Home

Up

Chechens live in fear of persecution The Associated Press, Sunday, September 19, 2004 (Moscow): Many Chechens are living in fear of persecution following the bloody end to the Beslan school siege. Even those who've fled Chechnya find themselves scapegoats in a country looking for people to blame. Some 150,000 Chechens live in Moscow and many are refugees who have lost relatives in the conflict there. Abdullah Bakhaev, a Chechen refugee in the group, said many Russians think of Chechens as terrorists. After the Moscow theatre siege, the Russian police accused one Chechen dance group of funding terrorism. "People have different feelings towards us," Bakhaev says. "We have had to explain that we are not beasts and it's not necessary to treat us like this." As Russia continues to mourn the hundreds of people killed in terror attacks over the past few weeks, dozens of Muscovites gathered earlier this week at the site where an eight-storey house was reduced to rubble in a terrorist explosion five years ago, killing over 120 people. It was one of the first large-scale terrorist attacks in Moscow, taking place only four days after another residential house in Moscow was blown up, killing 94 people. Among ordinary Russians who have been affected by acts of terrorism committed by Chechen extremists, there has been an increasing desire for more radical political solutions to the problem. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a nationalist politician, is one of those advocating a radical solution. "If terrorism continues to be carried out by them the question arises about removing them to a different place because through their ethnic contacts they might carry out similar acts of terrorism," he says. In recent months there have been numerous attacks on people suspected of being of Chechen origin in Moscow, something that shows no sign of decreasing as Russia's war on terrorism continues. (AP) Ingushetia still cut off the Internet INGUSHETIA, September 17, Caucasus Times - Since late August the republic has been cut off the world tidings banned local providers to give access to Internet. At total there are over 20 Internet cafes and places in the republic where people can get access to Web sites. The Internet providers had been barred what the authorities said a legitimate measure against those who had no licenses to run the businesses. Though the locals explained the move differently in fact the youth of the republic were cut off the country and world news. "We have had no access to the Internet since August 25. We thought the restriction was due to presidential elections in Chechnya. However a month over the event we have not yet been permitted to resume," a local businessmen running his Internet cafe said in an interview with Caucasus Times correspondent in Nazran. He was quoted saying, nobody had been told when we'd be reopened. "The licenses turned out just a pretext to abolish all Internet cafe in the republic," the businessman said. Now owners in a bid to save their businesses reconstruct the Internet-cafe installing one-armed bandits. Caucasus Times http://www.caucasustimes.com/article.asp?id=4044 Sep 19 2004 5:23PM Law office qualifies Moscow assault as ethnic attack MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax) - The Moscow Prosecutor's Office said on Sunday it had requalified a Saturday assault on the Moscow subway in which four Caucasus natives received serious injuries in an assault on the subway as an instance of "incitement of ethnic hatred or ethnic hostility." The previous qualification was "hooliganism." Close-cropped young men dressed in short black jackets and army- type boots assaulted the Caucasus people inside a subway car in the central part of the city around 10:30 p.m. None of the attackers was injured, the Prosecutor's Office press service said. Police arrested some of the attackers and were trying to identify the others. The victims were taken to the hospital. One of them was said to be in a very serious condition. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG VIO CRIM] as <> http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10703980 Regional Governor Signs Pardon Appeal for Budanov Created: 20.09.2004 11:03 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:51 MSK, MosNews The governor of Ulyanovsk Region, Vladimir Shamanov, has signed a pardon appeal for Yuri Budanov, a former Russian Army officer sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering a young Chechen woman, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported on Monday, citing the chairman of the regional clemency commission, Anatoly Zherebtsov. The appeal has been forwarded to President Putin's administration. The regional clemency commission granted Budanov's request for a pardon on September 15. Colonel Yuri Budanov was sentenced to 10 years in prison on July 25, for kidnapping and killing Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva. The investigation found that Budanov had kidnapped Kungayeva on March 27, 2000. He took her to his military unit, questioned and strangled her. He said during court hearings that he had believed she was a rebel sniper. On October 6, the military collegium of the Russian Supreme Court upheld that decision and on March 30 the presidium of the Russian Supreme Court found no grounds to annul the sentence. The court also stripped Budanov of his military rank and decorations. In May, ex-colonel Budanov made an appeal for a pardon. Two days later, he withdrew his appeal because the question of his citizenship was not yet clear and his possible place of residence and work was not determined. The chairman of the pardon commission of Ulyanovsk Region, Anatoly Zherebtsov, told MosNews on Friday that Budanov had served in Belarus at the time of the USSR's collapse, and had rejected Belarussian citizenship. During the Soviet times he used his officer certificate instead of a passport. He did not receive a passport while serving in Russia. Now, he is unable to get all the necessary documents while in custody. The administration of the colony where Budanov is imprisoned, learned of this only now, Zherebtsov said. Budanov's family was then evicted from the Russian republic of Buryatia and moved to Ukraine, he added. Later, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Budanov had Russian citizenship. Chechen Government Fights Budanov Pardon Created: 20.09.2004 18:47 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 19:37 MSK, MosNews The government of Chechnya will support an appeal to the Russian president Vladimir Putin against a pardon for Yuri Budanov, jailed for killing young Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva. The lawyer of Kungayeva's family will lodge an appeal soon, deputy prime minister of Chechnya and presidential envoy to the republic, Ziad Sabsabi, told Echo of Moscow radio station. Vladimir Shamanov, a former top military commander in the North Caucasus and the governor of the Ulyanovsk region where ex-colonel Budanov is jailed, signed his pardon appeal. The pardon will come into force if the president signs it. "Chechen people get irritated when Budanov's name is uttered," Sabsabi said. "If Budanov is pardoned… the people will demand to free ahead of schedule the rebels who are in Russian jails." First deputy prime minister of Chechnya, the son of the late Chechen president, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Saturday that a decision to pardon Budanov will be a "spit into the soul of the Chechen people." He said Chechnya believed in justice when Budanov was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The political council of the Chechen branch of the pro-Kremlin issued a statement condemning Budanov's possible pardon. It said the ex- colonel remains a "war criminal for the citizens of the republic". "Budanov caused irretrievable harm to the authority of our armed forces," the statement said. A source in the Justice Ministry quoted by Interfax news agency said Budanov's pardon appeal was considered with the procedure violation. "There is a reference in Budanov's appeal that he had compensated 11,000 rubles (about $376) to the family of Elza Kungayeva. However, according to the court decision he was to compensate 380,000 rubles and other forfeits." Members of the liberal Committee 2008: Free Choice also expressed disagreement with the for pardon Budanov. Irina Khakamada was quoted by Interfax as saying that if Budanov is pardoned, "it will be one more proof that the authorities have no law before them." Her colleague, Vladimir Ryzhkov, said such a decision would be followed by a "flow of hundreds and thousands of Chechens into the terrorists' camp. In this case, everyone will understand that a former officer, the killer of a young woman, had a very light penalty, and it will be a signal for the troops in the Caucasus to continue their lawless deeds." Sep 20 2004 5:48PM Procedures violated in Budanov's pardon plea MOSCOW. Sept 20 (Interfax) - Matters of procedure were violated when the pardon plea of former army colonel Yury Budanov was handled, a source at the Justice Ministry told Interfax on Monday. The source said that the rules for handling pardon pleas prescribe that pleas "should be supplemented with information about the payment of damages caused by the crime." "A certificate is attached to Budanov's plea indicating that he paid 11,000 rubles in compensation to the Kungayev family while under the court ruling he was supposed to pay 380,000 rubles in damages and cover other expenses," the source said. Sep 20 2004 8:41PM Ulyanovsk region prosecutor finds Budanov's pardoning ill-timed ULYANOVSK. Sept 20 (Interfax) - The prosecutor's office of the Ulyanovsk region believes that it would be inexpedient to pardon former army colonel Yury Budanov now because several requirements of the law were broken while compiling his pardon plea. A letter to Ulyanovsk region prosecutor Vladimir Shamanov said: "An examination of the materials received indicated that the plea had been filed without due evaluation of the public danger of the crimes committed by Budanov (murder in aggravating circumstances, abduction, abuse of power involving violence and bodily injuries) belonging to the category of felonies." Moscow Police Intercept Car Bomb, Suspect Beaten to Death Created: 20.09.2004 10:16 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:12 MSK, MosNews Moscow police intercepted a car packed with explosives in central Moscow on Saturday and said they had thwarted a terrorist attack, Russian media reported. Police found a 200-gram block of TNT, two anti-personnel landmines and a 20-liter canister with gasoline along with detonators and an electronic operating device in an old Lada. A suspect arrested at the scene told investigators he was offered $1,000 to take the car to a major thoroughfare President Vladimir Putin uses to travel to and from the Kremlin, news agencies and television said, quoting security forces. The Kommersant daily has cited an unnamed source in the law enforcement agencies as saying that the suspect, whose name was reported as Pumane was a Russian naval officer on a submarine. The daily also reported that the car in which the explosives were found was *registered in the name of a woman who supposedly was a wife of a Chechen rebel. Pumane died in hospital six hours after questioning. Initial reports said the man had suffered a heart attack, but shortly afterwards it was reported that he had bean beaten to death, apparently during the interrogation. Interfax news agency reported that prosecutors had started an investigation into crimes of "exceeding professional authority" and "causing grievous bodily harm, leading to death", after a post- mortem examination showed the man had been beaten and had not suffered a heart attack, as initially reported. Polls show that Russians have a very low opinion of the police and security services, blaming them for failing to prevent a rise in terrorism and accusing them of being corrupt and unprofessional. The incident was prominently reported on television newscasts following a string of attacks by Chechen rebels in recent weeks. These have included a school siege in southern Russia during which more than 320 hostages died, and near-simultaneous twin plane crashes that killed 90 people. Tuesday, September 21, 2004. Page 3. Car in Bomb Scare Is Linked to Rebels By Carl Schreck Staff Writer One of three cars intended for use in a series of terrorist attacks in Moscow may have been registered to the wife of a Chechen rebel, police said Monday. The man who told investigators where to find the car, Alexander Pumane, died Saturday after apparently sustaining severe injuries while being held in police custody. A Volga sedan that police found parked near VDNKh metro station in northern Moscow on Saturday morning was registered to Rauza Abdulkaderova, Russian media reported Monday, citing police investigators. A source in the security services said that a Rauza Abdulkaderova was in their database as the wife of a Chechen rebel, Vremya Novostei reported Monday. Abdulkaderova is still at large and being sought by the police. Pumane, 38, told police where to find the Volga after being arrested while driving a Lada at about 1 a.m. Saturday near Patriarch's Ponds. Police said they found two land mines in the car and 200 grams of TNT under a seat. Pumane died about 7 1/2 hours later, prompting the City Prosecutor's Office to open a criminal investigation into his death. An FSB spokeswoman reached by telephone Monday declined to comment, but sources close to the investigation told Kommersant that Pumane, a retired navy serviceman, said during interrogation that he had arrived by car from St. Petersburg last week, parked his Volga near VDNKh metro station and taken the metro to Kutuzovsky Prospekt in western Moscow to look up an old friend. Having failed to find his friend's building, the investigator said, Pumane said he had gone to a currency exchange booth to change $100 into rubles. There he met a stranger who offered him $1,000 to park two stolen cars near the Battle of Borodino Panorama Museum on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, a road often traveled by President Vladimir Putin's motorcade, Kommersant reported. The second car was found parked on Bogoslovsky Pereulok, also near Patriarch's Ponds. No explosives were found inside it, police said. It was unclear Monday how many suspects -- and which law enforcement agencies they work for -- have been implicated in Pumane's death, which police originally said had been caused by a heart attack. A spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's Office on Monday referred all questions regarding the case to the City Prosecutor's Office, which could not be reached for comment. An investigator who took part in the interrogation said that about 100 officers from various law enforcement agencies were in the central police precinct when Pumane was being interrogated, Kommersant reported. "The criminal investigations department, the organized crime department, FSB guys -- everyone wanted to be in charge. Everyone wanted to talk with him first," the investigator said, Kommersant reported. "In the office where he was being interrogated, the police were literally sitting on top of one another. I couldn't see who beat him -- or if he was beaten at all. But he was constantly being taken somewhere. At some point he started to feel sick. He asked to have his handcuffs removed and fell down." Pumane died at around 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Moscow's Sklifosovsky Hospital after being taken there by ambulance at about 4 a.m. A doctor at the hospital told Izvestia it was obvious at first glance that Pumane had been severely beaten. "They took him immediately to the general emergency room, which says a lot," the doctor said, Izvestia reported. "If he had had a heart attack, they would have taken him to cardiology. The general emergency room means he had serious injuries." City police spokeswoman Lydia Lagotkina said Monday that she could not comment on whether any police employees were suspects in Pumane's death, and an FSB spokeswoman similarly would not say whether any FSB employees were suspects. The owners of the two cars near Patriarch's Ponds have been located, Izvestia reported Monday. The Lada Pumane was driving when detained is registered to an invalid pensioner, Gennady Ugolnikov, whose daughter Lyubov told the newspaper he had recently sold, but not to a man named Pumane. The other Lada is registered to Alexei Vasilyev, whose apartment was searched by police Saturday. It was unclear if any incriminating evidence was found. http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/gazeta/wydanie_040920/kraj/kraj_a_4.html Refugee centers are full [Tr. by M.L] Next group of Chechens have asked for asylum In the refugee camps any day there will no more places. On Saturday and Sunday on the border at Terespol, 136 Chechens applied for asylum. We wrote on Friday about the problem of refugees from Chechnya, who are coming in larger numbers in the last few weeks. We've found unoficially, that the Ministry of Interior and Administration, anticipating that the wave of Chechens won't decrease, is looking for new places. Possibly, in the near future, new centers for the refugees will be created in Warsaw and Masovia province. Within last week some 400 Chechens have came to Poland. The most of them arrive during the weekends, when a train, which has connection with the Caucasus comes to Terespol. Our Border Guard almost every day receives dozens of application for the refugee status - says lieutenant-colonel Andrzej Wojcik, spokesman of the Border Guard of the river Bug Unit. Poland will also ask the EU for some financial aid, because the room and board for the refugees will cost more than was planned in the budget. Support in the talks with the Union was promising Ruud Lubbers, the UN High Comissiner for the Refugees. He also criticised an idea of few Union countries about the creation of refugee centers in Ukraine. E.P. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/kraj/1,34317,2293546.html  (excerpted) Is a wave of refugees coming from Chechnya to us? Jacek Brzuszkiewicz, PAP 19-09-2004, last update 19-09-2004 19:15 - I have enough to eat and finally I'm not afraid anymore. I've never thought that so little is needed to be a happy person - cries Muda from Grozny, who applied for the refugee status in Poland. Two weeks ago Muda was teaching chemistry in Grozny. Her husband was killed during its bombardments five years ago. Then soon after, her apartment had burnt down. This January she lost her brother when a taxi driven by him hit a mine. She didn't have in Grozny anyone, so together with her children, seven yrs old Rozita and five yrs old Ibragim went to Rostov-on-Don. - I rented out a room in apartment, from an older couple. He was a retired military man, a Russian, she was an Ossetin. They treated me like a daughter, and the children like their grandchildren. Three days after the attack on Beslan, in the middle of the night, someone threw a brick in their room's window. The next day it was painted on the doors "Chechens get out !" When I went to the school on Monday, I found out that my principal took away my overtime hours, thanks to them I was making ends meet, then on Tuesday, all the children quit my private lessons, and when Ibragim came back from a playground with a black-eye, I said to myself, I won't be waiting for the worst. When I was saying good-bye with my landlords, we all cried a lot - she's telling Her whole property she was able to fit into two suitcases, got some money on the trip from her landlords. Her trip was like a nightmare, five days and nights on the railroad stations, buses, trains. - On train station in  Moscow, a policeman checked out my papers. When he saw, Grozny name, he took away my passport. He said, that he will give me back my passport for $200 USD. "If you say a word about this, I'll make a noise that you are a terrorist. After these bombings of the airplanes people are going to lynch you" - he hissed to me, grabbing banknotes from my hand - tells Muda From Terespol to Debak Muda and Luiza have applied for the refugee status and were sent to Debak near Warsaw - Most of the Chechens, who come to Debak, treat ther stay in Poland as temporary one. Their target are Germany, Benelux and Scandinavia - explains a social worker in from the center in Debak. Offically thet don't have chance to get into Germany, but they have contact with their contrymen who live in Poland, and these for 400- 500 euro will smuggle them over the border. There, the next group of countrymen will arrange for them for the next  500 euro some work without any papers - he adds. Will Poland manage this. From the attack in Beslan, at the beggining of Sep. for the status of refugee have applied more than 400 Chechens. Thist Sunday - more than 100. The status of refugee - after many months of waiting - gets around 7-8%. The rest gets, the so called - temporary stay. If in Russia, there's an escalation of conflict between the Russians and Chechens, then number of appplications increases - says the director of the Repatriation and Foreigners Bureau - Jan Wegrzyn. We're ready for three thousand people. Presently there's more than two thousand people in the centers. Wegrzyn doesn't rule out, that soon, accomodation places for the refugees can run out. PS. Names of Chechens were changed on their request.