Young man kidnapped in Chechnya was beaten at ROVD

The young man named Zaurbek Tagirov, who was kidnapped in Tsotsi-Yurt village, Kurchaloy District of Chechnya, had been prosecuted for several months by militiamen and them beaten after detention. The "Caucasian Knot" was informed about it by Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Zaurbek Salamuevich Tagirov, born in 1986, was taken in unknown direction from his house in Tsotsi-Yurt village, Kurchaloy District, in Tikhaya Street on January 13 about 1 a.m. Armed people in white camouflage cloaks and masks rushed into the house of the Tagirovs by cracking the door. Before pushing Zaurbek into the car, they severely beat him in the yard, as Ms Estemirova said.

In the morning, the Tagirov family was visited by employees of the Kurchaloy ROVD (District Militia Unit) and prosecutor's office. The parents filed an application on the kidnapping.

After a while, the parents learnt from informal sources that their son was kept at the Kurchaloy ROVD, but officially this information was not confirm.

On January 15, the parents addressed for the help to human rights activists.

According to Natalia Estemirova, they told that Kurchaloy militiamen had been prosecuting Zaurbek and the whole family for several months after the incident with him last October. Then, Zaurbek was detained by road police patrol unit for driving a truck without a license and then beaten at the ROVD (meanwhile his truck was burned down in the yard of the ROVD).

"Some time later, it turned out that a criminal was initiated on the fact of beating and destruction of property, where figurants, obviously, should be employees of the ROVD," the human rights activist asserts.

"The Tagirovs believe that the motive for Zaurbek's kidnapping was in the investigation of the crime committed against him," said Natalia Estemirova.