7.10.2003 11:49 MSK

Two refugees abducted by military

Ingushetia, RUSSIA. The information centre of the Council of Non- Governmental Organisations has reported that on the morning of 6 October members of the armed forces abducted two refugees from the MTF (former dairy production plant) temporary camp at Nazran.

According to other camp residents, masked soldiers broke in to the refugee camp at dawn. They broke down doors and forcibly entered people's homes, searching for people whom they described as "bandits". Without offering any explanation, the masked men seized and took away two young men, whose whereabouts is now unknown.

PRIMA News Agency [2003-10-06-Rus-12]

Oct 7 2003 12:27PM

GROZNY/MOSCOW.Oct 7 (Interfax) - Allegations that the Chechen presidential election on October 5 failed to meet international standards are untrue, Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov, head of the elections commission in the internal Russian republic, told Interfax on Tuesday.

"Such allegations are absolutely groundless. I do not know what the criteria for them could be. The election was democratic. The voters had ample [voting] alternatives, no matter what anybody says," he said.  This was Arsakhanov's response to a statement made by Richard Boucher, press secretary of the U.S. State Department, to the effect that both the election and the political process surrounding it failed to bring about a positive political result. According to Boucher, the absence of credible rival candidates and the control of pro-Kadyrov groups over the media suggest that the election did not meet international standards for free _expression of popular will.

"I would like to know what evidence has led to this conclusion. Seven candidates in the final presidential race does not look like an election without alternatives," Arsakhanov said.  "Neither the elections commission nor, as far as I know, the observers had any complaints about the voting process or results," he said.  According to the elections commission, over 80% of voters supported Kadyrov.  "The turn out was very high and exceeded the most optimistic forecasts," Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, the Russian president's human rights envoy in Chechnya, told Interfax.

The election became the latest step toward political settlement in Chechnya, Sultygov said. "The election made it clear that political settlement in Chechnya is an irreversible process. It will accelerate the resumption of peaceful life," he said. Jointly with observers sent by human rights organizations he traveled most parts of Chechnya, Sultygov said. "The electorate had ample [voting] alternatives in a democratic election, the voting was free, and there was no pressure on the voters," he said.

Russian mass-media allegation of 80 % of Chechnya citizens at polls contradicts real data

CHECHNYA, October 6, Caucasus Times - Russian state-run mass-media optimistic reports that over 80% of eligible voters came to the polls in the presidential elections in Chechnya is a mere allegation and contradicts real facts, Zainap Gashayeva, the head of "War echo", a public organization. She was quoted as saying "since we have been visiting the polls in Grozny, observing, shooting films at the election sites in the area all day long (October 5), we can firmly state that the elections reported results are in contradiction with the real situation."

According to her, the organization activists spent two hours at the poll #408, in a Staropromislovsky school building in Grozny. "Only seven voters came to the poll. There should be at least 200 persons for this span of time, considering the number of population in the city to reach the official figure. "We witnessed a local election board secretary taking a bunch of filled-in ballots and throwing them into the ballot box. It was common for other sites we managed to observe." the "War Echo" leader said.

Meanwhile, according to the electoral commission data, the overwhelming majority of Chechen citizens participated in the elections and more than 85 % cast their votes in favor of the acting administrator Akhmad hajji Kadyrov.

Ruslan Adayev, Caucasus Times, Chechnya

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003. Page 3

Activists See Fraud at Chechen Poll

By Yevgenia Borisova and Timur Aliev Special to The Moscow Times  

Itar-Tass / AP

Photo: Ballots being counted at a polling station in Grozny on Monday. Activists say they saw ballot-stuffing and voters being pressured.

  GROZNY -- Human rights groups Tuesday reported instances of ballot- stuffing, voting by unregistered voters and pressure from local officials during the Chechen presidential election, which was won by Kremlin favorite Akhmad Kadyrov.

The Moscow Helsinki Group, Memorial and the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, which all refused to send official observers to Sunday's election, sent monitors to the polling stations and are now busy compiling their reports.

"One of our monitors was taken for an administration official in one of the polling stations in the Shali district, and in his presence a whole pack of ballots was stuffed into a ballot box," said Imran Ezheyev, head of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, which is based in neighboring Ingushetia. "The [election] commission member who did it was stopped by our monitor, who told her what she was doing was illegal. She was apparently very embarrassed."

Ezheyev said the monitor saw similar ballot-stuffing in a polling station in the Kurchaloi district.

Moscow Helsinki Group's programs coordinator, Sergei Shimovolos, told reporters in Grozny of another suspicious occurrence in the Shail district. "After one of the polling stations was closed, the head of its [election] commission left with the ballot boxes, went to the head of the local administration and locked himself in the room with him. Isn't it a violation of the law?"

Ayub Arsanukayev, an observer for one of the rival candidates, Shamil Burayev from Achkhoi-Martan, said the main violation was heavy voting by unregistered voters. "People unknown in our districts were coming, showing their passports with registration in absolutely different areas, and voting," Arsanukayev said in an interview.

Although the official turnout was about 85 percent and television reports showed crowds of people showing up to vote, monitors for the human rights groups said they saw few people at polling stations throughout the republic.

"At none of the polling stations, at different times and in different areas of the republic, did our monitors see more than three people at the same time," the Moscow Helsinki Group said on its web site. "In Grozny, the monitors stood for half an hour near one polling station. Only five people came to vote during this time."

Monitors quoted polling stations officials as saying that they had come at the wrong time and just a couple hours before the polling stations had been swarming with people.

Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov, head of the Chechen election commission, denied allegations of election violations.

"I don't understand what criteria are being used to brand the election as not meeting international standards. The election was democratic and had alternative candidates, whatever anyone says," Arshakhanov told Interfax on Tuesday.

A woman from Mesker-Yurt, who was in her home village in the Shali district Sunday, said that only about one-third of the villagers went to vote.

"Only pensioners went, and those who are getting children's or unemployment allowances, because they were told by our administration that if they didn't go and support Kadyrov they would stop getting their money," said the woman, speaking from Memorial's office in Nazran, Ingushetia, who said she was afraid to have her name published.

Caucasus Times