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Chechnya: Renewed violence and human rights abuses undermine credibility of presidential elections Moscow, Vienna, Grozny 30 August 2004. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) called into question the credibility of presidential elections in Chechnya that were held against a backdrop of increased violence in the conflict-torn republic. The IHF and MHG consider that minimum international standards for holding free and fair elections do not exist in Chechnya. Moreover, the organisations express their concern that during the run-up to the election, Russian electoral authorities unfairly excluded competitors to the post to ensure the victory of the Kremlin’s favoured candidate, Alu Alkhanov. In addition to the continuing widespread and pernicious practice of "disappearances", torture and extra-judicial execution of civilians that are recorded daily by human rights organisations, in the days preceding the ballot, the frequency and intensity of the armed conflict in the republic increased. On 21 August, in coordinated attacks by fighters on police stations in Grozny, dozens of Russian security forces were killed. In the course of the IHF/MHG mission to Chechnya, we learned that over a dozen civilians and over 50 law-enforcers were killed in the fighting and some thirty others were wounded. In the aftermath of the assault local human rights groups reported raids or zachistki in the Grozny region and approximately nine men taken away by Russian security forces; the fate and whereabouts of these detainees is unclear. "The brutal Chechnya conflict is crying out for a political solution", stated Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF. "Yet manipulating democracy to produce a predetermined outcome is neither fair nor a solution" , he added. "Rather it will serve to entrench both sides in this un-winnable war of attrition in which civilians continue to be the primary victims", he continued. The IHF and the MHG consider that the Russian authorities are repeating the same mistakes and violations of electoral standards as those witnessed in the election of Akhmad Kadyrov to the post of president in 2003. Organisations, such as the OSCE, condemned the 2003 presidential elections as being neither free nor fair. Kadyrov’s election led not only to increased violence from Chechen fighters against Russian security forces and civilian administrators, but the creation of the Kadyrovtsy, an armed militia under the command and control of Kadyrov that engaged in serious human rights violations, including "disappearances", torture and execution against civilians. Akhmad Kadyrov was killed on 9 May 2004 by a bomb believed planted by Chechen fighters. "This second episode of the show ‘Election for President in the Chechen Republic’ is nothing but a bitter déjà vu. The lessons of the Kadyrov experiment have clearly not been learned", stated Tanya Lokshina, Programs Director of the MHG. "Alkhanov’s de facto appointment as president, in effect dictating to the Chechen people who should be their representative, will not lead to lasting peace and security in the region", she added. The IHF and the MHG call upon the international community to insist that the Russian government adheres to its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. In particular, the organisations note the resolution passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in April 2003, which highlighted the "urgent action […] necessary to counteract the climate of impunity which has developed in the Chechen Republic over the last decade" and more specifically warned that: […] if the efforts to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations are not intensified, and the climate of impunity in the Chechen Republic prevails, [the Assembly should] consider proposing to the international community the setting up of an ad hoc tribunal to try war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Chechen Republic. The IHF and the MHG strongly consider that in the intervening sixteen months since that resolution was passed, no urgent or effective action been undertaken by the Russian authorities to investigate the crimes and prosecute the offenders. Moreover, the IHF and the MHG note the resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in April 2001, which called upon the Russian government to: […] establish, according to recognized international standards, a national broad-based and independent commission of inquiry to investigate promptly alleged violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law committed in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian Federation in order to establish the truth and identify those responsible, with a view to bringing them to justice and preventing impunity. Despite these resolutions and an increase in violence, neither tribunal nor a credible national independent commission of inquiry have been established. The IHF and MHG call upon the Russian government to: · investigate violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and prosecute the perpetrators in fair trials; and · undertake urgent measures to seek a political resolution to the conflict. The IHF and MHG call upon the international community to: · bring pressure to bear on the Russian government to adhere to its obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law; and · to seek the implementation of resolutions adopted, inter alia, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the United Nations Human Rights Commission to address impunity for serious human rights violations. For further information: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, in Moscow: Aaron Rhodes, +43-676-312 23 48 (mobile), Malcolm Hawkes, +7-926 217 0303 (mobile) Moscow Helsinki Group, Tanya Lokshina, +7-916-624 1906 (mobile) __________________________________________ Joachim Frank, Project Coordinator International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Wickenburggasse 14/7 A-1080 Vienna Tel. +43-1-408 88 22 ext. 22 Fax: +43-1-408 88 22 ext. 50 Web: http://www.ihf-hr.org ______________________________________ Aug 30 2004 11:40AM Czech humanitarian mission member detained in Chechnya ROSTOV-ON-DON. Aug 30 (Interfax-South) - A member of a Czech humanitarian mission was detained in Chechnya last week for a suspected role in a terrorist attack against federal forces, a source in the republic's law enforcement agencies told Interfax on Monday. "It has been proved that Alkhan-Kala village resident Yunus Makayev, born in 1978, was a member of a rebel group that blew up a Ural truck carrying special operations police from the Tyumen region interior affairs department in the village of Chernorechye of Grozny's Zavodskoy district on September 12, 2003," the source said. The materials of Makayev's case have been sent to the Chechen prosecutor's office, and the suspect is currently being checked for his possible role in other grave crimes, he said Tuesday, August 31, 2004. Page 1. Official Results Give Alkhanov 74% By Timur Aliev Special to The Moscow Times Misha Japaridze / AP Photo: Surrounded by bodyguards, newly elected Chechen President Alu Alkhanov heading toward the headquarters of the Chechen election committee in Grozny on Monday. GROZNY -- Kremlin-favored candidate Alu Alkhanov won 74 percent of the vote in Chechnya's presidential election, election officials said Monday, amid reports of widespread vote rigging from independent observers. Chechen Interior Minister Alkhanov will replace Kremlin-backed President Akhmad Kadyrov, who was assassinated in a bomb attack in May. Speaking to reporters at a Grozny news conference, the head of the Chechen election committee, Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov, said that a total of 505,000 people took part in the election Sunday, or 85 percent of the republic's registered voters. In second place was FSB Colonel Movsar Khamidov, with 9 percent of the vote, Arsakhanov said. Arsakhanov said that there were no registered violations during the elections, only "oral complaints." In many cases, these complaints turned out to be "unconfirmed accusations," he said. Official election monitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference agreed with Arsakhanov, saying they had not registered any violations. The head of the CIS observers mission, Dmitry Bulakhov, told reporters in Grozny on Monday that the elections "were carried out ... in an organized way and with a high participation of voters." But independent observers and representatives of other candidates than Alkhanov complained that the elections were carried out amid widespread vote rigging and election violations. An observer for Khamidov, Sharil Tsuruyev, said Monday that at the polling station in the village of Zakan-Yurt one of Khamidov's observers was forced to sign the protocol of the election results at gunpoint. Tsuruyev said the observer told him that only 350 people had voted at the polling station, where 2,000 voters were registered, but the final protocol he was forced to sign recorded that about 1,500 people voted. "They put a submachine gun on our observer and told him: "Sign or we'll shoot you." The observer called Khamidov and asked what to do. "He told him to sign," Tsuruyev said. Tsuruyev said that Khamidov's observers were denied access to a polling station in the Nadterechny district. An independent observer from the St. Petersburg Strategy Center, Antuan Arakelyan, said that at polling stations in the villages of Vedeno, Za-Vedeno, Shali and Germenchuk, "everywhere there were no more than two or three voters at any one time." Grigory Shvedov, a representative of the Memorial human rights organization, said the turnout was very low and that the official turnout did not tally with the observers' figures. "Representatives of the election committee counted four or five times as many voters," he said Sunday. Shvedov said that the election was marked by a large military presence, and at many polling stations there were no representatives of the election committee. "There were more [military personnel] than voters," he said. Shvedov blamed the low turnout on clashes between security forces and rebels in Grozny on Aug. 21 that Chechen government officials said left at least 30 people dead. "People were not scared, but they just lost confidence in the Interior Ministry, which cannot provide for anything," Shvedov said. "[The clashes] discredited those in power." Shvedov said that rumors were circulating in Grozny that the rebels would attack the city on Saturday evening. "We all remembered how it was last Saturday," Grozny resident Zarina Askhabova said. "We believed that rumor and we went home. We decided to stay home Sunday as well, just in case." Madina Mezhikova said she did not know why she did not vote. "I didn't even think about it. It was not interesting and I didn't go," she said. Denilbek Khasayev, a local election official in Argun, 15 kilometers east of Grozny, said he and his colleagues at the local election committee were ordered to produce a 68 percent turnout. "Around midday our representative got a call from the city administration asking how the turnout was going. He said 75 percent. The other guy yelled down the telephone, 'It's enough.' In the end, our polling station was given an 84 percent turnout," Khasayev said. No observers from international organizations such as the Council of Europe or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were in Chechnya to monitor the election. In a statement Monday, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights questioned the credibility of the election. "The brutal Chechnya conflict is crying out for a political solution," said Aaron Rhodes, the group's executive director. "Yet manipulating democracy to produce a predetermined outcome is neither fair nor a solution." Chechen Election Lacks Legitimacy, Chechens, Experts Tell RFE/RL (Prague, Czech Republic--August 30, 2004) Sunday's presidential election in Chechnya was ostensibly a landslide victory for Alu Alkhanov, the Kremlin-backed candidate, but Chechens and experts interviewed by RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service say the voting was a sham, lacking any kind of legitimacy. The service, broadcasting in Avar, Chechen and Circassian from RFE/RL's Broadcast Operations in Prague, devoted its one-hour daily original program on August 29 to a Chechen election special, with live reports from polling stations in three Chechen cities and interviews with rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen electoral commission head Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov, Russian law expert Vladimir Suvorov and Council of Europe Rapporteur on Chechnya Andreas Gross. Arsakhanov declared Monday that, having received 74 percent of all votes cast, "Candidate Alu Alkhanov is the absolute and unapproachable leader" of Chechnya. Gross, on the other hand, said on RFE/RL's Sunday broadcast that Alkhanov, "Chechnya's new leader lacks legitimacy." RFE/RL correspondents in the Chechen capital Grozny and cities of Argun and Gudermes in the south-east of Chechnya, reported there were no western election monitors at polling stations and that streets there and in other towns were deserted and abnormally quiet, with most people staying close to home, too fearful to venture out. Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov said, in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL aired last night (August 29), that "Chechnya is at war right now. When a country is at war, no election can be held until the war is over." Widespread doubts about the legitimacy of the election were reinforced by the fact that, according to the Chechen electoral commission, at least 24,000 Russian troops cast votes in the August 29 election. That is the official number Arsakhanov cited on RFE/RL's broadcast--but experts point out that an estimated 80,000 Russian troops are stationed in Chechnya and many more soldiers may have voted. A Russian expert on constitutional law, Vladimir Suvorov of the Moscow-based Independent Legal Experts Council, told RFE/RL that a clause allowing non-residents to vote in a local or national election is a peculiarity of both the Russian Federal Election Law and the Chechen constitution adopted last year. "Any Russian citizen could have voted in Chechnya's presidential election," Suvorov said. RFE/RL correspondents reported that pre-registration of voters was loosely observed, with late-comers being added to the voter lists with no difficulties on election day. The RFE/RL North Caucasus Service broadcast to Chechnya today (August 30) is devoted to analysis of the election results and the reaction of Chechens in Grozny and elsewhere. Four RFE/RL correspondents on the ground in Chechnya are talking to those who voted and those who did not, as well as to experts and commentators outside Russia. Aslan Doukaev, Director of the RFE/RL North Caucasus Service, says from Prague that many analysts see difficult times ahead for the new leader, who will have to assert his authority against entrenched rivals for power. Doukaev notes that Ramzan Kadyrov, son of the assassinated former Chechen president Akhmed Kadyrov, may be a formidable opponent. Although only 27 years old, he controls thousands of troops personally loyal to his family. The new president, Alu Alkhanov, belongs to the same clan and both he and Ramzan are Putin's men. "This will be a family quarrel," says Doukaev. RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service broadcasts 2 hours of programming a day in the Avar, Chechen and Circassian languages to the North Caucasus region, produced in Prague and transmitted to listeners via satellite and shortwave signals provided by local affiliate stations. North Caucasus Service programming is also available via the Internet, at www.rferl.org. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 29/8/2004 Violations registered during presidential election in Chechnya The election of the president started in the Chechen Republic at 8 a.m. Observers registered several gross violations in the first three hours after the voting had begun. Election staff of Movsur Khamidov, who is running for the republican presidency, have told the Caucasian Knot correspondent they registered tampering with voters in the village of Sernovodskaya, Chechnya's Sunzha district. In the Shali district, observers were not allowed to enter the territory of a military unit to control the voting process. "Our observers were not allowed to enter the territory of a military unit in the Shali district without any explanations, servicemen of the unit being voters in the presidential election. The observers were simply told it was an order by a certain Aleksandr Yakovlevich. It happened at 9.15 a.m. local time," members of Movsur Khamidov's election staff said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "Besides, we registered a case when many ballots were thrown in ballot-boxes at once at polling station 97, on the territory of a shoe factory in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. The most crying violation was registered in the Staropromislovsky district of Grozny. There, at polling station 406 on Avtomatchikov Street, ballot-boxes were already filled up at 8.15 a.m., i.e. 15 minutes after the polling station had opened!" the staff members said. Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot Monday, August 30, 2004. Page 1. The Moscow Times Crash Probe Turns to Bombs, 2 Women By Anatoly Medetsky Staff Writer Traces of the powerful explosive hexogen have been found in the debris of the two passenger jets that fell from the sky minutes apart last week, all but confirming fears that they were the targets of an organized terrorist attack, the Federal Security Service said. Investigators also said that two Chechen women bought tickets at the last minute for the flights at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport on Tuesday and that their bodies were the only ones unclaimed by relatives so far -- raising suspicion that they may have been suicide bombers. In its first official acknowledgment of terrorism, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, announced Friday that it had found traces of the explosive in the wreckage of the Sibir Tu-154 that crashed in the Rostov region. "A preliminary analysis showed that it was hexogen," FSB spokesman Sergei Ignatchenko said, Interfax reported. Ignatchenko also said the FSB has identified "a circle of people that may have been involved in the terrorist act on board the Tu-154 plane." His statement came hours after a group called the Islambouli Brigades claimed responsibility for both crashes. On Saturday, the FSB announced that it had found traces of hexogen on the debris of the Volga-Aviaexpress Tu-134, which crashed in the Tula region. The Tu-154 was bound for Sochi, while the Tu-134 was headed for Volgograd. They crashed three minutes apart Tuesday night. The death toll from both crashes rose to 90 on Friday after rescuers found the scattered remains of a 44th person on the Tu-134. The remains are believed to be of Amanta Nagayeva, one of the two Chechen women who took the flights, Kommersant reported. Izvestia gave her first name as Aminat. Chechen police on Friday opened an investigation into Nagayeva and the other Chechen woman, identified only as S. Dzhebirkhanova, whose remains were also scattered. Many of the other bodies at the crash sites were found relatively intact -- suggesting the two women were in close proximity to the bombs, Kommersant and Izvestia reported. Both women bought their tickets shortly before the planes took off, investigators said. Nagayeva's brother disappeared three years ago when unidentified armed men took him away from the family's home in the Chechen village of Kirov-Yurt, said the village's head, Dogman Akhmadova, Izvestia reported. Federal troops are often blamed for such disappearances in Chechnya, and rebels have in the past recruited the female relatives of killed and missing people to act as suicide bombers. Nagayeva was 27 and worked as a market vendor in Grozny, Chechen police told Kommersant. Dzhebirkhanova is only known to be from Chechnya's Shali district, Izvestia reported. Details about the explosions -- which tore off both planes' tails -- emerged over the weekend. Only one body from the Tu-134 was burned, indicating that the explosion may have been triggered in a small space, such as the toilet at the rear of the plane, Kommersant said. Dzhebirkhanova was assigned to seat 19F, the fifth row from the back, Sibir said in a statement. She didn't have carry-on or check-in luggage, Sibir deputy director Mikhail Koshman said. The group that claimed responsibility for the crashes, Islambouli Brigades, said five "holy warriors" were on board each plane but did not describe how they downed the planes. It published a statement Friday on an Arabic-language web site known to be a mouthpiece for Islamic militants, and the authenticity of the claim could not be independently confirmed. The group said the attacks aimed to help the rebels in Chechnya and threatened more attacks. "Our mujahedin, with God's grace, succeeded in directing the first blow, which will be followed by a series of other operations in a wave to extend support and victory to our Muslim brothers in Chechnya and other Muslim areas that suffer from Russian faithlessness," the statement said, according to The Associated Press. The claim did not mention al-Qaida, but a group with a similar name -- the Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaida -- claimed responsibility for an attempt to assassinate Pakistan's prime minister-designate in July. Moscow says al-Qaida supports rebels in Chechnya. The Islambouli Brigades did not say whether rebels carried out the plane attacks, but a rebel spokesman has denied any involvement. The group said the crashes did not go exactly as planned. The attackers "were crowned with success though they faced problems at the beginning," it said, without elaborating. The attackers may have initially wanted to board different planes. Dzhebirkhanova first bought a ticket for a larger Sibir plane, an Il- 86 that seated about 350 passengers and was scheduled to take off for Sochi at 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Koshman said. She then changed the ticket for the Tuesday night flight to Sochi, he said. Vladimir Lutsenko, former head of the KGB's counterterrorism department, said that if the Chechen women were the attackers, they may have changed their plans after becoming scared or facing problems getting the explosives and detonators past airport security. The attackers may have had an accomplice at the airport who bypassed security and handed them explosives and detonators, Izvestia reported, citing an unidentified bomb expert with the police. Another problem could have been a failure to send suicide bombers to more planes, said Peter Sederberg, a professor at the University of South Carolina who specializes in international terrorism. "Maybe they wanted more planes, three or four, and they got two," he said by telephone. The masterminds behind the crashes also may have wanted to send the planes into prominent targets, rather than explode them in midair, but the plan failed for some reason, Sederberg said. "That is an important speculation -- that it was supposed to be something imitating Sept. 11," he said. If the bomb on the Sibir Tu-154 had been connected to a timer and the flight had left Moscow on time, the plane would have blown up at about the time it was over Sochi, where President Vladimir Putin was vacationing at the time. The FSB refused to comment on the claim by the Islambouli Brigades. "We don't comment on such statements, especially when their authenticity hasn't been established," a spokesman said, Interfax reported. Sederberg said the claim may be an attempt to misdirect the authorities, but added that it is not uncommon for previously unknown groups to claim responsibility for terrorist acts. The group is "more likely an offshoot of a more known phenomenon," he said. The Sibir Tu-154 sent two signals to air traffic controllers just minutes before exploding -- an SOS call and a hijack alert, Interfax reported, citing an unidentified aviation official. Earlier reports differed on whether the plane had sent an SOS or hijack signal. Putin has ordered the FSB to study how other countries combat hijackings, "including proposals to use the Israeli system of checking and monitoring air security, which today is recognized as the most effective in the world," FSB spokesman Ignatchenko said Saturday. Transportation Minister Igor Levitin, who is overseeing the investigation into the crashes, visited Domodedovo Airport on Sunday and said the country must develop unified standards for airport security. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the government will set aside 2 billion rubles ($68.5 million) for a new counterterrorism program next year. The program will include efforts to increase security measures in public places, including the Moscow metro, he said Thursday. NATO, meanwhile, condemned the downing of the planes as an apparent terrorist attack Friday, saying NATO and Russia will be "relentless" in responding to the "scourge" of terrorism. Counterterrorism is one of the main areas where NATO is trying to work more closely with Russia under a 2002 cooperation agreement. "Terrorist" bombs brought down Russian planes 30 Aug 2004 13:41:54 GMT Source: Reuters MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Two Russian passenger planes that crashed almost simultaneously last week killing 90 people were blown up in a "terrorist attack" but not by hijackers, investigators said on Monday. The FSB security service, which discovered traces of explosives in the wreckages of both aircraft over the weekend, said the planes were brought down by bombers on board. "Today without a shadow of a doubt we can say that both airplanes were blown up as a result of a terrorist attack," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lieutenant-General Andrei Fetusov as saying. He said further analysis of the explosives would be needed to separate out some of the components. But traces of hexogen, more widely known as RDX, had been found -- an explosive used in other attacks in Russia, blamed on Chechen rebels. Transport Minister Igor Levitin, ordered by President Vladimir Putin to head a commission investigating the crashes, said the crews reported no problems before the twin crashes, suggesting a bomb was triggered without advance warning. "From the information gained from the flight recorders, there is no reason to talk about a hijacking," Levitin told local television. Levitin said an SOS signal sent from one of the planes could have been triggered by the force of the crash, not by the crew. "It was activated but it happened almost at the moment the aircraft was destroyed, in fact a tiny fraction of a second later," he said. "This gives us the conditions to think that it was triggered not by the crew but maybe by a short-circuit when the aircraft was breaking up." Chechen women suspected A Tu-154, en route from the capital Moscow to the Black Sea resort of Sochi, sent the SOS message just before it crashed on Tuesday. Less than four minutes earlier a Tu-134 came down on a flight from the same Moscow airport to Volgograd. All 90 passengers and crew were killed. Some families were still waiting to receive their relatives' remains. Hundreds of relatives attended funerals in Volgograd and Sochi at the weekend. Officials have refrained from blaming Chechens for the crashes, but theories in Moscow suggest that women believed to be Chechen took explosives on board and brought the planes down ahead of Sunday's election of a new president in the turbulent region. Chechen rebels have staged spectacular attacks to press for independence. But moderate separatists have denied any link to the crashes and accuse Russian authorities of spreading lies. Alu Alkhanov, who is backed by the Kremlin and has been marked for death by Chechen rebels, won the election in a landslide and vowed to bring peace to the region.