Nukhazhiev: 300 persons buried in a mass grave in Chechnya

Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman for the Chechen Republic, has reported that about 300 human remains have been found buried in the Grozny District of Chechnya, near the territory of a former asphalt plant.

The Ombudsman was told by local residents about this new mass grave. Presumably, it contains remains of about 300 Chechen women, children and old men who in October 30, 1999, tried to leave the combat area and got under bombardment of federal troops.

"All the victims were refugees who tried to run away from skirmishes to other country regions," Mr Nukhazhiev said. "All the transport means in the column had white flags, so the troops should not have opened fire. But they did it as soon as the column moved up to the hill. After complete destruction of the whole group, soldiers buried the corpses together with their transport near a large asphalt plant."

Same as two weeks ago (when information appeared about a large mass burial in the Leninskiy District of Grozny), Nurdi Nukhazhiev has demanded from the authorities to immediately start the exhumation procedure and an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.