December 11, 2001

***
Late in the evening in the village of Avtury, unknown persons knocked on the Gakishevs’ house. They called Bislan Gakishev and shot him right in the yard. At one time, Bislan worked as a security guard for Adam Deniev, and it is possible that the murder is connected precisely with this fact in his biography.

A fellow villager of the murdered man, Adam (Shamallu) Deniev, was Akhmad Kadyrov’s deputy in the Chechen administration and was responsible for “relations with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.” For a long time he called himself “Mahdi”, i.e. savior, and “caliph” - the leader of all Muslims. Grouped around him were people who supposedly took an oath of allegiance. They also spread rumors about his ability to perform miracles, including reviving the dead. However, it quickly became clear that behind the guise of a “savior and leader” was an ordinary charlatan. In 1994, a 16-year-old boy, who believed in the omnipotence of Adam Deniev, tried to convince others of this and fatally stabbed himself. Relatives demanded that the “Mahdi Caliph” revive him. He went into the room where the corpse lay, stayed there for several minutes and, coming back, declared: “He is in heaven, because he died for me, and categorically refuses to return to our sinful earth.” The relatives of the deceased declared blood feud against him, and law enforcement agencies began a criminal investigation. Adam Deniev took refuge in Moscow.

Adam Deniev was born in 1960 in the village of Avtury. In 1985 he graduated from the Makhachkala Financial College, and in 1991 from the Chechen-Ingush State University with a degree in economics. Until 1991, he worked in various positions at the Avturinsky state farm. He began to engage in social and political activities in the late 80s of the 20th century, and in 1990 he became one of the organizers of the Islamic Renaissance Party. At its founding conference at the end of 1990, he was elected head of the North Caucasus branch. The party became a conductor of ideology, later called Wahhabi. Two years later, he was removed from office for criticizing the Sufi trend in Islam, traditional in Chechnya, and calling for armed confrontation with it. By that time, independence had been declared in the republic, so such actions could not help but be perceived as pro-Russian. According to some reports, after this Adam Deniev went to Iraq to study theology. He returned home in 1994, when the internal opposition, with the help of Moscow, began preparing the armed overthrow of Dzhokhar Dudayev. A radical change occurred in his “views”: yesterday’s fundamentalist turned into a Sufi. And not just a Sufi, but the main one among them. He declared himself “the only plenipotentiary representative in Russia and the former USSR of the descendant of the founder of Islam, the Prophet Magomed - the head of the World Order of Al-Qadariyat, Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Kerim Al-Kasnazani Al-Husseini,” with the right to interpret the texts of the Koran and Hadith.

The exoticism of Adam Deniev was emphasized by his clothes. He wore an Arab robe, unprecedented for Chechnya, over an ordinary suit of European cut. His political steps were no less exotic. In July–August 1994, he announced the founding of the movement “For the National Revival of the Chechen People,” and at the end of August of the same year he elected himself head of the “government for the salvation of the Chechen people.” However, few of the residents of Chechnya knew about this. And Adam Deniev himself was then still unknown to the general public. He gained a bit of fame thanks to the story of the “unwilling to be resurrected” young man.

Perhaps it was in Moscow that Adam Deniev began his final collaboration with the Russian intelligence services. And no longer hiding it. He was seen several times in an officer's uniform. And already during the first war (1994 - 1996) he worked in the government of Doku Zavgaev, held various positions in it and, apparently, carried out delicate assignments. Thus, it was Adam Deniev who was accused of murdering foreign doctors from the Red Cross mission in the village of Novye Atagi in December 1996. The request of the CRI authorities to extradite the suspect, supported by serious evidence, was ignored by Russian law enforcement agencies.

In March 1999, when the Russian leadership began to seriously discuss the possibility of resuming hostilities in the North Caucasus, Adam Deniev announced the creation of a “Chechnya government in exile” under his leadership. In early 2000, journalist Andrei Babitsky accused him of involvement in his own kidnapping. Employees of the Russian special services handed the journalist over to the relatives of the “caliph”, imitating an exchange with the subordinates of the Chechen commander Ruslan Gelayev. Subsequently, he himself did not deny that Andrei Babitsky was in his hands. He only added that it was only because of his “authority” that the journalist’s life was saved.

In the summer of 2000, Adam Deniev was considered as a candidate for the post of head of the pro-Russian administration of Chechnya. However, the choice fell on Akhmad Kadyrov, and he received the post of deputy for Muslim countries. In the fall of 2000, while trying to extort a large sum of money in Moscow, the head of a bank (Chechen) shot Adam Gazi Deniev's brother. An FSB colonel's ID was found in the victim's pocket.

On April 12, 2001, Adam Deniev was killed. He was blown up while speaking on television in his native village. Unknown persons planted a mine in the attic of the house from where the transmission was being made. Akhmad Kadyrov said that the death of his deputy was a contract killing committed on the orders of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. However, this could also be a simple settling of scores on the part of the people affected by him. Adam Deniev and his subordinates were engaged in identifying participants in the Chechen resistance, participated in operations carried out by Russian troops and special services, and in this capacity made many enemies for themselves.

***
In the village of Katayama, a group of armed people in camouflage uniforms and masks, under the pretext of a “targeted cleanup”, broke into the home of 74-year-old Abubakar Sardalov (Shefskaya St., 89). Having brought the owner of the house and his 50-year-old daughter Raisa to their knees, the military searched the house. During the search, one of the soldiers held the residents of the house at gunpoint. The military accompanied their actions with rude, obscene words, demanded to show where the militants were hiding, and threatened to shoot them. They took a wallet from Raisa's bag, which contained: 200 US dollars, two thousand rubles, diamond earrings and a ring. In previous “cleansing operations,” the “federals” took away the Sardalovs’ TV, carpets, furniture, and dishes, so this time there was nothing more to profit from.

The “special operation to detain a militant” was filmed on video camera. The military surrounded the bathhouse in the courtyard and began shouting: “Come out! Give up!" Then they broke down the door and ran inside. There was no militant there. On the same day, checks were carried out on the streets of Shcherbakov, Saltykov-Shchedrin and others (three or four houses were checked on each street). On Shefskaya Street, the military searched the house of Borzi Eskiev, an employee of V. Kalamanov’s bureau. None of the residents were detained, but many lost their property.
The next day, Raisa Sardalova went to the district prosecutor's office with a complaint about unlawful actions and robbery. There she was told that the operation was carried out based on operational information that a militant was hiding in their house. In response, Raisa said that there was no need to look for militants in her wallet. The republican (Chechen) unit, part of the GRU structure, refused to accept the statement, citing the fact that their employees did not take part in this action.

***
From December 11 to 19, units of federal forces carried out a “cleansing operation” in the city of Argun. The city was completely blocked. Administration officials tried to prevent the arbitrariness of the military, but their strength was unequal. Local police officers did not interfere with the “cleansing” process, fearing for their lives and freedom.

Just like in other settlements, the military in Argun robbed the local population, and there were attempts at rape. Residents could not inform the command about the robberies and robbery of the military, because movement within the city was completely blocked, military equipment was stationed at almost every intersection.

On December 13, the military entered the territory of the restored thermal power plant and destroyed it. On December 17, after the blockade of the city was lifted and military equipment had left the city, the gas pipeline was fired upon; the city was left without gas for several days.

On December 14, an employee of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” managed to get into the settlement from the side of the bridge on its western outskirts. Interviewing local residents, he reached the roundabout in the city center and further - to the streets along the highway leading to Gudermes. He stayed at his friends' house until lunchtime the next day.

The informant reported that he saw how the military robbed local residents on K. Marks and Zavodskaya streets. In one place, before his eyes, they took a television out of the house and put it in a UAZ car without registration plates. In another, they put some things wrapped in a blanket in an armored personnel carrier.

Lugovaya, Stepnaya, Zavodskaya, K. Marx, Uglovaya, Pushkina, Novaya, Sakharozavodskaya and other streets were clogged with armored vehicles and soldiers. There were very few local residents and mostly only women.

At the entrance to the city, immediately beyond the bridge over the Argun River, an employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center saw a tented Gazelle car, part of the registration number: 166. The car slid into a roadside ditch, the doors on both sides were open. He didn't notice the driver. The informant believed that he had been captured by the Russian military.

An employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center spent the night of December 15 at the house of his relatives. They said that the “cleansing” in the city of Argun was preceded by shooting. They heard the first shots on December 11 at about 12.30 from the direction of Gagarin Street and the Sakharozavodsky village. According to them, the shooting was carried out by military personnel who arrived there in three infantry fighting vehicles. Relatives of an employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center claimed that there was no attack on the military. Already in the morning of December 9, Argun was flooded with troops. Several armored personnel carriers and Ural military vehicles were, for example, on the corner of their house. Equipment and soldiers stood at the intersections of the main streets of the city and were stationed along the Grozny-Gudermes road, which runs through the entire city. In the area from the roundabout to the eastern outskirts of the city, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles took up combat positions in a roadside ditch at a distance of no more than 100 meters from each other. The military also stood near the central mosque and cafe.

On December 9, armored vehicles approached the city from the railway and stopped a few tens of meters from the houses of local residents. The Argun residents with whom the Memorial HRC employee had a chance to talk did not believe that the militants attacked a military convoy. They considered the shooting in the city to be an imitation of military operations to justify subsequent harsh measures against the population. This version was indirectly confirmed by the fact that during the shootout in the area of the central mosque, the military was filming; at the same time they felt calm and did not seek shelter. The “cleansing” began and was carried out with particular frenzy in the northeastern part of the city. These are the streets and alleys near which an employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center passed on the first day of his stay in Argun. The shooting took place in the Sakharozavodsky village, located one and a half to two, or even more kilometers to the south.

On December 15, at about 11 a.m., he witnessed how the military got into a foreign-made SUV and drove towards the city outskirts. Later it was possible to find out that the foreign car belonged to Vakhid Khamidovich Daudov, born in 1960, head of the security service of the Vainakh-Avia company (lived at 102 Lenin St.). He tried to take his wife, Birlant Sadulayeva, to the hospital, but was stopped on the street by the military, allegedly to check documents. The military looked through Vakhid Daudov's passport and returned it to its owner. But at that time other servicemen drove up to them in a Ural car. They also demanded a passport, and then offered to go with them to a filter point located next to the Argun quarry. When the wife asked where and why they were taking her husband, they replied that they would check the documents through the computer and let him go. Accompanied by the Ural, Vahid Daudov went to the quarry. This was seen by women - wives, sisters and mothers of the detained people, who gathered in the hope of their release near the administration building of the city of Argun. Birlant Sadulayeva remained on the road. She never had a chance to see her husband again. After being detained by the Russian military, he disappeared without a trace.

On the same day, an employee of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” visited the city market (on December 13-15, when the “cleansing” became less severe, it started working again), the mosque and some streets where his friends lived. At the market, he witnessed how the military, who arrived in armored vehicles, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded that the few saleswomen give them up to 13 hours of bazarkom (market leader). Otherwise, they threatened to destroy the shopping arcades “to smithereens.” The military threw food and items for sale onto the ground. An employee of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” does not know how it all ended, since before the expiration of the ultimatum he left Argun for Grozny.

Many city residents refused to talk about the events that took place in the city during the “cleansing”: they were scared and did not trust anyone. But those who nevertheless dared to testify emphasized that the military broke into houses and, finding men there, offered to pay them off with money or jewelry. Most of those detained are those who were unable to pay for themselves. Subsequently, many of them were released by the military. However, the fate of the people captured in the first days of the “cleansing” (December 11 and 12) was tragic. On December 13, near the gravel pit where the headquarters of the group of troops deployed in Argun was located, seven corpses were brought in a tented Ural. The military forced young men who were detained that day in various parts of the city to get into the car. After their release, they said that during transportation to the quarry, the military forced them to lie on the dead people and hug them. At the same time, there were threats to do the same to them. The corpse of one of the dead was headless, the other had no eyes, most likely they had been cut out or squeezed out. On the chest of the third corpse, in the area of the heart, there was a huge hole. For one and a half days, these corpses were in the back of the car. The military allegedly tried to get a ransom for them, but then for some reason unloaded them at the quarry. The corpses were later taken to the central mosque for identification. There they were photographed in case they were buried without identification. However, six corpses were identified by relatives immediately. The seventh could not be identified. Relatives refused to name the names of the killed people, citing the fact that the “cleansing” in Argun continues and after testifying no one will be able to guarantee their safety. It is only known that all those killed were residents of the northeastern part of Argun, adjacent to the railway, its oldest and most densely populated area.

On December 15, around noon, an employee of the Memorial Human Rights Center left the city. He gave the military 100 rubles for passing through the checkpoint. The same amount was paid to them upon entering Argun. On December 19 he returned to Argun again. According to him, on that day, local residents went to the gravel pit to find the corpses of seven missing men. It is possible that there were more killed during the “cleansing”, since during the blockade of the city there were many passing cars and buses. Nobody knows anything about the fate of the people in them. On December 17, after the blockade was lifted and the armored vehicles left the city, the military fired at the gas pipeline and left people without heating for several days. However, on December 13, they broke into the territory of the thermal power plant, which had been restored by that time, and destroyed it.

After the cleanup was completed, Memorial Human Rights Center staff managed to talk to some of the victims. So, on December 15, in the morning, Russian military personnel, who arrived in armored personnel carriers and Ural vehicles, entered the yard of the writer Musa Mutaev, born in 1956, living at 251 Kalinina Street. They searched the house, looking through his belongings books, handwritten texts and videotapes. The military ate and threw on the floor the food put out by the owners on the eve of the holiday of the end of the month-long fast of Eid al-Fitr. Then they ordered all the men who were in the house to go outside, where they were put in a Ural and taken to a temporary filtration point. Together with Musa Mutaev, the following were detained: his brother; two nephews and a son, Murat Musaevich Mutaev, born in 1979. There were already dozens of detained Argun residents at the filtration point. They were outraged that among those arrested was a writer, a person who had nothing to do with either the war or politics. One of the military men, who had a high rank, perhaps General Nikolai Bogdanovsky, who led this operation, became interested in this fact. He asked where the writer was, and when Musa Mutaev was pointed out to him, he approached him. The military man asked: “Are you a writer?” When he answered that yes, they say, it was me, without hiding his mockery, he began to say that he had never thought that the Chechens had writing, creative people. “You don’t look like a writer,” he added. “That’s why I won’t let you go.” We'll check you like everyone else. So that my fellow countrymen would not be offended. And then we’ll see what to do with you.” Musa Mutaev replied that he did not need mercy. The military brought the documents and videotape that had been seized from him into the tent and checked them. Apparently, they did not find anything reprehensible, since they returned the documents to the writer, his brother and nephews. They said that they were letting them go, but for some reason they decided to leave Murat Mutaev, Musa’s son, in the quarry. Perhaps this was due to the fact that he had already been detained once by employees of the Russian security forces of the Russian Federation. As Murat Mutaev himself later said, the military put him in an armored personnel carrier and took him to the bushes growing along the Argun River. There they dropped him off and tied his hands. Then they threw a wire over the branch of a bush around his neck and began to pull him up. The military lifted the young man so that he touched the ground only with his toes, and then, when he began to choke, they loosened the noose. At the same time, they asked him questions about militants, weapons depots and people sympathizing with the warring Chechen side. When he answered that he knew nothing, the torture was repeated. The military removed the noose from the exhausted Murat Mutaev and put him in a small hole that they dug next to the river. Then they covered the head with gravel and sand. On this day it was snowing heavily, there was a blizzard and it was very cold. The military compacted the gravel, and then, when Murat began to lose consciousness, they dug up his face. Demanding to tell where the militants were, they threatened that they would bury the young man alive if he did not tell the “truth.” They repeated the instillation procedure several times. Realizing that Murat Mutaev knew nothing about the members of the VF of the ChRI, or about where they were hiding their weapons, the military decided to let him go. However, they were unable to remove his handcuffs because sand had clogged the key hole. The military man on the armored personnel carrier, apparently a senior officer, was hurrying the one who was trying to remove the handcuffs. In the end, he managed to do this, and, leaving the completely frozen Murat Mutaev by the river, they drove off towards the quarry.

The torture and abuse of Mutaev continued for several hours. At the moment when he was released, it was already starting to get dark. It was necessary to quickly get to the city, since with the onset of the so-called. curfew, if discovered by the military, his chances of surviving would be minimal. Murat Mutaev stood up with difficulty and moved towards the river. He had to cross it in two places: in one the water reached his knees, in another place he even had to swim. Having crossed to the other side, he went to the so-called. Indian village. Through the dense curtain of snow ahead of him, he saw armored vehicles and military personnel warming themselves by fires, apparently standing in a cordon. It was still quite far from them, however, they noticed him. There was a roar from the engine. After which an armored personnel carrier began to approach the place where Murat Musaev was. He hastened to take cover: he went down to the river bed and there, in the lowland, lying down, covered himself with snow. The armored personnel carrier stopped at the top not far from the place where Musaev hid. However, the military did not notice him, perhaps due to the heavy snowfall and the already deepening twilight. Soon the armored personnel carrier drove towards the deployment of Russian units.

Murat Mutaev decided not to take any more risks. Without going up, he walked along the river bed to the nearest house and there, going ashore, he ran into it. The owners of the house let him warm up, gave him warm clothes and, putting him in their car, took him home. This happened at approximately 17:00.

On the same day (December 15), the Russian military took away from their house the Mutaevs’ neighbor, the father of four children, welder Sharpudi Badrutsinovich Madaev, born in 1965. (Kalinina st., 23). His whereabouts as of February 2006 were unknown. According to his wife, Khava Madaeva, upon entering the house, the first thing the military did was ask the men. There was no one else there except my husband. Insulting him, they first took him to the quarry, where they also took other detainees, but from there, a day later, they allegedly took him to the city commandant’s office. Relatives and neighbors witnessed the abduction. According to them, the soldiers were in camouflage uniforms and wearing masks; arrived in an armored personnel carrier. No documents were presented. Their ethnicity is Russian.

In search of the kidnapped person, relatives contacted the police and the prosecutor's office. On April 13, 2002, the Argun city prosecutor's office opened criminal case No. 78040 on the fact of the abduction. But after two months, namely on July 13, 2002, it was suspended. Subsequently, it was resumed again and suspended again. However, until the beginning of 2006, the relatives did not go to court regarding the inaction of the prosecutor's office. They did not file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

In total, more than a hundred people were detained on this day alone. Some of them, like Sharpudi Madayev, disappeared without a trace.
1-2. Khusain Kyurievich Butaev, born in 1981, and Zaur Zubairaevich Khizriev, born in 1980. Both lived in Argun on Karl Marx Street and were employees of the city police. On December 15 at 14.30, military men in camouflage uniforms and masks took them out of a VAZ-2106 car near the private security department of the Argun City Department of Internal Affairs and, transferring them to an infantry fighting vehicle (its number, according to relatives, is known), took them away in an unknown direction. Residents of nearby houses witnessed the abduction. The ethnicity of the kidnappers is Russian. The car they were in at the time of the abduction was later found crushed by a tank or other heavy military equipment near Khankala. There were no traces of blood in it.

Relatives of Khusain Butaev and Zaur Khizriev appealed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and the prosecutor's office. On February 10, 2002, criminal case No. 78023 was opened on the fact of the abduction. Two months later it was suspended, but then - on May 31 of the same year - it was resumed again. On June 30, 2002, it was suspended again. None of the relatives of the abducted persons went to court regarding the inaction of the prosecutor's office, nor did they file complaints with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. As of early 2006, the whereabouts of Khusain Butaev and Zaur Khizriev had not been established.

3. On December 14, the Russian military, who arrived in an armored personnel carrier with smeared license plates and a UAZ car, took Yakub Khamzatovich Dzhabrailov, born in 1981, from his home (Voroshilov St., 55). They checked the documents of all the residents and then detained the young man. The kidnappers did not introduce themselves and did not say where Yakub Dzhabrailov, captured by them, would be taken. They behaved rudely and used physical force. Signs of the abducted person: hair – brown, eyes – green. According to his father, he did not participate in hostilities. After contacting the prosecutor's office, a criminal case was initiated. But later he was suspended with the standard excuse: “due to the impossibility of identifying the persons involved in the crime.” No one went to court regarding the inaction of the prosecutor's office, and no complaint was filed with the European Court in Strasbourg. As of early 2006, the whereabouts of Yakub Dzhabrailov had not been established.

4. Suliman Borisovich Nushaev, born in 1983, lived in Argun at the address: Lenin St., 13/a. On December 15, he was taken away by masked soldiers who arrived in three armored personnel carriers and a Ural car without side or registration plates. They promised to release him immediately after checking the computer. Nushaev was last seen at a temporary filtration point in a gravel pit. People who were subsequently released said that Suliman Nushaev and several other detainees were taken away from there in a UAZ car.
Relatives contacted the Argun interdistrict prosecutor's office and the city commandant's office. In addition, they submitted applications to the head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic, to the prosecutor's office of the republic and to the military prosecutor's office. But he still failed to find out anything about the whereabouts of the kidnapped person. At the end of February 2006, he was considered missing. The only positive outcome of the appeals was the initiation of a criminal case, which, however, was resumed and then suspended several times. Suliman Nushaev had no special signs. According to his mother, he did not participate in hostilities.

5-6. Employees of the Vedensky District Department of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant Shaman Yusupovich Telkhigov, born in 1971, and Mairbek Mehtievich Temirgireev, born in 1965, were captured by military personnel traveling in an armored personnel carrier without a tail number. City residents became witnesses. According to them, after this the kidnappers drove towards the military base in Khankala. Both were considered missing for a long time. Moreover, on July 9, 2002, the prosecutor's office of the city of Argun opened criminal case No. 78070 on the fact of the abduction (Article 126, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of Shaman Telkhigov. Later, due to the “impossibility of identifying the persons involved in the crime” (Article 208, Part 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation), it was suspended. There is no information about the initiation of a criminal case regarding the abduction of Mairbek Temirgireev from the Memorial Human Rights Center. Subsequently, it became known that the corpses of these people were discovered near Khankala and reburied at the place of residence of their closest relatives - in the Vedeno district. But exactly when this happened is unknown.

7. Iskhadzhi Ismailovich Batukaev, born in 1971 (or 1973), lived at the address: Kagermanov St., 29. He was taken away by masked soldiers from his home. The kidnappers arrived in an armored personnel carrier without a tail number. They spoke Russian without an accent. They did not present documents and behaved rudely and cynically. Relatives suggest that these could have been employees of the city commandant's office. As of October 10, 2007, nothing was known about the further fate of the person they kidnapped. He disappeared.

Iskhadzhi Batukaev was born in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno. His characteristics: height 180 cm, weight 70 kg, dark hair, had a gold crown on one tooth. There were scars on the body after a truncated hernia, and on both arms there were traces of shrapnel wounds.

In search of the missing person, relatives contacted the police department and the prosecutor's office. Criminal case No. 78060 was opened on the fact of the abduction on May 10, 2002; On July 10, 2002 it was suspended. None of the relatives went to court regarding the inaction of the prosecutor's office. No complaint was filed with the European Court of Human Rights.

While trying to visit blockaded Argun, Luiza Betergirieva, a volunteer of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, died. From the very beginning of the second war, this organization has been monitoring the situation of human rights violations in the Chechen Republic. The military at the checkpoint did not let her into the city, and then, when the car in which she arrived turned around and began to drive away, they killed her with shots from behind.

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