Three Granger Telecom employees and an independent contractor have been killed in Chechnya, a breakaway republic of Russia located north of Georgia.
Granger Telecom employees Darren Hickey, Rudolph Petschi and Stan Shaw, and independent consultant Peter Kennedy, were taken hostage on Oct. 3 while installing a wireless local loop system for Chechen Telecom. The men were accused of working for the British secret service to monitor phone conversations, and they may have been forced to make false confessions, according to some published reports.
Ray Verth, chief executive officer of U.K.-based Granger Telecom, earlier this month confirmed the deaths of the men.
“We were especially shocked by this horrific news as we were making every effort to secure the safe release of the hostages,” said Verth in a Dec. 8 statement. “We had opened a dialogue with the kidnappers and received confirmation that the hostages were alive as recently as last week.
“We understand from media reports today that the Chechen authorities may have mounted a rescue attempt last night,” continued Verth in the Dec. 8 statement. “It would appear that something went tragically wrong.”
Verth said the company was aware of the dangers of traveling in the region and had taken precautions, including the provision of an armed team on the ground.
Chechnya fought a war of independence with Russia between 1994 and 1996, and hundreds of people have been taken hostage there since the conflict ended. Although Russia claims no control over Chechnya, the republic has yet to be recognized as independent by any other nation.
Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov blamed a Chechen Islamic group-the Islamic Jimaats-for the attack. Maskhadov also declared a one-month state of emergency last week in an effort to crack down on rampant crime in the republic.
Following the kidnapping, Granger took steps to transfer the responsibility for installing equipment to employees of Chechen Telecom.
