June 6, 2001
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In the morning, two armored personnel carriers arrived at the outskirts of the village of Mairtup, Kurchaloy district. At this time, a local resident, born in 1979, was grazing sheep a few hundred meters from the settlement. According to relatives, shortly before this, the Russian military captured and took away two of his brothers. Beaten and bitten by service dogs, they returned the day before the described incident.
Noticing that the fighting vehicles were heading towards the place where the third son should be, his mother rushed to his rescue. She managed to run to him even before the approach of the military. The armored personnel carriers stopped in close proximity to the shepherd and his mother. The military, who were on the armor, asked for their commander on the radio. They reported that a woman and a "kid" were on the outskirts of the village and asked for instructions on how to proceed.
On the radio (this was well heard by the mother and son), an order was heard: “Shoot the woman, and take the boy to the unit.” After these words, the woman became ill, she lost consciousness. This and, apparently, the fact that people were already running to the scene from the direction of the village, saved her life. The military did not touch her. Picking up their son and two other shepherds, who happened to be close to this place, on an armored personnel carrier, they hastily left in the direction of the regional center Kurchaloy.
On the territory of the former road construction department, where the 33rd brigade was based
operational appointment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the shepherds were brought into a tent and, tied to an iron bed, they began to torture and beat them with electric shocks. The military sought from them information about the inhabitants of the village, which could be connected with the armed underground. After being tortured and beaten, the detainees were lowered into a pit. Without food and food, they were kept there for another day, and the next night they were taken out and thrown into the forest.
(The names and surnames of the shepherds are not given for their safety.)
Shamil, brother of the detained shepherd:
“On June 5, we were released, and on the second day, i.e. On June 6, the younger brother was taken away right in front of his mother. He was tending sheep. And the mother got worried when the armored personnel carriers drove into the village and went to him.
The APC drove right up to them. They say on the radio: “The guy is grazing sheep with his mother, what should I do?” They answer: "You can shoot the woman, deliver the boy to the unit." My brother and mother heard it all. And our mother is old, born in 1935, and she fainted. Then they again transmit: “Women are running at us from the village, my mother is fainting, what should we do?” Again, someone answers them harshly: “I told you: shoot the woman, deliver the boy immediately.”
They took three of them, and there were two more fellow villagers grazed cows - a young guy and an elderly man, he is over 50 years old. They were taken to the DRSU. There is an iron bed in the tent. They are tied to the bed, then metal rings are put on the fingers and toes and the current is connected. The brother was tortured for about an hour. He says he fainted several times. Heard: "That's it, turn it off, he seems to have already died." Well, they see that his eyes roll back, and they stop. Then they start torturing again.
It rained all day then. They were thrown into a pit three meters deep, one and a half by two meters wide. From a huge puddle on the street, water flows through a dug gutter into a hole. They stayed there for a day and a half. On the second night they were brought and thrown into the woods. Didn't feed, didn't drink. Only on the second day, when the sun shone directly in the eyes, one soldier covered the pit with slate. For this, they say, they threatened to throw him into the pit.”
***
In the afternoon, seven local residents were detained at the 20th precinct of the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. According to eyewitnesses, the Russian military took them to the crossroads of Kievskaya and Nagornaya streets and kept them there until the arrival of a car equipped to transport detainees. Memorial Human Rights Center does not know what happened to these people in the future.
***
In an apartment on the fifth floor, 13, Dudayev Boulevard (1st microdistrict of Grozny), two semi-decomposed corpses of young people, approximately 23–25 years old, were found. Both were wearing blue trousers and athletic shoes. One of them had patch pockets on his trousers. Next to them lay a sports jacket with blue and black stripes and a white skullcap.
The bodies were found by a resident of the city, who did not want to be named. But she said that she herself made their burial. According to her, she dug the grave in front of this house near the trailer.
***
In the city of Argun, a rally was held by local residents demanding the release of relatives detained by the Russian military during numerous “cleansing operations”. At least 150 people took part in the action, which took place near the city market.
From the book "People Live Here", Usam Baisaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006
