Human rights defender Imran Ezhiev, head of the Information Centre of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship in Chechnya (SRFC) in the Northern Caucasus, is allegedly at grave risk due to his investigation of the recent kidnapping and assassination of his colleague Aslan Davletukaev, whose dead body was reportedly discovered on 16 January 2004, bearing evidence of torture and mutilation.
On 26 January 2004, it was reported that the house and workplace of Mr. Ezhiev in Ingushetia were being watched by unidentified individuals. It was also reported that he was being followed by unidentified individuals driving four cars without license plates. Cars without license plates have allegedly been used in the past to kidnap Chechen refugees, and there are concerns that when road police don't stop a car without number plates, it because it belongs to the security service of the pro-Moscow president of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov. 
