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Relatives of Russian Plane Crash Victims Appeal to Strasbourg Court 28.02.2005 MosNews Relatives of the people killed in an explosion on one of two Russian airplanes on Aug. 24, 2004 have filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, lawyer Olga Mikhailova of the Center of Assistance to International Protection told Ekho Moskvy radio station. The claimants insist that their rights have been violated by the investigators’ failure to effectively carry out the probe into the disaster and punish those responsible for the crashes. A court in Moscow is to hold a preliminary hearing into the case of two alleged accomplices of terrorists who blew up the planes in August 2004. The accused are charged with accepting a bribe and aiding terrorists. Former airport policeman Mikhail Artamonov, an employee of the Sibir airline Nikolai Korenkov, and a resident of Krasnodar Armen Arutunyan were arrested in September. The two civilians allegedly helped two Chechen women board the planes, and the police captain failed to check the women’s identities when the first arrived in Moscow. Earlier this month a group of relatives of the August crash victims sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to intervene in the investigation. It was the second letter they sent to the Russian leader — the previous one was sent a month earlier. In their letter the relatives said the national media were ignoring the investigation of the double plane crash, and voiced concern about the ineffectiveness of the probe. In particular, the investigation had not questioned any civilian officials at Domodedovo airport where the planes took off. The work of the airport security service had not been probed, either. Panelists call for regulation of Russian Internet MOSCOW, February 28 (RIA Novosti) - Participants in a panel discussion held on the RIA premises Monday agreed that Internet regulation was an imperative for Russia. Just like any other area of technological activity, the Internet has to be properly regulated and controlled, argued Oleg Byakhov, head of the Communications Ministry's information development department. Speaking of regulation mechanisms, he said no special laws were needed, but that old regulatory acts should instead be readapted to the new environment. He also pointed out the importance of determining who should be held responsible for the spread of unlawful information via the Internet. In his view, if an online resource posts such information, its administrator should be called to account. Konstantin Machabelin, deputy head of the Interior Ministry's technology department, disagrees. It is Internet providers who shall make sure that no unlawful data comes out, he said. He also called for tougher measures against online Russian media spreading illegal information, claiming that all previous efforts to deal with the problem had not produced much effect. http://www.profile.ru/items/?item=10884 (tr. by M.L.) No 7 (422) 28.02.2005 Zachistka with kidnapping ... of Beslan Arapkhanov, the combine operator from the village of Galashki of the Sunzhen district of Ingushetia,  shot down by mistake. In the front of his wife wife and seven children. At four o'clock in the morning armed people wearing masks broke in into their house, without asking for his surname, they pulled him out from his bed, put the handcuffs on his hands,  threw on the floor, began to beat him up asking: where are the fighters and weapons. The neighbor-imam came to the house, hearing the cries of the wife, he asked them to listen to him, he guaranteed for Beslan, a respectable family man, who besides his own kids, was a guardian of other children of his younger brother-policeman, killed by the fighters at the check-point in the Cossack village of Nesterovskaya in 1999. They threatened the wife, a teacher, with submachine guns: "Be quiet bitch!" They spoke in pure, unaccented Russian. They dragged out Beslan in the handcuffs into the house's courtyard and blew up his head with Stechkin pistol [http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg22-e.htm]. When he wife yelled: "For what?" - they told her the surname of Khuchbarov. "Who is this Khuchbarov?!" - "He is not Khuchbarov? Ough, sorry, we were mistaken". It turned up that certain special services carried out an operation on the detention of the well-known bandit Ruslan Khuchbarov, but they made a blunder with the address. And with life. The criminal case regarding of "mistaken retribution [vozmezdiya]" was sent to the military prosecutor's office, since in the course of preliminary investigation, it was indicated that special-measure allegedly carried out the agents of the UFSB in the republic of Ingushetia. It was even allegedly established a name of one of them, an inhabitant of Irkutsk, but the answer came from there: "He's not registered on our lists". Actually, the names of agents of special services are secret [zalegendirovany]. However, in this case mysteriousness and absence of answers for these suspicions doesn't strengthen this shaken peace in the republic. The chief of UFSB in Ingushetia, Sergey Koryakov, recently ended his two-year period at his post in the republic. However, Major General didn't want to go home to Irkutsk and he went to Moscow to argue about extending of his tenure. Although, for Koryakov there were let's say, inconvenient questions both on the republic's and at the federal level apropos of not completely adequate actions during the tragic events on 22 June of last year - the night raid of fighters on Nazran. A story goes around the republic about the abduction of the senior assistant the attorney of the republic, Rashid Ozdoyev. Rashid's father, the retired federal judge, Boris Ozdoyev, has available an audio-recording of statements of a man, who was Koryakov's subordinate and, judging by this record, he acknowledged his participation  in organizing of this abduction. Ozdoyev says about this recording. "We described a collision with Zhiguli 99 model of the 97-th region... People from this car were thrown into Gazel [van] - the talk about this record dealt with Rashid's car, which Sultygov sufficiently and accurately described. Three acting agents of the UFSB described to Boris Ozdoyev that allegedly they saw the car of his son in Magas, in the garage of UFSB. In the view of Boris Ozdoyev, they abducted Rashid in connection with his activity: his work consisted of the supervision on FSB organs, he was allowed to see some secret materials of the second category; therefore, he "knew a lot about atrocities [bespredel]". Meanwhile, according to the other information, kidnapped together with Ozdoyev, Timur Tsechoyev, appeared to be a financier of fighters, and Rashid simply proved to be an unnecessary witness. Tsechoyev, according to some information from the law-enforcement agencies, on that day carried on himself $500,000, which (if they really existed) have disappeared, the same as the whole "Tsechoyev's gang", i.e. - without leaving a trace. Boris Ozdoyev already for almost a year writes to the Attorney General's Office, to Lubyanka, and he asks only about one thing: "If my son was involved in something, I don't have any claims, only let me know about this". One answer came, alas from Koryakov, with whom Boris Ozdoyev had met many times: "We don't have any information available about the kidnapping of Rashid  Borisovich Ozdoyev". In the recent five months, several claim cases of the inhabitants of Ingushetia, regarding abductions, beatings, unsanctioned searches have been filed. In all those complaints figure the armed people, wearing masks, driving vehicles without licence plates, with tinted windows and special passes. It's forbidden to inspect vehicles with the special-passes by the local police. But since, for example, the FSB is not subordinated neither to the local MVD nor procuratorship, it's impossible even to verify those conducted on the territory of Ingushetia "special-measures", and if those "passage-cross-country vehicles" are genuine or false. The president of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov sometime ago requested to inspect all vehicles with the special passes. He forbade for any vehicles without licence plates to enter the republic. But several weeks ago an armed group, without any identification marks completed its raid on the Cossack village of Voznesenovka, as a result of which not one bandit was found. The local policemen, together with the mobile force of MVD RF blocked these "federals" on their departure from the city of Karabulak, took all their documents, identified them, then gave an escort and sent the "raiders" home. Acording to the Deputy of the Gosduma Mukharbek Aushev, " President Zyazikov doesn't allow for the federals to commit atrocities [bespredel'nichat'] in Ingushetia". The former Deputy Minister of internal affairs RF, now the chairman of the committee of state Duma on security, Vladimir Vasil'yev,  noted in one of his interviews: "It's no secret that in the relations between the President Ingushetia and some federals there's some kind of chill. Because Zyazikov is disposed to be the owner of his land". True, Vasilyev did not mention Koryakov's name." "Nevertheless, the vehicles with these special passes are being driven, says former federal judge Boris Ozdoyev. - According to the law, the head of region has no right to interfere in the matters of the services subordinated to the federal authority. He's in a peculiar situation. From one side, they entrusted him with his region, while from another - they tell him: security -  is not in your sphere. And he doesn't agree with this". Some special passes were showed at the trafffic control [GAI] checkpoint by a brigade, wearing masks and camouflage, which abducted on the eve of the new year Adam Bersanov from the city of Malgobek. Mother an her son were sleeping, when the armed group broke in into their house, after breaking the door. They gripped the son, put a submachine gun to mother's face, with these words: "In the corner bitch! Now we will shoot you!". Mother was pleading: "At least let him dress up, he's got a flu!" They answered to her: "He doesn't need any clothes there". According to the mother, her son almost always was with the family, he worked together with it at the technical station. His only "sin" - he was God-fearing, some time ago he studied in the Islamic institute. Maybe, for this they included him on [list] of the Wahhabis. If he's guilty - she says, let punish him, but tell me - for what. The mother went four times to Kondratyev, the deputy director of UFSB, who answered to her: "We didn't have him, we didn't conduct this operation. Who did? I don't know". At the coordinating meetings of siloviki structures, it was repeatedly mentioned to Koryakov, that on the territory of Ingushetia, no counter-terrorist operation is being conducted, which means, here acts the [criminal code of] UPK RF. But in the law-field there's difficulty, when the matter deals with the extraordinary actions. How difficult is actually to distinguish, who in reality was the killed fighter, and who simply fell under "the hot hand", turned to be "accomplices' casualties". However, these are now no longer Sergey Koryakov's problems. He couldn't extend his trnure, and apparently, he leaves to his native land, to Irkutsk. ========================================================================== "To cover the lawlessness by the idea of combating of terrorism - means to generate terrorism itself" Murat Zyazikov, the President of the republic of Ingushetia: "Profile": In the pressm there some information being dissiminated about disappearance of people in Ingushetia as a result of the so-called special-measures. Unidentified people who drive cars without any licence plated, wearing masks and camouflage take away people and those people disappear. Some human rights activists assert that they are taken away to Chechnya. It is known that you in the past year asked not to allow any unidentified vehicles enter Ingushetiia. Will this help? Murat Zyazikov: I categorically required: Entering of the republic by any vehicle must be written down. License plates and documents must be in the order. If it is necessary to establish the location of a criminal or to detain him - everything must be within the framework of law. During the meeting with the law-enforcement structures I said : that no one abolishes either the constitution or prosecutor supervision. And I don't want to hear about some "special operations", because under this legend any criminals can create everything, anything. Recently our law-enforcement agencies detained some criminals, who in a car without any identification marks wanted to abduct a concrete person. Investigation is being conducted.  I will not allow any lawlessness on the territory of republic. And to cover the lawlessness by the idea of combating of terrorism - means to generate terrorism itself. "P.":  They reproach you for the fact that you didn't participate in the release of the Beslan hostages. Dmitriy Rogozin asserted that in this tragic time you were in Spain. It's been said , your telephone did not work. M.Z.: I was in Spain the first and the last time when I was a student in 1978. About the telephone - it's a lie. I was in the republic: early in the morning, even prior to the beginning of tragedy, dropped in into Nalchik to congratulate my collegue, the President of Kabardino-Balkaria, on the day of the republic and adter that I immediately  returned to Magas. I proposed to the HQ's my services from the first minutes, when the fighters advanced no requirements yet and no surnames were called. The decision was taken by the staff, that no individual person, even if he is - the President of the republic. They said to me: "Until it's not needed, we will be in touch, when we consider it necessary". That's all. Furthermore, the day before there was an information, that a seizure of one of the Ingush schools was planned. And I had to be on the spot. I will mention one more thing: on the night of 22 June in Ingushetia there was also this monstrous act of terror. About 100 people perished. But I reproach  no one on the fact that someone did not arrive,  did not help us to oppose the fighters. We then resisted five hundred bandits almost alone. "P.": You awarded ten medals to operative agents, including for the release of hostages. Whom and when you were freeing? M.Z.: During the Ossetin-Ingush conflict of 1992. I was occupied not only with freeing the hostages, also the representatives of different structures worked on this. In essence, we acted by the method of negotiations. No matter who someone is - there always must be a talk with the man, especially in the Caucasus. During those sad events in Grozny in 1996, I personally took out from Chechnya 29 children, later - 64 more. They are alive. Some of these children were sent then for treatment to Moscow, some - to Tatarstan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also this article (in Russian) http://www.profile.ru/items/?item=10883 Country of univeral flight By Irina Kostyuchenko and Natalia Shiryayeva Mar 1 2005 6:41PM Ustinov to look into Chechnya abductions GROZNY. March 1 (Interfax) - Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov has arrived in Grozny for a conference at which, he said, reports will be made on "the investigation of criminal proceedings in connection with the abduction of so-called civilians." "This is the most important issue today - it is being monitored by the president and prosecutor general," Ustinov told reporters in the Chechen capital on Tuesday. Specific criminal cases will be discussed at the conference, he said. "After we have heard this matter, a specific plan of work in this field will be worked out," he said.