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PRESS RELEASE (my tr.) Goettingen, Bern, Vienna, Sarajewo, Bozen, Luxembourg, 23 January 2004 A Russian death squad murders again a Chechen human rights activist According to information from the Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fuer bedrohte Voelker - GfbV) in Chechnya, the human rights activist Aslan Davletukaev, co-worker of the Society of the Russian-Chechen friendship, was murdered on the 10th of January 2004 by members of a Russian death squadron. Davletukaev, who collected and had published regularly information about violations of human rights, is not the first murdered Chechen human rights activist. Also, on the first of December 2002, the human right activist and former mayor of the city of Alkan-Khala, Malika Umascheva, were shot by Russian death squadrons treacherously. On 21 May 2003 Zura Bitieva, human rights activist and former prisoner of the notorious Tschernokosowo prison, was murdered with several of her family members. Other human rights activists are constantly threatened and are in mortal danger. The body of Aslan Davletukaev was found with signs of torture and abuses in the proximity of the motorway of the city of Gudermes. His arms and legs had been broken, his body showed wounds, which had been caused by a sharp metal object. The human rights activist died finally by a shot to the back of his head. On 17 January he was buried. The Chechnya expert of the GfbV, Sarah Reinke, accused the Russian army to eliminate systematically outstanding and informed witnesses of the continuing murders and massacres on the Chechen civilian population. Because of fear of further persecution the Davletukaevs family had informed the GfbV employee only yesterday about their tragic loss. Mrs. Sarah Reinke is today reachable at any time by telephone at 0160 95 67 1403 or over her direct-inward dialing with the GfbV 0551 49906-28 ======================================================== Society for threatened peoples (GfbV) Inse Geismar, Press consultant p.o. box 2024, D-37010 Goettingen Tel. +49/551/49906 25, Fax:+49/551/58028 E-Mail: presse@gfbv.de, Homepage:http://www.gfbv.de ========================================================== Society for threatened peoples Greifswalderstr. 4 10405 Berlin Tel.: 030/42804916 email: berlin@gfbv.de Opening times: Mo-Fr: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Reuters, Jan. 22 2003 Russian troops kill woman after car crash-Chechens A top Chechen official on Thursday sharply criticised the Russian military after troops shot dead a woman and injured three local policemen after a traffic accident. The criticism came a day after Moscow handed the local authorities responsibility for human rights in the devastated region, where abuses by troops and separatists have been common during their nine- year conflict. The pro-Moscow Chechen government said the woman was in a car with two young policemen when they attempted to drive away from the scene of a crash between an armoured vehicle and a second car driven by a third policeman. The soldiers, who were leaving Chechnya for a neighbouring region after mine-clearing duties, then fired at both cars, killing the woman and injuring the police. "They need more discipline," Chechnya's Security Council chief Rudnik Dudayev told Reuters. "They may be sappers who have to look after mine clearance but they also need to respect people. Shooting at people means they are not respecting them." Activists say rape and disappearances are common in the army's infamous "sweep operations" when villages are closed off and mass searches for rebels conducted. But few soldiers have ever faced trial and incidents are rarely reported. "Incidents when soldiers are at fault in shooting innocent civilians are not rare. The activities of soldiers must be controlled. It is time to stop misconduct like this," said Dudayev. On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin dismissed his special representative for human rights in Chechnya, putting the local government in charge of enforcing the law. Since Chechnya elected a president in October - in a poll criticised by Washington and the European Union - Moscow has increasingly been handing power to the local authorities. But human rights groups accuse regional President Akhmad Kadyrov's security services of widespread abuses and see the move as equivalent to putting "wolves in charge of sheep". "Kadyrov has been on the scene for a while and the rights situation has been only deteriorating," said Anna Neistat, director of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch's Russian office. "This is clearly one of the steps taken to present the situation as normalising." Russia claims to be bringing Chechnya under control. But soldiers, police and rebels die daily and official figures this week showed the number of attacks had risen by a half in 2003. 22.01.2004, 17.20 MOSCOW, January 22 (Itar-Tass) - Adbul Khakim Sultygov's resignation from the post of special presidential human rights commissioner in the Chechen Republic will not entail any alterations in the work of the Human Rights Commission under the Russian President, Commission Chairman Ella Pamfilova told Itar-Tass here on Thursday. "His resignation will not affect the Commission's work in any way whatsoever," Pamfilova stressed, commenting on the presidential decree, which transfers the tasks of guaranteeing human rights in Chechnya to the republic's government and to the Commission on Human Right under the Russian President. "We shall simply go on with this work, knowing that our prerogatives are now more authorized," she added. According to Pamfilova, the Commission's priority tasks have already been determined. "It is desirable to hold parliamentary elections in the republic without delay and by the fixed time," she stressed. "After that a law should be enacted on the republic's human rights commissioner and the latter should be elected," the Commission chairman noted. "We shall contribute to this end just as we have done it in the other regions of Russia," Pamfilova stated, adding that there were already such commissioners in twenty-seven subjects of the Russian Federation. The key problems, which the Commission is planning to tackle, include "the situation with the repatriation of Chechen refugees and liquidation of tent settlements". "It is our duty to check the republic's readiness to accommodate those people," Pamfilova noted. In addition to the information coming in from the Chechen government, the Commission will also rely in its work on its officials, who are paying regular visits to Chechnya and on information it gets from the public organizations, whose leaders are members of the Commission, Pamfilova noted. She also stressed that the Commission would, as always, "relay in its work on the understanding and backing of the Russian president", who is in constant contact with it. As reported on Wednesday, Putin had signed a decree to relieve Adbul Khakim Sultygov of the duties of special presidential human rights commissioner in the Chechnya since the republic now has a legitimately elected president. Officials of Putin's administration have stated that all the responsibility for human rights in the Chechen Republic will henceforth be borne by President Akhmat Kadyrov. Moreover, it was noted in the Kremlin that this work would also be done by the Human Rights Commission under the Russian President, which Ella Pamfilova heads.
22.01.2004, 00.06 MOSCOW, January 21 (Itar-Tass) -- Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov welcomed President Vladimir Putin's decision to abolish the post of presidential representative for human rights in Chechnya and said it was timely. Now these functions will be performed by Chechen authorities. "A new constitution has been adopted in Chechnya, there is a popularly elected president, the government and the State Council are working," Kadyrov said on Wednesday. "We are gradually becoming a real region of Russia, just like others," he added. Putin dismissed Abdul Khakim Sultygov as his representative for human rights and freedoms in Chechnya in connection with the election of the Chechen president. Sultygov was the second presidential representative to deal with these issues after Vladimir Kalamanov. Now that Akhmat Kadyrov has been elected the president of Chechnya, he bears all responsibility for human rights and freedoms in the republic, presidential press secretary Alexei Gromov told Itar-Tass. In addition, the chairman of the president's human rights commission, Ella Pamfilova, also deals with these matters. Jan. 22, 2004 The Associated Press VLADIKAVKAZ, North Ossetia -- A Chechen civilian and two pro-Moscow police officers were shot dead Thursday and authorities suspected federal forces of killing them, an official in the pro-Moscow Chechen administration said. The incident occurred on a highway near the village of Gekhi after an armored personnel carrier leading a federal convoy collided with a civilian vehicle, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The vehicle's driver was hospitalized with injuries. According to preliminary information, the troops from the convoy then fired on another civilian vehicle, killing all three passengers in it -- two men, who were pro-Moscow Chechen police officers, and a woman, the official said. He said the circumstances of the incident were not immediately clear and an investigation was under way. NTV television showed a white sedan smashed by the heavy armored vehicle, another vehicle ridden with bullets and officials inspecting a dead body on the roadside. It said the victims were killed by federal troops, but was equally vague on the circumstances of their death. Vladimir Kondratenko of the local military prosecutor's office said only one woman died and three men were wounded in the incident, Rossia television reported. He would not name the culprits, saying that the official investigation was continuing. UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland will visit Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia this month to assess what role the UN can play in the region, Ingush President Murat Zyazikov said Wednesday. Egeland will visit camps in Ingushetia, where some 4,500 refugees from Chechnya are living, as well as meet with those who have returned to Chechnya
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