Local sources have reported that a hostage has been found dead in the Russian occupied Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

Just after the assassination of Chechen field commander Khuseyn Gakayev, Russian soldiers and armed bandits from the pro-Moscow regime organized joint punishment operations in different villages, and captured more than 20 Chechen civilians who were providing aid to Gakayev’s mobile group at various times.

On the night of February 18, some of those hostages were brought to Vedeno and were humiliated by Ramzan Kadyrov in front of television cameras. One of those hostages was Said Gunkbayev, from the village of Elistanzhi. During the TV program, FSB agent Islam Temishev was accusing him of providing passports for members of the Chechen National Liberation Movement. But, at the end of the broadcast, Ramzan Kadyrov asked to release them, and the next day, the pro-Russian regime’s media sources dispersed a common propaganda: “Despite the severity of the crimes committed, Ramzan Kadyrov gave these people a chance and let them go. But next time, the collaborators will have to answer to the fullest extent of the law”. After these publications, Said Gunkbayev’s relatives believed that he would come back home. However, in reality, they were taken back to the prisons and tortured. Some of them died, some became handicapped and have been released, but some others are still in prison. Recently, Said Gunkbayev’s lifeless body was found with signs of torture.

On the day when Said Gunkbayev was abducted, he told his kidnappers that “he is terminally ill and he has just a few more days to live, so let him stay at home with his family”; but the armed bandits from the pro-Russian regime didn’t listen to his words and they instead replied cruelly: “it is so much better, we may help you to die!”, then they hit his mouth with a rifle and took him away. The bandits kept their word and took this old and sick man’s life.

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