MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The number of abductions has been decreasing in Chechnya of late, but the problem still persists, representative of the Memorial human rights group Dmitry Grushkin told Interfax on Tuesday.
"One hundred and fifty-eight residents have been kidnapped in Chechnya this year. Of these, 78 have been released, eight were found dead, 13 were prosecuted and 59 are missing," he said citing a report.
A total of 1,965 residents were kidnapped between 2002 and November 2006. "Of these, 693 have been released, 190 were found murdered, 36 were prosecuted and 1,046 are missing," he said.
Memorial has been monitoring about 30% of Chechnya's territory. "It is a limited area and the actual figures could be higher," Grushkin said.
The Chechen authorities claimed that the figures, cited by human rights organizations, have been artificially inflated. "The figures are overstated and I doubt they are correct," Chechnya's envoy to Moscow Ziyad Sabsabi earlier told Interfax.