Officials say almost nothing in response
"Formerly, bandits and slave traders could easily cross the borders of Chechnya and take captives from all over Russia," military columnist Vyacheslav Izmailov wrote recently in the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
"Now it's officers of law enforcement agencies, and it seems they are digging pits at Khankala not just for Chechens but also for the inhabitants of other regions of Russia."
Keeping prisoners in pits is a widespread practice in the Caucasus, employed by bandits, rebels and even Russian soldiers. Regional law enforcement agencies and the Russian prosecutor general's office refused to comment on the abductions other than to say an investigation into one incident was under way.
About 1500 desperate relatives rallied in protest in Nazran at the end of March. The deputy interior minister of Ingushetia, Zyaudin Kotiyev, surrounded by riot troops, persuaded the people to disperse.
At the beginning of March, 29-year-old Rashid Ozdoyev was kidnapped. He had worked in the republic prosecutor's office, overseeing the legality of FSB actions.
Five days before he was grabbed he had been in Moscow, filing a 14-page complaint against the Ingush FSB with the Russian general prosecutor's office.
His father, Boris Ozdoyev, a well-connected retired judge, conducted his own investigation...
Al Jazeera May.24.04
