| Tuesday, Jan. 13,
2004. Page 3 The Moscow Times
Families Appeal to Presidential Hopefuls The Moscow Times Five relatives of victims of the 1999 apartment bombings and the Dubrovka hostage crisis have appealed to the 10 candidates running for president to make an investigation into the attacks part of their campaign platforms, Ekho Moskvy radio reported Monday. The letter says a discussion of the attacks is needed to revive a public discussion of what really happened and to pressure the government to be more forthcoming with information. The letter contains 10 questions, including: Why were all the Dubrovka terrorists killed rather than questioned? Why was Mikhail Trepashkin, a lawyer investigating the apartment bombings, arrested? And why did authorities close an investigation into the Ryazan bomb scare? "We have tried in vain to receive intelligible explanations from the authorities," the letter says. "For us this election is possibly the last chance to get the truth." It continues: "We want to hear how each of you will act if elected. Will there be a real independent and unbiased investigation, or will the conspiracy of silence around the deaths of our loved ones continue?" The letter is signed by Tatyana and Alyona Morozova, whose mother died in the blast on Ulitsa Guryanova, and by Svetlana Gubareva, Lyubov Burban and Pavel Finogeno, who lost loved ones at Dubrovka. memo.ru 13/1/2004 Daughters of a woman killed in the 1999 apartment bombings, Tatyana and Alyona Morozov, accused the Russian government of "premeditated murder" and said they will sue for damages in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Tatyana Morozova, 32, has left Russia in 1998 after marrying an American. She lives with her husband and a child in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Alyona, 27, is one of the few survivors of the bombing at Guryanov Street. She is a student at the University of Colorado. The story of the Morozov family, and their lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin became the subject of a new documentary, Disbelief, (http://www.disbelief-film.com), which will debut as the Russian entry at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival opening on January 15 in Park City, Utah. We call your attention to the statement of the Morozov sisters released by their attorney, P. Joseph Sandoval. Statement of Tatyana and Yelena [Alyona] Morozova Yesterday's conclusion of the bombing trial in Moscow left us with feelings of profound dismay and frustration. We believe that justice has not been served, but the continued cover-up of a heinous crime has reached a new horrific proportion. We do not reach this conclusion lightly, and we are saying this with a heavy heart, but we must speak out - both for the memory of the dead and for the education of the living, and hopefully some day, for the punishment of the guilty. We have just received a report from our attorney in Moscow, Andrey Onischenko, who was present at the closed hearing. Even though Mr. Onischenko is bound by a Secrecy Pledge that he was required to sign in order to be allowed in the courtroom, his restricted account, which we believe was not in violation of the Pledge, was sufficient for us to ascertain that: * not a single classified document or statement that could be construed as sensitive was presented in court, so the only apparent reason for the secrecy was to limit the access of the press and the public; * not a single piece of evidence linking the accused to the explosions in Moscow was presented: nonetheless they were found guilty of both the Volgodonsk and the Moscow attacks, an absurd finding because they have not even been in Moscow and could not have been at the same time in two places, thousand of miles apart; * if the respondents (who appeared to lack the literacy and sophistication required to commit such a crime) were indeed low level participants in the Volgodonsk attack - unwitting, as they claimed - then they could lead to the higher-ups, and yet all questions and motions aimed at exploring who actually organized the attack were immediately and untenably suppressed by the court, without meaningful comment; * not a single motion submitted by ourselves via telegram, and through our lawyers, to review well-known facts pointing to possible involvement of official bodies in the attacks - including the incident in Ryazan, and the apparent prior knowledge about the attack by Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev - was considered or reviewed by the court; * the court refused to call in as a material witness Mikhail Trepashkin, an associated counsel in this matter, who was arrested on obviously fabricated evidence just one week before the trial. It is the arrest of Mr. Trepashkin that is most telling about the purpose and the nature of these proceedings. For Mr. Trepashkin, working on our behalf, had uncovered new evidence and witnesses linking the FSB to the bombings, the evidence that the court did not want to hear. The evidence includes but is not limited to the following: * the space for the bombing at Guryanova St was rented not by Achemes Gochiyayev, the government prime suspect, but by Vladimir Romanovich, an undercover FSB agent; * the FSB has substituted the initial police mugshot of Mr. Romanovich with the image of Gochiyayev, and pressured witnesses to change their identification; * Mr. Romanovich was killed by hit and run car some months after the bombing; * another FSB agent had been arrested by the police in Moscow in the act of buying hexogen, the bombing substance initially linked to the 99 explosions, and that the police have the arrest record and a videotape; * the FSB suppressed police investigations of illegal transfers of large quantities of hexogen to front companies by the Central Institute of Explosives Research. It is unfathomable how any judge in any country trying a case would refuse to hear such evidence, which is manifestly relevant to the crime in question. Presently, Mr. Trepashkin is in government custody and being tried behind closed doors "for disclosing state secrets about the Moscow bombings", which according to the indictment, had been gathered by Mr. Trepashkin "on behalf of the British secret service with the purpose of discrediting the FSB." This is preposterous! Mr. Trepashkin was not discrediting the FSB. Rather, he was looking for our mother's killers, and he did it not for the British secret service, he did it based upon on our instructions, and in the pursuit of justice! From all of the above we conclude that we have exhausted all national remedies in obtaining justice or seeking truth, and that no Russian court could serve justice in this case, and that our legal representatives in Russia would put themselves in further personal danger by taking assignments from us related to the bombing, and our quest or justice. We therefore intend to bring this case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, where we will shortly file a suit against the Russian Federation for premeditated murder of our mother, Liubov Morozova. Los Angeles, January 13, 2004 Source: Foundation for Civil Liberties
Ekho Moskvy: 12 January 2004 [BBC Monitoring] [No dateline, as received] Businessman Boris Berezovskiy considers the Moscow City Court's sentence in the case of the apartment block blasts to be a "continuation of the show" that began in 1999. He made this comment on Ekho Moskvy radio today. On 12 January the Moscow City Court sentenced Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov to life imprisonment and ordered them to pay large sums to the victims. Berezovskiy said that the convicted men "made an entirely clear statement that they were used by the security services". "It is completely obvious that two people were not capable of organizing such horrific terrorist acts and that there were many more people [involved]. Most importantly, the real architects and organizers of these terrorist acts were the security services," he said. "I have direct evidence that the security services, the Federal Security Service [FSB], were directly involved in organizing these blasts," Berezovskiy said. He also says that "there is, of course, a link between the terrorist act of 1999 and what happened in the [Moscow] theatre [hostage crisis of October 2002] - the Russian security services' traces are also clearly visible there". "In the end, President Putin himself stands behind these terrorist acts, or he was at least well informed about these terrorist acts in advance," Berezovskiy added. He added that "the authorities came to power steeped in the blood of the terrorist acts of 1999 and now they want to remain there, by falsifying the whole situation and, essentially, by washing their hands of what they themselves did". memo.ru 12/1/2004 A fire happened in the tent camp of Chechen refugees "Satsita" in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya on January 10. A tent for ten people, which the Batiyev family having many children lived in, was completely burnt down as a result of it. Six people who were in the tent when the fire started had time to run out. But the burnt down persons failed to salvage any personal belongings. The family was left roofless. "Our budget does not provide for welfare in such situations. In such cases, we usually resort to the help of international humanitarian organizations. I believe the issue of granting a new tent to the burnt down persons will be settled in the shortest possible time," announced a spokesman for the Ingush Migration Service. It is worth noting that this case is the third one during the last week when fires happen in tent camps situated in Ordzhonikidzevskaya. A day before, two more tents burnt down in the "Sputnik" camp and in the temporary accommodation center on the territory of MRO. The major reason for fires in the camps is still pressure gaps in gas pipe lines and worn electric wiring. Author: Malika Suleymanova Source: Own correspondent Chechen NGO in Ingushetia raided Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - Unknown armed men made an unsponsored raid on the office of a Chechen public and human rights organization in Ingushetia early this morning. Members of the Institute of Political Culture "Lamast" who were present in their office in a private flat in the Kostoyeva Street in the Sleptsovskaya village during the raid said that about 20 unknown masked men wearing camouflage broke into their office and started searching there. "Without identifying themselves and presenting a search warrant, they carried out a real raid. They made us leave with faces down. They rummaged through all papers and switched on our computer. They were interrogating Lamast director Lyoma Shakhmurzayev," a Lamast member said. According to neighbours, there were at least 20 men involved in the operation, who arrived in two vehicles. Shakhmurzayev's fellow human rights defenders think that the search was motivated by Lamast's activities. "Lyoma Shakhmurzayev is known as an author of one of the plans of peace resolution of the conflict in Chechnya. In this connection he has met many Russian politicians, as well as representatives of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria," says Ruslan Zhadayev of SNO, the umbrella organization of Chechen human rights and public organizations in Ingushetia. "Last December
the head of the Ingush migration service, Ivan Pomeshchenko, threatened
to Chechen human rights defenders to get them. It's possible that his
plan began to materialize," Zhadayev said. Chechen authorities proposed closing tent camps in neighboring Ingushetia by March. VLADIKAVKAZ, RUSSIA January 12, 2004 Associated Press Yuri Bagrov-- Chechen authorities said Monday the war-plagued region was safe enough for thousands of refugees to return and proposed closing tent camps in neighboring Ingushetia by March. Russian authorities have repeatedly insisted that stability is being restored in Chechnya. But on Monday, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration reported that six Russian soldiers had been killed in rebel attacks. An estimated 67,000 Chechens have fled to neighboring Ingushetia, with some 5,000-7,000 living in tent camps that have embarrassed Russian officials as a visible sign of continuing instability in the breakaway republic after more than four years of fighting against separatist rebels. "Not a single refugee tent should remain on the Ingush territory after March 1," Saeed Dabiyev, spokesman for the Chechen State Council, was quoted by the Interfax as saying Monday. Dabiyev said all people living in refugee camps in Ingushetia will be given money to compensate for their lost shelter and property so that they can either return to Chechnya or find better shelter in Ingushetia. "There are no reasons for people to remain in tent camps, where life conditions are unbearable," acting Chechen Prime Minister Eli Isayev was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying. Daily fighting and casualties continued to wrack Chechnya. Five Russian soldiers were killed and at least seven were wounded as federal outposts came under fire in the past 24 hours, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said. Russian troops withdrew from mostly Muslim Chechnya following a disastrous 1994-96 war against separatist rebels. They rolled back into the region in September 1999 after Chechen rebels carried out attacks in villages in western Dagestan, and after the Kremlin blamed militants for apartment-building bombings that killed some 300 people in Russia. Moscow, Interfax, Jan. 13,: Chairman of Moscow's Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva believes that the Russian mass media are becoming increasingly reminiscent of their Soviet-era predecessors. "The freedom of the press has been restricted considerably over the past couple of years. Today's news programmes are becoming increasingly reminiscent of the news releases in the Soviet-era with every passing month," Alekseyeva told the press on Tuesday which marked the Day of the Russian Press. This tendency is particularly apparent on television. "All television channels look alike, with the exception perhaps of NTV which is different due to the journalists' professionalism," she said. Television news bulletins mostly cover official events, she said. "Tell me, are the other 140 million citizens asleep at this time? If TV reports about ordinary people, it does so only if they freeze to death or are killed in bombings," Alekseyeva said. "Radio does better. But I don't know how long, say, Ekho Moskvy will last," she added. She noted that newspapers offer readers a better choice. However, all of them without exception side-step two subjects: criticism of the leadership and the actual situation in Chechnya, she said.
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