In St. Petersburg city of Russian Federation, the relatives of Fatima Dzhanieva have gone missing without a trace—Ms. Dzhanieva is the widow of the famous Ingush public figure and leader of the oppostition, Maksharip Aushev, Human Rights Center Memorial reported.

On the night of December 28, 2009, the following individuals disappeared: Yusup Dobriev, born in 1968, Yunus Dobriev, born in 1971—uncles of Fatima on her mother’s side—and Khadizhat Dobrieva’s nephews, Ali Dzhaniev, born in 1992, and Magomed Adzhiev, born in 1989.  Khadizhat Dobrieva is Fatima’s aunt on her mother’s side.

On December 26, Yusup Dobriev, Fatima Dzhanieva, born in 1982, and Ali Dzhaniev left from Ingushetia, through Moscow for St. Petersburg.  In St. Petersburg Fatima was supposed to have continued her therapeutic treatments due to her serious injuries. If you recall, on December 16, 2009, around 1:30 pm in Nazran, Republic of Ingushetia, a VAZ-2109 car exploded.  Within it were members of the Dzhaniev family, two of which died at the scene.  Fatima was seriously wounded. They had taken Ali Dzhaniev with them to St. Petersburg, fearing to leave him alone at home.

On December 27, their train arrived in St. Petersburg, and they left Fatima with her relatives at their place of residence, 4 Kamskaya Street.

On the night of the 28th, roughly at 12:30 am, Yusup and Yunus Dobriev, Ali Dzhaniev, and Magomed Adzhiev set off in a VAZ-21099 car (registered with the number M273OS 98 region) for their relatives’ residence.  From there they were intending to go to the dormitory situated in the Primorsky district of the city, next to the metro station “Pionerskaya”.  Yet they didn’t appear at a single one of these addresses, and roughly an hour after they had left,  their mobile phones stopped working.

The relatives, residing in St. Petersburg, lodged reports about their disappearance with the police of a few local precincts, and as of 6 pm December 28, 2009, there has been no information about the whereabouts of the four men.

On December 21, 2009, Yusup Dobriev appealed with a written application(see the attactments at Russian section of Memorial) to the office of HRC Memorial in Nazran in relation to the deaths of his sister, Leila Dzhanieva, born in 1985, and his  nephews Amirkhan, born in 1988 (he passed away in the hospital on December 21, 2009) and Muslim, born in 1984.  In his application, he expressed the belief that  members of the security agencies could have been participatory in the deaths of his sister and nephews.

Ingushetiyaru.org reported that on December 28, Khadizhat Dobrieva appealed in written form to the Human Right Center Memorial’s office in Nazran, MASHR and human rights defenders.  She is requesting help to find her bothers and nephews who have disappeared without a trace.