A new Russian tactic in Chechnya is to seize civilians suspected of rebel activity and demand a weapon from the captive's family before releasing the man. While this may not get weapons away from the rebels, the families are forced to buy a weapon held by some other civilian and removing one more weapon from the civilian population. Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry announced that over a hundred criminal investigations have been launched against Russian soldiers in Chechnya this year. Already, 52 of those investigations have been completed, resulting in 43 Russian soldiers going to trial on serious charges.