| Sep 17 2004 8:15PM Human rights commissioner against pardoning Budanov MOSCOW. Sept 17 (Interfax) - Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin has categorically disagreed with the Ulyanovsk region pardon commission that granted a pardon to Yury Budanov, a man convicted for killing a Chechen woman. "I can say only one thing on this account. Naturally, as human rights commissioner, I am inclined to humane solutions on any issues. And if a person repents his wrongdoing and truly changes, he has to be pardoned. But here we deal with an absolutely specific case, and I cannot support the Ulyanovsk commission's decision," Lukin told Interfax on the phone from Athens on Friday. 2004-09-18 17:19 Former Russian colonel, killero of Chechen girl, may be pardoned ULYANOVSK, September 18 (RIA Novosti) -Yuri Budanov, a former colonel of the Russian army, may be soon released from prison. The local pardons commission of the Ulyanovsk Region at its field session on Wednesday, September 15, approved a clemency application filed by Budanov who is currently serving a 10-year term for murdering the Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva. The commission's field session was held on the premises of the Dimitrovgrad's correctional facility No.3 where the colonel is serving his sentence. Earlier, forensic experts found that he had been partially insane when strangling the Chechen girl to death. The crime had a strong resonance throughout Chechnya and has badly impaired the image of the Russian army. The commission found it possible to free Budanov for good conduct both from the main punishment of imprisonment and from the supplementary ones - deprivation of military rank and decorations and forfeiture of his right to hold posts in civil service. The commission's decision is now to be approved by Governor of the Ulyanovsk Region Vladimir Shamanov and then by President of the Russian Federation. In the meantime, Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov thinks that Yuri Budanov must serve the whole term of his sentence. "In my opinion, he must serve the full sentence imposed on him by court. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison," Kolesnikov said in his televized remarks to the NTV Channel's `Country and the World` news programme. Kolesnikov pointed out that he was making this statement in his official capacity of the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. The clemency application considered by the pardons commission on Wednesday was the second such request filed by Budanov. On May 19 this year, the local pardons commission already came to consider a similar application which, however, was unexpectedly recalled by Budanov during the commission's session. He referred to ambiguity with hiscitizenship status (Budanov joined the armed forces in 1982 when he resided in Ukraine, then a constituent republic of the USSR) as the main reason for his decision to withdraw the first application. At the commission's session on Wednesday, Budanov stated that the issue of his citizenship had been first brought up on May 19, 2004 but as early as on May 21 he received a fully valid passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation. At its July 25, 2003 session, the tribunal of the North Caucasus military district found Yuri Budanov, a former commander of the 160th tank regiment, guilty of murdering the Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva in summer 2000 and sentenced him to 10-year imprisonment in a high security correctional facility. The court stripped Budanov of his military rank of a colonel as well as of his state decoration - the Order of Courage. Sep 19 2004 1:19PM Probe launched into death of Moscow terror suspect MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax) - The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal investigation into the death of Alexander Pumane, detained by policemen in downtown Moscow on Saturday morning after explosives were found in his car, the press service of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office told Interfax. Pumane was detained at about 1:30 a.m. on September 18. Later he was taken to the Sklifosovsky emergency medical aid clinic, where died at 8:30 a.m. A preliminary probe, launched by the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, revealed that Pumane had died as a result of bodily injuries. The criminal investigation was initiated on charges of abuse of official powers and infliction of bodily injuries leading to death. Investigators are to establish under what circumstances Pumane suffered injuries that led to his death. The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) wishes to announce the release of “Chechnya’s Suicide Bombers: Desperate, Devout, or Deceived,” a report by John Reuter. Suicide terrorism is one of the most terrible developments in asymmetrical warfare in the last fifty years. As the events in Beslan tragically illustrated, suicide terrorism often targets the weakest, most vulnerable individuals within conflict zones, spreading a net of death and despair over an innocent civilian population. The abhorrent nature of these attacks rightly demands the condemnation of the international community. However, too often, public reaction to suicide attacks ends at condemnation. Comprehending the roots of suicide terrorism is a vital step in preventing such tragedies from happening again. To that end, ACPC is releasing this comprehensive study on suicide bombings associated with the war in Chechnya. As the author has noted, Chechen suicide bombers are typically not motivated by ideology, but more often by a desire for revenge and retribution in the vicious cycle of violence created by the Kremlin's five year war in Chechnya. Though this study was prepared prior to the terrorist acts in North Ossetia, we hope that it will provide much-needed background on understanding the aims and motivations of suicide bombers in Chechnya. The report can be read at [http://www.peaceinchechnya.org/reports/SuicideReport/SuicideReport.pdf] Sincerely, Glen E. Howard Executive Director September 17th 2004 · Prague Watchdog Chechen refugee brutally murdered in Ingushetia Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus - An unprecedented and brutal murder recently took place in Ingushetia. The victim, Magomed-Emin Dibirov, was a construction worker living in the Tanzila camp in Nazran and father of ten children. He disappeared a few days ago and after a brief search by relatives and neighbors, they discovered his badly mutilated body three hundred meters from the camp. The condition of the body was horrible to behold: both eyes were missing, throat slit, ears and lips cut off, his stomach cut open, and all tendons on arms and legs had been severed. The Nazran prosecutor's office announced that the person or persons responsible for this heinous crime will be charged with murder. The law enforcers made no comment about the case except to state that they have never yet come across a barbaric murder such as this. In Nazran a rumor began circulating that it must have been done by some maniac in town who suddenly sprang up in their midst. Refugees of the Tanzila camp are understandably nervous and some have moved to other places fearful that a similar killing may again take place. 17.9.2004 Additional Militia in Chechen Villages CHECHNYA, Grozny. (InformCenter SNO). Additional military forces have entered into a number of Chechen settlements. Inhabitants of Samashky Village in the Achhoy-Martanovsky region report there are already 46 units of technical, basic, and armored troop-carriers there. In Sernovosdsky Village in the Sunzhensky region, village management has put forward preparations for the accommodation of a hundred troops in addition to the 40 already there. A large military contingent arrived on September 14th, near the village of Alhan-Jurt in the Urus-Martanovsky region. The troops are stationed in the northern part of village. According to local residents, there are tanks located every 50-100 meters with their barrels pointed at the village. Inhabitants are extremely disturbed by these events. They are afraid that in the near future the village will undergo a large scale “cleansing” with mass arrests of young people, beatings, and tortures. Translated by OMKenney [2004-09-15-Chech-06] September 16th 2004 · Prague Watchdog Russian military helicopters strafe West Chechen village Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus - This morning three Russian military helicopters straffed the Kulary village in the Achkhoi-Martanovsky district of Western Chechnya. For no apparent reason it seems, they suddenly attacked the western part of the village. According to the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic, two local villagers were injured, three cows killed, and four houses slightly damaged. Eyewitnesses stated that the helicopters then flew in the direction of Grozny. An investigation is now underway. September 19th 2004 · Prague Watchdog Chechen patients denied treatment in Ossetian hospitals Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - After the tragic events in Beslan, public opinion in North Ossetia about Chechens has become clearly negative. In particular, Ossetian hospitals refuse to accept patients of Chechen nationality. "In the diagnostic family planning center in Vladikavkaz (the North Ossetian capital) where I went for outpatient treatment, they refused to treat me. Dr. Gutsayeva, in referring to some ruling they received, said they can no longer treat anyone from our republic," said Satsita Isayeva, editor of Chechen newspaper Golos Chechenskoi republiky. "When I asked why, I was told it was because of the events in Beslan," Isayeva added. Ibragim Zubairayev, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Rights of Citizens of the Chechen Republic, stated that a Chechen had asked them to move his sick relative from the Vladikavkaz hospital to Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. "The patient needed a dialysis machine, but the Ossetians refused to provide it," he said. Many people, therefore, have decided against going to Ossetia for treatment. Such as Sveta, an Ingush woman who fears for her daughter’s safety. "My daughter needs a medical checkup by a commission in Vladikavkaz, but I'm not letting her go there. They might inject her with some poisonous substance." http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/107377/1/.html Four Caucasians wounded in Moscow subway assault: police MOSCOW : Four people originating from the Caucasus were injured in the Moscow subway late Saturday, including one severely, after they were assaulted by a group of 20 to 50 men in a subway car, police said. The assailants, who were not identified, fled when the car stopped at the northern Dynamo subway station, Moscow police spokesman Alexander Matonin told the Interfax news agency. The four Caucasians were rushed to hospital. Eyewitnesses told Interfax the assailants boarded the car and started attacking the Caucasians while shouting "Now you pay for the terrorist attacks!" Russia has in the past weeks been struck by a wave of deadly attacks claimed by radical Chechen separatists, most recently the Beslan school hostage siege near Chechnya that killed at least 339 people, half of them children. The subway attackers had shaven skulls and wore leather jackets and army boots, witnesses said. A large number of Caucasians gathered in the Dynamo subway station right after the incident, but police managed to keep the situation under control, Interfax reported. Attacks against people originating from the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa are not uncommon in Russia. - AFP |