September 16, 2001

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From September 16 to 22, a “cleansing” operation was carried out in the village of Kurchaloy. On the very first day, the Russian military discovered a large number of hidden weapons. Among those found was an Igla MANPADS. During the seizure of the cache, two members of the VF of the ChRI, presumably an Uzbek and an Arab, were killed. Three FSB officers were also killed.
The weapon was found in the Mechtaevs' yard. Of the entire family, only daughter-in-law Saset (nee Saydalieva) was there at that time. They detained her, put her in a car and, without telling her where, took her away. Relatives began searching for the kidnapped woman. They contacted the temporary and permanent departments of internal affairs of the district and the prosecutor's office. Everywhere they were told that they had no information about her whereabouts. From unofficial sources, however, it became known that she was taken to the FSB and will remain there until her husband, Ramzan Mechtaev, confesses. In other words, the woman, who was also pregnant, was being held hostage.

In total, 15 people were detained during the “cleansing”:
1–3. Musa Abubakarov, A. Sheripov St., and his sons: Akhmed and Adam;
4. Aslanbek Sovbanovich Soltakhanov, born 1956, Zapadnaya Street (his two sons were beaten by the military, but not detained);
5. Saset Mechtaeva (Saidalieva);
6. Adam Akhmadovich Visirkhanov, born in 1960;
7. Ismail Chuchaev;
8–9. Magomed-Emi Abdulkadyrov, born in 1977, and his uncle Aslambek Abdulkadyrov, born in 1966, both from Rechnaya Street;
10–12. three Ibragimov brothers: Aslambek, Mairbek and Danilbek, Rechnaya St.;
13–15. Tataev brothers: Alavdi Tap-Alievich, born 1964, Zhalavdi Tap-Alievich, born 1969, and Kantash Tap-Alievich, born 1973, all three from Kh. Nuradilov Street.
The father and two sons of the Abubakarovs were detained because a bloody machine gun was found in their garden, apparently abandoned by one of the militants escaping pursuit.

The basis for the capture of Ismail Chuchaev was a letter found in his possession in Arabic.

Magomed-Emi Abdulkadyrov was tortured, demanding that he take responsibility for the unsolved explosions. They told him that he needed to pin them on someone. According to the military, an explosive device was found on him. He himself, however, categorically denied this. Apart from him and the detained woman, everyone else was promised to be released. However, relatives of the detainees claimed that the condition of release was the surrender of machine guns: two for each person taken from the village.

Subsequently, this information was confirmed; the people were released after a ransom was paid for each in the amount of the value of one machine gun on the black market. Saset Mechtaeva (Saidalieva) was kept in custody the longest - about three weeks. She was in the FSB and, according to available information, she was treated very poorly there. The woman was released only after a ransom was paid for her in the amount of 12 machine guns.
The fate of Adam Visirkhanov was tragic. On the morning of September 22, he was taken directly from his home (21 Kirova Street) and subsequently disappeared. Based on the fact of his abduction (Article 126, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the prosecutor’s office of the Kurchaloevsky district opened criminal case No. 39090, which was then suspended twice under the same pretext: “due to the impossibility of identifying the persons to be brought as defendants” (Article 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR and Article 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This first happened on December 7, 2001, and then again, when, at the insistence of relatives, the order about this was canceled, already on November 7, 2002. As of the end of 2007, the whereabouts of this person had still not been established.

Nine months after the detention and subsequent disappearance of Adam Visirkhanov (more precisely, on the night of June 19, 2002), masked armed men also kidnapped his wife, Aminat Dokhtukaeva. As of November 2007, her whereabouts had not been established.

In 2005, another person detained in that “cleansing” operation, Aslanbek Soltakhanov, died. He never managed to recover from the torture and beatings he suffered.

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