Council of Europe Mission In Chechnya Obstructed

Mauro Palma, the head of the delegation sent by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), said on May 1 that they were turned away from the village of Tsentoroi, the ancestral home of Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov.

Rights activists claim that Tsentoroi is one of a number of villages that host secret jails in which prisoners and kidnap victims are tortured.

A security force Ramzan Kadyrov led when his late father, Akhmat Kadyrov, was president of the republic has been accused of abducting and torturing hundreds of civilians.

President Alu Alkhanov said the incident on Monday was a "misunderstanding" and that CPT officials could visit any site in Chechnya.

(Interfax, dpa)