Eliza Zubayeva

Staropromyslovski archive ID STA-K032 · Human Rights Watch original list no. 32 · Reported civilian victim

Recorded age: 8 · Reported death or discovery: Presumed night of 20 January 2000 · Place: Zubayev family home, Grozny · Evidence status: Presumed dead; body not recovered at HRW publication

What the sources document

Eliza Zubayeva, aged eight, was another daughter of Ruslan and Luiza Zubayev, and sister of twelve-year-old Larisa. In the early morning of 21 January, two neighbours found eight members of the extended family shot dead in the courtyard. They did not find Eliza. Because the house had burned, both witnesses believed she had died inside. Human Rights Watch included her in its list of 38 but explicitly noted that her body had not been found.

Limitations and editorial verification

This entry is correctly classified as a presumed death, not a recovered body or independently witnessed killing. The source does not establish Eliza’s final movements or the exact place and time of death.

This is a memorial record grounded in contemporaneous human-rights witness testimony. It is not an independent criminal verdict. Dates, English spellings, witness protection and unrecovered bodies are treated according to the original sources. No portrait is presented without verified identification and reproduction rights.

Related victims from the same incident

Alina Zubayeva · Larisa Zubayeva

Primary sources

Human Rights Watch, Civilian Killings in Staropromyslovski District of Grozny (February 2000); HRW open letter to Vladimir Putin, numbered list of 38 victims (10 February 2000), entry 32.

Return to the 38-person register · Read the historical case file