The bodies of Chechen mujahedeen who were killed in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya on August 8, were not handed over to their relatives, but were instead buried in unmarked graves without the observance of Muslim funeral rites.

According to Kavkaz-Uzel, the parents of one of the shaheeds (insaAllah) were told that they had to pay 6,000 rubles (around 160 Euros), for the burial of their son.

“My close friends told me a shocking story about one of those killed on August 8 in Grozny. They claim that on August 18 at a cemetery under the capital, the bodies of the killed rebels were buried in a pit. The funeral team of several people with a bulldozer dug a pit and dumped the dead bodies, and then leveled the ground leaving a small mound,” said the head of one of the local non-governmental Chechen organizations.

“Some bottles with a note that was inscribed with the names of the killed were thrown into the graves. The worst thing that the Russian minions did was they brought the parents of one of the alleged mujahideen to the cemetary and forced to watch the burial process from the side. They were not even allowed to see the body of their son. Only after the body had already been buried were they told that their son was in certain a grave, which was located at a certain distance. Then the occupiers demanded 5,800 rubles for the burial. The parents gave 6,000 rubles and the funeral team left,” said a local human rights activist.

The correspondent of Kavkaz-Uzel noted that the bodies of the dead mujahedeen were given to relatives, who swore they would not bury them in Muslim cemetaries. The occupiers puppets also forbid the familes from arranging memorial ceremonies (tezet) for them.

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco