| eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 18/10/2004 Purge in Noviye Atagi - details On October 12-14, Russian soldiers conducted a large-scale purge with arrests of people and general searches in houses of locals in the village of Noviye Atagi, Chechnya's Shali district. Troops cordoned off Noviye Atagi in the morning. Armored vehicles were on all roads leading to the settlement. In defiance of all previous orders and directions of the military command, neither local law enforcers nor administration officials and village elders were allowed to take part in the "special operation". The last day of the purge, October 14, was the most terrible, locals say. "An armored personal carrier began to move along the village in the morning. All men between the ages of 14 and 60 were ordered to come to the outskirts of the village, where they were herded together behind the barbed wire. Many of the men were beaten and subjected to torture," Satsita, a 58-year-old woman living in Noviye Atagi, said. "My grandson was savagely beaten during that "filtration". They demanded that he should say who is a rebel in the village. But he's a school boy. How can he know them?" The military men detained and took away in an unknown direction four locals, a village administration official said. Three of them have already returned. The fourth man's destiny is unknown so far. "Relatives of the people who were detained and beaten by the soldiers don't want their names be mentioned. They are afraid repressions will follow it. People are very scared. We don't even know what to tell them. 8 thousand people were held at submachine gun point for three days, all conceivable and unconceivable laws and constitutional norms being grossly violated. And then they [soldiers] just went away as if nothing had taken place," he said. The Chechen president's staff have refused to give any comments on what happened in Noviye Atagi. "The president has commissioned the Chechen prosecutor's office to check all reports about violations that took place in the village of Noviye Atagi. Any conclusions can be drawn only when thorough investigation of all the facts is conducted," an official of the Chechen president's staff said.' Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 198, Part I, 19 October 2004 Pro-Moscow Chechen leader condemns violations during search operation Pro-Moscow Chechen administration head Alu Alkhanov intervened last week to end a search operation in the village of Novye Atagi, south of Grozny, conducted by guardsmen loyal to First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, "Izvestiya" reported on 19 October. The village, which has a population of some 8,000, was cordoned off and every house was searched; all males between the age of 14 and 60 were herded together in a compound surrounded with barbed wire, and 10 of them were eventually arrested on unspecified charges.* After three days, Alkhanov dispatched a team to assess the situation in Novye Atagi and condemned human right violations as likely to undercut the population's support for the pro-Russian Chechen leadership. Alkhanov's intervention may compound tensions between himself and Kadyrov, the second-most-powerful official in the pro-Moscow leadership. Some Russian observers have predicted that Kadyrov will replace Alkhanov as leader in preterm elections in the fall eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 16/10/2004 Azerbaijan authorities 'will not give Russia lists of Chechen refugees' The Georgian Interior Ministry is known to have issued a statement it is ready to give Russia lists of Chechen refugees living in the Pankissi Gorge. But Chechens say Georgia's intentions conflict with norms of international law protecting refugees' rights. They rate it as an attempt by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to take control of everything and continue its bloody policy towards the Chechens. Besides, the Chechens are convinced the data to be given by the Georgian side will be faked-up and used against Chechen refugees, first of all men. The Chechens believe the Kremlin wants to try to set the Chechens on the Georgians. Meanwhile, human rights activist Mairbek Taramov hopes the Azerbaijan authorities will not act in the same way as the Georgian ones. In his words, Chechen refugees living in Azerbaijan are under the jurisdiction of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees therefore, the human rights activist thinks, giving the lists of Chechen refugees to Russia is impossible. Besides, the Russian authorities have not made such a request to the Azerbaijan authorities so far. However that may be, Chechen refuges are ready to stage mass rallies and turn to the European Court of Human Rights in case the Azerbaijan authorities follow Georgia's example, Mr Taramov said. Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 197, Part I, 18 October 2004 Last Internet cafes shut down in Ingushetia The authorities in Ingushetia have closed the republic's last Internet cafes, ingushetiya.ru reported on 17 October, citing regnum.ru. The crackdown began two months ago on the pretext that Internet cafe owners did not have the required licenses (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 August 2004). But ingushetiya.ru quoted Ingushetian Security Council Secretary Bashir Aushev as saying that the Internet is being used in Ingushetia to spread "knowingly false information" and "order needs to be restored." LF 20.10.2004 15:22 MSK Chechen Refugees are Being Expelled from Ingushetia Nazran. (InformCenter ORChD). On October 19th, over the course of two hours, in the Chechen refugee camp Dawn, in the Ordzhonkidzevski area of Sunzhenski, representatives of the power structures of Ingushetia and Russia carried out a “cleansing operation” with beatings and detentions. The soldiers arrived at the camp in four automobiles. They searched lodgings and detained two people, 21-year-old Sail Xanchakuev and 33-year-old Musleem Dzhamaldiev, forced immigrants from Urs-Martan, without documents. Both men have young children in their care: Dzhamaldiev is bringing up a son and daughter, and Xanchakuev cares for sisters of 15 and 13 years, as their parents were killed. At least three people were beaten during the operation, including a legless invalid, Rustam Barzaev, and his sister Zulihan, who was trying to prevent the beating of her brother. Threatening them with weapons, soldiers also forced five minors to disassemble a brick wall and to move construction rubbish, believing that there was ammunition hidden there However, nothing forbidden it was found. The soldiers left, having promised to return in the evening. After their departure, Ali Arov, Camp Chief of the Sunzhenski Regional Department of Migration Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, arrived. Under his orders, electricity in the camp was switched off. He also declared that the water and gas would be switched off. The inhabitants of the camp regard the operation as an act of intimidation, intended to make the forced immigrants return to Chechnya. Translated by OM kenney PRIMA-News Information Agency [2004-10-19-Ing-03] |