SRChF/CP: (Press release No. 368) Civilian houses burnt by Russian military

INFORMATION CENTER OF THE SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP

Press release No. 368, March 4, 2003

Report from the Chechen Republic

Military men burnt civilians' houses in the town Argun and made an Attempt upon the lives of SRCF correspondents who investigated the case.

Today the head of the regional department of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship in Chechnya and Ingushetia Imran Ezhiev phoned to the editor's office of the SRCF information centre and reported that the car with a group of SRCF members had been subject to firing on the side of unknown people in the town Argun. Imran Ezhiev and his colleagues were questioning residents of the district centre Shali and shooting their explanations about the events happened on March 1, 2003.

As our correspondents managed to find out, on March 1, 2003 in Argun (2-a Voroshilovsky St.) federal forces representatives imitated a fight. According to witnesses, there wasn't a real battle, nobody resisted federal units. Russian soldiers were shelling at civilians' houses in Argun that caused conflagrations. Fire destroyed houses and valuables of Rosa Matsukaeva (1952), Rosa Daudovna Baitakova (1954), Aina Abubakrova (1941), and Zalpa Mikheeva (1925). Rosa Matsukaeva and one more female inhabitant of Argun were slightly wounded. According to local residents, small children were in the shelling zone - although parents and relatives asked soldiers to let them take their children out, servicemen refused. As a result small children were subject to serious stress, and some of them, for example, Aina Bushuev's child can eat nothing for the third day already. Rosa Matsukaeva has gone through a hard heart attack.

She was lying unconscious for about 1.5 hours and there was not a possibility to render the woman necessary medical aid. On March 4, 2003 SRCF correspondents under the leadership of Imran Ezhiev shot to camera more than 70 victims and witnesses who wanted to give evidence. At the moment of departure one of the local residents ran to the car "Oka" that belonged to the SRCF correspondents and alarmed that two cars "UAZ" without state numbers and armed people on board, supposedly Russian soldiers, were approaching the place. SRCF members started driving along sidestreets. At that moment two "UAZ"s appeared and opened fire. Fortunately, a lorry "Kamaz" was in the shooting zone and that let Ezhiev and his colleagues escape. Later our correspondents changed the car but got under shelling on the side of unknown people in cars "Niva" and "Zhiguli" of the white color. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Residents of Argun addressed to the chair of Committee for Human Rights Ella Pamfilova and to the chair of Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseeva with a request for help. Videotape will be delivered to the addressees, in case our correspondents manage to get away from Chechnya alive.

(From our correspondent.).

Editor in chief Stanislav Dmitriyevsky.
Editor of this edition Oksana Bazhina.

This edition has been put out with the support of The National Endowment for Democracy, as part of their "Russian- Chechen Information Partnership".

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