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Not all of Alkhan-Yurt's civilians were forced to leave to Kulary on December 1: some five hundred civilians remained behind in Alkhan-Yurt when Russian troops went on a rampage in the village, looting and burning homes, killing at least fourteen innocent civilians, and raping a number of women. When the majority of Alkhan-Yurt's civilians had left on December 1, Russian forces in Alkhan-Yurt effectively sealed off the village, refusing to allow civilians in or out of Alkhan-Yurt, with the exception of some who were able to bribe their way through. Only on December 10 did the extent of the killing and other abuses in Alkhan-Yurt begin to seep out, as some villagers were able to bring news of the abuses to Ingushetia.
Because Russian military authorities have repeatedly refused Human Rights Watch access to Chechnya, the organization was not able to carry out an on-site investigation at Alkhan-Yurt. However, with the assistance of civilians from Alkhan-Yurt, Human Rights Watch was able to interview a significant number of direct eyewitnesses to many of the summary executions in Alkhan-Yurt, and thus build a detailed and accurate picture about what happened there. Our research was able to gather detailed information about eleven summary executions in Alkhan-Yurt, and more limited but credible information about an additional four summary executions; in addition three civilians were killed in an indiscriminate attack. In total, then, at least eighteen civilians were killed by Russian soldiers after they established complete control of Alkhan-Yurt. It is likely that there were additional victims whose cases remain undocumented for the moment.
Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions, which applies to internal armed conflicts, strictly forbids summary executions. Common article 3 obliges the states:
In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
2. The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.
The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.
The Killing of Nabitst Kornukayeva and her son, Arbi Kornukayev (December 2)
Forty-year-old Zara Israelova told Human Rights Watch that she found the bodies of her distant relatives, Nabitst Kornukayeva, who was more than 100 years old, and Nabitst's son, sixty-five-year-old Arbi Kornukayev in the yard of their home near the Rostov-Baku highway on December 4. She had heard from villagers that the two had been shot by Russian soldiers on December 2 when they tried to leave their homes, and wanted to go see for herself what had happened.
Zara Israelova went to the home of Nabitst and Arbi Kornukayev after lunchtime on December 4. She found the bodies of her two distant relatives in the yard of the home:
Arbi's body was lying on the ground, he was cut to pieces by the bullets [witness makes a sweeping motion across her chest, indicating the path of the bullets]. There was dried blood all around him. He was wearing rubber boots and trousers. He was a driver and was wearing his uniform, and a knitted cap. The old woman [Nabitst] had rubber shoes, a dress, and an overcoat without sleeves. She also had bullet wounds across her chest-the sleeve of her dress was cut and her hand was wounded [by the bullets], and a bullet went through her breast. She was still holding the stick with which she walked. They were lying three meters away from each other, just near the stairs.34
Zara said she saw tracks from armored personnel carriers (APCs) in the yard, indicating that Russian soldiers had been in the yard. The house had been completely burned to the foundation. According to a neighbor Zara spoke to, the house was looted by Russian soldiers on the afternoon of December 2, and the neighbor heard gunshots coming from the house at about 3:30 p.m., presumably the time when Nabitst and Arbi Kornukayeva were killed.35
The Killing of Said-Magomet Janalayev and Alimkhan Dalakov in early December
Sultan Magomayev, a forty-six-year-old engineer, left Alkhan-Yurt on November 30-before Russian forces seized the village-and returned to Alkhan-Yurt on December 15. When he returned, he and other neighbors began searching through the rubble in their neighborhood, trying to determine what had happened to neighbors who remained unaccounted for. At about 11:00 a.m. on December 15, a woman discovered the bodies of two young men buried under rubble, and called out to the others.
Sultan Magomayev told Human Rights Watch what he saw when he arrived: "The corpses were covered with [metal] pipes, bricks, and planks on top. There was a small truck, and they were lying close to each other, partially covered by the truck. I made the others leave the yard, as I was afraid the bodies might be mined."36 When the others left, Magomayev began removing the rubble from the bodies, finally exposing them after some thirty minutes. He then made a close inspection of the bodies, and later videotaped the traditional washing of the bodies in preparation for burial:
For about thirty minutes, I examined the conditions of the bodies. They were full of blood and mud, and there were traces of torture. I paid attention first to the hands, half of the nails were cut off, maybe with a knife. The wounds of the knives were very deep on their fingers, on both of the men. Then I understood that their hands had been burned on a fire, the skin on the hands was burned. Said-Magomet's right eye was missing, and his right thigh was broken, the same with his neck. There were two knife wounds in his stomach. There were bullet wounds on his right leg, several of them.
Alimkhan also had knife wounds on his fingers. He had bullet wounds in his back.... He had knife wounds on the shoulder and near his heart. The last [wounds were] the bullets in his back and the back of his head.37
The videotape Sultan Magomayev provided of the washing of the bodies, although of poor quality, clearly shows the cuts on the fingers of the victims, the burns on their hands, as well as the bullet and knife wounds he described. On the tape, the men are dressed in civilian clothing, and there are no indications that they were fighters (such as characteristic bruises on the shoulders). Magomayev believed that the two had been killed sometime between December 3 and 6, because the bodies, while stiffened from rigor mortis, had not yet begun to decompose. The home where the bodies were found was on Lenin Street, close to the village mosque. The gates to the house were broken, and the house had been looted.
Said-Magomet Janalayev, about thirty, was unmarried and the main breadwinner for his family. Alimkhan Dalakov, thirty-two, was married and had three children: a three-year-old boy named Ramzan, a two-year-old daughter, and a newborn baby. They were buried at Alkhan-Yurt on December 18.
The Killing of Khamid Khazuyev (December 3)
Khamid Khazuyev, fifty-seven years old, was killed on December 3. Before they fled, neighboring villagers had given Khazuyev, a former police lieutenant, their household valuables for safekeeping. Khazuyev had been staying in a neighboring cellar on Tsentralnaya Street together with other villagers. On the morning of December 3, he announced that he wanted to go have a quick look at the condition of his home, and promised to come back soon. However, a long time elapsed and Khazuyev did not return. Worried about Khazuyev's fate, the elderly villagers in the cellar asked a young man, thirty-six-year-old Ruslan Muskhajieyev, to go to Khazuyev's house and find out what happened.
Ruslan Muskhazieyev told Human Rights Watch that he left the cellar at about 7:00 a.m., and went directly to Khazuyev's house. When he arrived at the home, he found that the yard of the home was filled with Russian soldiers; he decided not to come closer and to watch the events from a distance. He heard Khamid Khazuyev's voice amidst the soldiers, pleading with the soldiers not to loot the home. For about ten minutes, he listened as Khazuyev pleaded with the soldiers, and heard angry retorts from the soldiers. Suddenly, he heard seven or eight shots fired from an automatic rifle. He made his way to the home, and saw Khazuyev's body lying on the ground, shot: "WhenI saw Khamid lying on the earth, I ran back to the cellar. I told the story to the old people, saying that Khamid was shot."38
When the elderly people heard about the shooting incident, they went to the house. According to Muskhajieyev, the soldiers were still there, and refused to allow the villagers to take away the body. There were two large green military trucks being loaded with goods from the house; one was parked in the yard of the home, the other parked on the street. After the soldiers looted the home, they set it on fire: "The soldiers first looted the house and then set it on fire immediately after they loaded the goods. They wanted to destroy the evidence of their looting."39 Khazuyev was buried several days after the incident, around December 10, when the military officials finally gave permission for the burial.
In a separate interview, Zura Khazuyeva, Khazuyev's widow, confirmed the above account She was not in Alkhan-Yurt at the time of the murder, but was able to visit the village for two days, December 15 and 16, 1999. She reported to Human Rights Watch that her female neighbors had told her that on the morning of December 3, they had seen a BTR (an armored personnel carrier with wheels instead of treads) pull up to the Khazuyev home: "twenty minutes later, they said, they heard, `Kill him, kill him.' And they heard an automatic round."40 Her neighbors also told her they saw cars driving away loaded with goods from her home. Upon inspecting her home, Mrs. Khazyuyeva found that carpets were missing-her own and those belonging to other people. Closets had been hacked up, their doors missing.
She also described the burned state of her house, one of several buildings on her family compound. The fire apparently started in the basement:
I know very well that the basement is made of concrete and... couldn't catch fire on its own.... They threw something in it. Above the basement there are two rooms that had linoleum floors, and there were cracks, and apparently the linoleum caught fire and from there it spread throughout the rooms and higher, and the whole house burned.... It smelled of fire.... Everything was all black.41
The Killing of Akhanpash Dudayev (December 3)
Akhanpash Dudayev, a sixty-five-year-old gas station owner, and his relative, "Ibragim I." (not his real name), were staying in Dudayev's cellar when Russian forces entered Alkhan-Yurt at about 5:00 a.m. on December 1. The two went out into the street, and saw three APCs in the neighboring street. One of the APCs stopped at the house of Chovka Dardayeva, and the two men saw six soldiers enter the house and start taking out bags of flour and sugar. "I called to Akhanpash and we watched the soldiers together," Ibragim I. later told Human Rights Watch: "Some time later, Chovka's house was in flames. Akhanpash [Dudayev] said it would be better if we stayed in the cellar, and we went back in [to the cellar.]"42
At about 11:00 a.m., two Russian soldiers who identified themselves as being from military intelligence came to the cellar and told the two men politely to stay in the cellar. Soon thereafter, another group of two soldiers came and tried to take Dudayev and Ibragim I. away, saying they had to check whether they were fighters. A group of neighboring women intervened, saying that the men were not fighters, but just an old man and his nephew. Ibragim I. related what happened next:
The soldiers agreed to leave us alone if we gave them some vodka. We said we had no vodka and could not get it anywhere. But they insisted, saying that if we did not bring vodka they would shoot the old man [Dudayev]. In the end, they realized we could not give them anything and left.43
At 3:00 p.m., another group of three soldiers came to the house. Ibragim I. told Human Rights Watch that the commander of the unit complained to the men that seventy-six soldiers, including some of his comrades, had been killed during the fight for Alkhan-Yurt, and that he was lucky to survive and deserved some rest. The commander took a Fisher tape deck from the house, and asked for some vodka before leaving.
A few days later, during the night of December 3 to 4, Dudayev and Ibragim I. heard some noises outside their cellar, and then a knock at the gates of the house. Dudayev called out in Chechen, and when he received no reply he asked in Russian who was there. Three soldiers entered, and Ibragim I. immediately recognized the commander who had come earlier, complained about the loss of seventy-six soldiers, and taken the tape deck: "I recognized the one who took the tape recorder, but this time his speech was very strange, as if he were drunk or under the effect of drugs. They started asking us many questions, not listening to our answers."44 The men were asked where they were hiding their guns, how many Russian soldiers they had killed, and other similar questions.
After the brief questioning, the soldiers left the cellar; Dudayev and Ibragim I. tried to follow the soldiers, who forced them to remain. As soon as the soldiers left, they threw a grenade into the cellar. The two men dropped to the floor, attempting to save themselves by hiding behind their beds. Only the detonator of the first grenade exploded, but the soldiers threw in two more grenades which did explode. Ibragim I. told Human Rights Watch: "I got shrapnel wounds all over my body. I whispered to Akhanpash [to see] whether he was still alive. He hushed me, and told me to keep silent."45 When interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Ibragim I. still had small shrapnel wounds all over his body from the exploding grenades, including on his face, neck, and left eye. His thumb was also bandaged.
After the grenades had exploded, the soldier returned to the cellar. Ibragim I. told Human Rights Watch what happened next:
I shut up and then heard someone coming in. They were the soldiers. They were lighting matches. First they came up to me. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth, pretending I was dead. My wounds on my face and neck were bleeding. Then the soldiers went to Akhanpash and lit the match. I heard Akhanpash ask the soldiers, "For God's sake, please don't shoot." But they shot him dead, emptying the whole cartridge clip.
There was a gas container in the cellar, which we used for cooking. The soldiers dampened a cloth with kerosene, opened the gas, and lit the cloth. Then they went out. I knew that if I didn't do something I would die. There were two small windows in the cellar, we covered them with flat wood from the outside and nailed it. I tried to open the first window but it was in vain. Then I went to the second one and pushed it hard with my shoulder. It began to give. I crawled out, and made my way into the neighbor's yard, crawling.46
Ibragim I. first went to the cellar of Omar Yakubov's house, where a group of women gave him first aid. Because he was afraid that he might endanger the women if he remained at the house, he soon moved to the home of his aunt,which had been burned by the soldiers: "I knew the soldiers didn't enter burned or destroyed houses, so I hid myself in the thatch for several days." After hiding for four days, his wounds became infected and he was forced to come out of hiding and seek medical attention.
Sixty-year-old Lyoma Yakubov, a filling station worker, described to Human Rights Watch how he discovered the body of Akhanpash Dudayev, and participated in the burial: "On December 7 or 8, I went to Akhmed N. and offered to go and see what happened to [Akhanpash] Dudayev because I had not seen him for several days and I had also seen his home in flames."47 Yakubov related what he found at the house when they arrived at about 11:00 a.m.:
So we went to Akhanpash's house. There was still smoke. I told Akhmed to stand back in case there was a mine or something else, and went down the stairs to the cellar. I couldn't breathe because of the smoke and the bad smell. It was dark in the cellar. I lit the lighter I had on me. Their room was in total disorder. I noticed something in the corner just to the left of the door. I came closer and could see the flesh of the burnt man from the head to the knees. I called out to Akhmed, "He's here," meaning Akhanpash.48
The two men then went to the house of a third neighbor, Kusam N., and asked him and others to help bury the body. "We put the remains of Dudayev's body on a blanket, wrapped them in a plastic bag, and buried him in his brother's house."49
The Killing of Musa Gilkayev (December 4)
Musa Gilkayev, a man in his late thirties, lived on Demilkhanov Street. He was reportedly shot around December 4 by looting soldiers. According to Movladi Tadushayev, soldiers were looting the house of a neighbor, and Musa Gilkayev went into the yard of the neighbor's house to try to stop the soldiers, saying that the house belonged to his neighbor. The soldiers then shot Musa Gilkayev in the face. A witness who later viewed the body told Human Rights Watch: "I saw the body, his mouth was smashed by the bullets, those were his only wounds." Musa Gilkayev was buried on December 10, the same day as Khamid Khazuyev.50
The Killing of Isa Muradov (December 8)
According to Haji Vakha Muradov, a seventy-five-year old Mullah (Muslim religious leader) of Alkhan-Yurt and a respected elder of the village, his son, forty-two-year-old Isa Muradov, fled to the neighboring republic of Ingushetia to seek refuge during the early stages of the Chechnya conflict, but returned to Alkhan-Yurt by way of Urus-Martan when he heard that Russian troops had taken control of Alkhan-Yurt. Isa Muradov stayed in the cellar of his father's house. On the evening of December 8, Isa Muradov told his father that he was going to have his supper in the house, and would spend the night on the veranda: "He had made a bed on the veranda, and taken a stool, and wanted to read a book," his father recounted to Human Rights Watch.51 Around 11:00 p.m., Vakha Muradov heard some shots, but was afraid to go out, because soldiers had threatened to shoot him on two occasions during the past days, most recently on the afternoon of December 8, the day of his son's death. Because he is hard of hearing, Vakha Muradov did not suspect that the shots had rung out in his own home.
Isa Muradov did not return to the cellar that night and still had not come back the next morning, when Vakha Muradov started worrying. Vakha Muradov told Human Rights Watch what happened next:
I thought that in the morning he would come back to the cellar. In the morning, when he wasn't there, I went to go find him. He was in the courtyard, all bloodied. He was shot right in the face, his left eye wasn't there and half of his nose was gone.... It was very difficult for me: There was a round of bullets fired into his stomach, around thirty bullets, they just let off a machine-gun round.52
As with many other victims in Alkhan-Yurt, the military authorities refused to allow the family to bury the body immediately as required by Islamic tradition, a particularly bitter experience for the Muslim leader:
He lay on the ground for five days, we could not bury him. We asked permission every day from the commander of the regiment, Sergei Yuriyevich, [he] was the commander of the 15th regiment. He finally let us bury him [on December 13].... I could not bury my son according to Islamic tradition, not 1 percent. I just prayed to myself. My bitterness is great.... No happiness remains for me in this world.53
The Killing of Taus Sultanov (December 8)
Taus Sultanov, forty-nine, was staying in a cellar on Yuzhnaya Street together with four women and several men. Human Rights Watch interviewed fifty-year-old "Islam I." (not his real name), one of the men who was in the cellar with Sultanov on the night he was killed. According to Islam I., the group of villagers was sleeping in the cellar on the night of December 8 when they were awakened around 11:30 p.m. by a knock on the door and gunfire. When they opened the door, three soldiers (including one soldier who was masked) entered, shot at the ceiling and at the feet of the civilians, and ordered them to lie down.
The soldiers checked the villagers' passports, and "then they demanded that we give them vodka, wine, gold, and dollars."54 The soldiers ignored the villagers' replies that they had no valuables, and then asked for anasha, or hashish. The soldiers, who appeared to be contract soldiers, said they had fought in Afghanistan and in the 1994-1996 Chechen war, and used nicknames when talking to each other, including "Zub" ("Tooth") and "Malish" ("Kid").
According to Islam I., when the men and women insisted that they had nothing to offer the soldiers, the soldiers replied that they would take one of the men away. They chose Taus Sultanov, the biggest and strongest of them, and ordered him to dress and follow them. Sultanov said that his boots were outside, and an argument ensued with the soldiers. One of the soldiers told Sultanov to go to the wall, when the contract soldier who went by the name of "Zub" lost his temper and fired his gun at Sultanov's feet. "Taus cried out something and fell down, then he started to choke and roll on the floor. We realized he was wounded. Anatoliy Golubin, one of the other men staying with us in the cellar, also received some wounds."55
Sultanov lay bleeding on the floor, and the soldiers initially refused to allow first aid to be administered to him, saying Sultanov was drunk and not wounded. After a while, the soldiers allowed the women in the cellar to put cloth over the wounds. The soldiers then ordered the men and women out of the cellar, leaving the wounded Sultanov behind. Once outside, the soldiers began searching the men and women for gold and money: "We gave them what we had in our pockets. One man gave 500 rubles, another one 150 rubles, and my wife gave 160 rubles.56 The soldiers threw back the rubles, saying it was not real money, [saying:] `Give us dollars if you want to live.'"57
The soldiers detained the men and women for hours. As the night dragged on, one of the soldiers told them that he wished he could kill all Chechens, "then Russia would be OK." Finally, at 4:00 a.m., Islam I. and his wife decided to end the crisis by giving the soldiers a pair of gold earrings, a traditional form of wealth in Chechen society. They asked the soldiers if they would agree to take the earrings and leave; one of the soldiers asked to see the earrings. The soldiers then ordered the men and women back into the cellar, saying they would return the next morning at 10:00 a.m. Early in the morning, Islam I. and another man, Magomet Timersultanov, went to the town to try and get help for the wounded Sultanov. Soon after they left, Islam I.'s wife came to inform them that Sultanov had died. When Islam I. went to speak to the doctor at the Russian kommandatura [command post] set up in Alkhan-Yurt, the doctor expressed his opinion that Taus probably would have survived if the soldiers had allowed the others to stop the bleeding in time.58
The Killing of Alimpash Asuyev and Ibrahim Usmanov (December 9)
Movladi Tadushayev, twenty-nine, was living together with twenty-five-year-old Alimpasha Asuyev and thirty-four-year-old Ibrahim Usmanov at 5 Pushkina Street. At about 5:00 p.m. on December 8, Tadushayev left the house on Pushkina Street. When he returned the next morning, he found his two housemates dead in the house:
On December 9 in the morning I returned, but did not find Ibrahim. Then I found Alimpash Asuyev shot dead. The second one [Ibrahim] was outside, also shot dead. He [Ibrahim] was shot and then he was hit with an axe. He was lying on his back, three bullets went through his neck. His forehead and eyes were smashed by the axe. The eyeballs were gone, smashed. He was lying just near the stairs, and his brains were everywhere, on the door and on the stairs.
Alimpash [Asuyev] was on the sofa. He had two bullets in his head, and one in the heart. There was lots of disorder in the house, I do not know what the soldiers took because everything was turned upside down.... They were both wearing sport trousers and T-shirts, I think it happened when they were going to bed. There was a boiled chicken and dumplings on the table, maybe they were preparing for fasting [to break the Ramadan fast at sundown].59
That the house was in disorder, suggested that whoever had killed the two men had engaged in looting after the killings.60
The killings of Ibrahim Usmanov and Alimpash Asuyev were confirmed by a number of other witnesses, including a retired police officer who had visited the crime scene. Suleiman Makhatkhajiyev told Human Rights Watch what he found at the house of Ibrahim Usmanov:
One of the bodies [Ibrahim Usmanov] was lying in the courtyard, just in the entrance, Alimpasha was just inside. We could see that they were getting ready to eat because there was a boiled chicken on the table, and dumplings. As a police officer, I can tell you that I concluded they were having dinner at the time the soldiers were looting. I saw bullet wounds on their bodies, maybe ten or fifteen on Alimpasha, and their faces were all shot up.61
Ibrahim Usmanov was married, and had a three-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter. Alimpash Asuyev was also married with two daughters, four and two. Russian military officials allowed the burial of the two men onlyon December 13, four days after they were found dead. The two men were buried at the cemetery of Alkhan-Yurt in a single grave.62 Four other people were buried in the Alkhan-Yurt cemetery that day: Taus Sultanov, Isa Muradov, Nabitst Kornukayeva, and Arbi Kornukayev.
The Killing of Aindi Altimirov (December 18)
According to sixty-six-year-old Buru Altimirov, his son, Aindi Altimirov, was killed and beheaded by Russian soldiers on December 18. Buru Altimirov told Human Rights Watch that he had set his cow loose on the morning of December 18 to go to drink at the river, and that his son Aindi went to look for the cow when it failed to return. However, according to Buru, "the cow came home but my son disappeared."63
At the time of Aindi Altimirov's "disappearance," Russian forces had established a position on the Sunzha ridge, across the river from Alkhan-Yurt. The next day, on December 19, Russian forces left that position, and a group of young boys from Alkhan-Yurt discovered the remains of Aindi Altimirov and brought the news of their discovery back to the town. Initially, none of the boys wanted to bring the bad news to Aindi's father, but around midday Buru Altimirov was finally informed about the discovery of his son's body. Buru Altimirov immediately went down to the river. He told Human Rights Watch what he saw when he reached his son's body:
There I saw the headless body of my son, I recognized him by his clothes. The head was found down by the river by the boys, about three meters away. There were traces [marks in the grass] at his feet... and we could see the traces in the grass. In his hand, there was grass which he had pulled out.64
Buru Altimirov believed the traces in the grass were left by the shuffling of his son's feet as he was being decapitated. The body was found on the grounds of the abandoned Russian encampment: all around, there were single-person dug-outs "like a chess set." Buru Altimirov could still see where the soldiers guns and equipment had lain on the grass. With the help of the young boys, Buru Altimirov loaded the remains of his son on his cart and took the body home. For the next two days, the Russian soldiers refused to allow the burial of his son. Finally, on December 21, the Russian officers allowed the family to bury Aindi Altimirov.
Aindi Altimirov was a fireman, and was married with a three-year-old son, Abdullah, and a three-month-old daughter, Asset. According to his father, Aindi Altimirov was well-liked in the village: "All the people in the village came to his funeral, there was not one who did not come. People respected him even though he was young."65 His father told Human Rights Watch that his son Aindi was not involved in the fighting: "I never let him join any fighters or armed groups." Human Rights Watch has obtained several photos of the body of Aindi Altimirov.
The Reported Killings of Khavazi Nunayev (December 4); Ibrahim Hankurnanov (December 1); Adlan Gibertayev, early December; and Seyed-Emi Saydulayev, date of death unknown
Three of these deaths have been confirmed by multiple sources, but no detailed information is available about the specific circumstances of their deaths. Khavazhi Nunayev, about thirty-two, was reportedly shot by soldiers during looting on December 4. Ibrahim Hankurnanov, between twenty and twenty-two years old, was reportedly wounded by shrapnel when Russian soldiers entered Alkhan-Yurt on December 1, and is believed to have been run over by a Russian APC while laying wounded in the street: "He was wounded and could not run away. The APC first ran over his leg, then [reversed] over his body. It was not an accident, they ran over him twice. He was wounded on the street, then run over."66 Adlan Gibertayev, the seventeen-year-old son of a Russian mother and Chechen father,was reportedly shot in his home by Russian soldiers in early December.67 According to a list of the dead in Alkhan-Yurt provided to Human Rights Watch, Seyd-Emi Saydulayev was also shot and killed in his home, but no date of death is given.68
34 Human Rights Watch interview with Zara Israelova, forty, Adlet-20 border crossing, Ingushetia, December 17, 1999.
36 Human Rights Watch interview with Sultan Magomayev, forty-six, Pliyevo, Alkhan-Yurt, December 28, 1999.
38 Human Rights Watch interview with Ruslan Mushazieyev, thirty-six, Pliyevo, Ingushetia, December 28, 1999.
40 Human Rights Watch interview with Zura Khazuyeva, Adlet-20 border crossing, Ingushetia, December 17, 1999.
42 Human Rights Watch interview with Ibragim I. (not his real name), thirty-six, location withheld, January 2000.
47 Human Rights Watch interview with Lyoma Yakubov, sixty, location withheld, January 2000.
50 Human Rights Watch interview with Movladi Tadushayev, twenty-nine, Pliyevo, Ingushetia, December 25, 1999.
51 Human Rights Watch interview with Haji Vakha Muradov, seventy-five, Nazran, Ingushetia, December 15, 1999.
54 Human Rights Watch interview with "Islam I." (not his real name), fifty, location withheld, Chechnya, January 2000.
56 U.S. $18.50, $5.50, and $5.90, respectively.
57 Human Rights Watch interview with "Islam I." (not his real name), fifty, location withheld, Chechnya, January 2000.
59 Human Rights Watch interview with Movladi Tadushayev, twenty-nine, Plyevo, Ingushetia, December 25, 1999.
61 Human Rights Watch interview with Suleiman Makhatkhajiyev, age unknown, Nazran, Ingushetia, December 15, 1999.
62 Human Rights Watch interview with Movladi Tadushayev, twenty-nine, Plyevo, Ingushetia, December 25, 1999.
63 Human Rights Watch interview with Buru Altimirov, sixty-six, Plyevo, Ingushetia, December 25, 1999.
66 Human Rights Watch interview with Lecha L., Pliyevo, Ingushetia, December 13, 1999.
68 List of dead in Alkhan-Yurt provided by informant.