Statement by Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship on murder of Society's volunteer in Chechnya

Early in the morning of 16 January 2004, the dead body of Aslan Davletukayev, a volunteer for the Interregional Public Organization "Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship", was found by a reconnaissance company of one of the Russian military units on the roadside near the town of Gudermes. The body had traces of violent death and torture.

We call your attention to extracts from the statement made by the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship on the occasion of the murder of Aslan Davletukayev.

"(...)

Criminal case #35002 was opened by the Gudermes district prosecutor's office in connection with the murder of Davletukayev. The case is led by investigator Andrey Rotov.

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The Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship is inclined to think that the reason for the abduction and further murder of Aslan Davletukayev might have lain in his human rights activity. (...) The Society rates the abduction and murder of Aslan Davletukayev as another act of state terror against people of the Chechen Republic and as another episode in the chain of physical extermination of political and ideological opponents by the regime.

It must be noted that Aslan is already the fourth activist of the Society murdered since 2000. And the complicity of Russian security agencies in at least two of these four deaths is evident and in the other two seems to be the most probable. One more volunteer for the Society, Artur Akhmatkhanov, has been in the missing list since April 2003, when he was abducted by Russian servicemen in the Chechen town of Shali. It is needless to say that no one of the above-mentioned crimes has been investigated and no one of the guilty has been punished.

It is also worthy of notice that already ten days have passed but the criminal case has never been brought into the office of the judge advocate, despite clear evidence of Russian servicemen's complicity in the murder of Davletukayev. (...)

The Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship appeals to all of its partners, representatives of public, state and international organizations and the mass media to do their best to put strong pressure on state structures of the Russian Federation aimed at securing effective investigation into the abduction and murder of Aslan Davletukayev and bringing the criminals to account.

Editors note: See also the article "Volunteer of Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship killed".