20 June 2008, 10:18
Burial of 800 persons found in Chechnya
Human rights activists have detected another mass burial from the time of the 1995 Chechen war. This is already the third burial found in Chechnya during the last month.
"We've learnt that in the territory adjacent to the Christian cemetery in the Leninskiy District in Grozny about 800 persons were buried in a mass grave," Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman in Chechnya, said to journalists.
According to Mr Nukhazhiev, it was Arbi Tuzhaev, a resident of the Zavodskoy District, who in 1995 volunteered to bury the bodies of the victims, who reported one of these days to the Ombudsman's Office about the burial.
Mr Tuzhaev has evidenced that in the period from January 2 to October 31, 1995, about 800 persons, mainly civil persons were buried into the mass grave near the Christian cemetery in the Leninskiy District in Grozny, the RIA Novosti confirms.
The eyewitness reported that in those days the bureau of military forensic examination was located in that area. Bodies were brought there for subsequent burial. The workers of the bureau described them, made photo and video recording and registered the remnants in their logbooks. Then, the bodies were buried, and a special tag with a registration number was attached to each of them.
Nurdi Nukhazhiev has confirmed that there is data on everyone buried in the grave, and the archive could establish their names and somehow soothe the souls many people who are still looking for their missing relatives.
