A university lecturer who went missing in Russia's Chechnya region last month was found dead on New Year's Day.
The body of Khizir Yezhiyev, a teacher of economics at Grozny State Oil Technical University, was found late on January 1 on the outskirts of Roshni-Chu in Chechnya’s Urus Martan district, southwest of the regional capital.
Students at the university said they saw Yezhiyev being detained by law enforcement officials in Grozny on December 19.
But Chechnya’s Interior Ministry did not confirm that he had been detained and his whereabouts had remained unknown.
Some media reports from Chechnya said Yezhiyev had been kidnapped.
Unlawful detentions by security forces are a long-standing problem in Chechnya, where activists say Kremlin-backed regional head Ramzan Kadyrov rules through fear and abuse.