| INFORMATION CENTER OF THE
RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY Press Release No. 1205 from March 13, 2005 FSB interrogates Chechen correspondents from IC RCFS Report from the Chechen Republic Achkhoy-Martan district FSB interrogates Chechen correspondents from IC RCFS March 13, 2005. A reporter from the IC RCFS, Petimat Tokaeva, was questioned by the regional FSB of the Achkhoy-Martan district as witness in the case against the newspaper "Pravo'Zashchita". The interrogation, which lasted for about forty minutes, was carried out by Major Konovalov. Tokaeva was asked questions regarding her work for the information center of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and the nature of her relationship with the editor in chief of the center and the publication "Pravo-Zashchitao" Stanislav Dmitrievskiy. Earlier, since March 1, the FSB have called for questioning present and former workers for the information center; namely Khedi Idalova, Minkail Ezhiev, Kilab Ezhiev, Zurani Kuzumova (Grozniy FSB), Vokazu Khalitov (Gudermesskiy FSB), and Zelimkhan Islamov (Shalinskiy FSB). As has been reported earlier, on January 11, 2005, the Nizhni Novgorod province prosecutor opened a criminal case based on the second paragraph, article 280 in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public incitement to carry out acts of extremism) regarding the publication in the paper "Pravo-Zashchita" of two statements by Aslan Maskhadov and Akmed Zakaev appealing for peaceful negotiations in the Russian-Chechen conflict. The investigation is being conducted by the Nizhni Novgorod province FSB. "Pravo-Zashchita" is jointly published by IC RCFS and the Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights. On January 20 the editor in chief of the publication Stanislav Dmitrievskiy was called as a witness in the case, and documents were seized in the joint offices of the two organizations, in particular the employee contracts of people working in Chechnya. In the past days the FSB has interrogated a number of other workers at IC RCFS. Editor in chief Stanislav Dmitrievskiy Editor of this publication Oksana Chelysheva The publication of this issue was made possible by the support of the National Endowment for Democracy within the framework of the program "Russian-Chechen Information Partnership" For the case of the Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship see also: http://www.hrvc.net/htmls/srcf.html Continuing Prosecution of the Chechen Committee for National Salvation (ChCNS) Vienna, 15 March 2005. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) is concerned about the continued legal effort initiated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Ingushetia to bring to a halt the activities of the human rights NGO Chechen Committee for National Salvation (ChCNS), a member of the network of the All-Russia Movement for Human Rights. The organisation is again on the verge of being closed after a new trial was ordered by the Supreme Court, invalidating a prior verdict in favor of the NGO. The ChCNS was created and registered in Ingushetia as a result of the first congress of Chechen refugees in Ingushetia in March 2001, to monitor the human rights situation in Chechnya and Ingushetia and distribute information about the conflict. But in July 2004, the Ingush authorities started efforts to have the organization shut down. The Prosecutor’s office made a submission to the Nazran District Court to have the press-releases of the ChCNS examined, accusing the NGO of distributing information purposefully inciting public hostility toward representatives of the State, attempting to make the population resist the State, and discrediting the Russian armed forces and law-enforcement bodies by accusing them of mass-crimes. In an appeal on 23 September, the IHF expressed its concern at the prosecution of the ChCNS . On 25 October 2004 the Nazran District Court ruled in favor of the ChCNS, rejecting the motion of the prosecutor’s office contending that the press releases of the ChCNS were of extremist character. During the court trial it also became known that the case was brought to the attention of the Prosecutor’s Office by a letter of the head of the Ingush FSB. The Office of the Public Prosecutor of Ingushetia appealed the decision. The hearing before the Supreme Court was scheduled for 3 February 2005. Early in the morning of this day Ruslan Badalov, the Chair of the ChCNS, was informed that his mother had died in Chechnya. He immediately sent a lawyer to the Court with the oral request to postpone the hearing. This was accepted but without an answer about the new date. Then Badalov left for Chechnya, where he stayed for the funeral until 11 February, following the generally known Muslim funeral rites. The panel of the Supreme Court held its hearing on 10 February 2005, one day before Badalov’s return, without having informed Badalov, his lawyer, or the ChCNS about this date of the hearing. The Supreme Court panel cancelled the decision of the Nazran District Court from 25 October 2004, and sent it back to the same court for a new decision The IHF reiterates its conviction that the charges against the ChCNS are politically motivated, with the prosecutor’s office pursuing the NGO for its human rights work and the exercise of its right to freely express opinions on the Chechen conflict and the violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed in this context, both in Chechnya and in Ingushetia. The recent judgment of the Supreme Court based on political charges brought by the Prosecutor’s office further reflects the lack of independence of the judiciary in the Russian Federation. We appeal to the Nazran District Court to reject the Prosecutor’s motion a second time. For further information: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Aaron Rhodes, Eliza Moussaeva, +43-1-4088822 Moscow Helsinki Group, Tanya Lokshina, +7-916 624 1906 (mobile) Chechen Committee for National Salvation, Ruslan Badalov, +7-873-22 22 400 _________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________ INFORMATION CENTER OF THE RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY Press Release No. 1206 from March 14, 2005 An abduction of a resident of Sernovodsk. Two residents of Assinovskaya settlement are detained on suspicion of illegal possession of firearms. Report from the Chechen Republic Sunzha district An abduction of a resident of Sernovodsk On 12 March 2005 at 8.30 am a group of servicemen of an unidentified force agency seized Adan Askhabov (born 1984) from his own house situated on Noga Asuev Street in the settlement of Sernovodskaya of the Chechen Sunzha district and drove him away in an unknown direction. They also stole two cars belonging to the Askhabovs: a "Zhiguli" of the 7th model and an "UAZ" ("tabletka") mini-van. On 12 March Khazik Kalimaevich Elikhanov (born 1983) was seized under similar circumstances. He was released the same day. According to Elikhanov, the abductors didn't beat him. Two residents of Assinovskaya settlement are detained on suspicion of illegal possession of firearms It has been eight days since several residents of Assinovskaya settlement of the Chechen Sunzha district saw their relatives last time. On March 8 2005, representatives of some force agencies detained two residents of Assinovskaya settlement, Arsen (Isa) Maksheripovich Ilaev (born 1982) and his friend Akhmed Adamovich Khamzaev (born 1982), on suspicion of illegal possession of firearms. According to the relatives of the detained people, on 8 March 2005 at about 2 pm these two young people were in the street not far from Isa Ilaev's house that is situated in 50th Anniversary of October Street. All of a sudden an "UAZ" ("tabletka") mini-van with people in camouflage drove up to Ilaev's house. Isa Ilaev came up to the car and inquired what they wanted. One of the gunmen got out of the car and told Isa that they wanted to talk to him. They offered Isa to go to the police office with them. Ilaev agreed and asked them to allow him to enter his house in order to take his passport. His friend Akhmed Khamzaev went into the house together with Isa. Ilaev kept a self-made gun in the house. Fearing a possible search, Ilaev gave the gun to Khamzaev. Having taken the passport, Ilaev went to the police office together with the military. In an hour the same people came to Khamzaev's house situated at 85 Mezhdunarodnaya Street. They accused him of illegal possession of firearms and detained him. As of the present moment, there is no information about the whereabouts of Arsen Ilaev and Akhmed Khamzaev. (From our correspondent) Editor in chief Stanislav Dmitrievskiy Editor of this publication Oksana Chelysheva The publication of this issue was made possible by the support of the National Endowment for Democracy within the framework of the program "Russian-Chechen Information Partnership" ------------------------ INFORMATION CENTER OF THE RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY Press Release No. 1207 from March 14, 2005 A former head of the district administration is detained in the village of Braguny Police operations by address in Serzhen-Yurt Report from the Chechen Republic Gudermes district A former head of the district administration is detained in the village of Braguny On 14 March 2005 federal forces servicemen detained Shatdy Batdyev, the former head of the administration of the village of Braguny of the Chechen Gudermes district. He was detained in his own house situated at 19 Lenin Street. The military blocked up all the area of Lenin Street. Batdyev is married. He has three children. Yesterday on 13 March 2005 two of the former subordinates of Batdyev were also detained, the accountant Khedi and an administration clerk Petimat. Both women live on Gudermesskaya Street. (a freelance correspondent) Shali district Police operations by address in Serzhen-Yurt On 12-13 March 2005 representatives of force agencies carried operations by address in the village of Serzhen-Yurt of the Chechen Shali district. Three local people were arbitrarily detained in them. They smashed up everything in the house of another local resident. On 12 March the military detained Timur Kharonovich Rashidov (born 1976) living on Aslambek Sheripov Street. The same day at about 3 am force agents burst into the house of Sultan Suleymanov that is also situated in Aslambek Sheripov Street. As there was nobody in the house at that time, they smashed up everything in it. On 13 March at 5 am a group of armed people in camouflage burst into the Baysaevs' house situated in Dagestanskaya Street and took away Ramzan Magomedovich Baysaev (born 1973). The same day the military detained Aslambek Zakaraev (born 1975) who lives in Rechnaya Street. (a freelance correspondent) Editor in chief Stanislav Dmitrievskiy Editor of this publication Oksana Chelysheva The publication of this issue was made possible by the support of the National Endowment for Democracy within the framework of the program "Russian-Chechen Information Partnership" The Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Prospekt Gagarina 28, room 27, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, 603007 mailto:friend@sinn.ru http://friendly.narod.ru/ http://www.uic.nnov.ru/hrnnov/ 14.3.2005 15:56 MSK Rights activists demand Maskhadov's body be returned MOSCOW. March 14 (Interfax) - Several Russian human rights activists insisted that the body of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed on March 8, be handed over to his relatives for subsequent burial. However, law enforcement sources say that as an international terrorist, Maskhadov will be buried in an anonymous grave. "Refusing to hand over the body to the relatives of the deceased is a shame. We support Maskhadov's relatives' claim for his body," the human rights activists said in a joint statement circulated on Monday. The statement was signed by Lev Ponomaryov, Yuly Rybakov, Yevgeny Ikhlov from the "For Human Rights" movement, Ernst Cherny from the "Ecology And Human Rights" coalition, and Dmitry Brodsky of the "Feedback Group." Maskhadov house blown up by Russian authorities 2005/3/15 ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, AP Authorities have blown up the house where rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed last week in a special operation, witnesses and officials said Monday. It was unclear whether the explosion Sunday was meant as punishment for the family that allegedly gave him shelter, a safety precaution or an attempt to cover up sensitive evidence. Col.-Gen. Arkady Yedelev, chief of the federal headquarters for the campaign in Chechnya, said the authorities had demolished the house out of fear it could contain booby traps. He said that demolition experts had discovered and detonated a box found in the basement of the house in the Chechen village of Tolstoy-Yurt that contained documents and was ridden with explosives. "The team of investigators decided to blow up the entire house to avoid such surprises in the future," Yedelev said in a statement, according to his office. Russian authorities said last Tuesday that Maskhadov was killed during an operation by Russian forces earlier that day in a basement bunker where he had been hiding, though accounts of how he died have varied. A woman who said she and her family had lived in the house for 27 years denied last week that Maskhadov had been there. She said she suspected his body was brought there Tuesday. Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian columnist and an expert on Chechnya, said that the destruction of the house was apparently intended to destroy any evidence that could cast doubt on official accounts of Maskhadov's killing. "There is nothing left now to question the official version of events," Politkovskaya said in a telephone interview. Meanwhile, Russian rights activists joined Maskhadov's family in calling on the Russian authorities to return his body for burial. "Refusing to hand over the body to the relatives of the deceased is a shame," representatives of three rights groups wrote in a statement cited by the Interfax news agency. They also criticized the security services for killing the rebel instead of capturing him. "Considering the technical equipment special forces have, Maskhadov could have been captured alive and could have stood trial," they said. BBC News, Last Updated: Monday, 14 March, 2005, 18:31 GMT Maskhadov body furore escalates Maskhadov's son says his father chose to "give battle and die" Russian human rights activists have urged Moscow to hand over the body of the late Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov to his relatives. Earlier, Maskhadov's children and widow asked Western leaders to put pressure on Moscow to return the body. Maskhadov was killed last week in Chechnya, when Russian troops located a bunker where he was hiding. The Russian authorities said Maskhadov would be buried in an unmarked grave after forensic examination. Moscow called Maskhadov a "terrorist" and Russian law allows secret burials of people who were engaged in terrorism. However, only a court can officially declare him a "terrorist". "We regard as shameful the refusal to return his remains to the relatives for burial," said Russian human rights activists in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency. Former Soviet dissidents Lev Ponomaryov and Yuly Rybakov were among those who signed it. Meanwhile, witnesses quoted by the Associated Press on Monday said the house where Maskhadov had been hiding had been blown up. The report has not been confirmed independently. Conflicting reports According to Moscow's version of events, Maskhadov was killed by an accidental shot after he and his bodyguards had been cornered in a bunker dug under a house in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, 20km (12 miles) from the Chechen capital, Grozny. Aslan Maskhadov (archive pic) Maskhadov masterminded the Chechen resistance for years But his Azerbaijan-based son, Anzor, said his father had chosen to "give battle" and died after having allowed the men who were with him to surrender. The independent Chechen Society electronic newspaper suggested that Maskhadov was killed not in Tolstoy-Yurt, but in another clash that took place a few days before in Nozhay-Yurt district. The Russian Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper even claimed that Maskhadov had been captured, "questioned and then executed". Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen officials maintain that the authorities were interested in capturing Maskhadov alive, as he was a valuable source of information. The Russian interior ministry says at least seven Russian soldiers were injured in a series of explosions in Grozny on Monday. A spokesman for the troops there said a military barracks came under grenade attack as soldiers waited to receive their orders for the day. The rebels vowed to step up their resistance following the killing of Maskhadov. They chose a little-known cleric, Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev, to replace Maskhadov. Chechens in Jordan launch protest Tuesday 15 March 2005, 12:21 Makka Time, 9:21 GMT Chechens in Jordan want Maskhadov's remains sent home Jordanians of Chechen origin have staged a sit in near the UN offices in Amman, demanding it pressure Russian authorities to hand over the remains of assassinated Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov. The protesters held photos of the slain Chechen leader who was killed by Russian forces earlier this month, and chanted slogans calling for peace in Chechnya, Aljazeera learned. A Chechen community was formed in Jordan after they fled Chechnya in the late 19th century amid ongoing Russian oppression. They have a representative in the Jordanian parliament. The Jordan protest comes after Russia's top human rights activists called on Moscow to return Maskhadov's body to his relatives for burial. Maskhadov, a 53-year-old separatist chief, who at one time had been chosen as Chechnya's president in a widely recognised election, was killed on 8 March in a village north of the capital Grozny. Reward Russia's FSB security service said on Tuesday it had paid a $10-million reward for information that led to the location and killing of Maskhadov. "These citizens were paid the monetary reward in full. If necessary, they will receive help in moving to another Russian region or a Muslim country" FSB security service "After a monetary reward in the sum of $10 million was announced in September 2004 for information about the whereabouts of terrorist leaders, the FSB was approached by citizens who gave the necessary data," a spokesman for the successor service to the Soviet-era KGB said. "This aided in determining the exact location of international terrorist and Chechen band leader Maskhadov, as well as the carrying out of a special operation" which led to his death, he said. "These citizens were paid the monetary reward in full. If necessary, they will receive help in moving to another Russian region or a Muslim country," he said. Home detonated Meanwhile, the authorities in Chechnya blew up the home where Maskhadov was said to have been killed by Russian troops last week. Officials said the house was destroyed since they feared deadly booby traps, but rights activists and government critics said the move added to the mystery behind Maskhadov's suspicious killing. General Arkady Yedelev, chief of the federal headquarters for the campaign in Chechnya, said demolition experts who inspected the bunker discovered and detonated a box that contained documents and was ridden with explosives. Official version "The team of investigators decided to blow up the entire house to avoid such surprises in the future," Yedelev said. Federal troops arrived on Sunday in several trucks and armoured vehicles, ordered residents of neighbouring buildings to clear the area and then blew up the house, witnesses said. A neighbour, who identified herself only by her first name, Zura, said the explosion shattered windows and cracked walls in her house. "It scared me and my children to death," she said. While federal authorities said Maskhadov was hiding in the bunker, Yakha Yusupova - who lived in the house with her family - denied the rebel leader had been there and said she suspected Russian forces might have brought him on Tuesday. Questions Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent Russian columnist and expert on Chechnya, said the house was apparently blown up to destroy any evidence that could cast doubt on official accounts of Maskhadov's killing. "There is nothing left now to question the official version of events," Politkovskaya said in a telephone interview, scoffing at the official explanation. "Can't they defuse booby traps without blowing up the entire house? she said. Alexander Petrov of Human Rights Watch's Moscow office said federal authorities in the past had blown up houses in Chechnya that belonged to separatist fighters who participated in attacks. The practice has drawn strong criticism from international rights groups, he said. "If the authorities blew up the house to punish the house owners, it's a bad move," Petrov said. Aljazeera + Agencies Window on Eurasia: The Anti-Semitic Roots of Anti-Chechen Propaganda Paul Goble Tartu, March 15 - Russian writers are using images and motifs found in Nazi anti-Semitic writings to demonize and dehumanize the Chechens today, according to an American professor who has examined their production. In an article published in the current issue of Moscow's "Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye," Anna Brodsky, who teaches at Washington and Lee University in the United States, argues that anti-Semitic imagery is an important source for Russians who are engaged in anti- Chechen propaganda (http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2005/70/br22- pr.html). According to Brodsky, "the characteristics which the Nazis ascribed to the Jews" are now finding their way into the writings of an increasing number of Russians about the Chechens who are presented as being the incarnation of absolute evil --just as the Nazis treated the Jews more than a half century ago. "Possibly the chief anti-Semitic stereotype used by the authors of such books [about the Chechens] is the myth of the economic domination of an immeasurably rich national minority," she writes. This paranoid vision of the Jews, which was outlined in the notorious forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," is now being used to denounce the Chechens. In a 1997 novel, for example, Lev Puchkov wrote that the Chechens are now attacking Russians because before the war they were used to stealing from them as the North Caucasians built up their illegal wealth. And in a 2001 novel, Dmitriy Cherkasov made a similar point, saying that the Chechens have always had economic power over the Russians. Brodsky notes that Russian writers - novelists, memoirists and journalists - do not limit themselves to the application of this anti-Semitic slander from the past to the Chechens of today. They also portray the Chechens as cruel, pitiless, and obsessiviely interested in non-Chechen women, charges that anti-Semites historically have employed as well. Russian writers like Puchkov, Viktor Dotsenko and Andrei Voronin, Brodsky notes, fill their books and articles with stories about the extreme sexuality of the Chechens and their dissolute behaviour not only among themselves but with others - again themes that often animated Nazi anti-Semitic writings as well. And Russian writers also portray the Chechens as traitorous to the core, as people who are superficially hospitable but who inevitably betray anyone who is foolish enough to accept it. Indeed, at least one Russian writer on this theme explicitly calls the Chechens who do so Judases, yet another frequent anti-Semitic theme. But perhaps the most disturbing parallel between anti-Semitic writings of the past and anti-Chechen writings of the present is the reappearance of the idea of the "blood libel," the notion that Jews and now Chechens practice ritual murder of outsiders as part of their national traditions. This absurd medieval myth tragically had a more recent manifestation, Brodsky points out. Just before World War I, the Russian government infamously indicted Mendel Beilis on charges of ritual murder. Beilis was acquited, but anti-Semites continue to question his innocence - among them the Russian writer Igor Shafarevich as recently as 2002. Now, at least one Russian writer has suggested that the Chechens are guilty of the same thing. In a pair of novels, "Walking into the Night" and "The Chechen Blues" (both published in 2002), Aleksandr Prokhanov suggested that the Chechens ritually murder captured Russian soldiers who refuse to convert to Islam in order to get their blood. Like other scholars (see http://www.polit.ru/country/2002/12/07/479426.html, Brodsky acknowledges that Russian anti-Chechen propaganda has other sources as well - including not unimportantly Stalinist actions like the "dekulakization" of the peasantry and the forced exile of entire peoples including of course the Chechens themselves. In memoirs about the Chechen war, some Russian soldiers, Brodsky points out, talk about "dekulakizing" the rich Chechens, and others who come in contact with the Chechens openly express regret that Stalin did not kill enough of them when he sent them into Central Asian exile at the end of World War II. But as Brodsky makes clear, it is the anti-Semitic sources of the anti-Chechen writings that are the most disturbing for two important reasons. On the one hand, this sourcing calls attention to just how far some Russians and others have already gone to demonize and dehumanize the Chechens, two steps typically taken by those who want to justify the destruction of an entire community or to excuse those who want to take that step. And on the other, this sourcing highlights the ease with which hatred for one group can be displaced onto another and perhaps back again. The imagery that promoted attacks on Jews yesterday is now being used to justify attacks on Chechens. In the future, as Brodsky suggests, it could all too easily be exploited to power attacks on Jews and other groups as well. |