From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 10/10/2006 1:45 PM
October, 8, 2006

Vakha Umarov knows nothing about the fate of his father and brother

 

(Photograph: Akhmad Umarov, brother of President Dokka Umarov)

Radio Liberty Chechen Service ("Marsho") has interviewed Vakha Umarov, the younger brother of ChRI President Dokka Umarov. The following is the translation of this interview from the Chechen.

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Bauddi Martanov: This July, the Russian FSB director Patrushev offered an amnesty to the Chechen combatants. This was followed with an active propaganda campaign by Russian authorities, but now, after the Russian State Duma has approved the project, they talk about the amnesty not so frequently. Some news that one or two militants voluntarily surrendered to the authorities still appear from time to time in the Chechen media. However, the national TV no more reports that a well-known warlord, or a big group of combatants, has laid down the weapons.

On 18 August, there was a scoop in the world's media saying that Ichkeria's leader Dokka Umarov surrendered to Russia and was kept in Ramzan Kadyrov's residency in Gudermes. However, the sensation was dying out with every next hour. After several different versions of the events, subsequently presented by the authorities, it emerged that it was not Dokku Umarov captured, but rather his elder brother Akhmad Umarov. There was no need for Akhmad Umarov to surrender, because he had been captured by Russians long ago.

After Akhmad Umarov's brief appearance on the TV the same day, he disappeared. His family knows nothing about his further fate. Those very authorities who had claimed that Akhmad Umarov had surrendered voluntarily and therefore could now live undisturbed, hide him, – says his younger brother Vakha Umarov.

Vakha Umarov: Our parents had three sons and three daughters. Akhmad, born 1962, is the eldest, Dokka is born in 1964, and I am born in 1967. We were born in Shato District and then moved to Grozny.

According to Russian law, a brother is not responsible for a brother, and a father is not responsible for a son. However, this law does not work in Chechnya, says Vakha Umarov.

Vakha Umarov: They arrested our father and Dokka's wife (she was released two days later). Some time later, Ramzan Kadyrov released our farther – that was just before the last year's Ramadan. He spent the next three or four months at home. But they came again on 21 January of this year, put father in a car, and drove him away. After that, we have heard nothing about him.

Here is what Vakha tells about the disappearance of his elder brother Akhmad:

Vakha Umarov: First time, they took Akhmad on 28 February 2005, if I am not mistaken. Later they released him, or he somehow released himself, and stayed at home for a while. No matter how hard we tried to persuade him, he did not want to leave the house, saying he did not participate in anything, he was doing nothing, so there was no danger for him. As we know, they took him again about a month ago, and put him on television to say he had surrendered "voluntarily" and "trusted" Ramzan Kadyrov. Since then, none of us – neither his brothers and sisters nor his own family – have heard anything about him.

Bauddi Martanov: Perhaps, the authorities are investigating. Did your brother fight?

Vakha Umarov: He took part in the defence of the Presidential Palace for about a month during the First War. After that, he did not participate in anything. I also have nothing to do with the military actions. My poor health does not even allow me to. Akhmad was at home for the whole Second War, did not participate in anything, and there were no reasons to arrest him – apart from the fact that he stayed in the republic, so they counted him in as a militant. I know this is not true, because I was in touch with him on the telephone all the time.

Bauddi Martanov: Why do not they release your father and brother, if they are innocent?

Vakha Umarov: Well, they may keep our brother until the question of Dokka is solved. Perhaps, they want to arrange some sort of exchange or something. But why do they need to keep our father? He is an old man, he is 75 – if, of course, they are still alive.

Bauddi Martanov: In conclusion Vakha said bitterly that the world has forgotten what is going on in Chechnya. After a while, he added:

Vakha Umarov: The fact that one of my brothers is President of Chechnya while the other is captured by the authorities is the news number one for everybody. But nobody is concerned that Akhmad and my old father are kidnapped… Is the world community so weak? Can't they check the information that there are secret prisons in Khosi-Yurt and, if yes, to find out whether my brother and father are among the captives?
http://chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2006/10/01.shtml