November 27, 2001
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On the night of November 27 in Argun, unknown persons wearing masks and camouflage uniforms entered a house located at 126 Voroshilov Street. They killed all the adults there. Four people at once. The following were shot: the owner of the house Ramzan Ekhiev, born in 1928, his wife Aimani Ekhieva, born in 1928, their son Said-Pasha Ekhiev, born in 1952, and daughter-in-law Petimat Tsikaeva, born in 1951. Having committed this crime, the unknown persons fled.
There are several versions of what happened. Memorial Human Rights Center cannot confirm or deny any of them.
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At dawn in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, employees of the Russian security forces burst into the house at the address: K. Marks St., 14 and, having lifted him out of bed, took Adlan Muslimovich Taramov, born in 1978, in an unknown direction.
According to relatives, it is known that the kidnappers were Russian. They arrived in military vehicles, but left them on the outskirts of the village. They arrived at the house on foot, about 30 people in total. They did not introduce themselves, and it was not possible to determine exactly their departmental affiliation. The military did not say anything about the place where the person they captured would be taken. Adlan Taramov has disappeared. Relatives, who immediately contacted law enforcement and other structures in the area, were unable to find out anything about his possible whereabouts. Adlan's kidnapping was a surprise to them. According to relatives, the abducted man did not fight or participate in any other capacity in the VF of the ChRI. Among those to whom they turned and who could not help in establishing the further fate of Adlan Taramov were: the head of the Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov, the military commandant Major General Sergei Kizyun (the residents of Alkhan-Yurt sent them their appeal) and the head of the administration of Urus-Yurt. Martanovsky district Shirvani Yasaev.
On the same day, at about 3 pm, Shamil Shirvaniyevich Dzhamaldaev, born in 1983, and his peers Islam Gerikhanov and Shakhrudi Shalaev were taken away from the village. The young people were sitting on a bench near the house of Shamil Jamaldaev (84 Vakhitova St.), when suddenly two cars appeared on the street - a Ural and a gray UAZ-452 (“tablet”). Eyewitnesses managed to remember part of the latter's registration plate: x 590. Everything happened quickly. The cars braked sharply, military personnel ran out of them, some were wearing masks. Presumably these were servicemen of a rifle company at the commandant's office of the Urus-Martan district. They grabbed the young people and loaded them into the Ural. Shamil Dzhamaldaev’s father, Shirvani, who ran out to the screams, could no longer do anything - the military left along with the captured young people.
On the same day, Islam Gerikhanov and Shakhrudi Shapayev returned home. Shamil Dzhamaldaev disappeared without a trace. Appeals from his relatives, who claimed that he was not involved in the WF of the ChRI, did not yield any results. The law enforcement agencies of the region “assured” them of their alleged innocence in the disappearance of the young man.
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At approximately 15:00, on the Gekhi-Chu – Shalazhi road on the southwestern outskirts of the village of Gekhi-Chu, Russian security forces detained local residents Khamzat Khozuevich Baluev, born 1976, and Arbi Akhmedovich Magomadov, born 1974.
The “Siloviki” traveled in two cars: a UAZ with tinted windows and a mother-of-pearl VAZ-21099 without license plates. They captured and took the young people towards the village of Gekhi. Fellow villagers witnessed the abduction. After they informed relatives about what had happened, they began searching. They made oral statements to the VOVD and the commandant's office of the Urus-Martan district, but their leaders did not admit the involvement of their subordinates in committing this crime.
On December 1, 2001, the district inspector from Gekhi-Chu was informed at the district VOVD that the bodies of murdered residents of his village lay on the territory of the military commandant’s office. These were the corpses of Khamzat Baluev and Arbi Magomadov. The district inspector informed the relatives of the victims about this. On the same day, the remains were released for burial without request. The dead bore traces of torture with hot metal and puncture wounds. The fingers of both were broken with a blunt object, and Khamzat Baluev’s fingernails were torn out. Both corpses had gunshot wounds.
Regarding the murder of the residents of Gekhi-Chu, their relatives did not file complaints anywhere, since the crime was allegedly committed on the territory of the former boarding school in the city of Urus-Martan, where the region’s security forces are stationed. They considered that it would be unsafe for themselves. According to relatives, Khamzat Baluev and Arbi Magomadov did not participate in armed resistance to Russian troops. The reasons for their detention and murder remain unknown.
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Having blocked the village of Bachi-Yurt from all sides, the military began a “cleansing” operation, which lasted three days. They carried out the operation according to a well-established scenario: they brought men to the outskirts of the village, to the place of their temporary deployment, regardless of their age. Among the detainees were teenagers, young men, and elderly people. Each of them was forced to walk past a UAZ car with tinted windows, turning their faces and forcing them to look straight out the window. Perhaps there was a person sitting there who was supposed to identify someone.
Among those detained was mentally disabled Nokhcho Saiev, born in 1975. Since he did not speak Russian at all and barely spoke Chechen, the military decided that he was an Arab. The mother tried to convince them not to take her son and even climbed onto the APC herself, but she was beaten and thrown down.
During the “cleansing”, the military carried out “searches”: they removed audio and video equipment, clothing, gold jewelry and other valuables from houses. The major took away the documents for the car from a resident of the village of Novogroznensky, who found himself in the cordoned off zone by accident, promising to return them if he received a video recorder in return. The victim turned to the general in command of the military. He lined up the officers and invited the Chechen to identify the robber. The major stood in the row, but the man he had robbed was afraid to point at him. At that moment, documents were handed over to him secretly from the general. A resident of Oyskhara was forced to declare that he could not identify his offender.
The main events took place on November 29. On this day, a large number of military personnel headed to the bank of the Gansol River, which flows through the village. They acted, most likely, on a tip, on someone's denunciation. Judging by their confident behavior, they knew for sure that there was a cave there. Four people were hiding in it for a long time - Maskhud Mukhametovich Yangulbaev, born 1965, Pakhrudi Saladievich Edigov, born 1972, Arbi Alievich Edigov, born 1976, and Nazarbek Sultanovich Askhabov, born 1979. Village residents later said that these four took part in the 1994-1996 war. Without warning, the military opened fire on the cave, and shots were fired from there in response. During the ensuing battle, all four Chechens died. According to eyewitnesses of the events, there were also losses on the part of the Russian military.
All the Bachi-Yurt residents detained during the “cleansing” were released. Some were released on the first day, the rest three days later, after the special operation officially ended. However, everyone who was in the hands of the military was subjected to violence to one degree or another, often just beating. Local residents could not say anything about a certain Arab, allegedly an assistant to the Chechen commander Khattab, who, according to Russian media reports, was detained in Bachi-Yurt. Nobody saw him here. It is possible that Nokhcho Saiev, who did not speak Russian and was eventually released, was given away as him. Or maybe an Uzbek, allegedly detained during the operation. Who he was and what he did in the village is unknown to the Memorial Human Rights Center.
The “cleansing” was carried out under the leadership of the head of the department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic of the Kurchaloevsky district, Oleg Anatolyevich Slitoshenko.
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In the Leninsky district of Grozny, the military carried out a “cleansing” operation. During the special operation, contrary to the order of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation No. 46 of July 27, 2001, employees of the civil administration, prosecutor's office, and local police were not present.
The “cleansing” began around 9 a.m., when most people had already gone to work. The doors of apartments whose owners were absent were broken into. During the inspection, the military took away the valuables they liked. In particular, on Kirova Avenue, the apartment of an employee of the city power grid, Oleg Akhmedovich Umayev, was robbed. Cases have been recorded of soldiers committing robberies in the presence of their owners. They took all the food from a woman who was selling next to the entrance to her house.
During the “cleansing” in the 4th microdistrict, Tamerlan Delimbekovich Dzhanaraliev, born in 1975, who lived at the address: Dyakova St., 28, apt. 26, disappeared. There were no direct witnesses to his arrest: on the night before his disappearance, his wife and their children spent the night at their parents’ house. It is unknown which unit carried out the operation. According to the descriptions of the residents of the microdistrict, most likely these were RUBOP employees (republican or sent from other regions).
Signs of Tamerlan Dzhanaraliev: height 175 cm, weight 95 kg, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes; there is a scar on the left upper lip, and three gold crowns on the left upper jaw; according to his mother, Nakhalu Visataeva, he lisped slightly. The Memorial Human Rights Center accepted a statement from the mother in early March 2006. At that time, she still knew nothing about the fate of her son. Memorial Human Rights Center does not have any more recent information.
Nahapu Visitaeva contacted many structures and many people. In particular, she submitted applications to the ICRC, addressed to Akhmad Kadyrov, to the prosecutor's offices of Grozny and Argun, as well as to the place of disappearance of Tamerlan Dzhanaraliev - to the prosecutor's office and the Department of Internal Affairs of the Leninsky district of Grozny, to the State Duma of the Russian Federation and even to the ECHR.
Nahapu Visitaeva said that her son did not participate in hostilities in either the first or second war. The prosecutor's office of the Leninsky district initially opened a criminal case, but allegedly due to the impossibility of identifying the persons involved in the crime, it was suspended. Relatives appealed to the court against the inaction of the prosecutor's office.
From the book “People Live Here”, Usam Baysaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006.
