For about a year we have been trying to find out the fate of a man abducted by FSB officers. The editorial office received a response from the secret service, which did not suit us Since May of this year, Novaya Gazeta has been trying to find out the fate of a native of the village of Shalazhi ...

For about a year we have been trying to find out the fate of a man abducted by FSB officers. The editorial office received a response from the special services, which did not suit us

WITH

May this year, Novaya Gazeta is trying to find out the fate of Aslan Erznukaev, a native of the village of Shalazhi, Urus-Martan District.

We have evidence that Aslan was detained by the FSB on September 3 last year in Grozny, in the Khankala region. The operation was led by FSB captain Mikhail Pervov. The brother of the abducted person, the head of the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Grozny, militia colonel Visit Erznukaev, having collected evidence, met with Pervov, who actually admitted the fact of Aslan's detention and promised to help in his release. But the next day, Captain Pervov unexpectedly left on vacation, and then to a new duty station. He never returned to Khankala.

But unexpectedly, the fact that the FSB was involved in the disappearance of Erznukaev was personally confirmed (certainly not wanting it) by the director of this department, Nikolai Patrushev.

Speaking in mid-December last year to the leaders of the media, he spoke about the destruction and neutralization of thousands of members of illegal armed groups. Some of them were named by name. Among other things, Nikolai Patrushev stated: “Erznukaev, a participant in the terrorist act in August of this (2002. - V.I.) year in the village of Shalazhi, Urus-Martan district, did not escape justice ...”.

However, inquiries to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Main Department for the Execution of Punishments received answers that Aslan Erznukaev was not officially detained by anyone and he was not in prison.

The result of our journalistic investigation into the abduction of Aslan Erznukaev was publications under the headings “Report on the successful abduction” (No. 35, May 19, 2003) and “Patrushev was set up by his own employees” (No. 71, September 25 this year), in which we demanded that director of the FSB to tell the true fate of "A. Erznukaev, who did not escape justice."

Since we did not receive a response to our requests and publications for half a year, the editors of Novaya Gazeta had to submit an application to the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow on November 3 of this year in order to oblige the leadership of the FSB to give us answer.

Apparently, in order to avoid legal proceedings, the leadership of the FSB responded twice to the newspaper. The second letter, signed by Deputy Director of the FSB V. Komogorov, states that “when preparing materials for the speech of the director of the FSB of Russia, in the process of transferring information from security agencies in the KTO zone (counter-terrorist operation. - V.I.), a technical error occurred in the spelling of the surname Arsanukaev".

That is, the leadership of the FSB suggested that we read Patrushev's December last year message as follows: "Arsanukaev, a participant in the terrorist attack in August of this (2002. - V.I.) in the village of Shalazhi, Urus-Martan District, did not escape justice."

At the same time, the deputy director of the FSB, Komogorov, did not disclose either the name or initials of Arsanukaev, but kindly said that he was born in 1978, a native of the settlement. Achkhoy-Martan and sentenced on March 6 this year by the court to 14 years in prison.

But we were not satisfied with this answer.

In Achkhoi-Martan, we managed to find the parents of Arsanukaev mentioned by Komogorov. We found out that he was detained on June 26, 2002, after which he was kept in a pre-trial detention center, so he could not become a participant in the terrorist attack in August 2002 in the settlement. Shalazhi.

Error again? And for some reason it seems that it is no coincidence that Mr. Komogorov did not tell us the name or at least the initials of Arsanukaev. His name, as we found out, is Murad Umarovich. But on the official website of the press service of the FSB, from December last year to this day, A. Erznukaev is listed as a participant in the August 2002 terrorist attack in the settlement. Shalazhi.

Messrs. Patrushev and Komogorov are actually trying to shield their subordinate FSB captain Pervov, who is now suspected of kidnapping Aslan Erznukaev, a resident of Chechnya, whose fate is still unknown.

We believe that it makes no sense to turn again for explanations to the leadership of the FSB, which has become entangled in lies. We now have enough facts to appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to initiate a criminal case against FSB captain Mikhail Pervov, who we suspect of kidnapping. In addition, all collected materials will be sent by us to Russian President Vladimir Putin.