MOSCOW, Feb 7 (AFP) - Between 3,000 and 5,000 civilians have been abducted in the past five years of guerrilla conflict in breakaway Chechnya in kidnappings and illegal arrests, the respected Russian human rights body Memorial said on Monday.
"In the majority of abductions, it appears to be the federal forces or the Kadyrovtsy," the feared militia of pro-Russian Chechen deputy prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov, Memorial's Oleg Orlov told a news conference.
Another Memorial representative, Alexander Cherkasov, said that 396 Chechen civilians had been abducted in 2004. He said that 189 of them were freed, 24 were found dead, and 173 are still missing.
A human rights researcher who just returned from the region told reporters that according to the local interior ministry in Chechnya, most of the kidnappings are carried out by Kadyrov's men.
"Civilians suffer as much from the local law enforcement forces as federal troops," said Tatiana Lokshina of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.
"The police know all about it. They know the names of the abductors and even where the hostages are held, but they can't do anything," she added.
Kadyrov, whose father Akhmed Kadyrov was president of Chechnya and was assassinated last May in a bomb attack by the rebels, has under his command a 1,250-strong security force.
02/07/2005 16:56 GMT - AFP