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UN Commission Rejects Resolution on Chechnya Created: 15.04.2004 19:54 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 19:54 MSK, MosNews U.N. Commission on Human Rights rejected a resolution on HR violations in Chechnya. 23 of 53 countries voted against the resolution, 12 voted for it, 18 abstained. The project of this resolution was brought in by the European Union last week. The resolution condemned "serious violations of international law in the field of human rights and international humanitarian right in Chechnya including forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, tortures." It also said that "the return of internally displaced persons is not always held on the base of the strictly adherence to the principle of voluntariness." However, it mentioned that Russia has the right to defend its territorial integrity, fight against terrorism and criminality, defend its population from terrorists.
Apr.15, 2003 GENEVA (AP) -- The top United Nations human rights body Thursday blocked condemnation of Russia over its record in Chechnya. In a 23-12 vote, the UN Human Rights Commission rejected a resolution submitted by European countries that said Moscow must do more to end abuses by its troops. There was applause after the 53-nation commission, which is dominated by developing countries, threw out the motion. Russia mustered support from Cuba, Brazil, India, China and African countries. European countries, the United States and Australia voted to condemn Moscow. Among the 18 commission members abstaining were Japan, Latin American and Islamic countries.
"Death squads" heads Ossetin Taymuraz Kaloyev. Mass abductions and murders in the RI began after the appointment of Kaloyev to be the chief of OKU FSB RF in the North Caucasus. ingushetiya..Ru, 13.04.2004 Our correspondent was able to find out that in February 2004 Taymuraz Kaloyev was appointed the chief for "Operational- Coordination Administration FSB of Russia for the North Caucasus". Till then Kaloyev had held post of the chief of UFSB in the Russia's Pskov region [oblast]. Before his appointment to the post in Pskov in August 2001 T. Kaloyev was the first deputy chief of UFSB in the republic of North Ossetia- Alania. For making a difference to operational-official activity, successful fulfillment of special assignments with respect to providing security RF Major-General T. Kaloyev was awarded with medal "For military service (merits)"; (in 2001) and with medal - "Honour [Pocheta]" and also with the highest award of the FSB of Russia - "Honorary employee of counter-intelligence" badge. In March 2003 on the order of the director of FSB of Russia he got an engraved personal weapon. Specifically, after Kaloyev's appointment to his new post, a number of special operations, murders, abdutions and extrajudicial executions sharply increased on the territory of Ingushetia. OKU FSB RF for the NC has commited abduction of approximately 40 inhabitants RI and about 100 inhabitants of Chechnya, whose fate is unknown at present time. Among those who have been abducted is senior assistant attorney of Ingushetia Rashid Ozdoyev. Information about Kaloyev is published also on the FSB's website. http://www.fsb.ru/smi/ufsb/2004/040209-5.html
Silence on Erkel Speaks Volumes Editorial In the Kremlin's fight against Chechen rebels and terrorism, you could be forgiven for thinking that Dutch aid worker Arjan Erkel's release in Dagestan on Sunday would be heralded as a cause for celebration, or at least a sigh of relief. But the wall of official silence that greeted his release, including a news blackout on state television, speaks volumes. According to Erkel's organization, Medecins Sans Frontieres, and the Veterans of Foreign Intelligence it hired to help free him, the end of his 20-month ordeal actually came in spite of federal security agencies, rather than because of their efforts. Kenneth Gluck, Erkel's MSF colleague who was kidnapped in Chechnya in 2001, has described the official investigation as a catalog of "inaction and indifference." Although the Federal Security Service admitted its officers witnessed the abduction, FSB officials either blocked the investigation or failed to follow up several obvious leads, MSF said. The authorities have not seen fit to answer MSF's allegations or even give the most basic of explanations as to who abducted Erkel and why. They merely said his release was a "special operation" -- a phrase that has come to cover a multitude of sins -- and that any more information could endanger other hostages. There was no explanation of why the security services could do little to free Erkel sooner, despite providing MSF with convincing "proof of life" evidence more than once. The FSB said the kidnappers were more concerned with immunity from prosecution than money, suggesting they knew where Erkel was being held and by whom. Whether the authorities in Dagestan or Moscow were complicit in the kidnapping may never be known, just as hundreds of abductions in the North Caucasus go unsolved each year. But the case reveals just how low the Kremlin's relations have sunk with aid agencies, many of which have reduced their presence there or pulled out entirely. When some agencies have had the temerity to point out the terrible human price exacted by the military campaign in Chechnya, they have been accused of either spying or sympathizing with the rebels. And the rift appears to be getting worse. In January 2001, the FSB freed *Gluck after 25 days; Erkel was finally freed (with little apparent official FSB help) after 607 days -- and only after high- level lobbying from European leaders and the UN. If the Kremlin is serious about its stated aim of rebuilding what remains of a shattered Chechnya and restoring stability in the troubled wider region, it should realize that aid agencies are not obstacles to reconstruction, but allies of first resort. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Gluck wasn't freed by the FSB, he was just let go. He was captured and held by some Chechens, and then released allegedly on Basayev's order with apology that those people made a mistake by capturing Gluck, athough there's another version (according to Izmailov) that the FSB was involved in Gluck's abduction. M.L. |