Relatives of abducted Ingush resident seek human rights activists' help

On December 22, Ruslan A. Mutsolgov, a resident of the town of Karabulak, made a request to the Ingush office of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, asking to help him in the search of his brother abducted by unknown people on December 18. We call your attention to the extracts from the statement Ruslan Mutsolgov handed in to the head of the Society's regional office in Ingushetia, Moscow Helsinki Group coordinator, Imran Ezhiev.

"On December 18, my brother, Bashir A. Mutsolgov, 1975, was coming back home after a meeting with our father. By the house a VAZ Niva car came to him. The car number plates were smeared with dirt but the region number - 26 - could be seen. Armed people in camouflage uniform and black masks came out of the car. They hit my brother in his stomach with a sub-machine-gun butt, threw him into the car and went in the direction of the DPS (road and patrol service) post near the Karabulak city police department at a high speed. There the kidnappers were stopped by police officers. A middle-aged man came out of the car and showed a special pass of the regional operations headquarters. After that the officers let the car go, and it went away in the direction of the Rostov-Baku route. With great efforts, I managed to learn that the kidnapping had been made by the officers of the Ingush and Chechen departments and North Caucasian regional department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). After the occurrence my brother was taken to the FSB department in the Republic of Ingushetia in the town of Magas. He spent the whole night in a cellar. The next day strangers in two cars took him to the Khankala settlement of Grozny, Chechnya, where he is right now. He is subjected to torture and beating. In such a way, they want to make him confess crimes that have nothing to do with him.

My brother's case is typical not only of the Ingush Republic but also of neighboring Chechnya.

My brother has worked at school after the graduation. He has been married, his daughter was born not long ago. He has never had previous convictions and has never been investigated.

I handed in applications about the kidnapping to the offices of public prosecutor of the Ingush Republic and of the Karabulak town and to the Karabulak regional interior department.

I believe in your help, in you personally and in the authority of your organization."

Editors note: See also the article: "Citizen kidnapped in Ingush town of Karabulak".