her husband's brother, Khavazh-Bagaudin Kodzoev, came to the house. On the night before these events, Zaira and Magomed's son was born, and Khavazh-Bagaudin had come to congratulate the family with the birth. Instead of this, Khavazh-Bagaudin was seized and taken away in an unknown direction.

The "law-enforcement officers" were in the Kodzoev house until about 18:00. When Zaira Kodzoeva returned home, she saw that almost all the rooms had had their floors ripped up. There was no indication of explosions or gunfire in the house.

Memorial monitors visited the scene and questioned neighbors of the Kodzoevs. It turned out that they also had not heard either gunfire or explosions. Noudash Kodzoeva, who lives at 1 Sadovaya, said that between 12 and 13:00 a man in camouflage came into their house — an Ingush — and told them to stay away from the window, as there would soon be an explosion. There was, however, no explosion to follow, and after several minutes small clap was heard.

In any case, independently of the veracity of Noudash Kodzoeva's facts, one thing is beyond doubt: in the course of the special operation two men were detained who then disappeared.

The mother of the Kodzoev brothers made a written petition to the Ingush Interior Ministry and to the public prosecutor's office of the Nazran district. The Interior Ministry's answer was that "no operational-search measures were undertaken by agents of the Ingush Interior Ministry in relation to X-B.A. Kodzoev, M.A. Kodzoev, or the home belonging to them." Furthermore, "on 16 February, 2005, in an unnumbered household at the intersection of Sadovaya and Shkolnaya streets in the village Kantyshevo, Nazran district, an operation was carried out by agents of the Ingush branch of the FSB, tasked by the North Caucasus division of the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, to detain the Arab Abu-Dzeit, during which the latter made use of a homemade explosive device and died on the spot. Inspection of the scene was conducted by the investigative brigade of the North Caucasus division of the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation under the leadership of inspector K.E. Krivorotov." In connection with this, relatives of the Kodzoevs were advised to turn to the North Caucasus division of the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation, which is located in the city Yessentuki in the Stavropol region (21 Mendeleeva street). The answer from the Nazran prosecutor's office reached the Kodzoevs only after 20 May.

In the course of the four months after the disappearance of the two men, law-enforcement agencies have not opened a criminal case in the matter.

Memorial has sent petitions on this matter to the General Prosecutor.

3.10. The unlawful detention and "disappearance" of Magomed Merzhoev

On 16 May, 2005, around 6:20 in the morning, in Karabulak, Ingushetia, armed men — supposedly agents of a law-enforcement agency — abducted Magomed Merzhoev, born 1968, a resident of Ingushetia and registered at the following address: village Plievo, 12 Ordzhonikidzevskaya street, but in fact living in Karabulak on Burploschadka.

Magomed Merzhoev fought with boeviks in the first Chechen war and was wounded: he is missing his right hand. After the amnesty was declared, he returned to peaceful life. He has two children (4 years old and 1 and a half years old).

Merzhoev was abducted from the premises of a concrete factory where he worked as a guard. The only witness to this event is a guard at the neighboring enterprise, who informed Magomed's relatives that he had seen three light machines (two VAZ-2107, dark red and green, and a UAZ-469 with darkened windows) leave the area of the factory along with an armored personnel carrier.

Merzhoev's relatives sent written statements to the public prosecutor's offices of the republic and Karabulak, to the police station in Karabulak, and to the Ingush branch of the FSB. None of these agencies admitted to the complicity of their agents in Merzhoev's detention. In the Karabulak public prosecutor's office, a criminal case was opened into Merzhoev's abduction. As of 27 May Merzhoev's whereabouts are officially unknown.

However, relatives undertook independent searches and discovered that an unidentified soldier had come to the cement factory several days before Magomed's abduction. The soldier was interested in the prices of building materials. He came in a dark red automobile (a VAZ-2107; a similar vehicle was seen on the premises of the cement factory in the early morning on the day of Merzhoev's abduction). The soldier spoke Russian with a strong accent, it seems Dagestani. He was dressed in khaki camouflage. The owner of the factory, Magomed Idigov, found this man to be suspicious and observed him without notice when he left. According to Idigov, the vehicle entered the territory of the Ingush branch of OMON in Karabulak. Relatives also established through their own channels that federal and Chechen law-enforcement agents had been involved in Magomed's abduction. They learned from the same source that Magomed Merzhoev was taken to a military base in the settlement Khankala and then transferred to Vladikavkaz.