Today within the framework of the cooperation programme between Russia and the EU targeted at democracy development in Chechnya Republic a two-day seminar on kidnapping and disappearance for law enforcement agencies, human rights organizations and NGOs starts in Pyatigorsk.

    Among seminar participants there are EU experts, representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Prosecutor-General’s Office, Military Prosecutor’s Office, Russian Federal Security Service, corresponding ministries and departments of Chechnya, as well as specialists from NGOs. Among the representatives of the “third sector” that participate in the workshop there is head of the Committee against Torture in Chechnya Sulyan Baskhanov. Applications from Chechnya citizens reporting their relatives missing are submitted to the Chechnya department of the Committee against Torture, that’s why lawyers and human right defenders from Chechnya are well informed on the issue. During the seminar Mr.Baskhanov will have an opportunity to present materials of public investigations of kidnapping and disappearance cases conducted in Chechnya to the workshop participants.