Ingushetia Press

Police in Russia’s Ingushetia detain suspected kidnapper of journalists

08.11.2006 Editor

INGUSHETIA, 6 November, Caucasus Times: A person suspected of kidnapping Chelyabinsk journalists in Chechnya in March 1997, has been detained in the [former] Ingush capital, Nazran, a source in the law-enforcement agencies of the Republic of Ingushetia has reported.

According to information available, the detainee, a 42-year-old resident of Chechnya, Said-Emin Bichalov, has been an active member of illegal armed formations. He is charged with kidnapping two journalists.

We should recall that the journalists from Chelyabinsk’s Satinskiy Rabochi newspaper, Olga Bagautdinova and Aleksandr Utrobin, were kidnapped by unidentified people in March 1997 during their duty trip to Chechnya.

Then, the man managed to escape and he reported the whereabouts of his colleague.

Olga Bagautdinova was released as a result of an operation.

Caucasus Times

Editor

The “Free Eurasia” project is an independent media platform based in Prague, with an ambitious mission to provide the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus with high-quality, objective and timely information in their national languages. We unite the expertise of editors and journalists working in Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Circassian, Avar and Russian to break the monopoly of state-run Russian-language media and amplify the voices of local communities. Direction Our work focuses on comprehensive coverage of social, political, economic and cultural developments in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the issues facing diasporas in Russia, Turkey, China and other countries. We produce news, analytical articles, video reports, podcasts, interviews and journalistic investigations. Special attention is paid to topics rarely addressed by state media: human rights violations, corruption, ethnic and cultural identity, migration and international relations. We strive to engage audiences of all ages, with a particular emphasis on young people and residents of remote regions, offering them digital content in their native languages. Goal Our main goal is to promote the development and sustainability of independent media in Central Asia and the Caucasus. We aim to strengthen the region’s informational sovereignty by expanding access to truthful sources and raising media literacy. At the same time, we support the development of national languages as key elements of identity and cultural heritage, encouraging public discussion and engagement. The project seeks to become a catalyst for building a strong civil society and defending democratic values, helping to train new professional journalists and fostering international cooperation.

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