Death of a child suffering from a stress disorder; illegal detentions in Kurchali

September 7, 2001

***

11-year-old Minkail Gekhaev, a resident of the village of Kurchaloy, died on the train on the way home from Moscow. A month before his death, during the next artillery strike on the settlement, the boy experienced severe stress; he had to be taken for treatment to one of the capital's clinics. There he was treated, but they said that it was no longer possible to live in an environment of constant shelling.

My father wanted to leave Minkail Gekhaev with relatives in Astrakhan. However, the roar and signal of an oncoming train completed what the shell explosions had done.

***

During the “cleansing” in the village of Kurchali, the Russian military detained two people: Kharon Bisultanov, 36, and Shamil Soltaev, 35.

Shamil Soltaev, who had been captured earlier, had already been beaten up when Kharon Bisultanov was lifted into the back of the Ural car. Together with him, Nina Ivanovna, the wife of the head of the administration of the village, Bagaudina Abdusalamov, also went up there. According to local residents, thanks to her requests, the military released the detainees.

 

From the book "People Live Here", Usam Baisaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006

 
Последние новости
Disappearances, raids and torture: what Anna Politkovskaya wrote about the second Russian-Chechen war
Chronicle of Wars and Crimes
Disappearances, raids and torture: what Anna Politkovskaya wrote about the second Russian-Chechen war
7 October 2026

Anna Politkovskaya was killed on 7 October 2006. Her articles, written from behind Chechnya’s blood-soaked information wall and barbed wire, became a voice of truth — the truth about what residents of the republic were experiencing as they became a convenient and powerless collective victim of the global “fight against international terrorism”.

Anna Politkovskaya’s name laid out in flowers in Oslo
Human rights
Anna Politkovskaya’s name laid out in flowers in Oslo
7 October 2026

Memorial events for Anna Politkovskaya are taking place in countries around the world today, marking 20 years since the murder of the journalist, who spent many years reporting on the war in Chechnya and human rights violations.

 

European Parliament Demands Withdrawal of Lawsuit to Ban Opposition Parties in Georgia
Politics
European Parliament Demands Withdrawal of Lawsuit to Ban Opposition Parties in Georgia
7 October 2026

In a draft resolution, the European Parliament has called on Georgian authorities to immediately withdraw the constitutional lawsuit seeking to ban opposition parties. The document is set for a vote on October 8, following a debate on the country's political situation taking place in Strasbourg on October 7.

On Putin’s birthday, Kadyrov speaks of the
Politics
On Putin’s birthday, Kadyrov speaks of the "special significance" of his name for Chechnya
7 October 2026

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov congratulated Vladimir Putin on his birthday and stated that the Russian president's name holds "special significance" for the Chechen people. According to Kadyrov, the region will "never forget" the support Putin extended to his father—Chechnya’s first president, Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov—"at a time when the future of the Chechen Republic depended on the decisions being made."