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Everyday Life in Chechnya: University Professor Beaten, his Sons Abducted
Leila Liliyeva/Prima News Agency
March 18, 2003
Taking away the two Ezhayev brothers late at night, Russian soldiers severely beat their father, a professor at State University of Chechnya. They also seized all valuables from their house. While president Putin gives rosy pictures of how life in Chechnya is coming back to normal, federal troops continue to take Chechen males hostage and loot Chechen villages.
On March 17 family members of Umalt Ezhayev, a war veteran and professor in pedagogics, came to the Memorial human rights center's office in the Ingush capital Nazran to tell the story of what happened to them on March 9. Following the usual routine, when the nighttime came the whole family, including the master of the house, his 52-year-old son Ruslan, their wives and small children went to bed. But at 2 am the front door to the house was broken open and Russian soldiers burst into their house in Grozny. When the elderly professor sought reasons for such an unexpected visit, asking "what are you and what has happened", the soldiers beat him with rifle butts until he fell on the floor. But that did not stop the 'sweepers': they continued to kick him into unconsciousness. Having regained consciousness, Umalt Ezhayev learned that the military had taken his son Ruslan off to an unknown location, forcing his wife, without letting her get dressed, to go down into a cellar.
Before leaving the house, the military seized their video recorder, a kitchen knife set, bulbs and some other things. In the morning the professor learned from his relatives that his second son, living in the village of Proletarskoye, was also taken away by the military overnight. He was driven away at about 2 am right in his home clothes.
The two brothers used to work at the "Orgtekhnika" plant specialized in office equipment, with Ruslan being a chief engineer there. Their current whereabouts are unknown. The history of disappearances in Chechnya proves that if a missing person cannot be located within the next few days, his search is doomed to become a long and frequently unsuccessful ordeal. As a result of brutal beating by Russian soldiers, their elderly father is of no help in the search.
Umalt Ezhayev whom Russian soldiers subjected to such ill- treatment is a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, and author of 27 scientific works in pedagogics that were published in Moscow as well. In his time he was granted a title of People's Teacher of the Chechen Republic, and later a title of Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation. But neither his great services to the nation nor his numerous government awards have saved himself or his family from Russian troops' abuse.
Human rights activist Usam Baisayev called this incident to be very typical for today's Chechnya. "For the past three years hundreds, even thousands of people have been searching for their forcedly disappeared relatives, among whom are members of very well-known Chechen families."
Russian president Vladimir Putin who has recently appealed to the Chechen people to take part in the forthcoming constitutional referendum said that the everyday life in Chechnya is coming back to normal. "In many regions of the republic there are new power lines, measures are being taken to restore gas supply. Hospitals and schools are functioning, and students are attending classes. And the crops are harvested," said the president, summing up the progress in the republic. It's most unlikely, however, that the esteemed Chechen elderly professor would agree with the opinion of Vladimir
Putin.
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