Front Line is deeply concerned following reports of the alleged kidnapping and beating of human rights defender Zurab Tsetchoev in Ingushetia on 25 July 2008. Zurab Tsetchoev is a member of Autonomous Non-Commercial Organisation (ANCO) Mashr, the Republic of Ingushetia's Association of Relatives of Missing Persons.
Further Information
Posted 30/7/2008 On 25 July 2008, Zurab Tsetchoev was kidnapped by unidentified security servicemen from his home in the village of Troitskaya, in the Sunzhensky district of Ingushetia. At approximately 6.00 am, three armed troops carriers, three 'Gazel' minibuses and a number of other vehicles, carrying approximately 50 persons, arrived at the home of Zurab Tsetchoev. They forced him to the ground and pointed guns at him. A number of the armed personnel entered his home and carried out an unwarranted search. They reportedly removed Zurab Tsetchoev's computer and two mobile phones. They took Zurab Tsetchoev away in a 'Gazel' minibus.
Relatives of Zurab Tsetchoev contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's office to try to establish his whereabouts but were informed that neither the Ministry nor the Prosecutor's office knew who had carried out the unwarranted search or taken him, nor on what grounds.
On 26 July 2008, at 12.40 am, Zurab Tsetchoev was left on a road between the Ingush towns of Magas and Nazran by the security services. Zurab Tsetchoev had been badly beaten and contacted colleagues who collected him and brought him to the offices of Memorial human rights organisation, before taking him to the Republican Clinical Hospital. At the hospital he was treated for a broken leg and contusions to the kidneys, arms and chest.
Zurab Tsetchoev made a complaint to the European Court for Human Rights regarding the ineffective investigation into the abduction of his brother, Tamerlan Tsetchoev, also a human rights defender, on 15 March 2004. It is believed that the kidnapping and beating of Zurab Tsetchoev, and the unwarranted search on his home, are related to his human rights activities.