Russians' Appeals to Court Bring Intimidation, Death

The six armed men claimed that they were officers of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the domestic successor of the KGB. Still, the road police were suspicious. They consulted with a local prosecutor and then took the men and their prisoners to a nearby police station, according to court documents.

But the six men and their prisoners were all ordered released by the acting Ingush interior minister, Abukar Kostoyev, according to an account of the incident written by the Russian general prosecutor's office. They got back into their cars and drove into Chechnya.

On June 21, the Medov family was informed by letter by a deputy prosecutor in Ingushetia that Medov was detained by "officers of the FSB Department for Chechnya under the command of Lt. Col. Beletskiy V.V."

But on July 7, the head of the FSB in Chechnya wrote to say that Medov had not been detained by his officers and that his department had no knowledge of his whereabouts. The agency also said it had no officer named Beletskiy.

With agencies of the Russian state flatly contradicting each other, Medov's wife, Zalina Medova, applied to the European Court of Human Rights. Threats and offers of payment to back off soon followed, she said in an interview.

Medova, a soft-spoken 25-year-old wearing a light-colored veil over her hair, said the first message was conveyed in January by a distant cousin. He telephoned and told her that some Russian officials, who he said had contacted him, wanted her to withdraw her case. She refused, she recounted, but she continued to hear from the cousin.

In February, the cousin introduced her to a man who described himself as a former major in the FSB. The man said her filing with the European Court threatened the careers of some senior Russian officials. He told her to withdraw it because there was no point in proceeding; her husband was dead, he said.

The major, who never gave his name, said he didn't "want the children to be left without the mother," according to Medova and papers filed with the court. The calls continued, and there began to be suggestions that she might receive money for her cooperation.

In March, she received a final warning. Her cousin called her at home and said several senior officers in the Russian security services were standing beside him. They said they were willing to pay her $30,000 if she withdrew her complaint. If not, the cousin said, she might be killed.

In April, the European Court formally asked the Russian government whether there had been "any hindrance by the State" in Medov's case. Russia has until July 25 to reply.

In the interview, Medova, a restless son sitting on her lap, said her husband had no connection with terrorist or armed groups. "We are a quiet family," she said, rejecting an assertion in one government document that her husband was detained on "suspicion of having committed grave crimes."

In any case, human rights activists point out, a person under suspicion of terrorism or related crimes is still entitled to due process under Russian law.