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Reporters Without Borders Russia 12 January 2004 Journalist's brother makes radio plea to kidnappers to free AFP journalist hostage in Ingushetia Reporters Without Borders calls on radio stations to broadcast an appeal, recorded by the victim's brother, to the kidnappers of a journalist who was taken hostage in Ingushetia six months ago. The international press freedom organisation calls on radio stations to demonstrate their solidarity with Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent Ali Astamirov by broadcasting the appeal for his release from his brother Ruslan Magemadov. Astarmirov, who had been covering the war in Chechnya for a year, was kidnapped by armed men on 4 July 2003, in Nazran, Ingushetia. In the 58-second taped appeal to the kidnappers Magemadov says, "My brother is 34 years old. He has two children. He worked as a journalist in the Republic of Chechnya. (…) So far we have received no ransom demands. Nor the Russian nor Ingush security services have been able to provide us with any information. We have just one request : Please free my brother." Reporters Without Borders published an appeal on 30 October 2003 by several journalists, who have themselves been held hostage, calling for the release of Astamirov. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ichkeria.dk/russisk-hovedside.htm Six months have passed since journalist Ali Astamirov's was abducted and his fate remains unknown, reported on the eve of that to journalists the leader of Moscow bureau AFP Michel Viatto. Astamirov, worked as a correspondent of the AFP in Chechnya and Ingushetia, was forced by some armed people to seat in a car and was hauled away in the direction of the administrative border of Chechnya. Since then neither the journalist's relatives nor the associates of AFP have any information about his fate. Meanwhile according to an information that was obtained by us from the sources close to the circle of the head of pro-Russian administration of A. Kadyrov, the AFP journalist is in the village Tsentoroi, (Khosi- yourt) of Kurchaloi district, in one of the prisons of the well-known bandit Ramzan Kadyrova. According to the information of Chechen human rights activists, in the prisons of Kadyrovites in Tsontaroi are kept other citizens of Chechnya, including Russians, Armenians, Daghestanians, Ingushes. Let us recall that about existence of these prisons -zindans in Tsentoroi reported to to Novya Gazeta the well- known Russian woman journalist A. Politkovskaya. A. Amayev. 05. 01 2004.
12.01.2004, Monday 00:15 http://www.ingushetiya.ru/news/3131.html (tr. by M.L.) Two murders were committed in Malgobek on January 11th. On the property of the former "Selkhozkhimiya" co-op, early in the morning an unknown person killed a woman of Chechen nationality, who was being occupied with issues of the temporary registration of refugees from the Chechen republic. The murderer shot four shots from a pistol with silencer. Then a some time after that, supposedly the same criminal killed an inhabitant the city of Malgobek - Gaytukiyev. He was shooting also with a pistol with silencer and he shot in the man a few times (four). Both Gaytukiyev and the killed woman collaborated and were together occupied with issues of temporary registration in the RI of the inhabitants of Chechnya. The procuratorship of Malgobek has opened the criminal cases and is conducting investigation of both murders 2004-01-14 11:30 GROZNY, January 14 (RIA Novosti) - An attempt on the life of the head of the administration of the village of Aleroi, Nozhai-Yurt district, was made in Chechnya. As the republican Interior Ministry reported, the crime was committed on Tuesday at the Zam-Yurt - Aleroi highway. "The strangers shelled the VAZ-2105 car in which the head of the administration of the village of Aleroi, Baisaul Zakriyev, was driving. He received two bullet wounds," said a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Zakriyev was hospitalized. The state of his health is satisfactory, according to the doctors. Searching operations are going on, and criminal proceedings have been launched in connection with the incident.
14 January 2004 Belgium-hosted conference calls for Chechen peace talks An international conference on Chechnya has issued a resolution urging the European structures to organize a peace conference on the Chechen crisis to achieve "a just peace and the speediest end to the Russian-Chechen conflict". In the resolution the Belgium-hosted conference said that representatives of both the Russian authorities and Chechen rebels should attend it. The following is the text of the report by Chechenpress news agency web site entitled "Only talks with Aslan Maskhadov will stop the war in Chechnya"; subheadings have been inserted editorially: The agency Chechenpress has received a resolution which was adopted at the international conference "The responsibility of the international community in the question of resolving the Russian- Chechen conflict", which was held in Antwerp (Belgium) on 11-12 December 2003. The Resolution: Antwerp, Belgium, 11-12 December 2003. International conference calls for peace in Chechnya We, the participants in the conference, organized by representatives of the European Parliament, the public organization Pax Christi Flandria and the World Chechen Congress, who gathered in Antwerp, have been following with anguish the tragic situation in the Chechen Republic. More than quarter million graves have appeared on Chechen and Russian territory during the previous and current Russian-Chechen wars. We express our profound condolences to those who have suffered in this conflict. We condemn violence from whatever side and in whatever form, and we consider the acts of terrorism are the consequence and an integral part of the war of the Russian state against the Chechen people. We believe that both the Chechen and Russian people need peace, not war. We choose the principle of non- violence and insist on a peaceful solution to the conflict. Therefore we do not judge people, but we condemn their acts of violence, thereby creating conditions for an open dialogue. Declaring our compliance with the basic values proclaimed in the World Human Rights Declaration, International Pacts on human rights, the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples; Calling to mind the international principle of the right of nations and peoples to self-determination, in accordance with which all nations and peoples have the right to the free determination of their political status and the implementation of their economic, social and cultural development; Aware of our personal responsibility for the war in the Chechen Republic, realizing that we cannot alter the past, but that we must change the future of Russian-Chechen relations, initiating a process of reconciliation and the building of peace by means of an open dialogue; Recognizing the common responsibility of international organizations for such a long disregard for the Chechen tragedy which places in doubt their authority as capable democratic institutions, called upon to defend peace; Convinced that there are currently no political forces in the Chechen Republic or the Russian Federation able to settle the conflict which has now become a deep crisis; Certain that the non-involvement of the international community in settling mutual relations between the Russian state and the Chechen people is leading to the destruction of the Chechen ethos, to a large- scale humanitarian catastrophe and to ungovernable processes not only in the region of the Caucasus, but is also hindering the development of democracy in the Russian Federation; Recognizing the dignity of all members of the Chechen family, and taking into account that the purpose of the Chechen people is to build a modern state based on democratic values, and respect for human rights irrespective of ethnic affiliation and religious faith, and that their equal and inalienable rights are the basis of freedom, justice and peace, and Welcoming the fundamentally new initiatives of the government of the Chechen Republic, which is proposing the voluntary acceptance of a provisional international administration aimed at the democratisation and demilitarization of the Chechen Republic; Peace conference on Chechnya needed We urge the Council of Ministers of the European Union to organize, together with the European Parliament, a peace conference on the Chechen Republic, to which representatives of the Russian authorities, the Chechen authorities (resistance forces), the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] and the Council of Europe will be invited to implement the decisions adopted by the European Parliament in their resolution of 03.07.2003.
The recommendations of the Conference of the United Nations Organization, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Council and the world community as a whole are: 1. To urge the leadership of the Russian Federation to call an immediate end to the military operations and to begin a process of negotiations with the legitimate authority of the Chechen Republic in the form of President Aslan Maskhadov, with the immediate participation of the international community. 2. To adopt a European law on granting political asylum to refugees from the Chechen Republic and to treat them as war refugees, victims of genocide and ethnic cleansing. To recognize the Chechens as persecuted people. To provide them with a programme of psychological rehabilitation, especially the children. To expand the programme to create additional places in the currently operating Temporary Deployment Centres (refugee camps) in the Republic of Ingushetia and to improve their living conditions. 3. To organize an international court for the Chechen Republic on the basis of the proposals of Mr Bindig and Mr Jurgens, [both names phonetic, untraced] the representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). 4. To exert economic pressure on the Russian Federation and to combine the financial assistance of the Russian Federation with the security conditions of the Chechen people, taking into account the possibility of imposing economic and political sanctions against the Russian Federation. 5. In accordance with the regulations of international organizations, of which the Russian Federation is a member, to urge the leadership of the Russian Federation to cease its policy of discrimination towards the Chechens on the territory of the Russian Federation. 6. To render juridical, legal and financial support for the citizens who are appealing to the international courts and to guarantee the safety of the relatives of the victims and witnesses of crimes committed in the Chechen Republic. 7. To coordinate the monitoring of human rights violations in the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic. To support the joint plans of human rights organizations in the Chechen Republic and the Russian Federation, whose work is aimed at ending this conflict through an exchange of experience in peace-building and non-violence. 8. To consider the coverage of the Russian-Chechen conflict in Europe as unsatisfactory and lacking in objectivity, leading to a disregard for the war crimes of the Russian troops and special services and the manipulation of public opinion which gives rise to approval of the war and violence. 9. To create a single centre to permanently monitor humanitarian aid to ensure that it reaches the inhabitants of the Chechen Republic and to control the expenditure of funds for the rebuilding of homes, schools and hospitals in the Chechen Republic. The work of this centre must be transparent and open for non-government organizations. 10. To demand from the leadership of the Russian Federation free access to the territory of the Chechen Republic of observers and representatives of the independent media and medical and humanitarian organizations. 11. To organize programmes for the medical and psychological rehabilitation of citizens of the Chechen Republic and servicemen of the Russian Federation who are serving on the territory of the Chechen Republic. 12. To call upon the governments of European countries and international non-governmental organizations to create a unified working group for a peaceful settlement of the Russian-Chechen conflict. To urge the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United Nations Organization to render all-round support for this initiative. 13. To urge the leadership of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the Chechen Resistance Forces towards active co- operation with the planned working group, including granting unhindered access to the conflict zone and guaranteeing their safety. We, the participants in the conference, undertake to support this resolution within the framework of our organizations and to draw from it in our future work, and to commence a dialogue between non- governmental organizations, politicians and governments. We will work together to create an international network of non-governmental organizations and citizens in order to support a genuine process of construction of a just peace and the speediest end to the Russian- Chechen conflict. Contact: bstaes@europarl.eu.int <mailto:bstaes@europarl.eu.int>, annemarie.gielen@paxchristi.be mailto:annemarie.gielen@paxchristi.be>, conferencebelgium@hotmail.com <mailto:conferencebelgium@hotmail.com>
http://www.chechenpress.info/news/2004/01/14/06.shtml Chechen refugee abducted in Ingushetia The information centre of the Council of Nongovernmental Organizations [CNO] reports that Khamzat Usmayev, born in 1952, was abducted by employees of unidentified law-enforcement agencies in the village of Pliyevo in Ingushetia's Nazran District on 12 January. Armed people in camouflage and masks, who arrived in several cars without number plates, detained Usmayev without any explanation and took him to an unknown destination. The kidnapped man is known in Chechnya and Ingushetia as a doctor and masseur. In autumn 1999, his family fled to the Troitskaya village in Ingushetia's Sunzha District from Chechnya. In the village of Pliyevo, Khamzat Usmayev rented a house and was massaging everyone who wanted. What was the reason for Usmayev's abduction is unknown. Nothing is known about his whereabouts and fate. 14.01.03
Humanitarian organizations could be ousted... The administration of Akhmad Kadyrov is now hinting that international humanitarian organizations may be forbidden to continue operating in Chechnya or Ingushetia. According to a January 10 report by Itar-Tass, the administration's vice premier, Bilkhis Baidaev, said in an interview with that news agency that "For many of these organizations, their permits to work in the republic will expire on April 1. The extension of these permits is a matter within the competence of the federal center." He also noted that many of the organizations do not have offices within Chechnya itself but instead use Ingushetia as their base of operations, which he (rightly) said reduces their effectiveness. Baidaev's words look very much like a propaganda ploy. On just about every other issue, he and his colleagues are eager to claim as many powers as possible for their own administration. But on this one, it would seem that he is laying the groundwork for keeping foreign relief workers out of Chechnya while placing the blame for that decision on Moscow. Also, humanitarian and human rights organizations have complained in the past that they would like to have offices based directly in Chechnya, but that the administrations of both Kadyrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin have made that difficult or impossible. This latest maneuver would fit well with Putin's and Kadyrov's continuing campaign to force Chechen refugees out of Ingushetia back into their homeland. It could lead to a situation in which the refugees are physically cut off from independent agencies trying to help meet their needs--thus placing them even more at the mercies of Kadyrov and his circle. ... as refugees in Ingushetia are pressured. Indeed, as had been predicted by several human rights activists, pressures are now intensifying on Chechen refugees to leave the shelters that have housed them in Ingushetia. According to a January 8 report on the website Prava cheloveka v Rossii ("Human Rights in Russia"), refugees living in three sites in the Ingush village of Troitskaya have learned that the Ingush republic's migration service has informed the managers of those sites that the service will no longer provide rental payments to enable the refugees to stay there. The refugees are thus now at risk of becoming homeless. 14 January 2004, Volume V, Issue 02 CHECHNYA WEEKLY: News and analysis on the crisis in Chechnya Jamestown Foundation
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