Zelimkhan Murdalov

Who was Zelimkhan Murdalov?

Zelimkhan Murdalov was a 26-year-old student from Grozny, Chechnya, who left his home on January 2, 2001, saying he would be back soon, but did not return. His parents tracked him down at the police station, where an official promised that he would soon be released, but they have not seen their son since. According to witnesses, Murdalov was subsequently severely tortured and apparently killed while in police custody. His case was first brought to the public prominence by the September 2001 Novaya Gazeta article "The Disappearance" by Anna Politkovskaya.

On January 7, 2001, a criminal investigation was opened into Murdalov's disappearance. The investigation found that on January 3, 2001, Murdalov was taken into a cell in the district police of Oktyabrsky district of Grozny by Lapin and another unidentified official; there Lapin had beaten Murdalov with a truncheon and subjected him to electric shock treatment. Witnesses told the court that while in the cell, Murdalov could hardly stand and lost consciousness several times; his arm was broken, his ear torn and he had received concussion to his head. The next day Lapin and some colleagues took Murdalov out of the cell; since then his fate and whereabouts remain unknown. It emerged in court that he was tortured in detention in an attempt to turn him into an informant. In 2005 and again in 2007, former OMON officer Sergei Lapin was sentenced to prison for the torture of Zelimkhan Murdalov.