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One of Aushev cousins’ abductors slain in Moscow

By Umalt Chadayev

NORTH CAUCASUS – Alikhan Mutsayev, a Chechen officer killed in Moscow two weeks ago, was directly involved in the abduction in Chechnya of the Aushev cousins, who are both residents of Ingushetia, Prague Watchdog's correspondent has learned.

On October 14 a group of unidentified gunmen carried out an armed attack in the centre of Moscow on two ethnic Chechens, Alikhan Mutsayev and Beslan Saidulayev. Mutsayev was killed on the spot, and Saidulayev was hospitalized with serious gunshot wounds.

Later Russian media reported that Mutsayev had at one time worked as a bodyguard for former Moscow-backed Chechen president Alu Alkhanov. However, according to other information, Mutsayev was a GRU officer in charge of a special task force entrusted with carrying out punitive actions.

A brother of one of the Aushev cousins says he has been informed by reliable sources that Alikhan Mutsayev was in general control of an "operation" to seize his relatives, Magomed Osmanovich and Magomed Maksharipovich Aushev, who were abducted on the outskirts of Grozny in September this year, and that it was "only by a miracle" that their lives were spared. In addition, he claims to have information that Mutsayev has on his conscience dozens or even hundreds of abductions and brutal murders of residents of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Stavropol Krai and several other regions of the North Caucasus suspected of involvement with the guerrillas.

"According to my source, on October 12 Mutsayev and his ‘right hand man’ Beslan Saidulayev were urgently summoned to Moscow by their immediate superiors. They were to meet at the Kasbar restaurant on Ostozhenka Street. Mutsayev and Saidulayev went to the restaurant, but didn't wait for the promised meeting. They left the restaurant and got into their car, and at that point someone opened fire on them from a jeep that was parked nearby. It’s most likely that Mutsayev was eliminated in order to wipe out all traces of the crimes he had committed. It’s pretty much the same method that was used on another special services officer, Movlady Baysarov, the commander of the “Gorets” task force who was killed last year in a similar situation and also in the centre of Moscow," he said.

"Alikhan’s body was taken home by his cousin Abdul, who is also a special services officer and was in direct charge of the abduction of the Aushev cousins. He is also head of the Urus-Martanovsky district CID. (Abdul Mutsayev is currently on the prosecutor’s wanted list for involvement in the abduction). At Alikhan’s funeral he got into a fight with the slain man’s brother, who accused him of killing Alikhan and shot in him the shoulder and leg," the man added.

"As far as I know, several people are wanted for the two men’s abduction. They’re all active members of the special services. I don’t yet have reliable evidence to go on, but there are also reports that after the Aushevs were released a major settling of scores took place among the guys who took part in their abduction, with a number of killings and woundings as a result. There is talk of at least two deaths, and possibly several more," he claims.

On the afternoon of September 18, Magomed Osmanovich Aushev (25) and Magomed Maksharopovich Aushev (22), both natives of the Ingushetian village of Surkhakhi, were captured on the outskirts of the Chechen capital and taken to an unknown destination by unidentified uniformed officers. The car in which the cousins were travelling was stopped by three vehicles – a white Gazelle and two Zhiguli automobiles. On the following day the two men were released after a large protest rally in Nazran.

The case received such wide publicity that the Chechen prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation, which led to the discovery that members of the Russian special services were directly involved in the abduction. After questioning and searches several of these men escaped and are presently on the wanted list.

(Translation by DM)

(D/T)

  RELATED ARTICLES:
 · Aushev family being subjected to pressure (PW, 18.10.2007)
 · Chechen Prosecutor has established identity of Aushevs' kidnappers (PW, 18.10.2007)