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Missing Chechens found in Russian Prison The Georgian government to make a political career by selling out the Chechens? By Nino Noniashvili in Georgian Times Two missing Chechens were discovered jailed a few days ago in Esenduki, Russia. Chechen refugees living in Georgia claim the Georgian government has extradited them to Russia secretly. “The Georgian government is intent to make a political career by selling out Chechens,” Chechen refugees say. According to them Meqkhan Mulokyev and Husein Alkhanov who went missing on February 16 are locked up in Esendku jail now. On February 20 the Georgian government unlawfully handed over three more Chechens to Russia. The Chechen refugees declare non-confidence to the Georgian government and are set to leave Georgia and take shelter in the third country. They will send a letter of appeal to the Georgian President Saakashvili in the coming days. Two Chechens were among a group of 13 Chechens arrested by the Georgian border guards late summer 2002 on illegal border-crossing charges. Five of them were extradited to Russia. However, Mulkoev and Alkhanov survived extradition. The GT talked to Meka Khangoshvili, a representative of Chechen community in Georgia. Meka Khangoshvili: As you know two Chechens Beqkhan Mulkoyev and Hussein Alhkanov went missing in Tbilisi under mysterious circumstances. These two Chechens were acquitted by the Georgian Regional Court. Shortly after that Georgian law-enforcers failed to find their trace. So, we appealed international organizations to help. Q: Which organizations did you apply? A: We have turned to International Amnesty headquarter in London and also Geneva Human Rights Committee. We declared search on them and informed all Checehn refuges living in various countries. Two days ago Chechens living in Esenduk informed us that Mulkoyev and Alkhanov were in Esenduk Prison. Q: Do you suspect Tbilisi handed over them to Moscow? A: The Rose Revolution has proved to be too prickly for the Georgia –based Chechens. I don’t want to say what I don’t know for sure. I am not informed either what Putin and Saakashvili agreed on in Moscow. But the facts speak for themselves. In an interview with the Ekho Maskvi newspaper our president said openly that he would not just hand over Chechens to Russia. He promised to allow Russian law-enforcers to capture Chechens on Georgian territory. We don’t know what we can do. We urged international organizations to help and are planning to send a letter to the Georgian President. If our presence in the country serves as an impediment in the Georgian-Russian relations we are ready to leave the Georgian territory and take refuge in other country. Q: The Georgian president vowed to purge the Pankisi Gorge from Wahhabists. What do you think of that? A: The Chechen people support all kind of campaign against terrorism if it does not insult any religion. Terrorists do stand behind the Wahhabism and operate on its behalf. But criminals should not be identified with Wahhabism and the religious and saint books should not be insulted. The Pankisi Gorge should be actually squeezed from terrorists but believe me there might be very few remaining there. The Russians identify the Chechen people with terrorism. We have learned that Russia has drawn a list of people who will be extradited to Moscow. Q: What evidence have you got and who are the people listed? A: The Chechen people have obtained this information. They can confirm that Russia has compiled a list of Chechens who fought in the war across the border in Chechnya. A clear example of that is the arrest of three Chechens at the Georgian-Dagestan border. On January 20 Vizit Kazimagodov, Adam Umkhanov and Akhmed Akbulatov went to the Georgian border guards, gave them arms and asked them to be taken to the OSCE office. But the Georgian border-guards did not even try to help them and directly handed them over to the Russian side. A Russian channel confirmed this information a few hours later saying the Georgian side handed over the Chechen boeviks to Moscow. A couple of days ago a European Court delegation arrived in Georgia. They expressed their concern over what is happening in Georgia and said that Russian and Georgian sides will be imposed money sanctions. Intefax-AVN, web site Moscow, 4 March: Forty-three citizens were kidnapped in Chechnya in 2004, executive director of the Memorial human rights centre Tatyana Kasatkina told Interfax on Thursday [4 March]. "As far as we know, 37 people went missing in January, five in February and one in March," she said, adding that this information is incomplete. The number of abductions could increase in February, Kasatkina said. "Seventeen of the 37 Chechen residents abducted this January were released or ransomed, two were found dead and there is no information on the other 18," she said. Memorial monitors abductions on 25-30 per cent of the territory in Chechnya, she added. "We estimate the total rate of crimes against civilians in the Chechen Republic as approximately three to four times higher than the data we have," Kasatkina said. Human rights activists believe that law-enforcement departments and rebel units are responsible for the abductions in Chechnya. "Both of them are behind the abductions. There are cases of abductions by rebels, but the federal troops or law-enforcement agencies subordinated to Kadyrov (Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrov - Interfax) are behind this in the absolute majority of cases," Memorial head Oleg Orlov said earlier.
Two policemen abducted in Chechnya Grozny, RIA Novostei, 3 March: Two policemen have been abducted in Grozny, a source in Chechnya's Interior Ministry told RIA. "Unidentified persons attacked Mairbek Zukhayrayev and Rustam Talkhigov, police from the regiment for contracting out security services, in central Groznyy on Tuesday [2 March]," the source said. He said that the policemen were forced into a VAZ-21099 car and taken in an unknown direction. An investigation has begun.
Radio Mayak, 04 March 2004 [BBC Monitoring] Russia: Private funding supports aftercare centre for Chechens` former hostages A rehabilitation centre for people who have been held prisoner in Chechnya has been set up in Pyatigorsk. Our correspondent, Valeriy Kuts, has all the details: [Correspondent] A rehabilitation and treatment centre for former hostages of the Chechen rebels has been set up at Pyatigorsk's Lenin Cliffs Rest-Home in Mineralnyye Vody in the Caucasus. This has been reported by staff of a public peacekeeping mission to the North Caucasus that is based in Pyatigorsk itself. I should note that the mission has been operating for about five years and that during that time its efforts have freed around 200 military personnel and civilians from captivity in Chechnya. Treatment is paid for by donations, which the mission has collected from Russian businessmen and international humanitarian foundations
Serviceman kills three troops in Chechnya An emergency has occurred in Chechnya. A serviceman has shot and killed his colleagues in the village of Tuskhoroy in Chechnya's Itum- Kalinskiy District. He entered a tent and opened fire at random with an assault rifle. Three troops died on the spot. All of them were serving in the 291st motor-rifle regiment stationed in the town of Itum-Kala. Pte Yevgeniy Demyanov has been placed under arrest. An investigation is under way.
Chechenpress Secret execution of Chechens in prisons of Russia In January 2004, the funeral of Aslanbek Sultanovich Alkhazurov was held in the stanitsa of Chervlennaya. The Alkhazurovs have buried the eighth member of their family killed by Russians during this war. Seven members of the family were killed on 29 December 1999 - the Russian servicemen opened fire at the bus with the refugees on board while moving along the " humanitarian" corridor towards the stanitsa. (Details see in the book "Russia's Crimes of the Century in Chechnya"). Aslanbek Alkhazurov, born in 1969, was arrested over the so-called "Radouyev's case" and was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment. He was serving his sentence in Penza colony. In 2003, early in October, Aslanbek Alkhazurov, having been severely tortured and kept in an ice-cold punishment cell for several days, was taken to the city hospital of Penza. The diagnosis - "frost-bitten and nephritis". Despite doubled watch over him in the hospital, Aslanbek by some miracle managed to send a message to his family. His relatives arrived in Penza but they were not allowed to see him. In January 2004, the Alkhazurovs received a sad message about the death of Aslanbek. His relatives brought the body home, in Chechnya, and having examined it, they found out multiple signs of torture on it, the hands and legs were broken, the skull was trepanned and there was no brain in it, the abdominal cavity was also without intestines. Aslanbek has become the fourth victim out of four Chechens condemned over the "Radouyev case". Probably, many remember that in 2001 so-called Supreme Court of Dagestan staged a trial as a result of which Salman Raduyev was sentenced to imprisonment for life; Tourpal-Ali Atgeriyev, Hussein Gaysoumov and Aslanbek Alkhazurov were sentenced to 15, 8 and 5 years' imprisonment respectively. People also remember that the accused did not plead guilty, and it has turned out that different terms of imprisonment was mere formality, as, actually, these Chechens, like thousands of others, were sentenced by Russian court to death penalty and awful tortures. In August 2002, Tourpal-Ali Atgeriyev was killed in the colony N2 located in Sverdlov oblast. According to the official version, he died of leukaemia. But his relatives found out that there were many scratches and cuts on the body. Several months later, Salman Radouyev was brutally killed in the "Belyi Lebed" prison of Solikamsk, Perm Oblast. According to the report published in the "Vokrug Novostei" newspaper, he died of "internal haemorrhage" as a result of knife-wound. Doctors of Perm regional prison hospital (UT 389/9) officially fixed the death of Radouyev at 5:30 am on 14 December 2002. According to Sergei Borisov, head physician of the hospital serving the "Belyi Lebed" colony of Solikamsk, where Radouyev was in commitment since July, he never complained about his health. At the same time, according to another information received from the sources in administration of the colony, Salman Radouyev really died on 14 December in his cell, not in the hospital. According to the version of special services of the ChRI, Radouyev died a violent death. The Russian special services, trying to force him to give false evidences against Akhmed Zakayev, brutally tortured him. The Russian special services hoped Radouyev would confirm their invented version about participation of Aslan Maskhadov's special envoy in "perpetration of intrusion in Dagestan in 1999". Salman Radouyev was an educated man and he understood that he was sentenced to death. He died in December 2002. His relatives were refused to bury the body. According to official information, Radouyev was buried on the territory of the colony. Each similar tragic event is one more pain for the Chechens, but we seek consolation in the hope that they will be in paradise. Today thousands of missing Chechens, according to another data, are in different prisons of Russia, and many of them die of torturing and brutal treatment. Information about the Chechens in Russia's prisons is strictly secret, and this gives us one more cause to speak about genocide of the Chechen people. Deaths as a result of tortures, mockery, the failure to get corpses back - all this psychologically influences the relatives of the dead. This is an evidence of total genocide of the Chechen people carried out by Russia at the level of state. The ambitions and whims of several people having power and ill with chauvinism is taken as a starting point of Russia's state policy leading to the annihilation of hundreds of thousands of people. Any crime will be followed by punishment. The atrocities committed on the Chechen land will come back to Russia like a boomerang. But the problem is that it is practically impossible to find in Russia the people able to think logically, in the country where people degrade with every passing day. Alihan Isayev, specially for Chechenpress, 2 March 2004 GROZNY. March 2 (Interfax-South) - Chechen intellectuals are concerned about negative attitudes towards Chechens in Russia. They expressed their views in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin, published in Grozny on Tuesday. The letter was signed by Chechen State University rector Abdula Khamzauyev, Academy of Social Sciences member Ibragim Israilov, professors, poets, artists, heads of writers unions and journalists. The letter urges Putin "to adopt measures to stop biased and negative media coverage of the developments in Chechnya." "A Chechen connection is sought in any crime committed throughout Russia, even though in most cases the crimes were organized and perpetrated by residents of other regions," the letter says. It also asks the president to set a specific timeframe in the government for restoring the Chechen economy. They called the absence of job opportunities the greatest evil in Chechnya.
March 2nd 2004 · Prague Watchdog
Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - The refugee camp Bart, located near theIngushetian town of Karabulak, was totally dismantled on March 1, thedeadline for eliminating of all Chechen refugee camps in Ingushetia asset by the Moscow-backed Chechen government in mid-January. "The last twelve tents were dismantled today," said Akmed Tomov, deputyhead of the Ingushetian Migration Service, and added that 68 lorrieswere allocated to transport the refugees' belongings. According to Tomov, during the past few months approximately 100-110refugees left each day. "Now it's Satsita's and Sputnik's turn," hesaid, referring to the last two remaining tent camps. "For those who want to stay in Ingushetia permanently, we provide themwith accommodation in Nazran. However, the bulk of them head forChechnya and only 15-20 percent remain here," Tomov noted. Migration officials refuse to admit to the allegations that they hadpressured the refugees to leave. "They’re going voluntarily; we receivedno specific plans or deadlines for dismantling the camps. And as soon asall the people leave, the camps will be shut down," said IvanPomeshchenko, head of the Moscow Work Group for the Liquidation of TentCamps in Ingushetia. Nevertheless, human rights defenders insist that some form of pressurehad been applied. "Authorities promised the people money and even beganpaying them compensation for the houses that were destroyed inChechnya," said Ruslan Badalov, chairman of the Chechen NationalSalvation Committee. Zarema Khaskhanova, an ex-Bart resident, does not believe that herfamily will have a better life in Chechnya. "They promised usaccommodation in a temporary accommodation center in Volnaya Street inthe Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. I don't know what awaits us there,but it’s not possible to stay here any longer. Kadyrov is said to havepersuaded international organizations to transfer the distribution ofrelief aid to Chechnya, which means that no food will be distributedhere in Ingushetia," she said. Bart was the very first tent camp to be built in Ingushetia for Chechenrefugees. According to the Ingushetian Migration Service, by late 1999there were nearly 6,000 people living there.
U.S. Reporter's Guide Missing The Moscow Times A New York-based media watchdog group has condemned the abduction of an American journalist's guide to Chechnya by unidentified men from his home in North Ossetia, and accused Russian authorities of harassing the journalist after her trip to Chechnya last month. Rebecca Santana, the Moscow correspondent for Cox Newspapers, was stopped for questioning in the town of Mineralnye Vody, 150 kilometers northwest of Chechnya, on Feb. 12 when returning to Moscow, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Santana's notebooks, two cellphones, camera, undeveloped film and hand-held computer were confiscated but returned in Moscow the next day with the film developed, Santana said. On Feb. 13, Ruslan Soltakhanov, Santana's guide, was abducted from his home in Mozdok by four or five men in civilian clothes. Later that day, the men returned to search Soltakhanov's house and showed Soltakhanov's wife two grenades they said they found there, the CPJ reported. Santana said neither she nor Soltakhanov's family has heard from him since his detention. "I felt that [the disappearance] was connected with the fact that he had been working with me," Santana said. "They already knew that we were together. They had already questioned us together in Mozdok on the 11th." The Russian Embassy in Washington said an investigation into Soltakhanov's disappearance is under way, CPJ said. Number of people falling victims to landmines in Chechnya increases Two women were killed in a landmine explosion in the Achkhoy-Martan district in the morning on March 2. A group of women who were picking damsons in the forest reportedly hit an antitank mine. Two of them died on the scene, four got injuries of different severity. "Names of the killed and suffered women and exact details of the incident have not known yet," said a duty police officer. "Now a lot of Chechens pick damsons, which is a source of temporary income for them. It is the most likely reason why the number of incidents when people fall victims to landmines, especially in foothills and highlands, has increased considerably." Source: Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship
Nord-Ost victims take Putin to court TEXT: Ilya Zhegulev Victims of the October 2002 hostage crisis in the Dubrovka musical theatre in Dubrovka have filed a suit against Vladimir Putin, accusing him of lying in public and inflicting pain and moral sufferings on them. Parents of Nina Milovidova, one of the theatre- goers who died when Russian troops stormed the theatre seized by a group of Chechen terrorists, demand an apology and a compensation for moral damages from the Russian President. Dmitry and Olga Milovidovs filed a suit against Vladimir Putin on Wednesday seeking protection of honour and dignity and compensation of moral damages. Their daughter, Nina Milovidova, born 1988, was one of the theatre- goers who died as Russian security forces stormed the theatr. According to the plaintiffs, their daughter's death was caused by the powerful narcotic gas used by security forces to disable the terrorists, not by her own ailing health or dehydration. In their statement of claim the Milovidovs cite a report published by the Kommersant Vlast weekly in its 6 October 2003 issue, entitled "The Interview for non-Russians", where the magazine reprinted the text of an interview Putin gave to US media on 20 September 2003. Then the Russian leader assured US journalists that the narcotic gas used during the operation to free Dubrovka hostages was `harmless'. And people who died during and after the storming "fell victim to the circumstances, dehydration, chronic illnesses, the fact itself that they had been compelled to stay in that building. It is easy to criticize security services, who stormed the building, and doctors, who rendered medical assistance. But just imagine, the entire building was mined and the explosion could occur at any moment." "Of course, there was not enough experience in dealing with liberated hostages. There were many lethal cases not because of the gas but because the doctors did not know how to cure the people. Yet, antidotes were available and were administered to all who needed them." The plaintiffs assume that those words do not conform to reality and are damaging to honour and dignity of Nord-Ost survivors and relatives of victims. The allegations that "the gas was harmless" are untrue and painful for the plaintiffs, reads the statement of claim. The plaintiffs seek the total of 20 million roubles in moral damages from Vladimir Putin. Besides, they demand that Kommersant-Vlast refute its report, whereby the weekly said the gas was harmless, and to pay 100,000 rubles to the plaintiffs in moral damages. The Milovidovs' complaint is likely to be followed by dozens of similar claims by other theatre siege victims in near future. Gazeta.Ru has learnt that the parents of the deceased girl launched their suit at the initiative of the regional public organization (ROO) Nord-Ost, set up half a year ago by relatives of Nord-Ost victims. "Plaintiffs belong to our organization," Tatiana Karpova, co-founder of ROO Nord-Ost told Gazeta.Ru. "We decided to begin with filing an individual complaint, to which each and every member of our organization subscribes. In the meantime, we are gathering individual complaints from all the others and in the near future they will be forwarded to court." Thus, by the time the proceedings into the Milovidovs' complaint begin, Vladimir Putin may face hundreds of similar claims. (The official death toll in the Nord-Ost hostage drama now stands at 129.) Vladimir Putin's reaction to the suit filed against him so far remains unknown. Another potential defendant in the case, Maxim Kovalsky, editor-in- chief of the Kommersant-Vlast weekly, told Gazeta.Ru he was surprised to learn of the complaint filed against the magazine. "We did not set forth our opinion on the matter but re-printed the president's interview, and, mind you, the interview was originally published on the Washington-Post web-site. Moreover, we did not comment on the president's statement. As regards the gas, we are not the ones to judge whether it was harmful or not. At least, Russian citizens learned what the president's view on the matter is and the president found it necessary to assert that the gas was harmless." Kovalsky is convinced that Putin will not be summoned to court in person. At the same time, he believes that the plaintiffs intentionally accused the magazine so as to attract public attention to the case and to get wider publicity. "But then why do not they sue Washington Post? They were the first to publish Putin's interview. You can still find it on the web." As to the moral sufferings of the relatives of Nord-Ost victims, Maxim Kovalsky said: "Of course, we did not mean to insult anyone, nor to inflict any sufferings whatsoever, but, unfortunately, that's what has happened. Such things are unpredictable." "For, maybe, even Putin's photo inflicts moral, or maybe physical sufferings on someone, but we cannot help it," the journalist said. In comments for Gazeta.Ru Alexander Glushenkov, a lawyer for the Milovidov family, did not rule out that Washington Post may also be involved in the proceedings "as an independent defendant or in some other status." By law on mass media Kommersant-Vlast, just as any other media outlet, "is obliged to prove the credibility of data it publishes,", Glushenkov told Gazeta.Ru. As regards the prospects of the case, Glushenkov believed that "from the point of legislation everything is clear and transparent, yet political aspects cannot be altogether disregarded and will, of course, influence the proceedings to a certain extent". It is worth noting that Igor Trunov, a lawyer for Nord-Ost survivors in their ongoing legal battle against the Moscow government for compensation of moral and material damages, refused to represent the Milovidovs in court. "They invited me, but I said I was not into politics. Even though they promised a generous fee. But I refused. I do not see much prospect in this case. Firstly, there is no prospect of winning the case in court, secondly, there is no sense in it. We are fighting for setting up a procedure for compensating damages to terror victims… And what we have here is someone's political stunt, which is of little interest to me. Clearly, this is being done in the run-up to the [presidential] poll, this is a PR-stunt initiated by certain candidates," Trunov said, but resolutely refused to elaborate. 04 March Gazeta ru 15:21 Moscow, Itar-Tass, 4 March: The Russian section of the US State Department report on human rights in the world in 2003 "is biased and contains totally unsubstantiated statements". The Russian Foreign Ministry's information department has said this in its commentary. "Unfortunately, yet again there is little change in the report submitted by the US State Department, be it in respect of the content or the substance of the issues touched upon," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "The claims that the results of the presidential elections in the Chechen Republic were falsified, may only be called unsubstantiated," the ministry said. "First of all, international observers were present at the elections, and they witnessed that the elections were free and fair. Secondly, we have to recall that at a referendum which was conducted earlier, 95 per cent of the republic's population voted in favour of the political settlement." "At the same time," the ministry stressed, "one cannot but be surprised that in the report the Chechen terrorists are called `rebels', and that it makes claims about filtration camps that do not exist in Chechnya," the ministry said.
Thursday, Mar. 4, 2004 |