Disappearance of Ali Astamirov height - How tall is Disappearance of Ali Astamirov?

The Disappearance of Ali Astamirov (ca. 1969) concerns a Chechen journalist who was working for Agence France Presse in Ingushetia, Russia, bordering Chechnya, when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by a group of three, uniformed, masked men on 4 July 2003, just outside Nazran. This was during the Second Chechen War.

Ali Astamirov, an Agence France-Presse correspondent, was abducted in Ingushetia while in carload of two other witnesses, a humanitarian worker and a journalist, at a gas station. His two fellow passengers said Astamirov was taken from their vehicle and driven away in another white car by three masked and military camouflage uniformed gunmen headed in the direction Chechnya on 4 July 2003. The kidnapping incident took place in Altievo, which is a village just outside the former capital city and bordertown of Nazran.

Chechens have been targeted by natives of surrounding areas because of conflicting political views and warfare after a decade. After the Second Chechen War ended, President Vladimir Putin ordered Chechnya's restoration under Russia's governance, which was the source of opposition in the surrounding areas. Rivalries between Chechnya and Ingushetia made it difficult for journalists to report on political issues and were threatened. According to The International Federation of Journalists, this is one of the most life-threatening regions for any journalist to report in. Ali Astamirov was just one of the hundreds of correspondents who were abducted as a result of the conflict. There were 278 kidnappings in the first five months of 2003, and 56 people were later found dead while 49 people have not been seen or heard from since.

In a series of high-profile meetings in October 2003, Astimirov's disappearance was part of the discussions between Prime Minister of France Jean-Pierre Raffarin and the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Kasyanov, as well as between the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin and the Foreign Minister of Russia Igor Ivanov.

Ali Astamirov worked for radio and Grozny Television in Chechnya. From 1998 to October 1999, he worked for the Chechen branch of the then-independent Russian television station NTV (Russia). He left NTV close to the beginning of the renewal of conflict in Chechnya. Around 2001 or 2002, Astamirov became a freelance correspondent for Agence France Presse. He took on a dangerous reporting assignment for the AFP by reporting on the conflict in Chechnya from Ingushetia. Astamirov had been working for the AFP for a year at the time of his kidnapping.