B. Mairbek, offered Khizir Tepsurkayev and A. Said-Arbi a lift with him to the centre of town. A. Said-Arbi declined the offer, explaining that he had left his passport at home and that he would need it because a sweeping operation was taking place in the centre. Khizir Tepsurkayev accepted the offer of a lift and got into the car. It appears that Khizir Tepsurkayev was not aware of the fact that B. Mairbek and his car were on the authorities' wanted list.
10. At about 10 a.m. the car approached the building of the former Military Commissariat on Kalanchakskaya Street. There was a group of Russian servicemen there from military unit No. 6779. The group consisted of policemen from Bashkortostan and was stationed on the eastern edge of Urus-Martan. One of Khizir Tepsurkayev's acquaintances, police officer A. Ruslanbek, was with the group. The commander of the group was officer V. Vasiliy. The group, accompanied by military cars and APCs (armoured personnel carriers), was participating in a special operation and was conducting identity checks. The servicemen were stopping and searching every car. Many people were in the area at the time, as the checks were being carried out next to the local farmers' market. When the soldiers stopped B. Mairbek's car, Khizir Tepsurkayev got out of the car and showed his identity documents. The officers checked them and gave them back. At that moment someone in an APC shouted that the car was on the wanted list and the driver should be arrested. B. Mairbek turned his car around and drove away as the servicemen opened fire.
11. After the car had left, commander V. Vasiliy immediately ordered the soldiers to detain Khizir Tepsurkayev. The soldiers started beating him. One of the soldiers hit Khizir Tepsurkayev on the forehead with the butt of his rifle, causing bleeding. During the beatings Khizir Tepsurkayev called for help. He called the name of his acquaintance, D. Yaragi, who lived nearby. The latter heard him and approached the crowd, but could not get through to Khizir Tepsurkayev because the soldiers started firing over the heads of the crowd. Khizir Tepsurkayev was forced into one of the APCs.
12. Another eyewitness, police officer A. Alvi (also mentioned in the submitted documents under the name of A. Aslan), participated in the special operation with another group of servicemen. He was close to the market when he heard the gunfire. Upon approaching the crowd he was told by bystanders that the officers had taken a young man, beaten him and were about to take him away in an APC. Then a group of officers from the temporary department of the interior of the Urus-Martan District ("the VOVD") arrived in a UAZ ("tabletka") vehicle. Khizir Tepsurkayev was taken from the APC and placed into the UAZ car, which drove away. A. Alvi immediately reported Khizir Tepsurkayev's removal to his superiors at the VOVD.
13. After Khizir Tepsurkayev had been taken away, the group under V. Vasiliy's command continued the special operation. The UAZ car which had taken Khizir Tepsurkayev away returned in half an hour. When A. Ruslanbek asked the officers in the car where they had taken Khizir Tepsurkayev, they refused to answer. A. Ruslanbek immediately reported Khizir Tepsurkayev's removal to his superiors at the district department of the interior.
14. Approximately half an hour after Khizir Tepsurkayev was taken away, in the morning of 27 August 2001, a boy came to the applicant's house and told her and her husband that their son had been abducted at the local market. The applicant and her husband immediately started searching for Khizir Tepsurkayev.
15. The applicant and her husband went to the VOVD and inquired about their son. They were told that Khizir Tepsurkayev was not there. The applicant's husband asked an employee of the Urus-Martan administration, Mr G., about his son. The latter was familiar with
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