Mother says Kadirov Kidnapped Her Daughter
Reuters reported, a Chechen mother accused puppet authorities in Chechnya on Friday of kidnapping her daughter, missing for five weeks in what rights groups say is part of a growing trend of abductions.
Forty-year old Zarema Gaysanova, a native Chechen who worked for the Danish Refugee Council in the regional capital Grozny, was taken from her home on Oct. 31, human rights groups say.
“I want them to give me back my daughter. I know the police and other law enforcement agencies took her away,” her mother, Lida Gaysanova, told Reuters by telephone from nearby Ingushetia, where she has fled out of fear for her own safety.
“We are so scared, the neighbours are horrified, absolutely everyone is shaking,” she added.
London-based Amnesty International said in a statement that “it appears that puppet law enforcement officials may have been responsible for (Gaysanova’s) abduction”.
Violence is sharply escalating in Chechnya, a mainly Muslim country on North Caucasus, where under Russian occupation in the last 15 years. The Council of Europe and Amnesty International say abductions and forced disappearances are on the rise.
Asya Malsagova, who heads a council dealing with the rights of prisoners in Chechnya, said regional puppet strongman Ramzan Kadirov, a Kremlin loyalist, was aware of the kidnapping but concrete details were unclear.
Amnesty said that prosecutors told Lida Gaysanova last month her daughter was alive.
“If they know she is alive, where is she?” the mother asked on Friday. She said the reason for her daughter’s alleged kidnapping was unclear.
Amnesty has called on authorities to order an immediate investigation to establish Gaysanova’s whereabouts and fate.
The rights group says most disappearances have been committed by law enforcement personnel, a charge Kadirov and the puppet government have systematically denied.
The non-governmental Danish Refugee Council, which has been active in Chechnya since 1997 and in whose logistics department Gaysanova worked, said in a statement it was concerned by her alleged abduction.
