Ingushetia: detainee's relatives complain that he is tortured

Residents of Ingushetia have informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that power agencies of the Republic are fabricating a criminal case against their relative Ruslan Terkakiev, 23, and subject him to torture.

On November 20, the press service of the Department of the Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) for the Republic of Ingushetia announced initiation of a criminal case against Ruslan Terkakiev under the Articles "Participation in an illegal armed formation" and "Illegal purchase, storage and bearing of firearms, ammunition and self-made explosives" of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Ruslan's brother said that on November 18, at about 5:00 p.m. at "Volga-16" checkpoint, located on the "Kavkaz" Federal Highway, Ruslan was detained, without any arrest order and explanation of the reasons, by agents of the FSB Departments for Ingushetia and Chechnya supported by the MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs) of Ingushetia.

"My brother was in a taxi, when they were stopped at the checkpoint; both were dragged out of the car and brought to the FSB building in the city of Magas. The taxi driver was detained too. They were placed into some wooden trailers and incessantly beaten and tortured. The taxi driver tried to explain that he was just transporting a passenger, but, in spite of it, he was kept there for the whole day and then released but never got his car back. We didn't know about the brother, but on the following day he made a call and said that he was detained. My brother was tortured by electricity from some special pistol. He was brought to Chechnya and North Ossetia. As he said, he was severely tortured all the time," said the brother of Ruslan Terkakiev.

"My brother isn't a criminal," Ruslan Terkakiev's relative was sure. He thinks that the criminal case was forged. As he said, Ruslan was engaged in small business in the marketplace in Malgobek together with his mother, who has already suffered from insult. Next week, Ruslan was going to ask his bride in marriage.