Five young men abducted in Dagestan

On August 23, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. in Makhachkala (Dagestan) Islam Askerov, 1988, was abducted. Unidentified people wearing civil clothes beat him on the back of his head, put a plastic bag on his head and took away.

The same day at 10 p.m. Arsen, 1986, and Artur Butayev, 1986, were abducted. Circumstances of the abductions are similar: people in civil clothes blocked the road and without introducing themselves and showing no document told young men to leave the car and lay on the ground with faces down, put plastic bags on their heads. Then the abducted were put into a white passenger van "Gazel". Young men were taken into the building. They were tortured and beaten. They were being forced to admit participation in illegal armed groups. While torturing the attackers kept plastic bags on the heads of the victims. The people who tortured young men talked without local accent. They called each other "falcon" and "scorpion". Young men were kept in the building for several hours. Then they were put in the "Gazel" again. Two new young men, Gadji Gudaliev and Amiraslan Islamov, were in there. Memorial doesn't have information on the circumstances of the abduction of these two men.

The abducted were taken to the village of Zelenomorsk the is situated behind the airport "Makhachkala". They were put in their own car. Young men's hands were tied up with adhesive   tape, plastic bags were on their heads. Chloroform was spread into the car, the car was sluiced with petrol, smoke-puff charge was put on the driver's seat. Then the men drove off. Islam Askerov managed to free himself and Arsen Butayev. They threw the smoke-puff charge out of the car and ran away. Sound of the explosion attracted attention of the abductors. And they started to follow the young men. Fortunately, it was raining heavily and the abductor's car couldn't pass by the dirty road. Three other abducted men stayed in the car.

The run-away young men reached Kaspiysk and called their relatives. They went to the place where the car had been left and didn't find anybody there. There were only pieces of adhesive tape, mobile of one of the abducted and the explosion crater.

Relatives of the abducted applied to HRC Memorial. They ask to attract attention to the abduction and to help them find three other young men. They apprehend that they might be given the bodies of young men who would be claimed to have belonged to illegal armed groups. Relatives say that none of the young men practiced salafism (radical Islam) or member of any other totalitarian sect of extremist groups.

August 26, 2009