Translation

• Five people, including Batchayev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, left the Pankisi Gorge.
• The car was driven by Alex Kavtarashvili, born in 1970.
• Next to him was Eldar Margoshvili, born in 1968.
• Both served under contract in the internal troops of Georgia.
• After passing through the village of Kabali, where mostly Azerbaijanis live, and through the neighboring Georgian village of Baisubani, the car began to enter a forest area where an ambush was waiting.
• An oncoming car caused an accident, and when the passengers got out of the first car, bursts of automatic gunfire rang out over their heads and everyone was ordered to lie down.
• Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, as the most valuable, was taken alive.
• The others were shot at point-blank range.
• There was no resistance from those detained.
• Neither Batchayev nor Yusuf Krymshamkhalov used "suicide belts."

In the same month, negotiations resumed with other people about purchasing a tape with an interview of Achimez Gochiyayev.

• Sometimes it seemed to us that just a little more and our interlocutors would give the tape for free.
• The initial amount of 3 million dollars was immediately reduced to 500 thousand.
• In the end, we bargained down to 150 thousand.
• We managed to agree on sending the first minute of the recording and a transcript of the entire interview text with one significant caveat: two names would be removed from the text – an FSB officer now serving in Cherkessk, an old acquaintance of Achimez Gochiyayev who set up his friend; and another person accidentally seen by Achimez Gochiyayev visiting an unnamed FSB officer.
• These two names were exactly what cost 150 thousand.

In January 2003, we indeed received these materials. The cut-out names were designated as "K." and "Kh.". Further hours of telephone negotiations were not successful. We were unable to convince our interlocutors to give the tape for free.

At the end of February, a printout of Achimez Gochiyayev's interview was handed over to Anna Politkovskaya for publication in "Novaya Gazeta". On March 3, Achimez Gochiyayev's testimony, although not in full, was published.