December 22, 2001

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At 3 o'clock in the morning in the village of Gekhi, masked servicemen broke into the Tatarievs' house (Bolnichnaya St., 16). Members of the Tatariev family, including children of school and preschool age, were lifted out of bed. To the questions of the owners of the house: “Who are you, what do you need?” the military did not answer. The soldiers hardly even spoke to each other; they explained themselves with gestures. Each adult family member was brought to one of the military men and asked: “This one?” When the turn came to Rizvan Shamsudinovich Tatariev, born in 1977, the answer to this question was: “Yes.”

Rizvan’s mother, Zara Tatarieva, born in 1940, began to cry and ask the military not to take her son, since he had not done anything illegal. They answered her: “Shut up, otherwise we’ll shoot you,” and they took Rizvan with them. They never said what he was suspected of and where they were taking him.

Family members reported that the kidnappers, Russians by nationality, arrived in two UAZs and a heavy-duty Ural. When contacted by relatives, none of the district's law enforcement agencies admitted their involvement in the abduction. On December 25, 2001, Zara Tatarieva contacted the Human Rights Center “Memorial” and the Bureau of V. Kalamanov with a request for assistance in the release of her son.

On January 2, 2002, the prosecutor's office of the Urus-Martan district opened criminal case No. 25180 on the fact of the abduction. Sharpudi Vakhaevich Visaitov, born in 1972, was involved in it. (lived at the address: Kh. Nuradilov St., 18), detained the same night in the village of Gekhi under approximately the same circumstances. On March 2, 2002, the criminal case was suspended.

According to information received by relatives from unofficial sources, FSB officers took part in the abductions and at first Tatariev and Visaitov were kept on the 3rd floor of a boarding school building in Urus-Martan.

Rizvan Tatariev was of average height, weighed 75-80 kg, had brown hair and brown eyes. He had a scar after abdominal surgery. Sharpudi Visaitov was also of average height and weighed approximately 75 kg, his hair and eyes were dark.

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On the night of December 22, the village of Voikova came under artillery fire. According to residents of the neighboring village of Michurina, the shelling was carried out from the territory of the Khankala military base. One of the shells hit the courtyard of a residential building. Neighboring houses were also damaged by the explosion of this shell. Among the residents there are wounded: Eiset Isaevna Dadaeva, born in 1987, Zarema Bekmurzaeva, born in 1974, Aminat Manurieva, born in 1994. In the morning, indignant residents went to the Zavodskaya district commandant’s office to complain about the military’s actions. The commandant's office stated that the military was not involved in this shelling, saying that militants drive cars at night and fire at residential areas with anti-aircraft guns.

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A resident of the village of Avtura, Baron Kharonovich Daudov, born in 1953, drove in his car to the headquarters of the OGV(s) (village of Khankala) the employees of the Chelyabinsk region COM, stationed at the Avtura poultry farm. Daudov was not allowed into the territory of Khankala, and he remained to wait for his fellow travelers at checkpoint No. 300, located at the entrance to the village. Chelyabinsk policemen drove on in Daudov's car. Returning about 3.5 hours later, they did not find Daudov at the checkpoint. It was possible to establish that he was taken by unknown armed men in masks to the territory of the Khankala military base. Chelyabinsk police made an attempt to find Daudov, but they were unsuccessful. Returning to the village, they informed the Baron's relatives about his disappearance.

On January 4, 2002, the body of Baron Daudov was discovered on the territory of the VOVD and the commandant's office of the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. The commandant's office, however, refused to register the corpse on its territory. According to relatives, a few days before the body of Baron Daudov was handed over to them, they saw about 20 corpses of civilians on the territory of the commandant’s office.

Baron Daudov was born in the city of Kzyl-Orda, Kazakh SSR. In the village of Avtury he lived at the address: Lenin St., 273.

The relatives submitted an application to the police department and the prosecutor's office of the Shalinsky district. They had documents in their hands confirming the abduction of this person from the territory immediately adjacent to the location of the OGV(s) command.

***
In the area of the settlements of Pobedinskoye and Pervomaiskoye, an armed clash occurred between federal forces and a pro-Russian detachment commanded by Movladi Baysarov. According to unconfirmed reports, there were casualties on both sides: one or two killed and several wounded. According to residents, the incident arose due to the ongoing struggle between the Russian military and local law enforcement agencies for the right to control the village of Pobedinskoye, through which the so-called oil route passed. It is well known that some of the residents of this and nearby villages were engaged in illegal extraction and refining of oil, and those who were “protectors” collected “tribute” for its transportation. All this brought in a lot of money, which is why there was a struggle for control over this channel.

In the morning, the military arrived in the village to carry out an operation to seize vehicles suitable for transporting petroleum products. This was the reason for the collision. Despite opposition from the Chechen detachment, military personnel seized more than a dozen trucks with containers equipped for the transportation of petroleum products.

On the afternoon of December 23, the driven away vehicle stood on the outskirts of the village, near the cemetery, under military guard. Car owners negotiated through intermediaries to return their cars for ransom. Most of the cars were purchased.

***
Zilavdi Khamidovich Askhabov, born in 1955, left his home (Ivanova town, Pogranichnaya St., 159) and did not return. He is the father of three children, he once worked at AvtoVAZ, and with the outbreak of the war he made his living as a private driver. On this day, in his GAZ-24 car (registration number A 0649 MSh), he took a woman he knew to Khankala and disappeared with her.

The next day, Zilavdi Askhabov’s car was found on a bridge near the village of Khankala. Although the keys were in the ignition, the tape recorder and speakers were torn out of the car. Two more cars without owners or passengers were found nearby. According to initial information, a father and son could be in one of them. The cars were driven to the territory of the Oktyabrsky VOVD, from where they were transferred to the local police department. As the brother of the disappeared Baudi Askhabov said, they prepared the necessary documents and took the car. Relatives of Zilavdi Askhabov visited the territory of the military base several times and wrote a statement to the military prosecutor's office. They submitted applications to the Staropromyslovsky District Department of Internal Affairs and to the republic's prosecutor's office, indicating in them the alleged place of disappearance - Khankala. But this did not help to clarify the fate of the disappeared person. What happened to him became known only on January 3, 2002. A neighbor who worked at the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs reported that on his territory there were five corpses found near the Russian military base in the so-called. "October Gardens" In one of them, relatives identified Zilavdi Askhabov.

His body was a bloody mess: black from beatings, punctured and cut by a sharp object. The eyes were most likely knocked out by the barrel of a machine gun; there was a wound on the throat under the jaw, possibly from a bayonet. A control shot was fired at the killer's head. On the same day, Zilavdi Askhabov was taken and buried in the Urus-Martan cemetery.

It turned out that the police were informed about the corpses by the military. An armored personnel carrier with license plates covered in mud arrived at the department. The soldier who came down named the place and said: “Your people lie there.” After this, the armored personnel carrier left. At the indicated location, police officers found a bomb-laden Zhiguli car of the sixth model with five corpses inside.

In addition to Zilavdi Askhabov, the following were identified among the dead:

1. Dukvakha Kosumovich Ozniev, born in 1960, employee of the republican police, lieutenant colonel (according to other sources - lieutenant), living at the address: Grozny, Ordzhonikidze village, 349;

2. Salambek Timsievich Azniev, approximately 60 years old, resident of the village of Novye Aldy;

3. Alkhazur Imranovich Dagaev, 30 years old, native of the village of Starye Atagi;

4. Nothing is known about this murdered Human Rights Center “Memorial”.

Salambek Azniev is the cousin of Dukvakha Ozniev and the father of Alikhan Azniev, who was kidnapped in the area of the 20th precinct by military personnel who arrived there by helicopter. They went to Khankala to pick up the corpse of a member of their family who had already been killed. Negotiations on this, according to the relatives of the killed, have already taken place; The size of the ransom was even discussed - a Zhiguli car. Alkhazur Dagaev and another resident of the village of Starye Atagi, whose name and surname the employees of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” were unable to find out, were going to help pick up the corpse of Alikhan Azniev.

All these people were already at Khankala and were waiting for the fulfillment of the promise, when an explosion occurred somewhere in the distance. According to eyewitnesses, a Ural with masked soldiers left the base. They grabbed the men, forced them into the back of their car and took them to Khankala.

Salambek Azniev was killed with two shots to the head. The nephew was so mutilated that his relatives did not immediately identify him. His hands were tied behind his back with iron wire, his whole body was covered in bruises and abrasions, and there were deep shrapnel wounds on his back. A bullet hole was also found in the back of the head, possibly from a control shot. After the torture and murder, the corpse of Dukvakha Ozniev was apparently blown up - his hands lay separately from the body. He was identified by his 15-year-old son.

Alkhazur Dagaev was shot in the left temple from close range. But before that, he was tortured too. According to the stories of his relatives, his eye was gouged out and he was severely beaten (his whole body was black).

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