November 30, 2001
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On the night of November 30 in the city of Urus-Martan, masked military men who arrived in a Ural vehicle burst into the house of Nurdi Isaev (24 Kirova Street). They took everyone who was there into the courtyard, tied them up and laid them on the ground. The owner's wife had her mouth taped shut to prevent her from screaming. After that, we went into the rooms again, stayed there for a short time and left.

Nurdi Isaev freed himself from his bonds and looked into the room. Next to the gas stove lay a mortar shell with explosives attached to it. The man quickly ran out into the street; he and the rest of the family went to the neighbors. But there was no explosion. Ten minutes later, the same Ural again drove up to Nurdi Yasaev’s house. The military entered the yard, stayed there for some time and left again. A few minutes later there was a powerful explosion.

According to Nurdi Yasaev, his family was subjected to constant harassment, threats and attacks from the military from the Urus-Martan commandant's office. This first happened on December 18, 2000, when his 20-year-old son Tagir Yasaev was captured along with four other young people at the intersection of Andreeva and Kirova streets in Urus-Martan. First, the military took them to the location of the 245th Regiment in the vicinity of the village of Tangi-Chu, and then transported them to Khankala and placed them in a pit. The next day, after torture and beatings, they were taken to a field near the town of Argun and left there. They were able to get home another day later. But not all. One of the young people captured along with Tagir Yasaev disappeared without a trace.

On July 4, 2001, Russian soldiers broke into the house of Nurdi Yasaev and tried to seize his other son, Timur, born in 1975, an employee of the Zavodsky District Department of Internal Affairs in Grozny. They began throwing grenades, apparently stun grenades, into the room where he was with his wife. He managed to throw two of them back out the window and shouted that he was a police officer, but the military started shooting. It is unknown what happened next to Timur Yasaev. Russian authorities claimed that he managed to escape. However, he did not contact his relatives after that. For the first and second time, Nurdi Yasaev's house was blown up. He rebuilt a temporary hut and lived in it with his family until the military demolished it with a landmine.

***
At the end of November in the village of Avtury, during a “cleansing” operation, the military tried to detain 25-year-old Kh. Raibekovich Arzaev. He resisted and blew up a grenade. He himself and two of those who tried to detain him died. Several people were injured.
On the same day at dawn, Russian soldiers shot and killed A. Iriziev, 14-15 years old. He was spotted crossing the river to the other side. The military opened fire on the running man. When they ran up and saw that it was a teenager, they wanted to take the boy to the hospital, but he died on the spot from his injuries.

***
At about 13:00 in the village of Gekhi, local resident Muslim Adlanovich Khamiev, born in 1974, was kidnapped. Officers from an unidentified Russian security agency drove up to his house (4 Rechnaya St.) in armored personnel carriers.

He stood in the courtyard of his house and watched a military column consisting of three armored personnel carriers (their side numbers were covered up). As they approached, he closed the gate and rushed into the depths of the yard. The military men on the armor jumped to the ground and burst into the yard. The security forces searched the home and then stated that they were taking Muslim Khamiev with them, but did not say for what reason. However, they stated that he was a militant - otherwise he would not have run away. Akhmed Khamiev asked not to take his brother or to take both of them. But the military answered: “One is enough for us.” Then they put Muslim Khamiev in an armored personnel carrier and left. The father, brother and sister of the abducted man rushed after them on the neighbor's bus. The armored personnel carriers stopped at the POM building. Relatives saw Muslim Khamiev, accompanied by two security officers, being led into the room at a run. He was already wearing a military pea coat and a soldier's helmet. About five minutes later the same people took him outside and ran him again to the armored personnel carrier. Relatives tried to find out who these people were and where they were going to go, but no one listened to them. The combat vehicles headed towards the city of Urus-Martan.

On the same bus, relatives chased after them. Without stopping and almost without slowing down, the armored personnel carriers passed the checkpoint between the village of Gekhi and the city of Urus-Martan. The bus was forced to stop. There were cars ahead, waiting for inspection. The bus stood in line for about ten minutes. During this time, one of the pursuers spoke to the military man standing at the checkpoint, and he said that there were “FSB men” on the armored personnel carriers and they took the captured man to Urus-Martan to their district headquarters.

When the bus passed the checkpoint, the kidnappers in armored personnel carriers disappeared from sight. Then the relatives went to the former boarding school. However, the guards standing at the gate - employees of the commandant's office - stated that allegedly no one was brought to them from the village of Gekhi. The VOVD officers said the same thing.
Muslim Khamiev's relatives were unable to establish where he was taken. After the kidnapping he disappeared. None of the law enforcement agencies of the Urus-Martan district admitted the involvement of their employees in this crime.

***
In the village of Tsotsin-Yurt, local resident Khizir Vakhitaev, 38 years old, was killed. Playing backgammon with his neighbors, he stayed up late at a party. At about 11 p.m., the barrel of a machine gun suddenly appeared in the open door and shots were heard. Memorial Human Rights Center does not know whether the people who were with Khizir Vakhitaev were injured.

From the book “People Live Here”, Usam Baysaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006.