Abductors of Chechen prosecutors established

People who organized the abduction of the officials of the Chechen Prosecutor's Office Nadezhda Pogosova and Aleksey Klimov have been ascertained, head of the press service of the North Caucasian Police Directorate Tamerlan Kazikhanov reported on January 9.

"The prosecutors' abduction was organized by members of Payzulayev's unit. Actions to detain those unit members who are still free are being taken. Three detainees are being checked now for their complicity in other crimes," Mr. Kazikhanov said.

On January 8, the police detained three local residents within the framework of the "Vikhr-Antiterror" operation in the village of Pervomayskaya, Chechnya's Grozny district. The detainees are an 18-year-old native of the village of Makazhoy, the Vedeno district, a 21-year-old native of Grozny, and a 31-year-old native of the village of Shatoy, the Shatoy district.

"It has been established that on December 27, 2002, the detainees abducted the Chechen prosecutor's aide Nadezhda Pogosova and deputy prosecutor of the Shatoy district on the Grozny-Goragorsk road and held them in captivity. The hostages were released in Ingushetia on November 14, 2003.

Editors note: See also the article "Two prosecutors taken hostages a year ago were released in Chechnya".