| Ingush Doctors Forced to Ward Off Suicide
Bomber Allegations Created: 12.10.2004 11:49 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:33 MSK, MosNews For over six months now a group of Ingush women working for the US- based non-governmental medical organization International Medical Corps (IMC) have been on a wanted list. Russian security forces launched a hunt for them in March this year. Wanted posters with blurred photos of all the 14 women and their names were placed in shop windows and train stations across the capital and other major Russian cities. Curiously, investigators have already admitted their mistake, but the posters are still there. Photos of the 14 Ingush doctors suspected of being members of a death squad involved in preparing terrorist acts in Moscow first appeared at police departments, shops and train stations in early March. In May the Moskovskie Novosti analyst Sanobar Shermatova met with the women in Nazran. The women told MN they learned that they had been placed on the wanted list after receiving calls from their colleagues at the IMC Moscow office, and from their relatives in other cities. At first they thought it was a joke but very soon they realized it was not so. They addressed the republican prosecutor's office asking them to look into the situation. The health of some of the women was affected by the incident. Ironically, one of the doctors included by over-zealous investigators on the list of suicide bomber was also identified by them as the elder wife of the most-wanted Chechen rebel warlord, Shamil Basayev. Needless to say Anna Uzhakova had never met the infamous Chechen, but even if she had, she would have never become his first wife, as, firstly, she is older than him, and secondly, he is already married. The women recognized their photos on the wanted posters as coming from an office album. The investigators claimed the album was seized from a rebel hideout. Several weeks elapsed and the case seemed to have been forgotten when in September the North Ossetian weekly Slovo Nykhas published photos of 14 women wanted on charges of preparing terrorist attacks, Novaya Gazeta reports. Upon learning of the new hunt for them, none of the doctors seemed in the least surprised. They have already got used to being wanted, though over all those months they have done nothing to avoid prosecutors. The women recounted that they had already addressed prosecutors both in Ingushetia and in Moscow, the Interior Minisry, the human rights envoy and even the State Duma deputy for Ingushetia Bashir Kodzoyev. Eventually, the authorities were forced to admit that there had been a mistake. At first, none of the power-wielding agencies involved could explain why the doctors had been suspected of terrorism. The head of the Moscow chief police directorate Vladimir Pronin denied reports the women had been put on the wanted list, although their photos were posted all over the city. A subsequent check revealed that the city police had received a tip- off about the women's alleged involvement in a suicide bombing squad from the center 'T' under the Interior Ministry's department for combating organized crime. Center 'T' officials denied their role in launching the hunt for the doctors, and hinted that their colleagues from Lubyanka — the FSB — were involved. The FSB, in turn, claimed the photos were discovered in the rebel hideout of the terrorist Khamzat Tazabayev. As Tazabayev was unavailable for questioning, it was impossible to find out the truth. About IMC: International Medical Corps (IMC) is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization established in 1984. IMC's doctors and nurses work in more than 40 countries across the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine. IMC's mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in areas worldwide where few organizations dare to serve. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, IMC rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance. Wednesday, October 13, 2004. Page 4. Hostage Death Toll at 344 By Nabi Abdullaev Staff Writer A total of 344 hostages died in the Beslan school attack, 14 more than the official death toll provided by investigators, according to a count by The Moscow Times. Deputy Prosecutor Nikolai Shepel announced Friday that 330 people, including 172 children, died in the Sept. 1-3 attack. Emma Kusova, secretary of a public committee set up by relatives of those killed, said by telephone from Beslan, North Ossetia, on Tuesday that 328 bodies have been buried so far -- 301 at the Beslan cemetery and 27 elsewhere. The remains of eight more hostages were identified with the help of DNA tests at a Defense Ministry forensic laboratory in Rostov-on-Don on Monday, said Elza Baskayeva, editor of Beslan's newspaper Zhizn Pravoberezhya, which is collecting statistics on the dead. She said she has received the names of the eight from North Ossetian officials but none of them has been buried yet. The dead include four children and three adults, Interfax reported Tuesday. Baskayeva said North Ossetian officials told her newspaper's staff on Sunday that 16 bodies remained in the forensic laboratory -- leaving eight unidentified bodies as of Tuesday. The head of a public commission created by the Beslan school's staff, Yelena Kasumova, and a local journalist investigating the number of deaths, Murat Kaboyev, confirmed Tuesday that 16 people had remained unaccounted for. That brings the total death toll in the Beslan attack to 344. More than 1,000 children, parents and teachers were in the town's School No. 1 when a group of 32 terrorists seized the building on the first day of classes. Most of the hostages were killed after a terrorist bomb went off, apparently by accident, on the afternoon of Sept. 3. Chaos resulted, with more explosions and heavy gunfire that lasted for hours. Also killed in the battle were 11 officers of the Federal Security Service's elite Alfa and Vympel commando teams. Law enforcement officials say that 31 of the 32 hostage-takers died. One was captured. Hundreds abducted in Chechnya this year Caucasus Times - 14 October 2004 In nine months this year 278 people have been abducted in Chechnya, Radio Liberty reports citing Dmitry Grushkin of Memorial human rights group. The rights activist said as many as 136 captives had been released, 20 found dead and 122 persons reported missing. For the late four years over 2.500 people have been abducted in Chechnya, says the acting ombudsman in Chechnya. The Memorial representative reported 236 local people were killed in 2004 in Chechnya, 98 of them civilians, 81 officers of "power structures", 8 officials and 22 insurgents. Twenty seven bodies have yet not been identified. Meanwhile, as Caucasus knot informs that on October 14, the European Court on human rights will be hearing cases of six Russian citizens, locals of Chechnya, linked with the war conflict in the North Caucasus. The Memorial Center lawyers and those of European center for protection of human rights will be aiding in the court hearing. Oct 13 2004 2:44PM 278 kidnapped in Chechnya in 2004 - human rights official MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - Since the beginning of 2004, 278 residents have been kidnapped in Chechnya. One hundred and six of them have been freed, 20 were found dead and 122 are still missing, spokesman for the Memorial human rights center Dmitry Grushkin told Interfax on Wednesday. He said 236 residents have been killed in Chechnya this year under various circumstances, among them 98 civilians, 81 representatives of law enforcement agencies, eight officials and 22 rebels. Twenty seven people killed in Chechnya have not been identified. The Chechen authorities say they attach priority importance to the solution of the kidnapping problem. Peace March proceeds in Ingushetia INGUSHETIA, OCTOBER 13, Caucasus Times - Covering over sixty miles the participants of peaceful manifestation "No hot spots in the Caucasus" dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazis arrived yesterday in Ingushetia. Over a hundred public organizations of Russia and CIS countries have been represented in the Peace March. The participants rallied at the Plaza of Consent in the center of Nazran city to hold a solidarity meeting with inhabitants of Ingushetia and lay flowers at the Memorial of Glory. Among the cosponsors of the march that started twenty days ago in Moscow were Trade Union of servicemen, the Russian committee of solders’ mothers, the Heroes of the Soviet Union Association Russia's Azerbaijan Congress and other public organizations. The purpose of the action was to remind Russian people and CIS citizens of the brotherhood of the peoples of Caucasus during the World War II that contributed to the victory over Nazis. "Over 10 years the Caucasus has been a place of dissension, interethnic conflicts and bloody wars. Our objective today is to urgent all peoples of the Caucasus to put an end to enmity, conflicts, to sit down to negotiate and resolve the conflicts," the head of the Peace March Vladimir Vahaniya was quoted as saying. "We just wanted to explain there was nothing good in the wars except deaths and destructions. Today we need to forget all resentments and conflicts and to recollect the best traditions of friendship and strong cohesion the peoples had in the war with Nazis. Hopefully, the march will help to ease somehow the tension between the peoples in the region," Mr.Vananiya said. The demonstrators started out today heading for Vladikavkaz, Chechnya, Dagestan to finish Georgia, where a conference “For peaceful resolution of conflicts in the Caucasus” will be held. Moscow was planned to be the final point in the march. Malika Bagayeva, Caucasus Times - 13 October 2004 Oct 13 2004 8:05PM Chechen separatist supporters picket Russian Embassy in Estonia TALLINN. Oct 13 (Interfax) - A picket was held in support of the Chechen separatists outside the Russian Embassy in Tallinn on Wednesday. The picketers carried posters reading "Freedom to Chechnya!" and "Stop the genocide in Chechnya!" They distributed leaflets calling for peace in Chechnya and an end to murders there. Sirja Kiin, an activist with the Peace to Chechnya movement, told reporters the picket was intended "to exert pressure on Russia to fulfill its international commitments, including the beginning of a peace process in Chechnya, which it promised when it entered the OSCE." Russia should begin talks with Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskahdov, she said. "If it is true that Shamil Basayev was behind the act of terrorism in Beslan, he should be punished. But I have no evidence that the statement posted on the Internet belongs to him. I have reasons to doubt it," Kiin said. The first picket of the kind was held two weeks ago in Uppsala, Sweden, she said. Several other European cities have joined the movement, she said. "We plan to hold them every Wednesday. So far we have permission for three weeks, because city regulations do not allow issuing permits for a longer time, but we will be asking for a prolongation of the permit every time," Kiin said. Abducted Aid Worker Oct. 14, 2004 PRAGUE (AP) -- The Czech and Slovak governments are doing their best to get a Slovak aid worker kidnapped in the North Caucasus, the foreign ministers from the two countries said. The Prague-based Organization of Aid to Refugees, which employs the kidnap victim, Miriam Jevikova, challenged that claim and said authorities were not doing enough. Jevikova, who is Slovak, was kidnapped in May while she was traveling to Ingushetia Russian moms reach out to Chechens Posted Wed, 13 Oct 2004 AFP A committee representing mothers of Russian soldiers fighting in Chechnya proposed Wednesday to open direct talks with rebel commanders to help end the five-year guerrilla war. The Soldiers' Mothers Committee statement was addressed to the "commanders of the Chechen armed formations" and signed by its three leading members. "You will continue to kill and they will continue to kill you without end. Nothing will change until they agree to talk to you," said the statement. "The mothers' committee is addressing those of you who actually want good for the Chechen people — come to the negotiating table. "We are ready to travel anywhere, to meet with the appointed representatives at any location, if only we can end this deadly war." President Vladimir Putin has refused to hold peace talks with rebel field commanders — whom he brands as terrorists — and has introduced a new pro-Moscow government in the republic through controversial elections where the opposition was barred from the race. The new pro-Kremlin leader, Alu Alkhanov, has refused to negotiate with the republic's former president Aslan Maskhadov, suggesting instead that he apologise to his people and leave the republic or give himself up to the Russians instead. The rebels are led by Maskhadov, the more radical Shamil Basayev and other field commanders, some of whom are suspected of receiving financing from international terror networks. A wave of attacks in August and September linked to Chechnya have killed over 400 civilians in Russia, prompting Putin to clamp down on security and further centralize his political powers. While condemning the attacks and supporting Putin's security measures, Western governments have urged Moscow to push forward with political and economic measures that could restore some sense of order in the predominantly Muslim north Caucasus republic. Tens of thousands of civilians, more than five thousand soldiers — although the mothers' soldiers committee estimates the true figure is closer to 15 000 — and an unknown number of rebels have died in the war, according to various estimates. RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 194, Part I, 13 October 2004 Is Russian human rights movement in 'crisis'? In an interview with "Novaya gazeta," No. 75, Svetlana Gannushkina, head of Civic Assistance and co-chairwoman of Memorial, she said that the human rights movement in Russia is "in a crisis." The movement can continue to help individuals, Gannushkina said, but "our daily work will not affect the situation in the country, which is getting worse and worse." "We see some horrendous processes taking hold," she continued, noting that corruption is growing and citing a "wild wave of xenophobia." "We, human rights workers, cannot come up with any new methods. We could create a political party, but I don't think that we command the necessary level of trust among society," she said. According to the weekly, Gannushkina and 71 other human rights activists signed a statement condemning President Putin's plans to "use the tragedy in Beslan to unveil a program for radical changes in the government structure of the Russian Federation" and "to abandon the last democratic accomplishments." Signatories included Lyudmila Alekseeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group; Yelena Bonner of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation; Sergei Kovalev, a former State Duma deputy and chairman of Memorial; Aleksei Yablokov, a Yeltsin-era presidential adviser and head of the Center for Ecological Policies; and Aleksei Simonov of the Glasnost Defense Foundation. JAC |