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December 21st 2005 · Prague Watchdog Poisoned schoolchildren in Shelkovsky: negligence or criminal act? By Umalt Chadayev CHECHNYA – Medics and specialists of the Emergencies Ministry are as yet unable to ascertain what lies behind the poisoning of children in several schools in the Shelkovsky district of northeastern Chechnya. As of today, the number of victims stands at 53. Of these, seven are adults: six teachers and one technician. The rest are schoolchildren aged between twelve and seventeen, and almost all are girls. While the first 22 victims were from a school in the Starogladovskaya village, yesterday saw children being brought to hospitals from the villages of Shelkovskaya, Shelkozavodskaya and Kobi. Of these 29 new cases, 8 are said to be in serious condition. The Health Ministry of the Chechen Republic has described the situation as “extremely serious”, since what was originally characterized as “a local occurrence”, has now spread to other villages. “The initial diagnosis of food poisoning has proven to be untrue, but we are nonetheless unable to offer a precise diagnosis”, the ministry's representative said. “We presume the cause of the poisoning to be either a military nerve gas, or psychotropic substance, or radioactive material”. If the children did indeed come into contact with a poisonous substance, it is unclear how this substance came to be in the schools. Nevertheless, all schools in the district are now closed. Blood samples have been taken to Makhachkala, capital of neighboring Dagestan, as Chechnya does not have the required laboratory facilities. A toxicological examination is also taking place in Vladikavkaz, capital of North Ossetia. Only after receiving these results will doctors be able to make an exact diagnosis. A group of specialists, including toxicologists and two chemists, from the Russian Medical Centre arrived in Chechnya on December 20, and are already at work in the Shelkovsky district. Workers from the Emergencies Ministry are also at the schools, trying to find the source of the poisoning. A governmental commission has been created. The district operations staff is working as well, under control of Khussein Nutayev, the district’s head of administration. Local inhabitants are extremely disturbed by the events, with many simply in a state of shock. One woman from the area, 48-year-old Zareta Umakhanova, said no one has been given any information as to the cause of the children’s poisoning. “At first they told us that the children were made ill by poor quality food in the canteen; now they are talking about some psychotropic substances or nerve gas.” She added that there had been “hints that rebels could have done it. But we are first of all worried about the health of our children, and not interested in any conjecture and gossip”. People are convinced the authorities are deliberately hiding the full scale of the epidemic. According to Ms. Umakhanova, a number of the children have been taken to the central district hospital, while another group “were taken to Grozny and placed in various clinics and hospitals. They say there are 52 victims, but in fact (there are) many more”. She added it was “still not understood” why practically all of the victims were female. Representatives from the Nazran-based Council of non-Governmental Organisations (SNO) also believe the authorities are playing down the number of children who are sick. “According to our figures, in one clinic alone, in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny, 35 children were admitted”, a SNO representative said. Another two girls were brought in during the evening. The SNO added the clinic was “not the only place where casualties were being brought”. It is possible that the total number of patients is closer to one hundred. This is not the first instance of mass poisoning of children occurring in the Shelkovsky district. On September 13 this year, 18 schoolchildren from the village of Staroshchedrinskaya were hospitalised with signs of poisoning. Another eight from the very same school were taken to hospital on October 24. Local authorities and the public prosecutor effectively ignored those cases, something which was not possible this time, given the scope of this latest outbreak. Wednesday, 21 December 2005 Russia: As Chechen Illness Spreads, Authorities Remain Baffled By Mystery 'Poisoning' More than 50 people -- most of them schoolchildren, and all but a handful of them girls -- have now been affected by a mysterious ailment in an eastern district of Russia's war-torn republic of Chechnya. For nearly a week, residents have been struck by sudden bouts of tremors, nausea, and shortness of breath. Some doctors have reported incidents of psychotic episodes, with patients experiencing panic attacks or mania. Some regional authorities have said the illness is suggestive of nerve gas poisoning. But toxicologists have reportedly found no evidence to substantiate the claim. Prague, 21 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Azhan Askhabova says her daughter was standing in line at school when she suddenly smelled something strange -- something like benzene or diesel fuel. Overcome with nausea, she vomited and fainted. And one by one, the girls in line with her were doing just the same. It has been nearly a week since the first outbreak of the mystery ailment that by now has affected some 55 people, the vast majority of them schoolgirls. Since then, nearly 20 patients have been brought to the Republican Pediatric Hospital in the Chechen capital, Grozny. Jaradat Dotuyeva brought her son there after he fell ill. She spoke to RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service. "My son came back, and said: 'Mama, today I couldn't stay at school, everyone had headaches and their stomachs hurt.' He also said that he was cold, so I bundled him up in warm clothes. His hands and feet were cold. After some time they all seemed to get better," Dotuyeva said. "For a while it was as if nothing had happened at all. But then everything started all over again. While they were feeling better we took some of them home. But at home everything started again. So we gathered everyone up and brought them here. The vast majority of them are girls. The only boy is my son. But now at home the boys are also complaining about headaches -- my other son, who's still at home, my neighbor's son." The majority of the patients are from the village of Starogladovskaya in the eastern part of the North Caucasus republic. Illness Spreads But the illness is apparently not limited to a single site. Children and adult employees from several schools in different villages have all come down with the same symptoms. Doctors and toxicologists, some brought in from Moscow, have ruled out food poisoning as a possible cause. The grounds of the schools have also reportedly been screened for radioactivity and found to be normal. Huseyn Nutayev, the head of the Shelkovskaya administrative district where the schools are located, has suggested that nerve gas could be responsible for the poisoning. But Sultan Alimkhadzhiyev, Chechnya's deputy health minister and the head doctor at the pediatric hospital in Grozny, told RFE/RL there is no firm evidence the illness is the result of poisoning. "We can't establish with any certainty that it was poisoning. This kind of situation has been described by an American toxicology institution. We found a description of it in an article. It confirmed that similar incidents have been known to take place. In our republic there was a war," Alimkhadzhiyev said. "And children, in a psychological sense, have been traumatized by this war. They are very weak, both physically and psychologically. People -- especially woman and girls -- are affected by the anticipation of new traumas. After all, out of all the sick children, there is only one boy. The girls are between 12 and 15 years old -- more susceptible to pressure. This is mentioned in the American article we read." Blood samples from the patients have been sent to a toxicology center in Makhachkala, the provincial capital of neighboring Daghestan. The first results are expected on 22 December. In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered financial assistance to help the Chechen authorities cope with the sudden outbreak. All the schools in the Shelkovskaya district have been closed until 25 December. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/12/734b5ae9-dda8-479b-9b44-fedbe2b65f39.html Russia Refuses to Extend Registration for Czech Humanitarian Group in Chechnya Created: 21.12.2005 MosNews Russia will not extend registration for Czech humanitarian organization People in Need, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during talks with his counterpart Cyril Svoboda, Czech Radio 1 reported. The Russian side explained the move by saying that soldiers found a rather large quantity of arms and a wanted criminal in the People in Need's Grozny office last year. Lavrov, however, said he did not want to accuse the Czech humanitarian agency. He pointed out that it was possible that the organization chose untrustworthy collaborators for its activity. People in Need will not obtain its new registration until the investigation is completed. The Czech humanitarian organization is not the only organization facing registration problems in Russia as an amendment to the law on NGOs in the Russian Federation is being drafted, which is likely to significantly curtail their activities. 22.12.2005 Chechen public demands to quash war criminals' 'not-guilty' verdicts CHECHNYA, Grozny. (Chechen Committee for National Salvation regional public movement). Hundreds of people, mainly the loved ones of the Chechens killed by Russian military (cases of Ulman, Arakcheyev-Khudyakov and other) gathered for a rally in the centre of Grozny on 19 December, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The protestors' main demand was to prevent acquittals of the Russian military who, in effect, committed war crimes in Chechnya citing acting on orders from their superiors. The rally was attended by press and television journalists, members of human rights organisations, including Optimum, Vybor Molodyozhi (Youth's Choice), Dialog, Chechen Women's Union, Chechen Human Rights Centre formed on 10 December 2005, as well as Khizir Mezhidov, Ombudsman's representative in the Chechen Republic, and Ibraghim Zoubairayev of Chechen President's Office for Constitutional Rights of the Russian Citizens Living in Chechnya. Speakers at the rally included Rouslan Akhmayev of Optimum human rights organisation; Malika Umarova of Chechen Women's Union; Minkail Ezhiyev of Russian-Chechen Friendship Society; Luiza Ayubova of Dialog; Abdula Istamulov of SK-Strategii; Rouslan Maashev of Vybor Molodyozhi; Shirvani Gunayev of Joint Council for Internally Displaced Persons and Forced Migrants in Chechen Republic, and others. All speakers focussed the public's attention on the fact that by returning the verdict of 'not-guilty' in the case of the Chechen civilians' killings, North Caucasus District Court, in effect, encourages perpetrators to commit new crimes and reinforces in public the sense of injustice and distrust in the powers of law. The relatives of the killed civilians from the village of Dai, Shatoi District, travelled to Rostov-on-Don where on 21 December court hearings will resume in connection with Ulman case. On 11 January 2002, near the village of Dai, Shatoi District, innocent civilians were killed as a result of a special operation carried out by members of a special military intelligence unit. On 29 April 2004, the jury returned the verdict of 'not guilty' in the case against Eduard Ulman, Alexander Kalagansky, Vladimir Voevodin and Aleksei Perelevsky, who were accused of exceeding their official authority. On 15 January 2003 three Chechens, who worked on a military construction cite, were killed near Severny airport. The news of the crime was widely reported, and on the same day commanders of the reconnaissance group, senior lieutenant Yevgheny Khudyakov and junior lieutenant Serghei Arakcheyev, were arrested on suspicion of murder. The results of the investigation suggested that after shooting dead the Chechen builders, who drove a KamAz vehicle, the military doused it in petrol and set it on fire. Then they stopped Gaz-3110 vehicle and shot the driver in the leg after robbing passengers' valuables. At the time of the crime the servicemen were drunk. They have been acquitted on two occasions by North Caucasus District Court on the basis of the jury's verdict. Translated by Olga Sharp PRIMA-News Agency [2005-12-20-Chech-36] eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 20/12/2005 Failure of investigation Two years ago, officers of unidentified law enforcement or security agencies detained and abducted Mr Bashir Multsogov, b. 1975, resident in Karabulak, Ingushetia, the brother of Magomed Multsogov, a human rights defender and head of the autonomous non-profit-making organisation Mashr. His whereabouts and further destiny have since remained unknown. Mr Multsogov's relatives have applied practically to all republican and federal courts and agencies. The Prosecutor's Office of Karabulak has opened a criminal case, but it has been suspended without Bashir's whereabouts established or his abductors identified. Bashir was abducted by armed people in masks and camouflage uniforms in the presence of numerous passers-by in the centre of Karabulak on 18 December, 2003. "We have conducted an investigation of our own and managed to learn the following: the abduction was carried out by officers of the Russian Federal Security Service's Department for the Republic of Ingushetia and the Mobile Unit of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry. On the next day after his abduction, Bashir was delivered to the military base in Khankala, Chechen Republic. Nothing has been heard of him since then," Mr Magomed Multsogov said. Author: Malika Suleymanova, CK correspondent 2 Chechen Girls Confirmed Killed, Criminal Proceedings Instigated 22.12.2005 MosNews Moscow regional prosecutor’s office has confirmed that two Chechen girls had been murdered in the region. The bodies of 17-year-old Janeta Arsemikova and 15-year-old Liana Bakayeva were found with bullet wounds near a village in the Podolsk district of Moscow region on December 19. The prosecutors have instigated criminal proceedings on the article of murder of two people, RIA-Novosti news agency reported. Previous reports gave other names and ages of the killed. It was reported that the girls had seen their aunt off on the train when an unidentified person had opened fire at them. The first report came from the administration head of a Chechen village of Starye Atagi where the girls’ relatives live. 22.12.2005 Zara Murtazalieva “to be transferred to new prison” RUSSIA, Moscow. The committee Civil Assistance has received information that Zara Murtazalieva, at present in prison after having been falsely convicted of terrorism, is awaiting transfer from Potma prison colony. Held since April of this year, she is to be moved to a new location. The committee wrote in a press release on 21 December that Zara was due in January 2006 for a three-day visit by relatives. This is allowed every three months for prisoners in such prison colonies. She was last visited by her mother Toit in October this year. She said her daughter receives all letters sent to her, and writes replies. But these never reach their intended readers. Toit has received no letter from her daughter since October. According to Toit, her daughter is under special control – in all probability the prison administration consider her “a potential escapee”. Svetlana Gannushkina, chairwoman of the committee, directed an inquiry to Yuri Kalinin, director of the federal service of the Ministry of Justice, as to why Zara was being moved to another penal colony. She also raised the question of why this move should coincide with the next family visit, thus rendered impossible. Civil Assistance wrote in its release to the press that on 17 January 2005, Moscow court judge Marina Komarova found Zara Murtazalieva guilty of involving her friends in terrorism and preparing terrorist strikes. She was sentenced by the judge to nine years’ imprisonment. On 17 March, the sentence was reduced on appeal by six months, as one of the charges was reformulated. The committee mentioned that human rights activists firmly believe that based on examination with the details surrounding the case, the charges against the young Chechen woman were completely false. The group Common Action has appealed to Amnesty International to have Zara Murtazalieva recognised as a political prisoner. PRIMA News Agency [2005-12-21-Rus-39]