The Events of March 27
Vissa Kungaev, Elza Kungaeva's father, said that between midnight and 1 a.m. on March 27, 2000, a loud noise woke the Kungaev family. An armored personnel carrier (APC) drove up to their house on the outskirts of the village of Tangi-Chu, carrying three Russian soldiers, and their commander, Colonel Budanov. Kungaev warned his five children and went to his brother's nearby home to seek help.
According to the Kungaev family, armed soldiers entered the Kungaev house. Budanov stood in the corridor while two soldiers entered the bedroom and others guarded the house. First they brought Kungaev's younger daughter, Khava, out of the room, but when she screamed, Budanov reportedly said, "Let her go, take that one." The soldiers then brought out the eldest daughter, Elza, took her outside, and drove her away in the APC. Vissa Kungaev then returned to his house, only to be told by his children that Elza Kungaeva had been taken by the soldiers. Kungaev's brother, a neighbor, said the APC bore the number 391. Many have reported that Budanov was drunk at the time.
Later on March 27, a group of villagers obtained permission from local Russian forces to travel to Urus-Martan, seven kilometers away, to search for Kungaeva. They believed she might have been taken to one of two detention facilities run by federal forces in that town. Two witnesses told Human Rights Watch that a federal commander in Urus-Martan told the villagers that Kungaeva had been raped by drunken men and was dead.
Read more about this topic: Elza Kungayeva
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