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Beslan team accuses top officials BBC Friday, 28 January, 2005, 10:07 GMT High-ranking military officials aided gunmen who seized a school in Beslan, according to the Russian parliamentary commission investigating the siege. Two officers have been arrested, the commission's chairman, Alexander Torshin, told Russian news agencies. "Now I think a couple of others will join them... and their rank is higher than major," he was quoted as saying. Pro-Chechen gunmen seized the school last September and at least 330 people died when the siege ended in carnage. Mr Torshin was quoted as saying that the suspects identified were still in their posts. He did not give further details. A commission member, Vladimir Kulakov, said officials could have helped the gunmen indirectly, by failing to carry out their duties. Earlier this month, relatives of people killed in the school siege blocked the main road outside Beslan, angry that those they held accountable had not resigned. They were demanding resignations in the North Ossetian government, particularly that of President Alexander Dzasokhov. The demonstrators said corrupt and inefficient local officials had allowed the gunmen to pass through police checkpoints and seize the Beslan's school along with 1,000 hostages at the start of term. The siege ended in a bloodbath when a fierce gun battle erupted between the hostage-takers and surrounding Russian security forces. In October, Russia charged three police officials with criminal negligence over the school siege. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4214853.stm RFE/RL Friday, 28 January 2005 Russian Military Denies Beslan Probe Findings 28 January 2005 -- The Russian Defense Ministry today denied allegations that the negligence of several senior army officers helped Chechen militants seize a school in Beslan last September. The charges were made yesterday by Aleksander Torshin, the deputy speaker of the upper chamber of Russia's parliament and the head of a parliamentary commission investigating the tragedy. Torshin said two "accomplices" of the hostage takers have been detained and that "others" would follow soon. Torshin said any official who showed "negligence" should be charged with helping the militants. A Defense Ministry spokesperson told Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency that Torshin's accusations "do not correspond to reality." Nearly 350 people, half of them children, died during the hostage crisis in North Ossetia that ended with a fierce gunfight. Radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev claimed responsibility for the school seizure. (ITAR-TASS/AFP) Thursday Jan. 27, 2005 FSB Investigates Paper for Rebel Statements By Carl Schreck Staff Writer The Federal Security Service's Nizhny Novgorod branch is investigating a local newspaper after it published statements by Chechen rebel President Aslan Maskhadov and his envoy Akhmed Zakayev and has questioned its staff. The regional prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on Jan. 11 over Pravo-Zashchita's publications in March and April, local FSB spokesman Nikolai Sintsov said Wednesday. He said prosecutors believe that the publications -- which included an appeal by Maskhadov to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and a statement by Zakayev saying he was "extending his hand in peace to the Russian people through their president" -- amounted to a call for extremist action. Sintsov said the investigation has been handed to the regional FSB, and no one has been charged, although several of Pravo-Zashchita's staff have been questioned. The newspaper's editor, Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, said that FSB investigators questioned him Thursday about the newspaper's source of financing, how Maskhadov's and Zakayev's statements were obtained, and who approved their publication. "They repeatedly told me that charges will be pressed only against the person who authorized publication, and I told them I was the only person with that authority," Dmitriyevsky said by telephone. He said Pravo-Zashchita is financed by the U.S. government-funded National Endowment for Democracy. The newspaper is run by the Russian- Chechen Friendship Society, a nongovernmental organization. Dmitriyevsky said he believes the FSB is cracking down on the newspaper's coverage of the conflict in Chechnya, where it has several reporters under contract. "What I worry about most are our reporters in Chechnya," he said. "The FSB has an official reason now to question them, and ... being questioned in Chechnya is a lot different than being questioned in Nizhny Novgorod. Even if they aren't physically beaten, they could be pressured into ending their journalistic activities." Pravo-Zashchita is a monthly publication with a circulation of 5,000 and is distributed for free in the region. Dmitriyevsky said the newspaper's primary purpose is to promote peace between Russians and Chechens. Meanwhile, Pavel Lyuzakov, a journalist for the Chechen rebel web site Kavkaz Center, was detained last Thursday by police near the VDNKh metro station in northern Moscow after he was found carrying a loaded pistol, Gazeta reported Wednesday. He was held for 48 hours before he was placed under arrest. He claims the pistol was planted, Gazeta said. 28.1.2005 Special Militia Force officer on trial for torturing Chechens CHECHNYA, Grozny. (RCFS Information Centre). 26 January a trial continued in Oktyabrskiy District Court of Grozny over Serghei Lapin, senior lieutenant of Khanty-Mansiisk Special Militia Force. He is accused of abduction and torture of 25-year-old Chechen Zelimkhan Mourdalov. During the previous hearing witness for the Prosecution, 52-year-old Khamid Khadaev, was questioned. According to Khadaev, in late 2001 he and Mourdalov were arrested by officers of Khanty-Mansiisk Special Militia Force. He spent two and a half months in Oktyabrskiy holding cell block in Grozny. Khadaev was charged with "kidnapping a person" but was never questioned to that effect. He was later released, and his case was closed. Khadaev told the court that Zelimkhan Mourdalov, who shared his cell, was tortured. 2 January 2002, through the bars of his cell Khadaev saw Serghei Lapin holding Mourdalov as he led him back to the cell as the man was unable to walk unaided. Mourdalov’s arm was broken and the bone was showing from the open wound. Khadaev heard the doctor say that Mourdalov’s skull was fractured and his testicles crushed. In the morning a doctor was invited to attend to Mourdalov, who was unconscious, to give him some injections. After the doctor had left, Serghei Lapin and the chief of the holding cell block Alexander Prilepin took Mourdalov away and he was never seen alive again. According to Khadaev, following Mourdalov’s "disappearance", Alexander Prilepin became very considerate to the prisoners bringing cigarettes, mineral water, syringes and drugs to those who wanted them. Until Mourdalov’s death he, like the other prison guards, often beat up and tortured prisoners, including by means of electric shock, as he asked random questions unrelated to their cases. He could, for instance, ask: "Who sunk the Titanic?". Court hearings in connection with the case of Serghei Lapin have on many occasions been adjourned due to his or his lawyer’s failure to turn up; however, on 24 January the trial resumed. Translated by Olga Sharp PRIMA-News Agency [2005-01-26-Chech-22] January 28th 2005 · Prague Watchdog Four Chechen policemen kidnapped Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus, January 26 – Within the past 24 hours, four policemen were kidnapped in Chechnya. Two policemen disappeared in the Nizhniye Varandy village in the Groznensky district; a Chechen presidential guard was kidnapped by unidentified assailants in Argun; and another policeman disappeared in the Shelkovsky district. The Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic tends to believe that these abductions were done by Chechen guerrillas in retaliation for operations conducted against them. Furthermore, an attack on a car in Chernorechye, near Grozny, killed two Russian soldiers and wounded a third. And yesterday another attack took place in Grozny when a car was ambushed in the district of Oktyabrsky, killing two Russian soldiers and injuring three others. During the past two days, four Russian soldiers were killed and at least ten injured. BBC Monitoring Russia: Poetry web site bans verses on Chechnya and other topics Source: Ren TV, Moscow, in Russian 2115 gmt 26 Jan 05 [Presenter] Today the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications called for creating so-called content filters which will limit access to certain internet resources for Russians. The statement to this effect was made by deputy head of Rospechat [Russia's press distribution agency] Andrey Romanchenko. He said that such filtering programme is not a complicated one. However, the agency does not have enough money to create and implement it. He went on to say: "It would be desirable for other executive bodies as well as for our legal experts and media to join in the theme". The first to join in the theme was the administration of a poetry web site. Today the management of the Russian national poetry server issued an instruction for its authors urging them to observe political censorship requirements. If such requirements were to be observed, the server would have never published poems by [Russian 19th century poet Mikhail] Lermontov about the Caucasus or by [Russian poet Aleksandr] Pushkin about [Russian 19th century general Aleksey] Arakcheyev, because now both Chechnya and officials are taboo. [Correspondent] Moscow poet Yuriy Metelkin often has his verses published on-line, but when he visited one of his favourite web sites today, he lost all desire to write poetry. At first, he could not believe his eyes, but after he had read the site's administration's message several times he understood that his worst fears have been justified. The server has placed a list of topics banned for publication. [Yuriy Metelkin, captioned as poet] Of course this is censorship one hundred per cent. I have never seen such an open statement before. [Correspondent] The instruction published on the web site Stikhi.ru [Russ: verses] says that from now on the authors are forbidden to write about the war in Chechnya or about protests against cash-for-benefits law and to write negatively about the president [Vladimir Putin], the ministers, members of the One Russia party and the Marching Together movement. In the past Yuriy played in a musical group. In those days musicians were subject to severe censorship. It looks like the old times are back, he says. [Metelkin] Those who have settled in cosy places close to the powers that be prefer when others who are beneath them do not make any noises. That is why somebody is arranging this. [Vladislav Sergeyev, captioned as poet and professor of Samara state university] It looks like a trend. In fact all dissenting points of view are heard less and less. [Correspondent] Samara poet Vladislav Sergeyev thinks the instruction is absurd. If the web site's administrator is serious about observing it, many authors will never publish their poetry on it. However, the administrator does not seem to be concerned about it. The project manager of Stikhi.ru says that quarrelling with the power is much worse. [Dmitriy Kravchuk, captioned as project manager and coordinator of Russian national literary network] Since the subject is rather sensitive, it is easier to limit publications of such works than to try and guess what the president may or may not like. [Correspondent] Kravchuk said that, in his opinion, limitations would be eventually introduced throughout the Russian internet. Politicians have been speaking about the lack of control on the web for a long time. The site's administration has only decided to be prepared in advance. [Kravchuk] We want to take pre-emptive steps before the issue of the state and legal regulation is raised and certain conclusions are drawn. [Correspondent] The restrictions on the topics come into force as of 1 February. The authors are asked to take their critical publications off the site before this date, or their web pages will be denied access. January 28th 2005 · Prague Watchdog Four veterans of first Chechen war detained in Shali Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus - Four residents of Shali, a town southeast of Grozny, were detained by Chechen law enforcers in a special operation. The young men are accused of being part of a resistance movement against the federal army during the first Chechen war (1994-96). Their arrest outraged many local citizens who are well aware there are many former guerrillas among the current Chechen law enforcement agencies. Another young man was arrested in Grozny, also accused of taking part in the resistance. A source from the Interior Ministry of the Chechen Republic said that, since the beginning of the year, a total of 26 people had been detained for similar reasons.