INGUSHETIA, November 5, Caucasus Times - Recently, Ruslan Badalov, the chairman of public organization "Chechen Committee for National Salvation" has brought an action to Nazran regional court against the Migration Service director Ivan Pomeschenko, who faces charges with offence and defamation.

The Chechen watchdog considers the official is to be called to account for his public defamatory allegations and offences against Mr. Badalov.

"The official's abuses must be stopped. At first Mr. Pomeschenko said in his interview with the "Prague Watchdog" journalist, alleging me of a payoff of the refugees campaigning against their return to Chechnya. Second, at a meeting with the displaced persons in "Bella" camp the Russian official publicly had offended me, calling me, I quote him as saying, "a subversive element who bribed the Public Council of the refugees so that the people would not be able to return and settle normally at their new place."

Mr. Badalov considers, that such statements offended not only him but also thousands refugees, who were also indirectly alleged of venality.

Now, Mr. Pomeschenko should offer real evidences of the charges in court. Otherwise, he must openly apologize for his false charges against the human rights activist and to pay the pecuniary damages established by the court.

Mr. Badalov said in his interview with the Caucasus Times agency, his claim has already been accepted for consideration by Nazran regional court and its decision is expected very soon.

Malika Suleymenova, Caucasus Times, Ingushetia


Russian Abuses In Chechnya Slammed By UNHRC

GENEVA, November 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A U.N. panelFriday, November7 , sharply criticized human rights violations inRussia, highlighting the impunity of security forces in Chechnya and thegovernment's clampdown on Russian media, only hours after Italy's PrimeMinister Silvio Berlusconi jumped to the defense of Russia’s VladimirPutin, accusing the European media of "telling tales" about thesituation in Chechnya.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee slated the ill-treatment of prisonersunder interrogation, executions and torture in the breakaway republic ofChechnya, as well as state closures of independent television andnewspapers, after a regular examination of Russia, according to AgenceFrance-Presse (AFP).

The Committee said in its concluding report that it was "deeplyconcerned about continuing substantiated reports of human rightsviolations in the Chechen Republic, including extra judicial killings,disappearances and torture including rape".

It also warned that 54 police and military personnel had been prosecutedfor crimes committed against civilians in Chechnya, but the sentencesdid "not appear to correspond with the gravity of the acts".

Russia "should ensure that abuse and violations are not committed withimpunity... including violations committed by military and lawenforcement personnel during counter-terrorist operations" and the panelcalled for investigations of all cases.

The report also voiced concern at closures or state takeovers of privateRussian media in recent years, inviting the government "to protect mediapluralism and avoid state monopolization of mass media, which wouldundermine the principle of freedom of expression".

It also cautioned against arrests of journalists on treason charges,although their work was of "legitimate public interest", according tothe experts.

"We were certainly concerned about a substantial number of things andit's quite a long list," Sir Nigel Rodley, one of the members of the 18-strong panel of legal experts, was quoted by AFP, as saying.

"There were... very important areas of great concern to the Committee,areas where perhaps a more established judiciary would have been able toaddress some of the problems that we did have to deal with," Rodley toldjournalists.

However, the panel's final observations praised legislative progress inRussia in recent years and efforts to reduce overcrowding in prisons.

The U.N. Committee checks on the application of the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has been signed by 151countries including Russia.

(Berlusconi-Putin coverage snipped)


07 November 2003

Putin approves EU proposal for North Caucasus mission

Paris, 7 November(Itar-Tass): Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the EU idea of opening a representation in the North Caucasus to assist economic regeneration, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov told journalists today, noting that it had not yet been decided precisely where the mission would be sited, in Ingushetia or Chechnya.

Ivanov pointed out that the EU wanted to open a representation in Ingushetia, but, he said, "we think the assistance centre should move from neighbouring republics into Chechnya itself". Ivanov pointed to the activities of several international organizations in Chechnya in support of his argument.

Ivanov also said that Putin had "given the maximum possible detail on what is happening in Chechnya and what the prospects are for settlement" at the EU summit. "The reaction was unambiguous: our partners expressed gratitude and stated their readiness to cooperate in addressing the tasks we have already encountered in Chechnya, in particular the economic revival of the republic."