| 4/11/2003 The Caucasian
Knot
Russian Federation, Chechnya / Civil society, Human rights, Power organs Memorial: Chechen deputy prosecutor's assertions are contrary to fact On October 28, ITAR-TASS Agency expounded a statement of Alexander Nikitin, Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic, who, according to the agency, "refuted the information of some human rights organizations" about the number of people who disappeared in the Chechen Republic during the second Chechen war. Meanwhile only one human rights organization, Memorial, was mentioned in the agency's report. This fact obliges us to comment on the words of the Deputy Prosecutor of Chechnya. He states two thousand names have been registered in the lists of people missing since 1994. We do not dispute the fact that many people were kidnapped and disappeared in Chechnya in the period before 1999. However, we assert that only single instances registered in the official lists of the missing which were presented to the Memorial staff correlate to the events that had happened before the second Chechen war began in October 1999. It is not clear what lists the Deputy Prosecutor speaks about. In January 2003, the Chechen Public Prosecutor's Office declared that 1,663 people had disappeared in Chechnya. Probably, this very list has been extended to two thousand people up to now. Although at that moment the Chechen Government staff had lists of more than 2800 missing people. The vast majority of listed cases shows that federal forces officers are connected with detentions and abductions of the missing. In October 2003, Movsar Khamidov, Chechen administration official responsible for contacts with security agencies, said about 300 people had disappeared in Chechnya since the beginning of this year. Thus, even considering quite official data of the Chechen Republic's competent bodies, one can make a conclusion that over three thousand people have disappeared in Chechnya. However, the Deputy Prosecutor "disproves" the data of human rights activists for some reason. In the next place, the Deputy Prosecutor states, "We have recently received a declaration from the Memorial human rights organization containing the list of people they consider missing; but there was an examination and relatives of the people in the list showed it was untrue." This statement contradicts the real facts. Memorial submitted such a list to the bodies of the Chechen Public Prosecutor's Office in March 2002 for the last time. The Public Prosecutor's Office has never informed Memorial that it refuted any of the names and facts in the list. And it is not accidental that the Deputy Prosecutor could find no other example but the case of Dik Altemirov to prove his statement that Memorial's data were unreliable. By the by, Mr. Nikitin forgot for some reason to mention that this case happened in May 2001. He also did not say that the famous Chechen public figure Dik Altemirov was taken by servicemen from his house to an illegal place of custody on the territory of a military unit. For that very reason Memorial immediately sent inquiries to various official bodies. We did not enroll Dik Altemirov in the lists of the missing. A number of international human rights organizations that were worried about Dik Altemirov's destiny also sent their inquiries to Russia. Fortunately, Dik Altemirov was soon released that is why many inquiries were received after that. Had the Deputy Prosecutor of Chechnya expounded the facts correctly, he would have hardly used this example as an illustration for his doubtful statements. Presently, Memorial has sent a letter to the Chechen Public Prosecutor's Office in which it demands clear information about all the cases when Memorial's data on the people missing in Chechnya was not corroborated. Source: Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Moscow)
http://www.ng.ru/events/2003-11-06/7_kill.html (my quick tr.) Nezavisimaya Gazeta 06 Nov. 2003, #240 (3072) Soldiers of the GRU spetznaz are charged with murder of peaceful Chechens By Aleksandr Shapovalov The trial of four spetznaz soldiers who are charged with the murder of six innocent civilians of Chechnya is continuing in the North Caucasian Military Court. According to the investigation, the soldiers of the 641th reconnaisaince [razvedgruppa] spetznaz unit of the Main Intelligence Division of General Staff shot and burnt down an automobile in which those Chechens were travelling, having for that no grounds at all. Defendants themselves - Major Aleksey Perelesskiy, captain Eduard Ulman, Lieutenant Aleksandr Kalaganskiy and ensign Vladimir Voyevodin - assert that it was necessary for them to open fire to destroy, since the vehicle did not stop on their demand. The tragedy occurred on the 11th of January 2002, when the soldiers of reconnaisance [razvedgruppa] unit under the command of captain Ulman landed in the vicinity of settlement Dai of the Shatoy district of Chechnya. In this region, a high activity of fighters was observed and there was an operational information about their movement in the automobiles under the guise of innocent civilians. A task was set for the unit, to carry out an inspection of transport [vehicles] on one of the auto-routes, and in the case of resistance to open fire to destroy. The intelligence officers had a time to check out several automobiles, which were let go. About 15:20 [3:20 PM] on the road, an "UAZ"-"tablet" showed up, whose driver, according to the intelligence officers, didn't react to their demand to stop, but increased its speed and it attempted to run over one of the soldiers. The spetznaz soldiers began to shoot, when the door of vehicle was opened while it was still moving. Professionals know: when the rear door of vehicle is being opened while it moves, the muzzle of machine gun from there can be put out. According to words of captain Ulman, who gave this order to open fire to destroy, "a purely professional instinct was working". In the machine-gunned automobile six dead were found - five men and one woman, who, according to the investigation were innocent civilians. When those intelligence officers reported about that incident to their immediate superior - deputy commander of the 641th GRU unit Major Perelesskiy, they were ordered by him to relocate to another region. And here what had taken place, it can play a decisive role at the trial. The spetznaz soldiers rolled away the "UAZ" to the shoulder and burnt it down together with the bodies of people, which at that moment, as the investigation assumes, could still had been alive. The razvedgruppa was working for two more days in the mountain locality of the Shatoy district, carrying out different combat missions, and on their return to the place of their permanent stationing, the soldiers were charged with exceeding their authority and deliberate murder. However, they arrested not all them, but only the commander of this razvedgruppa, his deputy and one of the contract soldiers. Procuratorship also produced charge against Major Perelesskiy, who later was freed under the stipulation that he won't leave [the place where he's been living]. The arrest of captain Ulman and his subordinates caused the wave of protests on their native territory, in the Novosibirskaya Oblast. Deputies of the State Duma of the RF and the representatives of local parliament have came in the support of soldiers. The union of veterans and Cossacks of the Siberian Cossack troops turned up themselves for the support to their fellows from the Vsevelik troops of Don with the request to support spetznaz soldiers during the court trial. Although the campaign in defense of the officers of the GRU spetznaz appears to be not so imposing, as this was in the case with Budanov, a connection with the deed of the Colonel and story of captain Ulmann's subdivision was obvious. The first one, being the commander of tank regiment, was known as a real professional. The second one - an officer of this elite subdivision. They were both charged with murder and exceeding their official authority. Both, etc., as the investigation assumes, stepped over the boundary, after which their authorities in the war time end. The interests of those victims in the court represents attorney Abdulla Khamzayev, who at the Budanov trial was Elsa Kungayeva's family's lawyer. But there is a difference: this new trial is going on with patricipation of jurors. Rostov-on-Don ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://2002.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2002/62n/n62n-s00.shtml Anna Politkovkaya wrote about this story, the link above. M.L.
Refugees counted Again in Satsita camp INGUSHETIA. According to the Council of Non-government Organisations,yet another “census” of the population will take place in Satsita, thetent city of Chechen refugees. The reason for the procedure is thatseveral days ago, without any sort of basis, representatives of theso-called "Moscow Workers’ Group” excluded from the Migration Serviceslists dozens of refugee families living in the camp. The administratorsmade it known that those people not included on the lists for a periodof three days would be forcibly relocated out of Satsita. The Moscow Workers Group is made up of representatives of differentregions of Russia and is lead by a certain Colonel Brichko. For twomonths already, members of the group have been living in the local HotelAssa, where rooms cost 500 roubles a night. (In comparison, the amountspent on one refugee per night is 15 roubles). Indignant at theactivities of the Moscow Group, residents of Satsita decided to send adelegation to Nazran to try and obtain some restoration of justice inlegal form. On the afternoon of November 5 an agreement was reachedbetween the representatives of the refugees and local administrators tocarry out a joint examination of the Migration Services lists in orderto reinstate the names of those people who had been unjustly excludedfrom them. The Satsita Public Council of Refugees is to take part in theexamination. Translated by Sue-Ann Harding Information Agency
PRIMA [2003-11-06-Ing-03] Grozny, (Interfax)- 10 November - Unidentified attackers kidnapped four men in Grozny on Saturday, while a policeman and his driver were injured in an assault in another part of Chechnya, a Chechen Interior Ministry source has reported. A group of 20, armed with assault rifles, and traveling in three cars kidnapped three men in the Chechen capital of Grozny. Another man was abducted by a different group, also in Grozny. The whereabouts of the captives was unknown, the source said. In the Shali district, an armed group numbering between five and seven seized a car in which a policeman was traveling with his driver. After assaulting both of them, the attackers took two rifles and two handguns from the vehicle and fled. The policeman was taken to hospital. The ministry source said a police search operation had produced no results so far. |