Purges in refugee camps

After 3 p.m. on June 23, 2004, over 100 officers of Ingush security agencies cordoned off the camp for refugees from the Chechen republic situated on the territory of a dairy farm in the village of Altiyevo. There are approximately 1,200 inhabitants in the camp. But only 300 of them have registration certificates, the others are taken off the books because of the authorities' policy of extruding the refugees to the territory of Chechnya.

All inhabitants of the camp, including women and under age people, underwent an examination, which was accompanied by beatings and abuses. Military men led all men to a wash-house, stripped them naked, searched and beat them. They threat them, "If you don't leave in two days, it will be bad for you!"

The special operation ended at 8:10 p.m. The military men detained 60 refugees of different sexes and ages and took them away. The detainees were conveyed to a temporary detention isolator. 23 people, mainly those ill or in years, were set free after awhile, some of them being fined for not having a registration certificate. As of 12:00 a.m. June 24, 37 people are still detained.

Similar special operations have been conducted in other places of compact residence of refugees from Chechnya. 27 people were detained and later released in the MTF 2 refugee center in the village of Nesterovskaya. 2 people were detained in the Logovas refugee center in the town of Nazran. The number of people detained in the village of Troitskaya is unknown.

Editors note: See also the article "Zyazikov denies conducting purges in Ingushetia".