Criminal case on the fact of illegal detention during the "cleansing" of Starye Atagi: testimony of the victim

September 5, 2001

***
The Prosecutor's Office of the Grozny District opened a criminal case No. 191145 on the fact of illegal detention (Article 127, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of a disabled person of the second group, police veteran Salman Zelimkhanovich Khamzatov, born in 1935. Without any reason, he was taken away from home during the “cleansing” that took place in the village of Starye Atagi on January 14, 2001. In the testimony he gave to the employees of the HRC “Memorial”, it was said that on that day to his house in an armored personnel carrier Drunk Russian soldiers arrived with smeared numbers. The Lieutenant Colonel who led them refused to introduce himself. Threatening with weapons, they detained Salman Khamzatov, his two nephews and a relative, and took them to the headquarters of a group of troops located on the outskirts of the village. There they were laid face down on the frozen ground and kept in this position for several hours. Then they took him to the VOVD in Shali and beat him up.

Salman Khamzatov was released the same evening. One of his nephews was also released. From him, employees of the Russian law enforcement agencies took the word that he would get it somewhere and bring weapons. Only in this case, he was told, would two of his other relatives who remained in the militia be released. Together they drove to the village of Novye Atagi and decided to go to their village along the footbridge over the river. But on the other side of the Argun River, they came across the same military men and were detained again. Salman Khamzatov was released from the headquarters, and his nephew was taken to the same police department, brought to the investigator, who demanded to bring weapons, and released again on the same condition.

In order to rescue his nephews who remained in custody, Salman Khamzatov borrowed money from neighbors, on January 16 he bought two machine guns near the commandant's office of the Shali district from the military and handed them over to the VOVD.


From the book "People Live Here", Usam Baisaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006

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