Home

Up

Dec 23 2004 12:29PM Dagestani protesters again block federal highway MAKHACHKALA. Dec 23 (Interfax) - About one hundred residents of Dagestan's Khasavyurt district blocked the federal highway Kavkaz several kilometers south of Khasavyurt on Thursday to protest a series of abductions that have been committed in the district in the past several months. Residents of the communities of Endirei, Novosositli, Aksai, and Khamavyurt blocked the same road last week. They protested against kidnappings of their relatives by unidentified people wearing camouflage uniforms without insignia. The protesters claimed that a total of 8 young men had been kidnapped. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 21/12/2004 Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan may hold rallies Chechen refuges can organize rallies to protest against the indifference of international agencies and Azerbaijan authorities to their problems, representatives of the Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. The refugees demand that the Azerbaijan authorities should stop persecuting them, abducting men, and illegally delivering them to the Russian side. They also accuse the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of not doing their duties. Human rights activist Aliovsat Aliyev thinks that "only displaced persons from Chechnya are subjected to discrimination when getting refugee status." "Azerbaijan doesn't protect the rights they have as refugees, and they are deprived of any rights. They receive material aid neither from the Azerbaijan state nor from the UNHCR," the human rights activist said. The press service of the UNHCR office in Azerbaijan has announced that any person considering himself or herself a refuge can apply to this organization to fix this status. "Nationality doesn't have any significance in this situation," a representative of the press service said. Author: Zaur Rasulzade, CK correspondent Kavkaz Center Occupiers Continue Kidnapping in Chechnya Press-service ROD CKNS informs, that a new wave of hostage taking came to Chechnya. Punitive actions and kidnapping grew stronger after Moscow open declaration of legalization of the so-called “contra-capture” of CRI citizens. Earlier, in its informative reports CKNS has not once told about the victims of “clearances”, carried out in Chechnya by Russian occupiers and their marionettes under the nickname “contra-capture of hostages”. On April 19, 2004 in press release No 558, CKNS reported how “kadyrovtsy” had completely burnt down the house of Temiralievs family. At the same time, they had severely beaten Mukharbi TemiralievÒ‘s wife. The troubles of the Temiralievs did not finish with this. Due to the information given by the local citizens, CKNS got to know that on November 1, 2004 in the settlement Soguny in Nozhai-Yurtovski region of Chechnya, Russian occupiers and their henchmen in accordance with the notorious “contra-capture of hostages” programme, had kidnapped the honoured teacher of Chechnya- Khas-Magomed Temiraliev, who had worked in the local school for 43 years as a teacher of Russian and literature, together with his 25-years old son, who had also taught at the same school. Further more, CKNS learnt from the reliable sources that on December 2, 2004 Russian occupiers had kidnapped and taken away one more member of this distressful family – Umar Temitaliev, born in 1958. Fate and location of Umar Temiraliev remain unknown till now. Moreover, all the other kidnapped members of Temiralievs family have been not released yet. Kavkaz Center 2004-12-24 December 23rd 2004 · Prague Watchdog Mopping-up operation in Noviye Atagi Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - A mopping-up operation has been carried out in the village of Noviye Atagi in the Groznensky district. According to local residents, the operation was conducted by members of the so-called security service of the President of the Chechen Republic. The Kadyrovtsy surrounded several blocks in the village and began to make house-to-house searches and document checks. As a result, two local residents, Dakalov and Edilov, were taken away by them. Their relatives assume that the 19-year-old Edilov, who suffered a leg injury in a car crash a year ago, was due to his disability detained on suspision of being a Chechen guerrilla fighter. Three other residents, namely Shatiyev, Idrisov, and Ismailov, have been severely beaten. On top of it, Ismailov's father and mother have been beaten as well. Chechenpress The application [appeal] of the Chechen refugees to the Supreme Commissioner of the UN in Moldova The materials testifying distress of the Chechen refugees in the Republic of Moldova came to the electronic address of the site “Chechenpress”. Taking into account, that the majority of these materials are in the Moldavian and English languages, we publish the Application of the Chechen refugees to the Supreme Commissioner of the United Nations in the RM Lars Yonsson, in which the basic problems of Chechens in this country are listed. * * * Dear Supreme Commissioner of the United Nations on affairs of refugees in the Republic of Moldova Mister Lars Yonsson ! We consider it to be necessary to inform you about the true information on the state of affairs, in which refugees are today; to be more exact, both people having the status of a refugee, and people searching for it. Despite of the fact, that according "to the law accepted in the Republic of Moldova, people having the status of a refugee, since January, 1, 2003 have acquired the right for employment; in practice, unfortunately, it is impossible. Absence of the residence permit and an individual fiscal code is one of the obstacles at the attempt to be employed. Alongside with these factors at attempts to be employed the alert attitude to refugees from the Chechen Republic is observed at potential employers. It is caused by the incessant formation of a negative image of Chechens in mass-media of the Russian Federation and in some Russian editions published in the Republic of Moldova . Together with this, absence of human attitude to refugees is frequently observed on the part of those nongovernmental organizations, which according to their charter are obliged to assist and carry out support to refugees. Frequently refugees face elementary misunderstanding and roughness while applying to the nongovernmental organizations as though the heads of the NPO assist them from their own means. We felt humiliated not only once or twice. It is twice unpleasant, as many of us have arrived from the place, where there is a war for several years and, having arrived to the Republic of Moldova , we expected to see understanding and support. Many of us have had heavy time and need psychological rehabilitation for the high-grade integration into the civil society of the RM. Instead of it, the grant for us has been cut down; they have stopped to give us the humanitarian help. Refugees lose hope for the best. Many people have to sell their things and last wedding rings. The most awful thing is that children suffer; they have not seen the happy childhood and, having left from the roar of mines and shells, now sometimes they have no tooth-paste and brushes, let alone more serious things. Summarizing all the above-mentioned, it is possible to establish with confidence the fact, that refugees have the emergency situation, as the result of which refugees have turned out to be deprived of both the elementary means of subsistence and the opportunities to be integrated into the civil society of the Republic of Moldova . In this connection we address you with the following requests: 1) To reconsider the system of distributing of grants to the people, possessing the status of a refugee aside the cardinal change of bureaucratic obstacles at delivery of the grants; 2) To restore delivery of the grant to the people searching for the status of a refugee in the RM and to introduce a special program of support of such people; 3) To consider the possibility of delivery of an insurance policy necessary for health services in the shortest terms. With hope to be heard, refugees: (totally 16 signatures). Chechenpress , the Department of the operative information 25.12.04 http://chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2004/12/25/03.shtml eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 24/12/2004 Purge in refugee camp Today, officers of local and federal security agencies detained approximately 20 people during a joint "special operation" on the territory of the Rassvet refugee camp in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia. Law enforcers in camouflage uniforms cordoned off the refugee camp in Ingushetia at about 5 a.m., camp inhabitants say. Having dispersed over the territory of the camp, the military men began to inspect documents of its inhabitants. Officers of Ingushetia's Sunzha district police department, where the detained men were taken, has told the Caucasian Knot correspondent that "raid actions to check passport regulations" were conducted in the Rassvet refugee camp. "Several people were detained and conveyed to the district police department until they are identified. They'll be set free after the appropriate examination," the source said. Author: Timur Khamkhoyev, CK correspondent Chechen women 'detained and tortured': UN MOSCOW, Dec 24 (AFP) - The United Nations voiced concern Friday at first-hand reports of arbitrary detention and torture of women in Russia's war-torn republic of Chechnya, a UN official said Friday. "I heard first-hand accounts of women being arbitrarily detained and tortured following targeted operations (by the Russian special forces)," Yakin Erturk, UN special rapporteur on violence against women, said after a visit to Chechnya. "This is said to be in response to women's involvement in terrorist attacks, particularly as suicide bombers," Erturk explained. Two women were among the commando team that seized a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, in September, resulting in 344 deaths, and many suicide bombings over the past few years have been committed by so-called "black widows" seeking to avenge their dead husbands, sons or brothers. "In the absence of the rule of law, the civilian population suffers abuse by security forces and Chechen armed groups, leaving a climate of fear and insecurity," Erturk warned. (snip)