| eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 26/6/2004 IDPs, locals guard refugee camp in Ingush village The refugee camp in the Ingush village of Yandare is guarded by internally displaced persons (IDPs) themselves and local residents. It became possible after the meeting between Chechen refugees and representatives of the Moslem clergy and the council of elders of the village of Yandare arranged by the local branch of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship in the evening of June 24. The meeting was held because appeals to organize pogroms of Chechen refugees had started spreading in the aftermath of the June 21-22 developments. During the meeting, the head of the Moslem clergy of the village of Yandare, Imam Minkail, said: "If the authorities keep themselves aloof from the fight against ethnic strife, we, ordinary citizens, ordinary Moslems, will have to take it up ourselves." The refugees, elders and clergymen of the village of Yandare and human rights activists made a decision to guard the camp at nights in groups made up of locals and refugees in order not to allow provocations. Meeting participants stated they would do their best not to allow driving a wedge between the brotherly Chechen and Ingush peoples. Source: Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 26/6/2004 IDPs flee to Chechnya On June 23, two days after the raid of armed guerillas on Ingushetia, in compact settlements of Chechen IDPs in Ingushetia were carried out mop-up operations with mass detainments of IDPs [internally displaced persons]. The operations took place in compact settlements in Altiyevo, Nesterovskaya, Logovas. "Memorial" monitors witnessed part of the mop-up in an IDP settlement at a milk farm in the village of Altiyevo, which lasted from 3 to 8 p.m. The mop-up was carried out by representatives of Russian and Ingush power agencies. The Chechen men were put on the ground, beaten and then detained. Some women were also beaten. According to Raisa Isaeva, commandant of the settlement, about 50 persons were taken that evening. The IDPs said that personnel of power agencies issued threats that unless they got out of Ingushetia, they would be in trouble. "My brother was killed," said one of them. "Now you are my enemies". While taking the detainees away, they promised that the families won't see them in good health again. The second part of the operation was witnessed by "Memorial". It was carried out by RUVD of Nazranovsky district. While the human rights activists were present, nobody was beaten up, but several young men were detained. Neither the reasons for the detainment nor the future whereabouts of the detained were disclosed to the families. At night on June 24, some of the IDPs were released. In the morning, the IDPs brought a list of 34 persons still detained by the power agencies to "Memorial". Their whereabouts are unknown. "Memorial" also received a written complaint from one of the women who had been cruelly beaten during the mop-up in Altiyevo the night before. At 9:30 in the morning, representatives of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" and members of families of the detained approached the GUVD department of Nazran. The human rights activists and IDPs wanted to talk to the GUVD authorities and inquire information on the whereabouts of IDPs and possible charges brought against them. The GUVD authorities refused to meet with the human rights activists, and armed personnel of the GUVD pushed them and the IDPs from the territory of GUVD in a very aggressive manner. In the meantime, the Altiyevo camp was cut off electricity and gas. The gas pipe and electricity wires were cut by a team of the district electricity company, which arrived at 9 a.m. The commandant of the camp turned to the deputy head of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, Akhmed Tomov. Mr Tomov explained to the commandant: "It's beyond my capacity to help you. If you are threatened and are given two days - you should flee. I am also afraid of these people." In the afternoon, the commandant of the camp gave interviews to the local television and Echo Moskvy Radio, in which she explained what was going on in Altiyevo. She appealed to Russian and international human rights organizations to protect their rights. "We have nowhere to go, our homes lay in ruins in Chechnya. Please, take us to other regions of Russia," Ms Isaeva said. When Raisa Isaeva got back to the camp, the migration services presented her with a list of people, whose registration in the camp had been withdrawn. She was on the list of the excluded. Throughout June 24 IDPs were leaving the territory of the milk farm. Only 10 out of 74 families remained in the first barrack. 4 families have moved from the second barrack, 4 other are getting ready for departure. Only those remain whose relatives were detained on June 23. At 5 p.m. on June 24, a new mop-up operation was launched in the Altiyevo camp. It lasted for over an hour. The mop-up was carried out by federal servicemen speaking Russian without an accent. The servicemen were swearing and abusing women. According to commandant Isaeva, they took golden things and valuables that they could find in the camp. One man was detained. In the morning on June 25, the IDPs were demanded to file applications for voluntary return to Chechnya. Source: Representative Office of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Nazran, Ingushetia) Jun 26 2004 7:01PM All abductions in Chechnya under investigation MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - All abductions in Chechnya are being investigated, the republic's Interior Minister, Alu Alkhanov, told a news conference at the Interfax central office on Saturday. "Everything possible is being done to investigate each individual abduction, no matter whether one or ten people were kidnapped," he said. "We are facing a problem with abductions, and the regional headquarters for the Interior Ministry's operations and the republic's authorities are countering these crimes in the toughest manner," Alkhanov said. "The amount of abductions in Chechnya has effectively decreased threefold or fourfold as compared with the past few years," the minister said. "Unfortunately, the West's response has not always been adequate to what has been done in Russia and Chechnya," Alkhanov said. He denied reports that human rights have been violated during security services' operations in Chechnya following the recent guerilla attacks in Ingushetia. "I would not call them mopping-up operations. These efforts dealt with people suspected of having ties with rebels," he said. Jun 26 2004 6:58PM Human rights activists critical of security operations in Ingushetia MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - Human rights activists have accused security agencies of violating civilians' rights during operations to search for rebels in Ingushetia. "Unfortunately, the situation in Ingushetia is beginning to resemble that in Chechnya ten years ago. Searches for rebels in Ingushetia have affected the civilian population and are making people very nervous," Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group human rights organization, told Interfax on Saturday. Twenty-eight people were detained during checks of settlements in Ingushetia with a predominant Chechen population. "Nearly all of them have been released, but four are still being held by law enforcement agencies," she said. Chechen refugees living in the Ingush village of Altiyevo have announced their readiness to return to Chechnya, the Memorial human rights center said. The Ingush authorities, however, pledge to observe human rights while conducting special operations. "Violating refugees' rights would be add up to being the same as a crime committed by the guerillas during their sortie. I consider all violations of human rights unacceptable," Ingush President Murat Zyazikov told Interfax on Friday. The prosecutor's office is overseeing all search operations in towns and villages with a predominant Chechen population. "All these efforts must proceed in compliance with the law and be supervised by the prosecutor's office," Zyazikov said. |