Moscow, 2 July: Nearly 5,000 people have disappeared in Chechnya since 1994, regional human rights ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiyev said in Groznyy on Wednesday (2 July), the press service of the president and the government of the republic has reported.

"As far as we know, a total of 4,825 people are listed as missing in the Chechen Republic in the period since 1994," Nukhazhiyev told an interdepartmental conference in the republic devoted to assessing the performance of the republic's law enforcement bodies in the search for missing and abducted persons.

Chairwoman of the North Caucasian peace centre Aset Malsagova, who addressed the conference, suggested setting up a special website to collate information on abductions, to which servicemen and eyewitnesses of abduction- and disappearance-related events could reveal any information they knew, the press service said. (Passage omitted)

Akhmed Dakayev, director of the department in the administration of the president and the government of Chechnya for liaison with law enforcement bodies and forces, said that the Interior Ministry of Chechnya had put out bulletins for 1,258 missing persons between the years 2000 and 2007, and 557 of those had subsequently been found, the press service of the president and the government of the region (as received) reported earlier.

According to Dakayev's figures, the number of missing persons in the republic in 2007 was 36.4 per cent down on the number for 2006, while in 2008, not a single instance of disappearance has been recorded, the press service said.