On the 26th of December, 2008, Islam Matsalgov, 28, was abducted outside his house in Nazran, Ingushetia. According to witnesses, the road was blocked off by two vehicles, an UAZ and a blue Lada. Neither vehicle had number plates. Islam was pushed into the Lada and driven in the direction of the Ossetian border. After several days, Islam’s relatives appealed to the president of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, for help. Evkurov agreed to meet the family in person, but discouraged them from publicizing the case, saying that the attention would decrease their chances of finding Islam. The family kept the abduction out of the public eye for a month. Even so, the unofficial meeting with the president yielded no results. The authorities that later filed the case suggested that insurgents were responsible. The whereabouts of Islam remain unknown. 

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