"Kidnapping is still the sharpest problem", - said the chairman of Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseeva.

The right defender noted that the number of kidnappings decreased in 2005. "Until there is a threat of kidnapping people can not leave calmly. The problem must be extirpated completely", - said Alekseeva. By statement of MHG head, rebels and federal forces are involved in kidnapping in Chechnya. Right defenders consider that kidnappings in Chechnya are investigated ineffectively.

"5 thousand people are missing for years of Chechen war. With the exception of several cases, these crimes remained uninvestigated and guilty were not punished", - was said in report of right defender`s center "Memorial" in the end of November of 2005.

"We do everything in our power to stop these crimes. In 2005 the number of kidnapping reduced twice. But this is not the ground for complacency but, oppositely, - the stimulus for active struggle against bandits", - noted the acting head of Chechen government Ramzan Kadyrov.
sections: Society, Region News
areas: Southern region