Imam's abduction scene relocated

Chechnya's law enforcement agencies maintain that no one abducted an imam of one of the mosques in the district centre Achkhoi-Martan and that no protest actions with a demand of his release were held in front of the district administration.

"This information is not true," an officer of Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry told Caucasian Knot's correspondent. "An incident with an imam actually took place in Samashki, Achkhoi-Martan district. An imam of the local mosque, Akhmed Abdullayev, was abducted from his home by armed people in camouflage uniforms. The next morning, a group of believers gathered near the mosque. They demanded Abdullayev's release. He was allowed to go in the afternoon."

Caucasian Knot earlier reported that spontaneous public meeting was under way in front of the building of the Achkhoi-Martan district administration on 3 December. Residents of Achkhoi-Martan demanded that an imam at a local mosque, abducted earlier supposedly by officers of a law enforcement or security agency, should be released. However, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society reported another name of the abducted imam: Ali Khaskhanov. Unknown people in masks driving several cars had seized him, threatening weapons, and brought him away. Hundreds of people gathered to hold the public meeting to protect him.

• Local residents demanding imam's release