Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Whereabouts of missing Islamic media executives unknown - Dagestani law enforcement authorities

Makhachkala, August 23, Interfax - So far the Dagestani law enforcement authorities are unaware of the whereabouts of head of Hudamedia Abubakr Rizvanov and his deputy Timur Kurbanmagomedov who went missing last Friday, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in Dagestan Vyacheslav Shanshin and Dagestani Interior Minister Abdurashid Magomedov said in Makhachkala on Saturday.

The Hudamedia managers disappeared in Makhachkala in the evening of August 20. The relatives of the missing men first contacted journalists and human rights campaigners and did not report to the police before Saturday evening.

"Yesterday my husband reported to all three city district police departments," Kurbanmagomedov's mother told Interfax.

The families told journalists that as far as they know their missing relatives are at the building of the Dagestani Interior Ministry's Counter-Extremism Center (CEC).

After the meeting with the Dagestani president today, the local FSB chief and interior minister were asked by journalists whether Kurbanmagomedov and Rizvan were detained by their employees and held at the CEC building. Both officials denied it.

"The head of this agency [CEC] told me that he was contacted by the missing men's relatives yesterday. He suggested that they personally inspect the building and see for themselves that they are not there. My personal opinion - and that is the position of the entire Interior Ministry of Dagestan - is that kidnapping is the most abhorrent crime," Interior Minister Magomedov said.

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