Utter abuse causes protest

About 150 residents of Borozdinovskaia, Shelkovskaia district, Chechnya, blocked the federal motorway Kavkaz ("Caucasus") on Wednesday, 8 June, at the crossing with the road from Kizlyar, Dagestan, to Grozny, Chechnya, not far from a police checkpoint, the press service of the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax.

The people demanded that the eleven residents of the village detained last Sunday in a special operation conducted by servicemen of the Chechen special battalion Vostok ("East") under Sulim Yamadayev's command should be released. Besides, they demanded that those servicemen of the battalion who are guilty of the death of one village resident should be held accountable.

The road was blocked for several hours. Representatives of the Kizlyar District Division of Internal Affairs, Dagestan's Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the republican government came to meet the protesters. The road was unblocked after the negotiations, says the Internal Affairs Ministry. At the same time, the picketers did not go away staying in the immediate proximity of the motorway.

Residents of Borozdinovskaia, mostly ethnic Dagestanis, say a special operation was conducted in the village by servicemen of the Vostok battalion on 5 June. As a result, eleven village residents were detained and brought away without the destination indicated; besides, four houses were burnt down and the body of a 77-year-old village resident was later found in one of them, says NEWSru.com.

• Hooliganism threatens lives
• Abuse across Chechnya

More about Chechnya:

• EU Fails to Take Action
• Under the Sign of Kadyrov