Failure of investigation

Two years ago, officers of unidentified law enforcement or security agencies detained and abducted Mr Bashir Multsogov, b. 1975, resident in Karabulak, Ingushetia, the brother of Magomed Multsogov, a human rights defender and head of the autonomous non-profit-making organisation Mashr.

His whereabouts and further destiny have since remained unknown. Mr Multsogov's relatives have applied practically to all republican and federal courts and agencies. The Prosecutor's Office of Karabulak has opened a criminal case, but it has been suspended without Bashir's whereabouts established or his abductors identified.

Bashir was abducted by armed people in masks and camouflage uniforms in the presence of numerous passers-by in the centre of Karabulak on 18 December, 2003.

"We have conducted an investigation of our own and managed to learn the following: the abduction was carried out by officers of the Russian Federal Security Service's Department for the Republic of Ingushetia and the Mobile Unit of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry. On the next day after his abduction, Bashir was delivered to the military base in Khankala, Chechen Republic. Nothing has been heard of him since then," Mr Magomed Multsogov said.