| Le Monde The Duma adopts a law to control the activities of Non-Governmental Organizations in Russia By our Moscow correspondent, Marie Jégo, 22 December 2005 In less than one hour and without debate, the Russian Duma (the lower house of the Parliament) approved at second reading on Wednesday 21 December the law to establish tight controls over the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia. By 376 votes to 10 the Duma's members adopted the 62 amendments recommended by the Kremlin to make changes to the first version of the law that had been strongly criticized by the West as prejudicial to established rights. Certain amendments had been softened slightly, compared to their initial version. As a result, foreign NGOs are allowed to operate without transforming themselves into Russian legal entities, and may be under the control of foreigners. Registration at the justice ministry is to be a formality. However the activities of any NGO may be stopped if it represents a threat to "the sovereignty of Russia or to national independence, territorial integrity, unity and origins, cultural heritage or national interests." The evaluation of the threat is left to officials to assess. "This passage will make it possible to prevent foreigners from taking an interest in Chechnya, hazing in the army or torture by the police," said Oleg Orlov, of the organisation Memorial, which has actively criticized crimes carried out in Chechnya. According to Valentina Melnikova, of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, the law "will make it possible for NGOs to be closed down, if they were not set up by the state, and for those supported by the authorities to benefit as a result." In fact a tight control is now in place, since donations from abroad – beneficiaries have included most of the 450,000 NGOs operating in the country – now have to be declared. The use to which they are put will have to be justified. Again, the task of checking will be assigned to the justice ministry, in place of the taxation authorities, which promises a fair administrative muddle and, especially, a surfeit of bureaucratic tasks for the NGOs to perform. Although it has been criticized by public figures, the law satisfies the Kremlin's objectives in its struggle against the financing of terrorism, money laundering and foreign support for political activities. "This law is necessary to guard our political system against all external interference, and to protect our society and our citizens from the spread of terrorist or hateful ideology disguised under another name," Vladimir Putin explained, several days prior to the vote. Clearly the law is intended to prevent the arrival in Russia of an "orange revolution" (like that in Ukraine) two years before the elections in 2007 and with the 2008 presidential election in sight. According to Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the few Duma members to declare himself against the law, it speaks volumes about "the Kremlin's orange paranoia", which is given life by the idea that "foreign money will come in to bring about Putin's downfall." Vladimir Ryzhkov's interventions have resulted in a call from the Duma speaker, Lyubov Sliska, for him to say "what kind of passport" he carries. Adding to the general atmosphere of paranoia, the consultant Gleb Pavlovski, who speaks for officialdom, explained that the Russian NGOs who are most critical of the law were those who had received their money from abroad, "producing the suspicion that it is dirty money they receive." Voted through at a trot, the law was barely remarked on by public opinion. The media did not encourage much debate. Television channels, which are strictly controlled by the authorities, alluded to it only briefly. The Rossiya channel did not refer to it at all. Its rival, NTV, announced it in two sentences, giving more prominence to the arrival of the first snow, and to Stalin's birthday, than to the doings of the Duma in Moscow. Article paru dans l'édition du 23.12.05 Translated by Jeremy Putley eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 21/12/2005 Muslims subject to abuse in Dagestan Amir Abuyev, resident in Makhachkala, Dagestan, and his four guests were detained by officers of the Sovetskii District Division of Internal Affairs of the capital city last Friday, 16 December. The ground for such radical measures, as one of the law enforcers said, was a complaint by Mr Abuyev's neighbours who alleged that "religious extremists" gathered at his place. A search of Mr Abuyev's place led to seizure of religious literature by Said Nursi, a well-known Turkish theologian. The Dagestani investigators considered this literature "Wahhabi" though. At the internal affairs division, the detainees were subjected to a very peculiar interrogation. In particular, one of the investigators kept on asking "why they don't commit adultery like all normal people." In a conversation with Islam-Info news agency, Mr Amir Abuyev said that the leaderships of the Internal Affairs Ministry of Dagestan and the Sovetskii District Prosecutor's Office of Makhachkala did not wish to examine the legality of the actions of the law enforcement agencies. Mr Abuyev is by far not alone in his ordeal though. Officers of the same internal affairs division detained Ms Karina Dadayev, resident in Makhachkala, and her friend, illegally and in a rude manner, on 10 December. For seven hours they were kept at the division. In reply to their requests to answer what they were charged with, they heard obscenities and threats like "if you don't shut up, you'll get lost in Khankala." In Ms Dadayev's opinion, the reason for her persecution is that she accurately observes Islamic canons, including wearing of a burqa. Meanwhile, the detention was not registered in the Sovetskii division in any way. Because of inactivity on the part of local authorities, both Mr Abuyev and Ms Dadayev have already filed complaints to federal structures and President Vladimir Putin of Russia personally. Earlier, Mr Sergei Pigarev (he took the Muslim name Sirazhuddin when he adopted Islam in 2004) had had to spend seven months in Temporary Detention Isolator No 1 in Makhachkala. Mr Pigarev was released right in the courtroom a couple of days ago. He was acquitted because no crime was established in his actions. "First, they called me for 'prophylactic conversations' to the Kirovskii District Division of Internal Affairs where they offered me 'mutually advantageous cooperation' which consisted in reporting on visitors to Makhachkala mosques," Mr Pigarev told Islam-Info. "I refused to do so. Then a bomb and a plastic explosive were planted on me and I was kept in the torture chambers several months, charged with preparing a blast of the governmental complex in Lenin St in the capital of Dagestan." "What has happened is a clear and menacing message to anyone else who would like to become Muslim," the Russian Muslim said. "If I drank hard, led a depraved life, or joined a Christian or other sect, could anything like this happen to me? The answer is obvious," Mr Pigarev said with conviction. Another Russian who adopted Islam (his Muslim name is Abdurrahman) was acquitted in Dagestan in November. He had been charged with illegal storage of arms. An investigation had established that the arms had also been planted on him. Chechen Authorities Impose Restrictions on Covering Mysterious Disease by Media 24.12.2005 MosNews Chechen authorities are going to impose restrictions on media coverage of a mysterious disease affecting dozens of people after doctors said it was a reaction to media reports, RIA Novosti reported. “A replication of this theme in mass media has been gives rise to a number of the sick, and so we decided to restrict its media coverage,” Akhmed Dzheirkhanov, deputy head of the local branch of the Emergencies Ministry, said. Several versions of the disease origin have been already adduced by different doctors. Muminat Khadzhayeva, a doctor in the neighboring region of Dagestan, blamed ethyl glycol — a chemical that prevents water freezing and is a major cause of poisoning in people and animals. A commission of doctors from the Moscow Serbsky Institute of Forensic Medicine said the cause of disease’s spreading was an effect of psychological infection. Experts had also suggested the disease could be caused by stress brought on by Chechnya’s 11-year war. Children have been ill all week in Chechnya with symptoms including hysteria, panic, shortness of breath, vomiting and diarrhea. A schoolgirl was taken to a local hospital early on Saturday, as well as a female school worker. 90 people have shown similar symptoms in the district over the past several days. But 12 people have been discharged from hospitals after their health status improved, Akhmed Dzheirkhanov said. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 26/12/2005 Beslan Voice leader resentful of examination results Beslan Voice Committee Chairwoman Ella Kesayeva is resentful of the results of the situational examination which has found no violations in the actions of the operations headquarters and law enforcement and security agencies during the terrorist act in Beslan. "It is news to me," Ms Ella Kesayeva told Radio Echo of Moscow. "How can they know that? What tests are under way? So it turns out that there is no need for a trial?" We remind that Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel told Interfax earlier today that a situational examination with respect to the Beslan terrorist act case had not revealed any violations in the actions of the operations headquarters and law enforcement and security agencies. In the actions of the leadership of the operations headquarters and units of the Internal Affairs Ministry, the ministry's interior troops, the Special Centre of the Federal Security Service, and Civil Defence and Emergencies Ministry, the examination commission sees no violations that would have a causative relation to the harmful after-effects which resulted from the terrorist act in Beslan on 1-3 September 2004. No blame for Russian forces in school raid Tuesday, December 27th, 2005 By HENRY MEYER, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) - Prosecutors examining last year's school siege in Beslan have found no reason to blame security forces for the deaths of 331 hostages during a police raid, the official leading the probe said Tuesday, provoking outrage from relatives of victims. The comments by Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel differed sharply from last month's report by a regional legislative panel that accused Russian authorities of botching rescue efforts and urged that those responsible for the Sept. 3, 2004, bloodbath be punished. Shepel, who is heading the investigation by federal prosecutors, said in a statement released by his office that his probe so far had not discovered any mistakes by authorities in dealing with the siege in the southern town. (*) The statement, which came a day before the Russian parliament was to release results of its own investigation, heated up the simmering anger among Beslan residents, who have argued that authorities bungled their response to the crisis and mounted a cover-up of their mistakes. "We didn't expect anything else - the prosecutors are sticking to their version of events and ignoring victims' testimony," Susanna Dudiyeva, head of the Beslan Mothers' Committee, told The Associated Press. Islamic militants seized Beslan's School No. 1 on the first day of school, taking more than 1,100 children, parents and staff hostage and herding them into the gymnasium, which they rigged with explosives. The hostages suffered in hot, unsanitary conditions and were denied water by their captors during the ordeal, which ended in explosions and gunfire on the third day of the standoff. The dead hostages included 186 children. The rebels, who were demanding that Russian troops withdraw from the nearby Chechnya region after a decade of separatist warfare there, had crossed heavily policed territory to reach Beslan, and victims' relatives are convinced they got help from corrupt officials. Families of the hostages have strongly criticized the rescue operation, saying hostages died needlessly because special forces soldiers used flame-throwers, grenade launchers and tanks against the militants. Dudiyeva called for top officials involved in the raid to be punished. "You need to punish those who did not carry out their duties properly. Our children are no longer with us," she said. Shepel defended the security forces and other rescue personnel, saying all acted appropriately. "According to the conclusions of the investigation, the expert commission did not find ... any violations that could be responsible for the harmful consequences that resulted from the terrorist act in Beslan," he said. In a Nov. 29 report, a panel from the North Ossetia regional legislature called actions by the Russian Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service during the siege "unsatisfactory." The panel said authorities failed to coordinate rescue efforts and made serious missteps, such as grossly underestimating the number of hostages in the siege's early going. It also said it found no evidence to support the government's claim that the climactic battle began when a militant accidentally set off explosives inside the gymnasium. Shepel said that while his office's investigation found no fault with officials' handling of the raid itself, experts had concluded the system for preventing terrorist acts in Russia does not provide sufficient protection for the country's people. The school raid was the deadliest in a series of terrorist attacks by Chechen rebels and other Islamic militants that have plagued Russia since the Kremlin sent troops into Chechnya in 1994 and have intensified in recent years. Russia's southern regions increasingly are plagued by violence, some of it stemming from criminal gang feuds, some spilling over from the separatist conflict in Chechnya. On Tuesday, a shootout erupted between police officers and suspected rebels they were trying to arrest in the southern Russian district of Dagestan, near Chechnya. One policeman and one alleged militant died, the regional Interior Ministry said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (*) Comment by N.S.: This shameless statement doesn't need any further analysis, but one thing must be pointed out: Shepel's claim that *no mistakes were made by the authorities* automatically implies that attacking more than 1000 hostages concentrated in one room with tanks, missiles and fuel-air explosives is no mistake (!). The usual analysts and experts ought to read this and learn. It's an open declaration of the deliberate policy of the regime to murder civilian hostages for political purposes if the chance arises. Any questions? Beslan report blames police Wednesday, December 28, 2005 Posted: 1037 GMT (1837 HKT) MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- The head of the Russian parliamentary commission investigating last year's Beslan school siege says the regional police department had ignored instructions to strengthen security around schools and accused law enforcement officials of negligence that allowed militants to seize hostages. Alexander Torshin was summing up the results of the probe so far in the upper house of parliament, while victims' families expressed outrage at a prosecutors' report that exonerated the authorities over the deaths of 331 people in the terrifying hostage-taking. (Full story) He said on Wednesday that Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and his deputy had sent telegrams less than two weeks before the militants' raid instructing the regional police department in North Ossetia, where Beslan is located, to beef up security on the first day of school. "There was no information about the planning of terror attacks but there was a warning telegram ... on August 21 and 31. In those telegrams, based on intelligence information, there was an order to the Interior Ministry branch in North Ossetia to strengthen protection of all educational facilities on September 1. That could have prevented the terrorist attack. But they weren't fulfilled," Torshin said. Nearly 16 months have passed since armed Islamic militants seized more than 1,100 pupils, their teachers and parents in the southern Russian town of Beslan, provoking a tense three-day standoff with security forces that ended in a bloodbath. Torshin blamed police and security officials in North Ossetia and the neighboring region of Ingushetia, from where the militants had launched their raid, for "negligence and carelessness" that allowed the attackers to take hostages. He criticized authorities' failure to report truthfully on the number of hostages involved -- 1,128. "The approximate number of hostages became known already in the afternoon of September 1. However, over the course of the next day, officials kept telling of the alleged seizure of 354 hostages," he said. Survivors have said that the misinformation infuriated the militants, who mocked their hostages by telling them the government wanted to downplay the crisis. Torshin also assailed the weak coordination between law enforcement agencies. "Cordons failed to prevent Beslan residents from breaking through to the building and trying to save children and firing on the school," he told lawmakers. "The counter-terrorist operation was plagued by shortcomings," he said, and added that the current system for preventing terror attacks was inadequate. The head of the Russian parliamentary commission investigating last year's Beslan school siege says negligence and carelessness by officials allowed the terrorists to seize hostages. Alexander Torshin said Wednesday that the operation to free hostages was riddled by "miscalculations and shortcomings," the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. The militants seized Beslan's School No. 1 on the first day of classes, herding the hostages into the gymnasium, which they rigged with explosives. (Full story) The hostages suffered in hot, unsanitary conditions and were denied water by their captors during the ordeal, which ended in explosions and gunfire on the third day of the standoff. The dead hostages included 186 children. The rebels, who were demanding that Russian troops withdraw from nearby Chechnya after a decade of separatist fighting there, had crossed heavily policed territory to reach Beslan, and victims' relatives are convinced they got help from corrupt officials. Families of the hostages have strongly criticized the rescue operation, saying hostages died needlessly because special forces soldiers used flame-throwers, grenade launchers and tanks against the militants. In a November 29 report, a panel from the North Ossetian regional legislature called actions by the Russian Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service during the siege "unsatisfactory." The panel said authorities failed to coordinate rescue efforts and made serious missteps, such as grossly underestimating the number of hostages in the siege's early hours. It also said it found no evidence to support the government's claim that the climactic battle began when a militant accidentally set off explosives inside the gymnasium. Five senior policemen have been charged with criminal negligence for failing to prevent the raid. Preliminary hearings in the trial of three of them, who are from North Ossetia, were to open on Wednesday. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 27/12/2005 Public meetings may be banned on the sly Killed rebels parents filed a notification to the head of administration of Nalchik on 26 December in which they informed the city administration about their intention to start a no time limit protest public meeting with the use of placards, signs, and other media for visual propaganda, in compliance with the law "On conducting of a public activity in compliance with the Federal Law 'On gatherings, public meetings, demonstrations, marches, and picketing,'" as Caucasian Knot's correspondent has learnt. The notification also sets out in brief the picketers' demands: give out the bodies, dismiss chiefs of republican law enforcement and security agencies, and dismiss leaders of the Kabardino-Balkar Spiritual Board of Muslims. The parents also prepared an address to Nalchik residents with a request to join them and support them. The parents intend to picket not only Kabardino-Balkaria's prosecutor's office, but also the mosque which houses the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Kabardino-Balkaria, as they believe its leaders to be among those to blame for the tragedy. Every day since 13 October, killed rebels parents have been gathering near Kabardino-Balkaria's prosecutor's office demanding that the bodies of their killed sons be given out for burial. With this request, they have applied to virtually all jurisdictions in the republic and country. All their numerous letters have been forwarded to Mr Sovrulin, chief of the investigation group of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, who has replied that the bodies may only be given out when the investigation is over which will decide which of those killed are terrorists and which are not. The parents have not been satisfied with the answer. They believe that their sons had been terrorised for several years, while they just answered the terror. Therefore, the parents have decided to proceed from simple picketing to picketing in the form of a public meeting which they think a more resolute activity. Meanwhile, at its meeting on 26 December the parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria considered a ban on public activities "in connection with the terrorist threat." Author: Lyudmila Maratova, CK correspondent The Action "Support Stanislav Dmitriyevsky!" Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations www.cjes.ru The Nizhny Novgorod Sovetsky District Court is currently trying the case of Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Pravo-Zashchita, who is charged with "actions aimed at fanning hatred or feud, as well as belittling the dignity of a person or a group of persons based on gender, race, ethnicity, language, origin, religious affiliation, and social status" (Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). To take part in the action, click on the words "Support Stanislav Dmitriyevsky!" (http://www.cjes.ru/actions/action.php?p_id=1) and fill in the three lines that will appear on the screen. Tell your friends and colleagues about this action. You have a chance to show the authorities and society that journalists are honest people who can express solidarity with each other. The Action "Support Stanislav Dmitriyevsky!" Just a decade ago, journalists in Russia were heard and listened to. Their reports and opinions were waited for and discussed. There was demand for independent information. Journalists and human rights activists had real influence on the authorities (among other things, they did a lot to end the first war in Chechnya). In the several years, the words "Russian journalism" are perceived differently as journalism is becoming increasingly "nationalized," to be more exact, increasingly state-controlled. The number of sources of information that are independent of the state propaganda is decreasing. Television and radio are mostly state-run and only some newspapers maintain independent views and are not subjected to censorship. The most controlled information is information coming from the Chechen Republic, where, despite official reports, people still get killed and go missing. One of the few independent and alternative sources of information on the events taking place in Chechnya is the newspaper Pravo-Zashchita, which was founded by the public association Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Society (NOPCh). On September 2, 2005, the Nizhny Novgorod prosecutor's office charged the paper's editor-in-chief Stanislav Dmitriyevsky with crimes envisioned by Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code ("fanning ethnic, racial or religious feud in combination with abuse of office"). Dmitriyevsky is facing three to five years in prison if convicted of the charges. The criminal case against the journalist was opened in January 2005 based on the publication in Pravo-Zashchita of addresses made by Chechen separatist leaders Akhmed Zakayev and Aslan Maskhadov, which contained calls for a peaceful settlement of the Russian-Chechen conflict. Those publications sharply criticized the Russian government, the Russian army, and personally President Vladimir Putin. Human rights activists consider these charges to be politically motivated and aimed at liquidating the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech. On November 15, 2005, the international human rights watchdog Amnesty International issued a statement, in which it expressed concerns about the pressure put by various public structures on NOPCh and said it intends to give Dmitriyevsky the status of a political prisoner if he is convicted of the charges. The trial began on November 16, 2005. On December 15, Dmitriyevsky gave his testimony in court and answered questions the parties' questions. In his testimony, he categorically denied all the charges and said he not only does not consider himself guilty, but is insulted by the prosecutor's office's accusations of racism and xenophobia. One day before the trial, the Nizhny Novgorod region's court rejected the lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry's Main Registration Department for the Nizhny Novgorod region, which sought the liquidation of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. There is an information war going on against NOPCh in Nizhny Novgorod. Its staff are being threatened with violence (the Nizhny Novgorod region's interior affairs department opened criminal case No. 155200 on October 7, 2005 on the basis of those threats). On August 15, 2005, the Federal Tax Service's inspection for the Nizhny Novgorod Nizhegorodsky District issued Decision No. 25 to prosecute NOPCh for a tax violation. On September 12, 2005, Justice Yevgeniya Belyakova of the Nizhny Novgorod region's Arbitration Court issued a ruling suspending that decision. Apparently, the authorities are doing everything to do away with one of the independent sources of information on events taking place in the Chechen Republic and put its editor-in-chief Stanislav Dmitriyevsky in prison. Is Pravo-Zashchita being penalized only for trying to tell people what the state propaganda is not telling them? Do you agree with it? If you don't, sign this statement, support Stanislav Dmitriyevsky! Case Materials (sorry, only Russian): http://www.ria.hrnnov.ru/modules.php?name=Articles&pa=list_pag&cid=4 -- Best regards, Oleg Panfilov director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations phone/fax: +7 095 201-7626 address:room 101, 4 Zubovsky blv.Moscow 119021 Russia panfilov@cjes.ru RCIA reports Shelkovskoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 931 The number of victims of poisoning in the Chechen Shelkovskoy district has reached 70 people As of 22 December 2005 the Chechen population has been panic-stricken due to the situation in the Chechen Shelkovskoy district. We remind that some fifty residents of the settlement of Starogladovskaya of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district have been hospitalized since the middle of December. All the people are undergoing medical treatment in different hospitals of Grozny. The majority of ill people are children going to the local school. There are some adults among the victims of unidentified illness. All the people who have fallen sick have the same symptoms: asphyxia, syncope, and hysteria. On December 20 December, 2005, all the schools in the district were closed because of the mass poisoning of children. There have been new cases on the village of Shelkozavodskaya and the village of Kobi (see O,R. from 20.12.2005). The citizens of the republic feel very much concerned about this mass poisoning of schoolchildren as its cause has not been established yet. There are different opinions about the causes of the poisoning circulating among the population. However, people assume that the mass poisoning of children and teacher of the secondary school in the settlement of Starogladovskaya and some other Chechen settlements must be caused by testing some new type of weapon in the territory of the district carried out by the Russian military. All the people are very much afraid to speak up and they are expecting the conclusions of the toxicology expertise that is being carried now. According to the information disseminated by the “Grani.ru” information agency, 72 residents of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district have fallen sick. There are 53 children among the sick people and 19 adults. Doctors of the republican hospital for children based in Grozny have come to the conclusion that the sick children were not subjected to any of known poisonous substances. Nevertheless, they assume that it is possible that the people might have been poisoned by unidentifiable chemical substance. (From our correspondent) Grozny rural district. Chechen Republic Report # 930 Two Chechen girls have been killed in Moscow On 22 December 2005, the corpses of the Bakaevs sisters were delivered to the village of Starye Atagui of the Chechen Grozny rural district. They are going to be buried at the local cemetery. The girls had been murdered by unidentified people in Moscow on December 20, 2005. A correspondent of the RCIA met with the father of the murdered girls, Umar Sultanovich Bakaev (born 1953), and established some details of the tragedy. In the father's words, on 20 December the Bakaevs sisters were attacked by some unknown people in Moscow. His elder daughter was a second-year student of the University. She died on the spot. The younger daughter was a schoolgirl. She was badly wounded by the assaulters and taken to one of the hospitals in Moscow where she died of bleeding. When the murder was committed, the girls' father was visiting their relatives living in the village of Starye Atagui in Nuradilov Street. The man had come to the village a few days before the girls were murdered. On 22 December his wife left Moscow for Chechnya to join her husband. Umar Bakaev said that the girls had been assaulted after they saw their mother off in Vnukovov airport and were going back home. The Bakaevs have been living in Moscow since 2000. They used to live in the village of Starye Atagi before. (From our correspondent) Urus-Martan district. Chechen Republic Report # 929 Detentions of Chechen combatants On 19 December 2005 the service personnel of Urus-Martan district police office detained two members of the armed Chechen resistance forces in the search operation carried our in the village of Shalazhi of the Chechen Urus-Martan district. According to the information obtained from an anonymous source within the Ministry of the Interior, “the detained people (their surnames have not been revealed), born in 1961 and 1985, were active members of Al'bek Bugaev's group. Bugaev was detained some time before it”. On 18 December another member of the armed Chechen groups (born 1984) was detained in the village of Samashki of the Chechen Achkhoy-Martan district by local policemen. His particular have not been revealed either. The information was obtained from a source within the Ministry of the Interior. A correspondent of the RCIA reports his source as stating, “The detained man confessed to participating in attacking one of the polling stations and he showed the place where an ammunition cache was”. The police went to check the obtained information and they detected the cache that contained an electric detonator, a self-made explosive device, a hunting rifle and a mortar shell. A criminal case has been opened. At present, the investigation is going on. (From our correspondent) Shatoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 928 The chief of Shatoy police office has been dismissed On 21 December 2005 the chief of Shatoy police office Siad-Ali Kurashev was dismissed from his position. According to the preliminary information, the decision is connected with the criminal case opened against Kurashev. (From our correspondent) Shatoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 927 Woman living in Shatoy district center has been kidnapped On 21 December 2005 at daytime several servicemen of the Russian federal forces drove away to an unknown destination a resident of Shatoy district center Madaeva Kheda. The woman was snatched away from her own house. Madaeva Kheda is a widow and she has two sons. Her neighbors assume that she might have been kidnapped with the intention to receive ransom. Madaeva Kheda had received the compensation for her house destroyed in the armed actions. (From our correspondent) Nizniy Novgorod Report # 926 Anna Politkovskaya gave her testimony in the hearing of the criminal case against Dmitrievsky On 21 December 2005 the next session of the criminal trial against the executive manager of the Russian-?hechen Friendship Society and the chief editor of the “Pravo-zaschita” newspaper Stanislaw Dmitrievsky was held at Sovetsky district court of Nizhny Novgorod. Dmitrievsky has been charged with incitement to racial, ethnic and social animosity. Today the two last witnesses for defense gave their testimonies to the court. They are Anna Politkovskaya, an observer with “The Novaya Gazeta” newspaper and Elena Karmazina, an architect. Anna Politkovskaya has been covering the situation in Chechnya and the North Caucasus since 1999. She is a laureate of many international and Russian awards in journalism, including “The Golden Pen of Russia” and “Journalism as Deed” premium. Anna Politkovskaya testified about numerous facts of deaths of the civilian population of Chechnya in the armed conflict and was crimes perpetrated by the Russian military, including extrajudicial executions, torture, enforced disappearances, carpet bombardments and shelling. By testifying that, she confirmed the facts stated in the Aslan Maskhadov's appeal that is incriminated to Stanislaw Dmitrievsky. She expressed an opinion that all these crimes could be regarded as acts of the state terror. Thus, she confirmed that Maskhadov had grounds to use such terms as “the Russian terror”, to call the military criminals “occupants” and to characterize their actions as “outrage”. Besides, she told that Maskhadov's and Zakaev's appeals didn't incite to any kinds of animosity not only against the Russian people but against the Russian state apparatus as both of them contained calls to the Russian side to start peace negotiations. Politkovskaya who has known Dmitrievsky since 2001 characterized Dmitrievsky as an internationalist. Elena Karmazina is a well-known architect-restorer in Nizhny Novgorod told about Dmitrievsky's activities aimed at conservation of monuments of the Russian architecture, including pickets organized by him in order to prevent demolition of historical building of Nizhny Novgorod. She also stated that Dmitrievsky is an internationalist and a patriot of his country and his nation. When the witnesses' interrogation had been over, the materials of the criminal case were read out. Then the defendant and the defense side requested to attach several additional documents to the case. The judge agreed to attach the manual worked out by the General prosecutor's office of the RF on methods to be applied to conduct expertise of materials connected with incitement to animosity. He also attached to the case an article from the “Izvestia” newspaper about the Russian secret agents who were sentenced by the court in Quatar for Zelimkhan Yandarbiev's assassination. The assassins arrived in Quatar under the legend of diplomats. At the same time the judge refused to attach the rulings taken by the European Court on Human Rights in Chechen cases. He explained the decision by the pretext that the rulings had no connection to the case and their translations had not been properly attested. At the same time it cannot be regarded as an obstacle for referring to the rulings as in accordance with the resolution of the plenary session of the Supreme ?ourt they have to be taken into account by all the Russian courts of general jurisdiction. The nest session has been scheduled for January 18. The court debates between the sides are going to be opened. (From our correspondent) Kurchaloy district. Chechen Republic Report # 925 A female corpse is detected in the vicinity of the village of Kurchaloy On 20 December 2005 several residents of the Kurchaloy district center of the Chechen Republic found a female corpse at the outskirts of the village. The corpse bore signs of violent death. According to witnesses, the killed woman was about 25 years old. There were five knife wounds in the area of the heart on the corpse. (From our correspondent) Shelkovskoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 924 New cases of children poisoning in Chechnya As of 20 December 2005, all the schools in the settlement of Starogladovskaya of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district were closed due to the mass poisoning of children. The poisoning substance has not been identified yet. Zaur Musluev, the deputy Minister of Health Protection of the Chechen Republic, stated that 52 people had been taken to hospital. Besides, some more cases of poisoning have been registered in the settlement of Shelkozavodskaya that is situated just a few kilometers away from the district center and in the village of Kobi. All the people who have become victims of poisoning have been taken to hospitals in different settlements. As of the present moment, 16 people are being treated in hospital situated in the settlement of Shelkovskaya. The majority of sick children have been taken to Grozny hospital #9 and to the republican children's hospital situated in Grozny. As there is no laboratory in Chechnya where it is possible to conduct the toxicology analysis, a group of specialists who work for Moscow-based All-Russia Medical Center went to Chechnya today. They will have to establish the cause of pupils' poisoning and to try to identify the type of poisoning substance. We have to remind that on 16 December 2005 four girls from the settlement of Starogladovskaya were taken to hospital #9 of Grozny with signs of being poisoned. All the girls go to the same school in the settlement. The “Grani.ru” information agency reported the head of the district center Khuseyn Nutaev as stating, “Poisoning might have been caused by either paralytic or psychotropic substance”. In Nutaev's opinion, “symptoms that all the victims have evidence this assumption: all of them are suffering from asphyxia, spasms, and some other symptoms characteristic of these types of substances”. (From our correspondent) Ingushetia Report # 923 Explosion on Rostov-Baku highway On 18 December 2005 there was an explosion on Rostov-Baku highway not far from the village of Barsuki of Ingushetia's Nasran district. The type of the explosive device was not possible to identify. Fortunately, no car was damaged by the explosion. According to the preliminarily obtained information, the explosive device was meant to go off at the time when military vehicles might pass this area. (From our correspondent) Ingushetia Report # 922 A resident of the village of Plievo has been buried after he was shot dead by the police On 18 December 2005 a resident of the village of Plievo of Ingushetia's Nasran district Amirkhanov Khazbulat (aged 25) was buried at the local cemetery after he had been shot dead by policemen in a passport-checking special operation. A RCIA correspondent has managed to establish the details of the murder. On 14 December 2005, Khazbulat Amirkhanov was stopped by law-enforcement agents who asked him show his documents. After Amirkhanov had refused to obey the order and offered resistance, the policemen opened targeted fire at him. Amirkhanov was severely wounded and died at the spot. (From our correspondent) http://www.ria.hrnnov.ru/eng/index.php |