Police in Russia’s Ingushetia detain suspected kidnapper of journalists

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.