NEW KADYROVITE CRIMES REPORTED

The Chechen National Salvation Committee reported on March 24 that two Chechen teenagers were detained by members of the local Anti-Terrorist Center and tortured. The committee cited a source who said that Bekkhan Makhmatkhadzhiev, 19, and Nurdi Bamataliev, 13, were detained on the outskirts of the Shali district village of Avtury on March 14, where they had driven to collect firewood. According to a source, the Anti-Terrorist Center personnel presented themselves to the boys as rebels and demanded food. When their demand was fulfilled, they detained, beat and tortured the boys for having assisted the rebels. The boys’ parents managed with great effort to get them freed, the committee reported.

Meanwhile, Kavkazcenter reported on March 25 that video recordings made by a mobile phone show men believed to be members of security units loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov beating up a girl who called them traitors and beating up a young man to force him to admit that weapons found in a house belong to him. The video of the boy shows him being beaten more severely each time he denies owning the weapons, the separatist website reported. Other reported mobile phone videos allegedly show security forces loyal to Kadyrov beating to death a Russian serviceman and stuffing several men into the trunk of a car, while another allegedly shows Ramzan Kadyrov and some of his associates in a sauna with prostitutes (see Chechnya Weekly, March 16 and 23).