Pro-Russian Forces Accused of Seizing Chechen Rebel's Widow

Pro-Russian forces have allegedly kidnapped a young woman who secretly married Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord who was killed last month.

Elina Ersenoyeva, 26, was seized in Chechnya's capital, Grozny, on August 17 by masked gunmen - thought to be loyal to the Kremlin - in an apparent attempt to extract information about her husband's accomplices and finances.

Tatyana Lokshina, of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights office in Moscow, described the abduction as "monstrous".

"No one has any idea where she is," Ms Lokshina said. "Being the relative of a fighter, even if he was considered public enemy No 1, is no reason to kidnap someone. If she is guilty of a crime, she should be prosecuted in a court."

Her mother, Margarita, told human rights activists that Ms Ersenoyeva, a journalist and aid worker, had agreed to marry in November "under duress".

"She didn't know who her husband was until she met him," said her mother.

Basayev died in Ingushetia in an explosion on July 10 that Moscow claimed was the result of a special military operation.

Mrs Lokshina said she suspected her daughter was seized by the Kadyrovtsi - former rebels controlled by Chechnya's prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin's placeman in the turbulent republic in Russia's north Caucasus.

Russian media speculated that the Kadyrovtsi aimed to use the young woman to help retrieve $7m (£3.7m) in cash hidden by Basayev, and to track down his guerrilla accomplices.

Mrs Ersenoyeva said her daughter had accepted an anonymous marriage proposal after the wife of a senior rebel told her there would be "big problems" if she refused. Elina had spent a week with Basayev after the wedding and visited him in hiding on two other occasions.

Two days before she was abducted, she wrote a letter to rights activists saying she was being harassed by law enforcement agencies. Chechen prosecutors said they were investigating the kidnap.