Three local residents of Surhahi village in the Nazran district of Ingushetia have been abducted by security forces. The incident was reported by relatives of the victims.

“On August 5, between 5 and 6 a.m. a group of armed and masked men, dressed in dark colored camouflage uniforms, abducted my husband, Ibragim Tochiev who is 24-years old. They also abducted his 27-year old cousin, Zelimkhan Mutsolgov,” said Lajla Tochieva, Ibragim’s wife.

“On Wednesday evening, my husband and I went to visit his cousin Zelimkhan and prepare to attend a wedding the next day. At midnight, Ibragim and Zelimkhan were still helping with preparations for the wedding ceremony. Since it was so late, we decided to stay at the Mutsolgov home. In the early morning hours, both of them were abducted. The kidnappers behaved aggressively and verbally abused the women who were in the house. The abductors were driving three ‘VAZ-21099’ cars without plates,” added Lajla.

“It seemed that they already knew where my husband was sleeping. When they broke down the front door, they directly moved into our room. They started to beat Zelimkhan and began to insult and threaten me. They stole some money as well as some household items. They also seemed to be in a big hurry. From the other room, they took Zelimkhan’s cousin Ibragim,” told Zelimkhan Mutsolgov’s wife Fatima Mutsolgova.

“We have no doubt that they were members of the security forces. But we don’t understand why it happened. We don’t know what the intentions behind it were. We have been told by the Nazran police department that they have no information about the abductions,” said Lajla Tochieva.

Relatives of Mutsolgov and Tochiev said that on the same day, security forces kidnapped another resident of Surhahi, named Ilez Aushev. Relatives have appealed to local human rights defenders.

On August 7, the relatives of the victims held a protest in front of the government buildings in Magas. “It has been three days since my son and nephew were abducted and we still don’t know their fates. We are here to demand that the authorities get out there and find them,” said Tanzila Tochieva, Ibragim Tochiev’s mother.

*Text was written by authors of Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco