23:59, 26 January 2005

Policeman accused of kidnapping, arrested in courtroom

The trial against Sergey Lapin (better known under the nickname of Kadet), who is suspected of kidnapping Zelimkhan Murdalov in 2004, is underway. On January 25, the Oktyabrsky Court of Grozny made a decision to take Sergey Lapin into custody straight in the courtroom.

"In 2001, officer of the Khanty-Mansiysk OMON special police force Sergey Lapin, who held a post in a temporary police department in Grozny, illegally arrested resident of Chechnya Zelimkhan Murdalov, tortured him inflicting severe injuries on the man, and then took him away in an unknown direction. Murdalov's further destiny is unknown. Lapin claims he set him free. Zelimkhan's relatives think he was killed," a source at the Chechen prosecutor's office said to a Caucasian Knot correspondent.

The Oktyabrsky Court has received an application from a woman who is a principal witness in the Lapin case. She refused to appear before the court and give evidence because she feared for her life. Military men threaten the woman with physical violence, some sources say.