Rebel site compares Chechnya to "large" concentration camp
A web site has compared Chechnya to a "large" concentration camp where "the Russian invaders do exactly what they want". "You have to go to some lengths in order to reach your relatives or family living in the mountains," Chechenpress added.
The following is the text of report by Chechenpress news agency web site entitled "The choice has been made - punish them"; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
For some people in Chechnya the day of the "elections" and subsequent days stayed in their memory for a number of crimes committed by the Russian army of occupation. On 7 December 2003, the only people to take part in the so-called "elections" in the village of Samashki in Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District were the "electoral commission and the local administration". Russian troops in two APCs and Chechen policemen in armour protection for their own safety were patrolling the streets. Approaching lunchtime, Chechen mojahedin suddenly attacked the vehicles, knocked them out with rocket launchers, and disappeared as fast as they came.
Two days later, 9 December, the Russian occupation forces from the Samashki military command, justifying their actions as revenge for the destroyed vehicles and their own wounded, carried out a punitive operation against the people of the village. In front of his mother, they machine-gunned her only son Avduyev Anzor and brutally beat up and took away about 10 youngsters, men and women aged from 14 to 50.
Every Chechen "is in danger" at home
Usman, 29, an only son, was returning home from Moscow to see his parents in the Groznyy settlement of Michurin. His elderly parents persuaded him to come, saying that the puppet "leadership of the republic" had promised to "bring order" after the elections and to "put a stop to the atrocities of the Russians". Usman arrived home literally on the day of the elections. Early in the morning of 13 December there was a knock on the door. Usman's father opened it. Outside in the street was an APC with two camouflaged soldiers sitting in it.
"Is your son at home?"
"What do you want?"
"We need to ask him about something. Don't worry, old man, we won't do anything bad."
Satisfied, he went back into the house for his son. At that moment Usman came out of the kitchen followed by his half-awake five year- old son. As soon as Usman reached the door, the troops, in full view of the boy, shot him with pistols and disappeared. It later transpired that Usman had been suspected of taking part in the first Russian-Chechen war of 1994-96, although his parents claimed that it was known full well that he had never fought. From this instance it is clear that every Chechen who has spent any time outside the republic and then returned home is in danger.
Chechnya seen as "large concentration camp"
Today Chechnya resembles a large concentration camp where the Russian invaders do exactly what they want. You have to go to some lengths in order to reach your relatives or family living in the mountains. First you have to get permission from the local commandant's office, then register at the checkpoint when entering the village, and then get a form from the head of the local administration stating the purpose of your visit (for example, a relative's funeral), not to mention other obstacles at checkpoints where they extort bribes. One of the Russian staff officers tried to explain this strict procedure when he encountered some villagers from Chishki:
"In the main the fighters' bases are situated in the mountainous part of the republic which is not under our control, and therefore we plan in time to move the people from your village down to a site near Groznyy which we have nearly finished building."
In all probability, the Russian officer had decided to keep the people happy by painting a picture of a city life with all conveniences. But, typical of the military, the officer stupidly blurted out too much. The Chechens didn't need him to tell them that their towns and villages had not been devastated by carpet bombing and shelling just so they could be rebuilt. And to continue this theme, the Russian occupation troops continue to cynically plunder petroleum products and, stripping them down to scrap metal, take away and sell off what somehow remains of Chechnya's industrial plants.
Alikhan Isayev, exclusively for Chechenpress. 19.12.03
http://www.chechenpress.info/news/12_2003/7_20_12.shtml [BBC Monitoring]
Baku media under web site attack over "non-existent threat of Chechen terrorism" reports
The Chechenpress web site has criticized Baku and the UN High Command for Refugees for not doing enough to help Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan. According to the web site, the situation of Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan was made "substantially worse" after the closure of "virtually all" Muslim charities in Azerbaijan "in the heat of the struggle against international terrorism". The web site also denounced Azerbaijani journalists for "harping on in the press about a non-existent threat of Chechen terrorism". "One need scarcely have any doubt that Russia is behind the inventions on a 'terrorist theme' in the Azerbaijani press," it said. The following is the text of report by Chechenpress news agency web site entitled
"Canards from the ROH"; subheadings have been inserted editorially;
The story-tellers from the ROH (regional operational headquarters) of the North Caucasus have circulated their latest sensational report that, following a "brilliant" special operation of the FSB [Federal Security Service], they were able to detain a member of the illegal Chechen armed formations. They said there was an Islamic fund operating in Azerbaijan which is helping to provide financial and other support to the Chechen resistance movement. In the interests of the investigation, the FSB did not divulge any information about the man being held, who was simply called Ruslan. The Russian-language media in Azerbaijan straightaway seized on this "canard" from the ROH.
The fact that these were just fairy tales became clear after Chechen refugee channels were able to give more details about the detained man, who was known to many Chechens in Baku, and whom the experts from the ROH placed virtually on the level of the well-known terrorist, Ilyich Ramires [I.R.Sanchez - the "Jackal"].
Kremlin's "house of cards" crashes down But yet again, the Kremlin- Lubyanka house of cards came crashing down. The FSB kept secret the information about the "terrorist" who turned out to be none other than Rizvan Oybuyev, a Chechen refugee, who was registered at the Baku office of the administration of the High Command for Refugees (AHCR) of the UN, under number AZ/01/1548, and who had vanished beyond the borders of Azerbaijan about a month ago. The date of issue of the certificate of registration was 15 October 2001. It had twice been extended, now up to 31 December 2003.
In other words, while Putin's valiant sleuths were forcing the evidence they needed out of him, Ryazan Oybuyev, as the document says, "was in the sphere of influence of the UN AHCR". But the FSB, who were attaching wires of electric current to his ear lobes or his genitals, could not have known that Rizvan was under the UN's protection, because he had left his identity papers with friends in Baku just in case anything happened to him in Chechnya. But it is possible that the UN certificate "aggravated Oybuyev's guilt", because in the opinion of the FSB, any Chechen from the age of 10 to 60 is a terrorist, and this means that the UN should not protect them. As we can see from the ROH reports, precisely what Rizvan was afraid of in fact happened.
Lack of UN funds forces Chechen refugees leave Azerbaijan
The people at the AHCR of the UN, whose fault it was that Oybuyev had to leave Azerbaijan, explained what virtually every Chechen refugee in Azerbaijan has known for a long time - that there is a shortage of funds. It has been said that "the sphere of influence of the AHCR of the UN" extends only to the territory of Azerbaijan. This means that Rizvan had no right to return to Chechnya. To the question: what did you expect him to do, die of hunger in Azerbaijan, a member of the AHCR replied that he would not be left to die there, "we would find means to support him".
[Russian colonel] Shabalkin's HQ also reported that the detained man had spoken about the activities of the Islamic charity fund Assalam in Baku. But it is strange, because if such a fund exists and is involved in charity work, then it would be perfectly feasible for it to give help to the family of Oybuyev who, apart from his wife, had two young children. Especially if Oybuyev was a fighter in the resistance. But for some reason Rizvan turned to the AHCR of the UN for help and support instead of the Assalam fund. Why?
Azerbaijan's Chechen refugees suffer as "virtually" all Muslim charities close down
The Chechen refugees know of dozens of cases of the death of young people from Chechnya who had returned home from Azerbaijan because of a lack of funds. Probably Assalam ought to be the first to take the blame for this. But either this fund does not exist, or Oybuyev made it up after he was tortured.
The latter is more likely if you bear in mind that Azerbaijani National Security Minister Namiq Abbasov, denied reports that Assalam was operating in the country. This is what he said according to the newspaper "Ekho", I quote: "However, I can say precisely that there is no such organization in Azerbaijan, otherwise its members would have been arrested long ago."
We have no doubt of the authenticity of Abbasov's words, and I would like to confirm that the situation of the Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan was made substantially worse after the Azerbaijani ministry of national security rushed too abruptly into the case, closing down virtually all Muslim charities and organizations. Thus, the Azerbaijani "secret services", in the heat of the struggle against international terrorism, "threw out the baby with the dirty bath water", to coin a phrase. We can sympathize with the predicament of the Azerbaijani special services who found themselves between the "hammer" of the anti-terrorist coalition, headed by the US, and the anvil of state terrorism in the form of Putin's Russia. But this danger Azerbaijan now faces from Russia has, unfortunately, been recognized too late.
Azerbaijani journalists hype up "Chechen terrorism" issue too much
If one may only partially blame the local office of the AHCR of the UN and the Azerbaijani special services for the disastrously grave situation of the Chechen refugees, then most of the guilt lies with those Azerbaijani journalists who keep harping on in the press about a non-existent threat of "Chechen terrorism". One need scarcely have any doubt that Russia is behind the inventions on a "terrorist theme" in the Azerbaijani press. What is less likely is that this is being done by "special journalists" with the same pro-Russian insensibility.
Following the verdict of British justice which dotted the "i's" and crossed the "t's" in the case of Akhmed Zakayev, the special representative of the Chechen president, and recognized the lawful struggle of the Chechen people for their release from Russia's colonialist yoke, independent Chechens expected understanding from the Azerbaijani journalists. But this didn't happen, and as a result the "terrorist" cart has now reached there. Surely these masters of the pen realize by now that their current pro-Russian stance in the perpetual search for the "Chechen trail" is not in the interests of the sovereign Azerbaijani state, and that their position should take a 180-degree turn.
Then it ought to be clear to everyone that this propaganda is playing into the hands of Putin's Russia, which is now seeing fascism with a Russian face, the first victim of which could yet be sovereign
Azerbaijan. Mayrbek Taramov, exclusively for Chechenpress. 20.12.03
Eleven-year-old weighed just 33lb after three-year kidnap ordeal
By Tom Parfitt in Makhachkala The Telegraph, (Filed: 21/12/2003)
The family of a kidnapped 11-year-old boy have described how he behaves "like a child raised by animals", cowering in dark corners and using only his teeth to pick up things, after being freed in southern Russia weighing just 33lb, earlier this month.
Dzhamal Gamidov, the son of Dagestan's former finance minister who was himself killed in a terrorist attack in 1996, was on the verge of death when police discovered him in the south of the republic, close to the border with Chechnya. He had been missing for almost three and a half years.
His captors had demanded a $1 million (£580,000) ransom from his family but apparently panicked when they saw police making inquiries into an unrelated crime in the town of Khasavyurt. Witnesses saw a group of masked men dump him in an abandoned building, where officers found him.
Emaciated and dumb with shock, Dzhamal was taken to hospital. "He is like Mowgli, like a child raised by animals," said his uncle, Abdusamad Gamidov, referring to the lost boy who was raised by wolves in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. Mowgli is captured, humiliated and ill-treated by men.
"He can only say a few words and he snatches food from those around him," said Mr Gamidov. The boy cowered with his cheek on his left shoulder and tried to sleep in dark corners such as stairwells and cupboards, Mr Gamidov said.
His wrists are scarred and he uses his teeth to pick up objects, suggesting that he was tied with a rope behind his back. He is afraid of women, and tried to bite his female relatives when they visited him in hospital.
Mr Gamidov descibed the boy's captors as monsters. "No poverty, no hunger, no thirst - nothing in this world can excuse persecuting a child in this way."
The boy's grandmother said that he was "as light as a feather" when he was found. "The doctors were trying to find a place to inject him but there wasn't enough flesh - he's just skin and bones. It's terrible, terrible, but he's alive."
Doctors are feeding Dzhamal porridge and vitamin supplements and slowly weaning him onto regular meals.
His family said that he was receiving counselling but could take months or years to fully recover. The medical team has told police that he cannot be questioned in the early stages of his treatment because of the trauma it might cause.
Doctors say that the boy is so traumatised that he cannot describe his ordeal, and suspect that he was tortured and beaten, in addition to being starved.
He was snatched from outside his grandmother's home in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, as he played football with friends, and is believed to have been moved from house to house during his captivity. Nobody has been charged with his abduction, although the head of the region's anti-kidnapping unit is being held in custody on suspicion of involvement in the crime.
Kidnappings are common in Dagestan, Russia's southernmost republic, which borders Chechnya. A mountainous region that is home to more than 30 nationalities, it has a reputation for violent crime.
In 1999, two Chechen warlords invaded western Dagestan and seized villages in an attempt to set up an Islamic republic. The incursion, along with a string of bombings in Moscow and other Russian cities, prompted the Russian army's second offensive in Chechnya.
Since then, spasms of violence have spilt into Dagestan. Last week, a gang of Chechen militants killed nine border guards and briefly seized some hostages in a remote village in the Dagestani highlands.
Kidnapping is an important source of income for fighters and mafia groups in the north Caucasus. Several hundred victims have been seized in recent years, including, last year, Arjan Erkel, a Dutch aid worker.
Despite an international outcry, police have no clues to Mr Erkel's whereabouts. Hostages are often kept in holes in the ground and threatened with torture if their relatives do not pay.
Dzhamal's captors remain unknown but suspicion has fallen on Imamutdin Temirbulatov, the head of the Dagestani interior ministry's anti-kidnapping unit. He was arrested near where police discovered the boy earlier this month, on the same evening.
Temirbulatov claims that he was negotiating the boy's release when he was detained, but had not told his superiors.
The interior ministry believes that he may have been an accomplice of the kidnappers. Temirbulatov's lawyer, Madina Magomedzagirova, said the accusations were "terrible lies", prompted by colleagues jealous of his success in securing the release of more than 150 hostages.
Monday, Dec. 22, 2003
Patrushev Blames Basayev For Blasts
The Associated Press
Federal Security Service chief Nikolai Patrushev blamed Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev on Friday for a series of suicide bombings that has set the country on edge.
Patrushev accused a group led by Basayev, known as Riyadus Salikhin, of organizing recent suicide bombings he said were aimed at sparking "maximum political resonance" by killing as many civilians as possible.
Patrushev did not specify the attacks, but he appeared to be referring to at least two suicide bombings this month -- one that killed six people outside the National Hotel in downtown Moscow and another that killed 45 people on a train in the Stavropol region, near Chechnya.
A series of attacks that authorities say were suicide bombings, several of them carried out by women, has killed nearly 300 people in and around Chechnya and in Moscow in the past year. Authorities have blamed most of the attacks on Chechen rebels, and Basayev has claimed responsibility for some -- but not the most recent ones.
Patrushev said Basayev has been urging other rebel leaders in Chechnya to train suicide attackers. He asserted that the organizers of the attacks enlist "fanatically inclined" women aged 16 to 30 to carry out bombings, as well as women he claimed are abducted in various parts of Russia.
Basayev has been a key rebel field commander in both of the Chechen wars of the past decade -- the 1994-96 conflict in which separatist forces fought Russian troops to a standstill and prompted their withdrawal from Chechnya, and the fighting that began in 1999 after federal forces returned.
In August, Washington classified Basayev as a threat to the United States, and a few days later the UN Security Council included him on its official list of terrorists.
Patrushev said the UN designation was an official acknowledgment by the international community of links between the guerrillas fighting federal forces in Chechnya and international terrorism.
Russian officials have made the connection repeatedly, eager to show the world that the militants are international terrorists as opposed to rebels fighting for a separatist cause.