On October 15-21, 2018, no one fell victim to armed conflict in Northern Caucasus

During the week of October 15-21, 2018, no one suffered in the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus. These are the results of the calculations run by the "Caucasian Knot" based on its own materials and information from other open sources.

Detentions

On October 5, four young men, including Shamil Ortsuev, Arbi Ichaev, Abdul-Malik Suleimanov, and Mokhmmad Elbiev, were detained by law enforcers and taken away to some unknown destination in the Oktyabrsky District of Grozny. Initially, relatives of the detainees did not have any information about the whereabouts of the young people. It was only much later when they managed to find out that the detainees were kept at law enforcement units, but visits were not allowed. An official from the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) refused to comment on the relatives' message about the detention of the young people in Grozny. The relevant information was reported on October 16.

Kidnappings

On October 15, the human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) reported that its activist Oleg Kozlovsky, who had arrived in Magas to monitor the protest action held by the opponents of the change in the border with Chechnya, was kidnapped, beaten and subjected to a mock execution. On October 5, Oleg Kozlovsky arrived in Magas. In the next evening, an unidentified person who introduced himself as a representative of the protest organizers invited Oleg Kozlovsky into his car under the pretext of organizing a meeting with the protesters. Instead, the activist was taken outside the city, where unidentified people, claiming to be law enforcers, undressed him and beat him. The kidnappers demanded from Oleg Kozlovsky to report who he was, what he was doing in Magas, and with whom he cooperated. The kidnappers tried to make him become their informant. The men beat him several times, threatened to kill him and his family members, and staged two mock executions. Then the kidnappers took Oleg Kozlovsky to neighbouring North Ossetia and released him near the airport. They demanded from him never to return and write about Ingushetia. The Ingush MIA did not find any evidence to confirm the information about the kidnapping and beating of AI activist Oleg Kozlovsky, and Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov called the report about kidnapping a provocation. The information about the incident was reported on October 15.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 22, 2018 at 02:53 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.