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Freedom of Basaev’s Widow Costs $7 Million
The probable reasons of Elina Ersenoyeva’s abduction became clear yesterday. Ersenoyeva, 26, was the last wife of the late rebel leader and ruthless terrorist Shamil Basaev. Now enforcement bodies want Basaev’s money and documents from his briefcase in exchange for Elina’s freedom.
Reporter and collaborator of the Anti-AIDS Foundation Program, Elina Ersenoyeva was abducted in central Grozny on July 17. Some unidentified persons in the camouflage uniform forced Ersenoyeva and her aunt into the car and drove away.
The aunt was released in a few hours. She was advised to make no fuss. Elina was allowed to call her mother the next day. She said she was treated well and will be free one of these days.
The family didn’t go to enforcement bodies in hope that abductors will meet their promise and release Elina. But journalists of the Chechenskoye Obshchestvo (Chechen Society) paper and activists of local NGOs addressed Chechnya’s authorities and enforcement bodies, urging them to find and bring home the innocent woman.
But no criminal case was initiated in Chechnya because of the address.
Elina was abducted for particular reason, said Tais Isayeva, who is the briefer at NGO Council of Chechnya and knows Elina very well. “She was the last wife of Basaev and has been long chased by special services.” “They demand a briefcase with documents and $7 million,” Isayeva specified, adding she doesn’t believe Elina has ever had it. “She could have left not only Chechnya but the country long ago if she had the money.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 25, 2006
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