| Nov 12 2004 3:12PM 128 people go missing in Chechnya in 2004 - rights activists MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) - A total of 128 local residents have been abducted and have gone missing in Chechnya this year, the Memorial human rights center said on Friday. "Our report suggests that 294 local residents were abducted in Chechnya between January and late October 2004. Of them, 146 have been freed, 20 have been found dead and 128 are believed missing," Memorial spokesman Dmitry Gryshkin said. According to the human rights organization's information, 241 Chechen residents have been killed in the republic this year, he said. One in four army injuries in Chechnya from bullying MOSCOW, Nov 12 (Reuters) - A quarter of soldiers in the Russian Caucasus receive injuries inflicted by their colleagues due to rampant bullying, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying on Friday. The figure underscores the widespread nature of bullying in the Russian army, where conscripts are beaten and bullied by older recruits despite frequent announcements of government initiatives to stamp out the practice. "This year as a result of non-regulation actions in bases and units in the region seven people were killed, and every fourth wound on a soldier was also the result of non-regulation actions," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ivanov as saying, without giving details of the injuries inflicted. "This is proof that commanders are not paying attention to what is happening in their bases." The Defence Ministry says it has some 25,000 soldiers in Chechnya, a North Caucasus region where Russia has been fighting Chechen rebels for a decade. The Interior Ministry, which leads the operation, has another 28,000 troops. Ivanov was quoted as saying the Defence Ministry would pull out 1,000 men by the end of the year. Russia also employs forces from the FSB security service and local Chechen division to fight the separatists. It is not clear how many men are in the rebel ranks, although Russian officials consistently estimate them at 3,000. November 12th 2004 · Prague Watchdog Inhabitants of Stariye Atagi protest kidnapping of students Ruslan Isayev, Northern Caucasus – People from the village of Stariye Atagi met to protest the recent kidnapping of two of the villagers who were abducted by members of an unknown military or law enforcement unit on November 7. On November 8 and 9 they stood on a road at the outskirts of the village, demanding that the authorities adopt measures to find the two youths and to also stop nightly raids by so-called unknown soldiers. The villagers claim that the two young men were abducted by masked Russian soldiers who were accompanied by several armored personnel carriers. Two days ago a large crowd of students from the Chechen State University, who studied with one of the kidnapped youths, rallied in front of the governmental buildings in Grozny demanding that the Chechen government find the young men and punish the culprits. Around noon the Moscow-backed President of the Chechen Republic Alu Alkhanov met with the protesting students and promised to take personal control of the investigation. Furthermore, Alkhanov said that the actions taken by the unknown assailants violated a presidential order that prohibits wearing masks during special operations. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 11/11/2004 Three young men abducted, found dead Remains of three young men, who fell victims to extrajudicial execution, were found in south-east Chechnya. The dead bodies were found in the forest not far from the village of Gansol-Chu, Chechnya's Nozhay-Yurt district. "Remains of three young men were in a shallow pit. They all were finished off by control shots at their heads," an officer of the Chechen Interior Ministry said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "Later the killed men were identified. They were Aslan Usmayev, and Vakhit and Abubakar Abuyevs, residents of the village of Alleroi, the Kurchaloi district. They were captured by rebels from Akhmed Avdorkhanov's group, who assaulted the Alleroy village on the night of May 1. To all appearances, all the three men were shot dead the same night." Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot A native of Vladykavkaz tried to swindle tons of seafood on the pretext of humanitarian aid for Beslan NORTH OSSETIA, November 11, Caucasus Times - A resident of Vladikavkaz Ramzik Muradiyan charged with large-scale swindle was arrested in Kamchatka oblast, Caucasus Times correspondent reports citing the North Ossetia Interior Ministry. Law enforcement agencies of two Russia's regions prevented the crime, detaining the swindler and holding back the cargo with forty tons of seafood the suspect had managed to obtain at Kamchatka fisheries producing forged documents and telling the products were intended for victims of Beslan tragedy, the Interior Ministry of Ossetia said. Asiat Sagmatova, Caucasus Times Caucasus Times ® 2003. All Rights Reserved. contact us: info@caucasustimes.com http://www.caucasustimes.com/article.asp?id=4785 |