| eng.kavkaz.memo.ru
Caucasian Knot 11/5/2005 Events in Chechnya A Russian contract soldier triggered a powerful homemade explosive device sustaining multiple shrapnel wounds and dying on the spot as a result on the outskirts of Engenoi, Nozhai-Yurt district, on 10 May, Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry told Caucasian Knot. Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent. A so-called sweeping "clean-up" occurred in a temporary accommodation point for IDPs in Okruzhnaia St in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, on 11 May. Russian and local law enforcement and security agencies blocked the premises and carried out a careful document check. They also searched some rooms. An interlocutor told Caucasian Knot several people were detained and brought away without the destination indicated. However, Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry said detainees, if any, were usually released after an examination, unless they were suspected of any crimes. Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent. A group of rebels attacked Russian servicemen in Chechnya's Nozhai-Yurt district on 11 May. Three soldiers were killed and six wounded as a result. Two rebels were killed in the skirmish, too. The rest escaped towards the Vedeno Gorge. There had been another combat in the morning on 11 May in this gorge which had led to one Russian solder dying and three wounded. No casualties among rebels are reported, Radio Liberty says. One Russian contract soldier triggered a bomb near Bamut, Achkhoi-Martan district sustaining several shrapnel wounds on 11 May. Another Russian contract soldier was wounded after triggering a bomb near Dattykh, Nozhai-Yurt district, on 11 May. Both were admitted to hospital, Chechnya's military commandant's office told Caucasian Knot. Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent. PRESS-RELEASE #1270 FROM MAY 6, 2005 Report from THE CHECHEN REPUBLIK Grozny. Eight people injured in a car accident in the center of Grozny On 4 May 2005 at 8.50 am in the city of Grozny two cars, VAZ-21099 driven by R. Jabrailov (born 1982) and GAS-3110 driven by Arthur Dergizov (born 1978), collided at the junction of Zhukovsky and Turgenev Streets. As a result, both cars were seriously damaged. Both drivers and their six passengers were taken to the city hospital #9 as they were badly injured. (From our correspondent) Abduction in Grozny On 4 may 2005 at 8.30 am in Leninsky (Avtorkhanovsky) district of Grozny unidentified gunmen in camouflage abducted a police serviceman Siradji Akhmedovich Dudurkaev. The abduction was perpetrated in Kirov Street. According to some eye-witnesses, the perpetrators were riding in two VAZ-21099 cars. They stopped a “Nissan Patrol” car (the state license number is ? 438 ?? 54) that was driven by Siradji Dudurkaev not far from the “Lilia” caf? that is situated in Kirov Street. Threatening the man with machine guns, the perpetrators made him get out of his car. Having pushed him into one of their cars, the abductors drove him away in an unknown direction. (From our correspondent) PRESS-RELEASE #1271 FROM MAY 6, 2005 Report from THE CHECHEN REPUBLIK Shelkovskoy district. A female resident of Shelkovskaya reports threats made by a police serviceman On 4 May 2005 a resident of the Chechen settlement of Shelkovskaya Nakhmat Viskhadjievna Israilova (born 1961), living at 11 Pochtovaya Street, turned to the local police office with a written complaint against a serviceman of the same ROVD Vladimir Vladimirovich Portyagin (born 1966). According to the woman, the policeman refuses to give back 22 thousand rubles that he had borrowed from her a few months ago. Besides, the policeman is threatening the woman with violence. (From our correspondent) Grozny. One of the suspects of two people's murder is datained On 2 May 2005 corpses of A.Mediev (born 1972) and A.Turluev (born 1961) were discovered in the village of Mayakovsky situated within the precincts of the city of Grozny. Both corpses bore sings of violent death. The police of Staropromyslovsky district ROVD of Grozny launched investigation into the murder. They established two suspects of committing the murder of those two people and detained one of them. It is a resident of the town of Malgobek (the Republic of Ingushetia), born in 1971. The police refuse to reveal his name in the interests of the investigation. (From our correspondent) A grenade cup discharger is made safe in the settlement of Mayakovsky On 2 May 2005 the service personnel of Staropromyslovsky district ROVD of Grozny discovered RPG-22 grenade cup discharger in an abandoned garage while conducting investigative actions. As the grenade cup discharger was cocked and it was extremely dangerous for people, the police took a decision to blast it at the place of disclosure. At present, investigation is going. (From our correspondent) PRESS-RELEASE #1272 FROM MAY 6, 2005 Report from THE CHECHEN REPUBLIK Shelkovskoy district. Swindlers are detained in Shelkovskoy district 4 May 2005. The law-enforcement bodies have revealed several cases of swindling in the Chechen Shelkovskoy district. For instance, in the settlement of Shelkovskaya they conducted inspection of the district branch of the Employment Center and revealed that a local female resident Usmanova Makka Magomedovna (born 1987) living in Molodyozhnaya Street in a non-numerated house got unlawfully registered at the Employment Center by presenting false documents. She went on the dole from January to May 2004 and from December to February 2005. All in all, she received 5567-ruble-dole. A fact of unlawful receiving of the compensation for destroyed dwellings was revealed in the village of Kobi of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district. On 24 December 2001, a local resident Aksarbek Sergeevich Rubaev (born 1954) living at 54 Shosseynaya Street received 130 thousand rubles as the compensation for his house and then in 2002 he sold it to his neighbor Imkhadjieva Zaynabi Gamzatkhanovna (born 1950) living at 53 Shosseynaya Street. (From our correspondent) PRESS-RELEASE #1273 FROM MAY 6, 2005 Report from THE CHECHEN REPUBLIK Gudermes district. A resident of Dagestan is detained in Gudermes On 5 May 2005 the service personnel of Gudermes district police office detained Abdurakhman Shapiev (born 1975), a resident of the town of Buynaksk of the Republic of Dagestan, during investigative actions. Later it was established that Shapiev arrived at Gudermes with the aim to join the Chechen armed resistance movement. (From our correspondent) Kurchaloy and Achkhoy-Martan districts. Three people are detained on suspicion of being involved into the Chechen guerrilla movement. On 5 May 2005 the service personnel of Kurchaloy district police office detained two people, Askhab Gambulatov (born 1982) and Usman Gambulatov (born 1975), on suspicion of being involved into actions of the Chechen armed resistance movement. According to the police, both of them participated in the in the armed operation on guerrillas' side since April 2004. The same day representatives of Achkhoy-Martan district police office detained Beslan Baytaev (born 1975) at the outskirts of the village of Samashki of the Chechen Achkhoy-Martan district. He was also detained on the suspicion of being linked with the guerrilla fighters. According to the police, at the moment of detention the man had a false passport on him issued to another name. Five self-made grenades were found on him. As of the present moment, the police are conducting actions in order to establish involvement of the detained person into committing crimes in the territory of the republic. (From our correspondent) Grozny. A grenade cup discharger is made safe in Grozny On 5 May 2005 the service personnel of Leninsky district ROVD (police office) of Grozny discovered a grenade cup dischargers not far from the checkpoint 12 located in Krasnykh Frontovikov Street. As it was dangerous to transport it, the decision was taken to blast it. At present, the police are trying to establish the owner of the grenade cup discharger. (From our correspondent) PRESS-RELEASE #1274 FROM MAY 6, 2005 Report from THE CHECHEN REPUBLIK Shatoy district. Abduction of two militiamen on the highway On 5 May 2005 at about 12 am two servicemen of Shatoy district police office were abducted on the highway Shatoy-Grozny by reportedly representatives of some unidentified force agency who were riding in several cars. As of the present time, the Information Center at the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society has managed to establish the name of one of the abducted militiamen. This is Visit Sapadaev. The name of the second militiaman is Zelimkhan. Both of them are nearly thirty. The information is being clarified now. (From our correspondent) One more abduction in Shatoy district On 5 May 2005 at about 3 pm unidentified armed people abducted a daughter-in-law of the former head of the Shatoy district administration from her house situated in the village of Syuzhi of the Chechen Shatoy district. It is known that the abducted woman is about forty. The information is being clarified. (From our correspondent) PRESS-RELEASE #1275 FROM MAY 6, 2005 REPORT FROM VOLGOGRAD Passengers from Grozny are subjected to fingerprinting in Volgograd 6 May 2005. All the Chechens arriving at the railway station of the city of Volgograd are subjected to thorough passport checking and their fingerprints are taken by service personnel of the railway station police office. A correspondent of the Information Center Abbaz Osmaev reported how fixed attention to all the passengers from Grozny in Volgograd was. On 2 May 2005 Abbaz Osmaev arrived in Volgograd to participate in a general meeting of the South Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to him, after the train from Grozny had arrived at the railway station, he and all the other ethnic Chechens from the train were detained by the police and taken to the police station. After their passports were checked, the police started questioning and fingerprinting the people. According to the Chechen passengers from the train, all the Chechens coming to Volgograd are subjected to this humiliating procedure. (From our correspondent) REPORT FROM THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC Grozny rural district. A murder of Gasgorodok On 22 April 2005 unidentified people murdered Rustam Jautkhanov in the village of Gasgorodok of the Chechen Grozny rural district. The day before his elder brother who worked for the law-enforcement agencies had been detained. (From our correspondent) eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 12/5/2005 Chechnya overridden A Russian combat infantry vehicle from an Itum-Kali military commandant's office column going towards Grozny on 11 May suddenly moved into the opposite lane and ran into a Volga GAZ 3110 car in which four civilians were going. The accident occurred on the Grozny-Shatoi motorway near Starye Atagi, Grozny district, leading to a 14-year-old girl dying, while her mother Raisa Magomayeva, a local resident, her 9-year-old son, and the driver, Magomed Khachukayev, sustained serious injuries and are currently in a grave condition (the driver in intensive care) in a Grozny hospital. The blame for the accident is on the Russian military men, an officer at Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry told Caucasian Knot. Eyewitnesses say the combat infantry vehicle tried to go away from the scene, but was stopped by Chechen police officers and residents of Starye Atagi who blocked the motorway. Internal affairs officers went to the scene and the republican military prosecutor's office was notified of the accident at the same time. In spite that the accident occurred in the first half of the day, officials from the military prosecutor's office arrived at the scene only at about 5 pm, the source said. He added the military men refused to admit their guilt in spite of obvious facts such as a trace of the vehicle's caterpillar track on the opposite lane and eyewitness accounts. In his opinion, the military prosecutor's office are also trying to do all they can to fence the federal servicemen who are guilty of the teenage girl's death and serious damage to the health of three local residents. A source at Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry told Caucasian Knot about two abductions over the past 48 hours in Chechnya. A group of armed persons in camouflage uniforms driving a car without a registration number plate abducted a resident of Grozny's Leninskii district from his own flat on the night of 10 May. Several people armed with automatic weapons and wearing military uniforms stopped a car near Serzhen-Yurt, Shali district, forced the driver out of the car and in one of their cars and brought him away, the source said. A group of unidentified attackers fired at Chechen police officers and wounded one of them near the 60 years of October community in Chechnya's Grozny district, an officer at the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs told Caucasian Knot. Three federal servicemen were killed and six wounded in a rebel attack in the Nozhai-Yurt district on 11 May, Chechnya's military commandant's office told Caucasian Knot. The federal troops destroyed two rebels. Friday, 13 May 2005 Russia: European Parliament Denounces Rights Abuses In Russia's Marii-El Republic By Ahto Lobjakas The European Parliament on Thursday approved a nonbinding resolution that sharply criticizes Russia for tolerating ongoing abuses of human and minority rights in its autonomous republic of Marii-El. This is the first time the parliament has addressed the growing plight of Russia's indigenous Fenno-Ugric peoples, who number some 3 million people. Although the European Parliament has no direct say in shaping EU foreign policy, yesterday's declaration could move the issue higher on the bloc's agenda when it deals with Russia. Strasbourg, 13 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The European Parliament resolution reflects a growing suspicion within the EU that the widely condemned abuses in Chechnya only represent the tip of the iceberg. While the offences documented in the resolution are nowhere near as serious as those reported from Chechnya, they raise concerns about the daily plight of Russia's many minorities. They also lead to questions about the Russia's commitment to the shared values it affirmed with the EU at their summit in Moscow on 10 May. The resolution was supported by all major political factions in the European Parliament. It begins by recounting the international commitments Russia has undertaken to protect its minorities. It then lists abuses ranging from the harassment and killing of journalists and opposition figures to what appears to be a policy against the indigenous Marii language. Gyula Hegyi, a Hungarian deputy, was one of the authors of the resolution. He told his fellow EU lawmakers on 12 May that the very existence of the Marii nation is at stake. "We have to condemn these kinds of antidemocratic atrocities every time, but in the case of a small nation, attacks against the basic national institutions like schools and the media threaten the very existence of the nation," Hegyi said. "That's why we condemn the violence against the Marii minority in Russia." Russia was sharply criticized by all of the roughly dozen European deputies who spoke during the debate. The discussion was dominated by representatives of the three Fenno-Ugric nations that are member states of the EU -- Finland, Hungary, and Estonia. Some speakers appeared more willing than others to give Russian authorities the benefit of the doubt and regard the events as a local aberration. Among them was Esko Seppanen, a Finn and a co-author of the resolution. "The events in Marii-El, which clearly involve violence and violations of human rights, must be subjected to a local criminal investigation," Seppanen said. "This would lend credibility to the rule of law in Russia." However, most deputies said that Russia's minorities face a broader problem in the form of state-sponsored attempts to supplant their languages with Russian. Many noted that much of the opposition to the republic's Moscow-born president, Leonid Markelov, comes from the republic's ethnic Marii population. After Markelov returned to office under questionable circumstances last fall, he ordered the sacking of scores of Marii-speaking officials and schoolteachers in regions that voted against him. A number of deputies suggested that Moscow's toleration of the situation in Marii-El is part of a wider drive to Russify Russia's minorities. Tunne Kelam, an Estonian member of the European Parliament, underscored the dim future the Marii language faces in the republic. "For example, education in [the] Mari language is provided only in some elementary schools [and not at all at higher levels], so that about 20 percent of the children can enjoy lessons in their mother tongue," Kelam said. "The publication of textbooks in Marii is practically nonexistent. So, the linguistic identity of the Marii is slowly fading away." Kelam also noted that all of the 19 Fenno-Ugric peoples in Russia are minorities even in the regions that nominally afford them autonomy. A number of deputies quoted Lenin's dictum according to which Czarist Russia had been a "prison of nations," drawing parallels with current conditions. The European Parliament has no immediate powers to influence EU foreign policy, but its positions are an important factor in shaping the wider political debate in the EU. Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the European Commission is aware of the "circumstances and situation” of the Marii people. He said the EU expects to use regular EU-Russia human-rights dialogue begun late last year to air its concerns about the way basic rights are safeguarded in Russia. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/5/DA49DCF8-4EB0-4C1D-894F-993CFF7D9708.html May 14th 2005 · Prague Watchdog Katayama residents hold protest rally against "oil regiment" in Grozny By Timur Aliyev GROZNY, Chechnya - Residents of the Katayama suburb of Grozny, along with members of Chechen human rights organizations, held a rally in Grozny on May 9-11 in front of the premises of the so-called "oil regiment", a unit protecting oil pipelines. The group protested the May 5 kidnapping of two Chersiyev brothers by members of this unit who openly said the brothers were taken hostage because one of their relatives is a guerrilla fighter. The protesters were also told that the men would be released after the fighter surrenders to the authorities. According to Nataliya Estemirova of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, this incident confirms that the Russian prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov’s recommendation to legalize hostage-taking by state agencies as part of the fight against terrorism was effectively put into practice. Further proof of that, she added, was the May 6 abduction of the parents of Chechen field commander Dokka Umarov. Last year Ustinov recommended that counter-abduction of terrorists' relatives be carried out as a means of fighting terrorism and should be made into law. He made the controversial proposal to the Russian State Duma in late October, nearly two months after the Beslan tragedy, but Russian deputies rejected it. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 13/5/2005 Costs of war Two Russian military men died and three local residents who happened to be nearby sustained wounds in a car blast in Grozny's Leninskii district, Radio Liberty says. Unknown attackers fired at federal servicemen in Grozny's Oktiabrskii district and wounded one of them, a source at republican law enforcement agencies told RIA Novosti. A major special operation near Ishkhoi-Yurt, Gudermes district, resulted in at least six rebels killed, a source at republican law enforcement agencies told RIA Novosti. The dead rebels are supposed to be members of the groups of Rappani Khalilov and Ahmed Avdorkhanov. Two Chechen police officers were killed and two wounded in the operation, too. Mairbek Khanukayev, the driver of the Volga car into which a Russian combat infantry vehicle (CIV) had run yesterday, died in the hospital to which he had been admitted because of the multiple injuries he had sustained. An officer at Chechnya's military commandant's office says a criminal case has been opened against the CIV driver Sergei Malei, a first sergeant at the Itum-Kali district commandant's office. He is charged under Article 305 of the Russian Criminal Code, "Violation of the rules of the road." If his guilt is proved, he is threatened with two to five years in prison, the officer says.Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent. Unknown attackers fired at a car with two law enforcement agents in Argun, a source at Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry told Caucasian Knot. One police officer was wounded, while the attackers managed to run away.Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent. One police officer was killed and three were wounded while detaining rebels in Grozny's Oktiabrskii district on 12 May. The two rebels who put up armed resistance were killed, Chechnya's Internal Affairs Ministry said. The rebels are reported to have been members of a Grozny terrorist group subordinate to the rebel leader Shami Basayev. Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent. |