| Text of statement
by the Russian Council of Nongovernmental Organizations http://www.livechechnya.org posted on its website on February 7. [BBC Monitoring] Statement The Council of Chechen Nongovernmental Organizations expresses its sincere condolences to all the relatives and families of those who died as a result of the explosion in the Moscow metro on 6 February. We condemn the organizers and perpetrators of this monstrous act, which took the lives of dozens of completely innocent people. The Chechens, who are now living for the fifth year in an atmosphere of unending terror and violence, very well know - probably like no-one else - what it means to lose loved ones in an instant. Terror against unarmed civilians cannot be justified by even the most lofty of aims or ideas. At the same time, it is necessary to note the negative fact that, almost immediately after the tragedy, a single theory for the incident was put forward by the law-enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation, which usually stand out for their striking helplessness when investigating serious crimes, and the culprits, as usual, were declared "suicide bomber terrorists", naturally from the Republic of Chechnya. Against the background of another human tragedy, on the blood of the dead and injured and the grief of their loved ones, anti-Chechen and anti-Caucasian hysteria is again unfolding, with the new national chauvinists basically calling for a campaign of mass terror and ethnic cleansing to be mounted in Russia. It is our firm conviction that the populist and openly misanthropic statements of the Russian pseudo-patriots are as much of a crime against humanity as the terrorist acts which are taking people's lives.
Monday, Feb. 9, 2004. Page 8 The Moscow Times By Matt Bivens "Moscow does not negotiate with terrorists -- it destroys them." -- President Vladimir Putin responding to Friday's terror attack
About this time last year, a group of 15 armed and masked men -- from their accents, Russian soldiers -- arrived at the home of a Chechen family and seized two brothers, Kharon and Aslanbek. At a detention center in Grozny, Aslanbek was interrogated and beaten. His nose was broken with a heavy metal flashlight, his back and face beaten with rifle butts. The next day he was loaded into a car -- with the corpse of his brother, Kharon -- and driven to an abandoned chemical plant. His tormentors tied him and his dead brother to timed explosives, shot him in the head and left. However, the head wound had been a near- miss -- merely superficial. Aslanbek worked free of his bonds and brought his brother's body home. That case, as recounted by New York-based Human Rights Watch, is just one of many atrocities by Russian forces documented last year. For last February, the Russian human rights group Memorial documented 41 "disappearances" -- cases in which people were taken into custody and never heard from again. All told, Memorial documented 269 disappearances in 2003, of which several dozen have turned up as corpses. Put aside guerrillas being gunned down in fire fights, or women and children caught in the regrettable crossfire; put aside those who stepped on mines, or succumbed to war-zone diseases; put aside kidnappings or arrests where the victims were ransomed, or freed, or at least formally accounted for. Consider only the disappearances (people last seen alive being led away by men with guns and never heard from again) and these alone have been averaging about 22 victims every month. And that's a conservative undercount. Memorial is only able to document a fraction of atrocities in Chechnya -- a patch of mud and mountains in the Caucasus still too dangerous for a United Nations mission. Memorial guesses that for every documented atrocity, two or three go unrecorded. That works out to an average of 66 to 88 disappearances each month. (That jibes with figures from the Kremlin- approved Chechen administration, which last August was already reporting 400 disappearances, plus dozens of mass graves containing the remains of about 3,000 civilians.) So on top of the landmines and diseases and such, there have been 22 or 44 or 66 or maybe 88 disappearances every month, for more than a year now, with no end in sight. In terms of tragedy and death, that's in the ballpark of one Moscow metro bombing every month. But the metro bombing was carried out, presumably, by a group of criminals -- people we really have no control over. It was immediately and loudly denounced by the entire world. Even the London representative of Chechen president-in-exile Aslan Maskhadov condemned it. The Kremlin declared a national day of mourning and accepted condolences from governments on every continent. The Chechen disappearances, by contrast, were ultimately carried out not by unaccountable criminals, but by a democratically elected government -- Vladimir Putin's. They occurred with little comment or complaint, even as they were exhaustively documented in reports to the UN and other bodies. And no doubt this all fed the determination of crazed extremists who, upon seeing the callous murder of their own by outsiders, said things like, "We don't negotiate with Russians -- we destroy them." Matt Bivens, a former editor of The Moscow Times, covered the first war in Chechnya for the Los Angeles Times.
Chechen Refugees in the Pankisi Gorge Resist Transfer to Russia GEORGIA, Tbilisi. Chechen refugees temporarily living in the Pankisi Gorge will not welcome being unceremoniously transported to Russia like bandits, and reaction against any illegal action might not be “coincidental”, Aslanbek Abdurzakov, head of the Chechen International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights told journalists on Friday. Responding to the announcement made today by Nana Kakabadze, director of the NGO Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights, about the alleged existence of Georgian government plans to transfer several dozen Chechen refugees over to Russia, Aslan Abdurzakov said that while he himself did not have such information, “definite attempts to increase tensions in the Pankisi Gorge are being observed.” According to Abdurzakov it is “wholly possible that the Georgian authorities will make that move to oblige Moscow in exchange for concessions in Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia.” Nana Kakabadze told journalists on Friday that she had received information about plans to transfer the refugees to Russia. “This step would be a gross violation on the part of the Georgian government,” she said. According to Kakabadze, the Chechen refugees living in Georgia have official status and any action against them would contravene Georgian legislation. Translated by Sue-Ann Harding 2004-02-09 16:45 MOSCOW, February 9, 2004. (RIA Novosti) - Three, out of the six, accused in the case of the murder of State Duma deputy Sergei Yushenkov have admitted their guilt during the court hearings on Monday. Defendant Vinnik fully admitted his guilt, while Kiselev and Kulachinsky only partially. The other three do not admit their guilt. Sergei Yushenkov was killed on April 17, 2003 at the entrance to his house in the northwest of Moscow. At the request of one of the main defendants, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party Mikhail Kodanev, whom the Investigation accuses of the organisation of the murder, the trial is going on with the participation of jurors. Apart from Kodanev, his aide in the Liberal Russia Alexander Vinnik, as well as Alexander Kulachinsky, Igor Kiselev, Vladislav Palkov and Anton Drozd are in the dock. The latter three were earlier imprisoned. As follows from the indictment, co-chairman of the Liberal Russia party Mikhail Kodanev wanted to independently dispose of the party's money. With this aim in view he decided to remove Yushenkov. For this purpose he formed a criminal group, State Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin said. Kodanev handed over Yushenkov's photograph and 50,000 dollars to his aide Vinnik. The latter, in his turn, found Kiselev who bought a gas pistol, re-made for firing with live cartridges, from which Yushenkov was killed. Kiselev hired Kulachinsky, Drozd and Palkov in Moscow. All of them worked out a plan for removing Yushenkov.
Investigators see Chechen trace in Moscow blast; media fear more victims than officially reported February 09, 2004 Posted: 15:19 Moscow time (11:19 GMT) MOSCOW – The suicide-bomber version remains a priority in the investigation into the deadly blast in the Moscow Metro on Feb. 6, Vyacheslav Ushakov, deputy head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), told reporters today. He also said that the terrorist act was similar to the one that killed 45 people and injured 188 others on the Essentuki commuter train on Dec. 5 2003. "That allows [us] to see a Chechen trace in the Moscow underground blast", Ushakov noted. Ushakov also said that stricter security measures should be taken to prevent similar acts in the future, such as the adoption of more stringent legislation and exempting terrorists from the moratorium on death penalties. Meanwhile, according to Gazeta.ru, the real number of dead people from the blast might be probably higher the official figures, which put the number of the dead at 39 and over 120 injured. This and other media outlet have said that their data are based on accounts of a paramedic at the rescue scene who claimed to have seen more dead bodies that have so far been officially reported. This allegation cannot be verified by independent media outlets as access to the information on the victims has been declared off limits to coutsiders. Government officials have yet to comment on the alleged discrepancies. In a related development, over 1,500 people have already donated blood at city's blood-collection centers to be used in treating the blast victims. /The Russia Journal/
eng.kavkaz.memo.ru 9/2/2004 The awful outrage was committed in Moscow. The organizers of the monstrous act of terrorism deliberately chose civilians as their victims again. We mourn the people killed and deeply feel for those suffered. There is no and cannot be any justification for those who prepared and carried out this crime. The criminals must be found and severely punished. The President and law-enforcement agencies are advancing with confidence the version about a "Chechen trace". No proofs of it have been presented yet. But if this version is found to be true, then the present tragedy, unfortunately, could obviously be predicted. The unwillingness of our country's leaders to take at least some steps towards a real, but not decorative political settlement of the conflict has led to the strengthening of the positions of extremists - people who do not set themselves accountable political aims, which can be a basis for a compromise. Over the last years, activists of human rights organizations and many public and political figures have repeatedly warned that inhuman actions of federal forces in Chechnya are dangerous to every Russian citizen. Hundreds of thousands of people have been daily living in the atmosphere of death for many years, they are being forced out, thrown out of civilized life. Thousands of humiliated people, whose relatives and close friends have been killed, abducted, physically and morally crippled, serve for cynical and unscrupulous leaders of Russian terrorist groups as that environment from which they recruit their followers, kamikazes and terrorist act committers. Only a resolute change in the policy of the Russian leadership can bring peace and serenity to the Russian people. 7 February 2004 Source: Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Moscow, Russia) 9/2/2004 "Memorial" Board member Oleg Orlov "On the Initiative of European Parliament members" 145 members of the European Parliament signed the statement that is an _expression of the support they give to the plan of peaceful settlement in Chechnya called in press as "Maskhadov's plan". This plan supposes the transfer of government over the territory of Chechnya to a United Nations interim administration and withdrawal of Russian troops from there with simultaneous disarmament of units resisting them. On 4 February, some media asked me to comment on this initiative of the European Parliament members. Unfortunately, it has turned out that many listeners and readers did not understand what I said. Therefore I find it important to reproduce my comments accurately. One should admit with obviousness that the plan of peaceful settlement suggested by Aslan Maskhadov and members of his government can not be realized. At least one reason for it is that Russia is the UN Security Council Permanent Member and can veto any decision of this UN structure that has a binding effect for Russia. Resolutions of the UN General Assembly can be passed by a majority but they have a nature of recommendation. It is also quite obvious that at least one government of the state recognized on the international level will hardly show its readiness to take actions aimed at putting this plan into practice. But regardless of the content of these proposals, the important thing is that advocates of the independence of Chechnya aspire to stop military actions and seek a way out of the conflict. I think that the European parliamentarians' initiative should be considered solely as a vivid demonstration of their distrust of Moscow's policy in Chechnya. It is completely evident that the Russian leadership substitute pseudo-elections and a pseudo-referendum for the real political settlement of the armed conflict and mass gross violations of human rights in Chechnya continue. The developments in Chechnya have a very negative effect on the social and political development of Russia and pose a threat to the future of our country as a democratic state. The deputies who signed this statement showed in a harsh way that the situation in Chechnya complicates relations between Russia and Europe now as before It seems to me that all those who are not indifferent to Russia's destiny can only welcome the appeal by European partners of our country to the issue of human rights observance in Chechnya, including that in the form chosen by the members of the European Parliament. Oleg Orlov 6 February 2004 Source: International Society "Memorial"
ACPC Condemns
Moscow Subway Bombing FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Daniel A. Pellathy, Tel. 202.364.2466 ACPC today strongly condemned last week’s subway bomb attack in Moscowand called for a renewed commitment by both parties to ending the warthrough peaceful negotiations. “This appalling attack on citizens of the Russian Federation cannot bejustified. It goes against all efforts in developing a sustainedpolitical process to end the tragic war in Chechnya,” ACPC ExecutiveDirector Glen Howard said. The bombing on February 6 killed 39 individuals and injured some 100others. Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately blamed Chechenresistance leader Aslan Maskhadov for the attack. “Blaming Maskhadov, who frequently and fervently denounces such attacks,without reference to a known terrorist such as Chechen warlord ShamylBasayev, seems odd,” Howard commented. “Putin’s statements serve onlyto alienate those who favor a negotiated settlement among the separatistfighters.” With nearly a dozen bomb attacks associated with the conflict claimingsome 200 lives throughout the Russian Federation in 2003, the war inChechnya has spread instability and fear far beyond the borders of thetiny republic. It is estimated that total deaths among the Chechens,including those from the 1994-1997 war, exceed 100,000. Roughly 80,000Russian troops are stationed in Chechnya. “No military solution to the war in Chechnya exists. Only through anegotiated political settlement, such as the plan recently endorsed bythe European Union calling for the engagement of the United Nations, canthis war be resolved,” concluded Howard. Founded in 1999, the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) isa bipartisan coalition of distinguished Americans dedicated to promotinga peaceful end to the war in Chechnya. www.peaceinchechnya.org Tue, Feb. 10, 2004 Associated Press MOSCOW - A Russian presidential candidate who vanished last week surfaced Tuesday in Ukraine, saying he was surprised by all the fuss that his disappearance had caused. Ivan Rybkin, a critic of President Vladimir Putin, had been missing since late Thursday after being dropped off outside his Moscow home, according to his wife and campaign staffers. His staff reported Tuesday evening that he had been found in Ukraine, and Rybkin told the radio station Echo of Moscow that "I haven't disappeared anywhere." "I decided not to listen to the radio and TV" for a few days, Rybkin said. "I decided to go to Kiev to visit friends." Rybkin, 57, said he was "shocked" when he read Russian newspapers on Tuesday and saw that his absence was being given wide attention. He failed to turn up for a news conference Friday and missed his official registration as a candidate Saturday for the March 14 election. Rybkin also has not contacted his wife, Albina, his close friends or staff, and didn't answer his mobile phone. Albina Rybkina filed a missing persons report Sunday, waiting the three days required under Russian law. Prosecutors opened a murder investigation into Rybkin's disappearance Monday - and then immediately closed it, citing a lack of evidence. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the head of his campaign staff, Kseniya Ponomareva, as saying that Rybkin "called me, saying that he had had pleasantly spent four days in Kiev and did not understand what all this hysteria was about." Rybkin was a national security chief under former President Boris Yeltsin, the ex-speaker of Russia's lower parliament, a participant in failed negotiations with Chechnya's rebel leadership in 2002, and a close associate of one of Putin's most vocal foes, self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky. While the mystery around Rybkin's disappearance swirled, Russian political observers suggested several possibilities: that his disappearance was staged as a political gimmick aimed at destabilization ahead of the election, that he fell victim to intrigues within the Berezovsky-funded Liberal Russia party, or that he was targeted in a politically motivated attack by the Russian security services.
Missing candidate Rybkin reportedly found Interfax, Feb.09, 2003 State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov of the United Russia faction, told reporters on Monday afternoon that presidential candidate Ivan Rybkin, who has been missing since Thursday, was located in the holiday resort "Lesnye Dali" (Distant Forests) in the Northern part of the Moscow Region. Gudkov said he had received this information from his colleagues and added that Rybkin's disappearance was a PR stunt planned by Boris Berezovsky – who is known as Rybkin's sponsor and staunch opponent of President Putin. However, a short time later the managers of the holiday resort refuted the report. ''Rybkin is not among the visitors of the resort and apart from that, nobody has arrived in the resort over the few last days,'' a receptionist said.
8.2.2004 INGUSHETIA. 5 February. Chechen refugees living in the Satsita refugee camp near the village of Sleptsovskaya in Ingushetia held the usual protest meeting against the authorities’ intention to close the camp. The refugees were demonstrating against the planned closure of all the refugee camps scheduled for 1 March. More than 200 refugees took part in the protest carrying placards with slogans such as, “We are grateful to European MPs for supporting the plan of Ilyas Akhmadov. We are with you!”, “Welcome to the Warsaw Ghetto” and “They have taken away all our rights”. The protesters’ main reason for refusing to leave the camp is the absence of any guarantee of safety in Chechnya. Translated by Sue-Ann Harding 4th anniversary of bloody "purge" in Noviye Aldy Four years have passed since a "purge" was conducted in the village of Noviye Aldy on 5 February 2000. On 4 February 2000, when federal troops entered the village, there were no rebels there. There was no combat. It was a police operation, in the course of which 46 civilians, including women and old people, were shot dead. 10 more people, including a one-year-old child, were shot down in residential areas of Grozny adjacent to the village. The investigation launched by the office of the judge advocate in connection with the mass killing established that "the operations to "purge" the Noviye Aldy settlement on 5 and 10 February 2000 were conducted by OMON (special tasks police platoon) officers of the interior departments of Saint Petersburg and Ryazan Region..." Nevertheless no one was imposed punishment for the committed crimes. The investigation of the criminal case has been stopped "because of impossibility to establish people who are to be called to account." Details of this case are given in the report by the Human Rights Center "Memorial": The Purge. Noviye Aldy Settlement, 5 February 2000: The Deliberated Crime Against Civilians (in Russian). Source: Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Moscow, Russia) Never say "never" Speaking at the press conference today in the office of the organization "Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights", Nana Kakabadze, chairman of the organization told the journalists about possible extradition of several tens of Chechens to Russia. The expatriation of the Chechens, probably, will be carried out before the forthcoming meeting of two presidents on 12 February in Moscow. In her interview to our agency, Kakabadze noted that information had been received from the refugees living in Georgia. Correspondent: It is beyond logic, how can Georgian authorities take a step, which brings to nothing all moves made for integration of Georgia in EC? N. Kakabadze: Yes, indeed, many things happen today in Georgia that are beyond logic. Correspondent: Well, what about international human rights organizations, isn't it time to raise an alarm? N. Kakabadze: Certainly, and we have already held press conference. And everybody knows about this. Correspondent: Unfortunately, it seems to me that infringement of human rights is only fixed in Georgia, and nothing is being done to improve the situation. N. Kakabadze: To my regret, I have to ascertain this. Correspondent: What consequences are expected if your fears prove to be true? N. Kakabadze: It's difficult to tell. The most terrible, I suppose. We cannot and do not have moral right to make a mistake. I hope it is said from hearsay only. Two years ago, 5 Chechens were extradited to Russia from Georgia. This crime has caused a powerful public resonance in Georgian society. Back then the Georgian people showed their position, thanks to which it was possible to rescue the rest of the prisoners, 8 people. By the way, this extradition was mentioned among the mistakes made by Shevardnadze. In the days of velvet revolution, the Chechens stood with the portraits of Mikhail Saakashvili. They trusted him, they still do, and not only the Georgians but also many peoples of the Caucasus trust him. I hope he noticed the Chechen flag fluttering along with the Georgian flag. I hope he heard the speech of Makka Khangosvili about peace, well-being and prosperity. There is a saying: "Never say "never". But we sincerely hope that what we have heard is said from hearsay only. A. Melkhiev, Chechenpress, 7 February 2004 http://www.chechenpress.info/english/news/2004/02/09/03.shtml |