CHAPTER 3.
Clergymen as hostages. "They kept me in the cage for two and a half months and in the cellar for five and a half..."

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Ilja Lisakov from Rostov-upon-the Don had been held hostage for 15 months. The third of this term he was kept in a cage, the rest - in a cellar. He was forced to work hard for 19-20 hours a day. Sometimes he was not given food for several days.

- I stayed in a cage like an animal. I had to work like a slave.

- How long did they kept you in the cage?

- They kept me in the cage for two and a half months and in the cellar for five and a half months. The ransom was 1.5 million dollars. This sum sounds fantastic to me. The death was very near. More than once they took me out for shooting, put a gun to my temple and clicked the trigger. I have little knowledge of arms so it was certainly a very hard moral experience for me.

Now you see Father Piotr Markov and Father Serguei Potapov, two Orthodox priests released from the Chechen captivity in May 1999. Piotr Markov is 73 years old. He was kept in a cement well, beaten and very poorly nourished. He was happy if he had a piece of bread and a glass of tea a day.

- I was handcuffed for five days.

- Did they say what they wanted from you?

- They wanted me to write a letter to my relatives or to our Patriarch demanding them to pay a ransom.