Village 'cleaned-up' since mid-March

A special operation for passport checks (so-called "clean-up") has been under way in Katayama, Grozny, Chechnya, since mid-March, says the Human Rights Centre Memorial.

Four 25-year-old men were detained at about 6.00 pm on 18 March near school N49. In two hours three of them were released, while Ismail Mashtakov remained in custody.

On his way to the mosque at 6.00 am on 19 March, one of the former detainees, Karnakayev, was again detained. His relatives learnt about him only on 5 April when a prosecutor's office official suggested that they should take his body from a morgue in Mozdok, North Ossetia.

Some searches were conducted in Shefskaya St by a group of people in camouflage uniforms and without masks, presumably officers of Russian law enforcement / security agencies, on 5 April. Local residents say five more people were detained. Their names are so far unknown. The residents heard one of the military say by a two-way radio, "Gunned down one." Presumably, these words were about Adam Torshkhoyev, b. 1978, resident at 187 Shefskaya St. In a while, he was learnt to have really been killed. His body is at the Staropromyslovskii District Division of Internal Affairs in Grozny.

The brothers Tsechoeyev, Umar, b. 1970, and Ibrahim, b. 1971, who suffers congenital heart disease, were brought away from home at 4.00 am on 6 April. Ibrahim was released at about 3.00 pm, but his brother remained in custody.

• Just camouflage

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