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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 232, Part I, 13 December 2004 Ingushetian residents protest abduction. Residents of Malgobek Raion have expressed concern and outrage at the detention during the night of 4-5 December of 27-year-old Adam Bersanov, ingushetiya.ru reported. Bersanov was detained by armed men with documentation identifying them as Federal Security Service officials, who told police they planned to take him to the republican capital Magas. They did not give any reason for his detention or say what crimes, if any, he is suspected of committing. Bersanov's family have been unable to establish his whereabouts. LF Seven locals abducted in Groznyy 13-12-2004 CHECHNYA, December 13, Caucasus Times - Russian servicemen and Chechen police detained today, according to Radio Liberty, seven locals in Leninsky district of Grozny. The servicemen, who appeared at the site in an armored personnel carrier, assaulted and battered the men with the butts of their rifles, forced them to get into the vehicle and took the detainees away, Radio Liberty reported. According to Caucasus Times correspondent the law enforcement agencies of the republic have been conducting a sweep to confiscate illegal weapons and ammunition in several districts of Chechnya and Groznyy, namely in Sunzhensky, Kurchaloysky, Leninsky, Staropromislovsky and Zavodskoy. Caucasus Times http://www.caucasustimes.com/article.asp?id=5017 Housing compensation payment suspended in Chechnya 15.12.2004, 10.52 GROZNY, December 15 (Itar-Tass) - Reception of applications for compensation for destroyed houses has been suspended in Chechnya beginning from Wednesday by the decision of Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov who heads a commission for compensation payment. He has made this decision after checks of applications that revealed numerous abuses. Chechnya's Interior Ministry and the regional branch of the Federal Security Service have become detailed probes into false applications. On Tuesday, Kadyrov ordered to heads of district administrations and chiefs of local interior departments to re-check lists of all persons who had received compensation and are awaiting it. He also demanded a full-scale inventory at Grozny's branch of Rostekhinventarizastiya, giving it three days to provide to him a full inventory of destroyed housing. Fourteen billion roubles have been issued from the federal budget for compensation, with 350,000 roubles to be paid for each fully destroyed house. According to initial computation, 39,000 residents of Chechnya were eligible for compensation. By now 32,000 people have been paid a total of 10 billion 680 million roubles. However, 40,000 more applications for compensation have been filed at the commission. Checks in the Gudermes, Shali and Nozhai Yurt districts alone have revealed more that 3,000 cases of falsification of application documents. Kadyrov Declares Compensation War Chechnya's high-profile security boss Ramzan Kadyrov is promising to check compensation fraud - but how far will he go? By Kazbek Tsurayev in Grozny (CRS No. 266, 15-Dec-04) An enormous crowd of people was thronged outside the two-story Rosselkhozbank building in central Grozny, some waiting in line, others squatting by the wall. Most of these people were here to receive the 350,000 roubles (around 12,000 US dollars) in compensation pledged by the state to families whose property has been destroyed during the decade of conflict. Others were simply trying to find out when their turn is up to pick up the money. Suddenly commotion broke out out. The crowd parted and two men in camouflage fatigues were seen dragging a tracksuited young man to their car. They put him in a silver vehicle known as a "No. 10" and drove off. "The Kadyrovtsy men have got a `dealer'," someone in the crowd said, referring to the armed men loyal to Chechnya's deputy prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov. This happened in Grozny earlier this month, just after Kadyrov - son of the late Chechen pro-Moscow leader Akhmad Kadyrov and widely believed to be the most powerful man in the republic - was appointed head of Chechnya's Commission on Compensations Payment. Just days after Kadyrov was given the job, the Chechen interior ministry teamed up with the presidential security service - the formal structure where thousands of Kadyrovtsy men used to work - in an operation code-named "Posrednik" (broker or dealer) against compensation fraud. They seek to detain compensation brokers - people who help families to jump the queue and receive their compensation ahead for a 10-30 per cent commission, or forge papers for undamaged houses and extract the money, in which case they charge between a commission of between 50 and 70 per cent. Several people were arrested in the swoop. In one incident, a 46-year- old resident of Gikalo village was found to be in possession of 48 fully finished compensation files. But the interior ministry officials admit that their catch so far has been merely the "small fry" while the true masterminds have remained in the shadows. And others are reserving judgement until they see how far Kadyrov's campaign goes. Hamzat Husseinov of the interior ministry's economic crime department, ECD, told IWPR that his agency has opened 65 criminal cases after checking some claims. "We understand that 30,000 Chechens have already received their compensation, so we should be doing more checking," conceded Husseinov. "We are not ready to step up the effort yet, but we will be in a short while." On December 15, the local government suspended the processing of claims in order to review all existing cases. "That's going to give us some leeway so we can check the files already submitted more thoroughly," Husseinov said. Human rights lawyer Akhmed Musayev told IWPR that the genuinely deserving cases were always the ones to suffer whenever a false claim for compensation sneaked through the system. "Brokers usually work for someone who has influence over the payments, such as district administrators or someone on the compensations commission," he said. "There have been instances when fraudsters, with the help of their brokers, forged papers for completely random houses, destroyed or even whole, filed them and got the money, while the real owners got nothing." Former police officer Ruslan Jamilhanov recently returned to Chechnya from Tomsk, where he has lived with his brother's family from early 2000. From his former neighbours, who had also left Grozny for Moscow, he learned that his home in Grozny's Leninsky District had been destroyed, so he was in no hurry to return. "Then I saw on TV how everyone was getting compensation, and decided to come and get what is rightfully mine before it was too late," he said. However, officials rejected his compensation claim and told him that someone else had already received the money. "Ruslan's case is just one of many," said Musayev. "At least five people have come to us with a similar plight in the past few months." When the number of compensation files in Chechnya swelled from 40,000 to 100,000 without a drop in the number of those still awaiting their payments, the local government declared it was time to act. Alkhanov said that there was a problem of "unexplained" use of compensation. And, earlier this month at a meeting on compensations in the town of Gudermes, Kadyrov admitted people were being cheated. "So far, according to the lists, 32,000 have received [payment] totalling billions of roubles, but the same number of people are still complaining they cannot get their compensations," Kadyrov announced. Artur Akhmadov, head of the Chechen riot police known by its Russian name OMON, said they had found more than 3,000 instances of irregularity or fraud in three districts. Kadyrov gave his officials three days to supply him with a full register of war-damaged property, threatening dire consequences for anyone found stealing funds. "I don't care who gets caught, it can be district police, bank clerks or even government officials," he said. Ramzan Kadyrov is the fourth successive head of the compensations commission since September 2003, when compensations payments were first made. Every time the commission head has been replaced, a new line-up of members has stepped in, but without tangible results. However Kadyrov told his commission on December 10 that he would publicly name the fraudsters. "We have proof," he said. "We have audio and video recordings and dealers' testimonies." However, his critics claim that the new campaign is just a public relations exercise and that the real perpetrators will not get caught. "He'll just get a few small-time hustlers and that will be it," said analyst Murad Nashkhoyev. Nashkhoyev suggests that the new commission leader is trying to win political points in a developing battle for control with Chechnya's new pro-Moscow leader, Alu Alkhanov, adding, "In his undeclared war with Alu Alkhanov, Kadyrov just wants to show the Kremlin how useful he is." Kazbek Tsurayev is a reporter for Chechenskoe Obshchestvo newspaper. BBC NEWS War racketeers plague Chechnya By Timur Aliyev Independent Chechen journalist In the past decade of conflict Chechnya has become a haven for racketeers, who profit from oil thefts, kidnapping and embezzlement of state funds allocated to help rebuild the devastated republic. The theft and illegal refining of oil appears to be the most lucrative enterprise. Musa Eskerkhanov, director of the Groznneftegaz oil company, says that up to 600 tons of oil is being pilfered in Chechnya daily. Convoys guarded by armed men smuggle oil to the neighbouring Russian regions of Ingushetia, Dagestan and North Ossetia at night, Mr Eskerkhanov told members of the pro-Moscow Chechen government. Andarbek Kagermanov, a Chechen Interior Ministry officer, says there are two types of theft - siphoning from pipelines and the theft of oil directly from oil wells. "Everybody does the former, while the latter is the business of 'Kadyrovtsy'," he says, referring to supporters of the late Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov. A police unit, popularly known as the oil regiment, was set up to protect pipelines and oil wells. Grozneftegaz spends 300m roubles (more than $10m) a year on it, but this does not help. People who monitor this type of crime claim that nearly all the security forces based in Chechnya profit from oil. According to Pavel Solodovnikov, a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, "the 'Kadyrovtsy' get their cut by transporting oil outside Chechnya, co-operating with federal troops who get their money at military checkpoints". "Each oil well is controlled by the local military commandant's office. Even the makeshift refineries which produce cheap poor-quality petrol are controlled by federal units or pro-Moscow Chechen troops," he says. Arms bazaar Weapons are no longer a major commodity, although only recently this was a flourishing business. "Until the beginning of the second war [in 1999] every man in Chechnya kept arms at home, but now people are afraid of searches," says Ruslan Zhadayev, an analyst with the Chechen Society newspaper. Between 1996 and 1999, when Grozny was controlled by the rebels, there was an open, legal arms bazaar in the centre of the Chechen capital Grozny. A machine-gun could be bought there for $200-300. Grenades were sold for 30 roubles [$1] apiece. Now there is a black market in arms in Chechnya, with weapons being supplied "from army and police stores," says Aslan Mezhidov, an investigator at the Chechen prosecutor's office. But the separatist rebels are "only buying ammunition, like cartridges and grenades for grenade-launchers," Mr Mezhidov adds. Trading lives Kidnapping became widespread in Chechnya in 1997, when a group of Russian NTV journalists was captured. It is alleged that the company paid $1m for their release. After that, the hostage business escalated. Kidnappers made millions of dollars targeting foreign humanitarian workers, missionaries and Russian officials. Failure to pay a ransom led to brutal killings of hostages. In one notorious case, three British Granger Telecom engineers and a New Zealander were beheaded by their captors. A former rebel, Ruslan, claims that the Russian military got involved in this business after the beginning of the second war. He says that, after the rebels were pushed out of Grozny in 2000, high-ranking military officers arranged to buy the bodies of servicemen killed in action for $300 a body. Human rights organisations recorded numerous cases of locals having to pay for the release of their relatives captured during widesread mopping-up operations and night searches. "They were held at Khankala [a Russian military base] or in district commandants' offices," says Abu Gutsiyev, an investigator who deals with missing persons cases. He says not only federal troops but also pro-Moscow Chechen units commanded by Ramzan Kadyrov and Said-Magomed Kakiyev took part in these operations. He claims that there were private prisons in several villages near Grozny. "Dead bodies were sold for $1,000-2,000. Captives who were left alive cost much more - from $3,000 to $20,000, depending on their relatives' finances," Mr Gutsiyev says. The kidnapping business is currently in decline. Of 226 people kidnapped this year none was ransomed. However, Usam Baysayev, an activist in the Memorial human rights organisation, suggests that relatives do not report on their transactions with kidnappers for fear of endangering the lives of captives. Embezzlement The embezzlement of funds allocated for the reconstruction of Chechnya has become another source of income for Chechen and Russian officials. According to the Russian Audit Chamber, of 62bn roubles (more than $20m) sent to Chechnya between 2000 and 2003, 5bn roubles was "spent extremely inappropriately", that is - stolen. Most of this money disappeared in 2003, when 1bn roubles was embezzled through placing orders bypassing official tenders, and 69m roubles was paid for contracts that were never implemented. Ruslan Ginazov, an employee of the Agropromstroy construction company, says it is impossible to get money for the reconstruction of ruined houses and industrial facilities without bribing officials at the Russian construction ministry. "You can't get an order without a kickback," he says. Sometimes the same building is officially restored several times or a partly-ruined building is declared restored in official documents, he explains. He alleges that his company could not get contracts or pay salaries to its staff for two years, because the management refused to bribe an official. The Russian construction ministry's directorate for rebuilding Chechnya would not comment on these allegations. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/4091635.stm Published: 2004/12/14 Critics fear abuses in Russia draft terror law 15 Dec 2004 14:17:22 GMT Source: Reuters By Richard Balmforth MOSCOW, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A draft law under which Russian authorities could impose a 60-day security clampdown solely on suspicion that a terror attack was being planned could lead to a serious abuse of people's rights, critics said on Wednesday. Reflecting official criticism of the media's handling of September's deadly Beslan school siege, the bill also proposed tight restrictions on journalists' reporting from the scenes of violent attacks. The bill, initiated by parliamentary allies of President Vladimir Putin, foresees the imposition of "a state of terrorist danger" of up to 60 days in any part of the country if authorities receive information -- even unconfirmed -- that suggests an attack is being planned. During that period -- even if no attack takes place -- authorities could introduce emergency measures including banning public demonstrations, tapping phones, conducting spot street checks and restricting movements of people and traffic. The draft, which could have the first of its three parliamentary readings on Friday, is the latest in a series of moves to tighten central control in Russia in the face of Chechen rebel attacks such as the Beslan hostage seizure, in which more than 330 people were killed, half of them children. "SCALPEL IN WRONG HANDS" One critic however described the bill as a "surgeon's scalpel" in the wrong hands and said it could be abused to break up any street protests that were not to the Kremlin's liking. "This law has a double edge. But I myself do not think that it will find itself in the hands of orderly and honest people, in the hands of surgeons who will save our society," said communist deputy Sergei Reshulsky. With an eye to the Beslan tragedy, the 50-page draft law set out curbs that could block press photographs and television footage of graphic scenes of violence, and restrict journalists' activities at the scene. The Kremlin and security chiefs harshly criticised the media for publishing explicit pictures of piles of bodies after security forces stormed the Beslan school and the editor of one leading Russian daily newspaper was sacked. "Spreading information containing reports about facts or scenes of violence that are exceptionally cruel ... is banned," the bill said. The draft said that, in future incidents, a designated spokesman for counter-terror operations would be the sole channel for public information on what was going on. Journalists would not be allowed to receive information from other officials involved in the operation -- something that would rule out reporters' access to negotiators in hostage-seizures and other security officials. During the Beslan crisis, media criticised authorities at the scene for not disclosing the demands of the gunmen and for underestimating the number of hostages held. The bill also gives authorities the right to stop any journalistic activity that it deemed hindering an anti-terror operation in progress or helping "terrorists' intentions". Some supporters of the draft conceded the wording was blurred in parts. "The criteria of when a state of terrorist danger should be announced are, of course, quite vague. But our country must have a law on countering terrorism -- if only to constantly remind society about such a dangerous phenomenon," said deputy Nikolai Kovalev, a former head of the FSB state security service. "Limitations on the press are necessary because the media is the main target of terrorists," said deputy Anatoly Kulikov, one of the bill's prime movers. Declaring a "state of terrorist danger" would not be undertaken "on the basis of an anonymous phone call, but on serious information," he said. (Additional reporting by Ivan Rodin)