| Unidentified remains of children who perished in the
terrorist act buried http://www.newsru.com/russia/25jul2005/burry.html Unidentified remains of children who perished in the terrorist act buried in Beslan Parents buried unidentified remains of the victims of September terrorist act in Beslan last Friday. No officials considered to be necessary to appear. A woman who didn't introduced herself phoned to the committee of Mother of Beslan on Friday morning the 22nd of July and reported about that on the 21st July in the evening the remains of children, who were killed during the seizure of the school in Beslan were brought to Vladikavkaz from Rostov-on-Don. Zarema Dzutseva, who lost her nephew described to IA REGNUM agency that the voice over the phone reported tha we had to come at 2 PM to the cemetery, where at that hour they will deliver the remains . At 2 PM at the new Beslan cemetery gathered relatives, who already once got and buried remains of their close ones or children. They waited for two and one-half hours and about 4:30 PM, to the cemetery drove in an ambulance van. Its driver got out and said: "Here the coffin with fragments of your children. I was ordered to bring them to the cemetery and hand them over to you ". Whose precisely children are in to this coffin, the driver could not answer. The eyewitnesses say, that the coffin with nameless remains stirred up some emotions, the women began to sob, refugee from Chechnya, Aleksandra Smirnova, who buried in Beslan her two granddaughters lost consciousness. The men first came to their senses. Akhshar Dudiyev, together with other Beslan men dug up a grave and buried these remains. "We don't believe that we've buried precisely our children the first time, and we don't know, whose remains they gave us today. This is a cynical action, which the authorities have done with us numerous times"- IA Regnum cites the words of Beslan's resident, Rita Sidakova. Later, the chairman of working commission on the issues of humanitarian assistance and financing consequences of the Beslan tragedy, Mairbek Tuayev, confirmed this information about the burial of those unidentified remains of the Beslan's victims . Mairbek Tuayev described in his interviews to the IA Regnum that these remins buried on 22 July in Beslan - those were fragments of human bodies found in No 1 school and which couldn't be identified.. According to Tuayev, about existence of similar remains, the Ministry of Public.Health of North Ossetia was informed in the Rostov laboratory, where similar fragments in the case of impossibility to identify them were accepted to be burnt. The Ministry of Public. Health of North Ossetia asked Rostov's collegues not to destroy the unidentified fragments of bodies from the Beslan school, and on 21 July an ambulance van was sent to Rostov-on- Don, in order to bring the coffin with these remains to Beslan. The fact that the relatives didn't get some appropriate explanation and that there wasn't any officials during the burials, and which this humane step of Ministry of Public Health appeared for the Beslan mothers to be the next shock, Mairbek Tuayev explained by busyness of the officials. Translation by M.L. Tuesday, July 26, 2005 Charges Filed in Beheading Case The Associated Press MAKHACHKALA -- Federal prosecutors have filed murder and terrorism charges against a suspected militant from Chechnya accused of participating in a 1999 attack in which five federal servicemen were beheaded. A judge from the Dagestani Supreme Court will begin considering the charges against Islan Mukayev within two weeks and will later set a date for hearings, court official Andrei Ashurov said. Prosecutors claim Mukayev took part in the attack in the Dagestani village of Tukhchar in September 1999 -- part of a series of strikes by Chechen rebels that led to the second Chechen war. Officials say militants attacked a group of Interior Ministry troops in Tukhchar, burning their armored personnel carrier, then capturing them. They then allegedly beheaded five of the servicemen and shot and killed a sixth. Prosecutors say Mukayev, who was detained in Ingushetia, had a videotape of the beheadings. In 2002, a resident of Chechnya was sentenced to life in prison for the attack. FROM THE CONFLICT ZONE - BULLETIN OF HRC "MEMORIAL" (the issue prepared in Nazran) Lack of Security Forces Residents of Mountainous Chechnya to Flee Native Villages: On July 26, People Abandoned the Village of Zumsoi On July 26, 2005 monitors of HRC “Memorial” visited the village of Zumsoi, Itum-Kalisky District of Chechnya to deliver humanitarian aid to its residents. Upon arrival they found out that all residents accept for a 96- year old elder Khadziev, had left the village and descended to the settlement of Ushkaloj, taking their personal belongings and cattle with them. Currently all residents (11 families, 48 people) are accommodated in two small private houses shared with relatives of one of the families. The residents of Zumsoi explained to “Memorial” that they had to flee their native village for security reasons: recently they felt their lives were increasingly threatened in Zumsoi. Starting January 2005 Zumsoi was regularly subjected to artillery fire and bombing. Previously “Memorial” reported that during a special operation carried out by federal servicemen on January 14-17 2005, the village was subjected to aerial attacks, then paratroopers landed, looted the houses and kidnapped three men – Mukhaev Vakha, Nasipov Shirvai, Ibishev Magomed-Emin, and a teenage boy- Mukhaev Atabi. The detainees were forced into a helicopter which left, while the servicemen promised the villagers that all of the detained would be brought back in the evening after interrogation. However, as of July 26 there whereabouts remain unknown. Numerous applications of the relatives demanding to instigate criminal cases into kidnappings and carry out investigation have been left without response. Since January the federal servicemen have visited the village several times: they looted and destroyed the building of the local school, desecrated the mosque, killed several dozen of cattle. On July 4, the unidentified men in masks (probably Chechen fighters) killed the head of administration in Zumsoi - Yangul’baev Abdul-Azim. As a result, the residents of this small mountainous village were caught between the two fires - federal forces and the Chechen fighters. Moreover, in May-June as a result of a landslide, Zumsoi was fully cut off the outside world. For over a month all appeals of the residents to clean the road were left without attention. In July, the residents of Zumsoi were on the edge of humanitarian crisis: it was not possible to deliver food supplies to the village. “Memorial” hired a tractor to clean the road, since the authorities were unable to help. Only the feeling of complete insecurity forced the residents of Zumsoi to leave the native village, where their forefathers had lived since the 9th century. All of the families are below the poverty level and have no means to resettle on the plain. ***** “Memorial” appeals to the government of the Chechen Republic, to humanitarian organizations and private donors to assist the people of Zumsoi in resettling on the plain. We urge the government of the Chechen Republic to allocate slots of land on the plain where they could build new houses. We urge humanitarian organizations to provide these families with temporary shelter. HRC “Memorial” urges the Governmental Commission for Compensation Payments to qualify the housing, which the villages left in Zumsoi as property lost as a result of military operations and pay the residents compensations, which will enable them to build houses on the plain. Vostok battalion commander charged with wrongdoing in Borozdinovskaya 28/ 07/ 2005 GROZNY, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Defense Ministry has started criminal proceedings against the head of a regiment of the Vostok battalion over events on July 3 at the Borozdinovk military base in Chechnya, said military prosecutor Maxim Toporikov. On July 4, the officer acted outside his authority and illegally gave the order to search certain houses in Borozdinsk in connection with the murder on the night of July 2 of the father of one of the battalion's officers by a militant, Toporikov said. He also gave the order to detain several individuals, but the commanding officers of the Vostok battalion were not party to the operation, Toporikov said. The surname of the accused has been withheld while the case continues. Toporikov said there is not yet any clear proof that the officers abducted or killed citizens. "These accusations need additional investigation, which are currently being carried out." He said almost all of the residents at the base have been questioned, as well as officers from the Shelkovsky Police Department and the Vostok battalion - a total of more than 1500 people. On July 4 in Borozdinovsk, a special operation was carried out after which local residents said that 11 people had gone missing. What happened to these individuals is still unknown. Activists Discuss Chechen Abductions By Fatima Tlisova The Associated Press, July 27, 2005 KISLOVODSK, Stavropol Region -- Human rights activists voiced concern Thursday about rampant abductions of civilians in Chechnya and accused authorities of failing to properly investigate them. Activists made the claims during a conference on human rights in Chechnya in Kislovodsk, which was also attended by government officials and the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Alvaro Gil-Robles. Natalya Estemirova, a coordinator for the Memorial human rights organization, said federal troops and local security forces fighting Chechen separatists were responsible for most of the kidnappings. "Everyone knows who is behind the abductions in Chechnya," she said. "The abductors are federal powers and security forces subordinate to the local administration." Ella Pamfilova, the head of President Vladimir Putin's human rights commission, acknowledged that abductions remained "the most acute problem" in Chechnya. She said that authorities had opened criminal investigations into the disappearance of 2,547 people in Chechnya since 2000. She did not say how many people remained missing. Officials blamed rebels for the abductions. Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel insisted that the abductions were being properly investigated. He said that probes were hampered by local residents' reluctance to provide testimony because of fears for their safety. "As long as the Kremlin turns a blind eye to this terrible problem, it will remain unresolved," said Sergei Kovalyov, a prominent rights activist. The activists urged authorities to let rights groups oversee official probes into abductions. But Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov rejected the idea, saying it would contradict the law. Gil-Robles urged authorities to make stronger efforts to end abductions, saying that they could not be regarded as an "internal problem." "It's a problem that we in Europe take as our own," he said. 29.7.2005 Committee formed against torture, "cleansings", and "filtration" RUSSIA, Moscow. A press conference entitled "Beaten Cities Take a Stand", took place at the Independent Press Center (Tverskaya Boulevard, 20) on July 28th. According to the All-Russian Public Movement for Human Rights, an announcement was made concerning the creation of the organizing committee, "Beaten Russia", to fight torture, cleansings, and filtration. Human rights activists from Blagoveshchenk (Bashkirya), Kabardino-Balkarii, Kalmykii, Krasnodar, the Kurskaya district, Moscow, Nefteyugansk (Khanty-Mansiyskiy AO), the Tver Region (Bezhetsk and Rozhdestvenno), Sverdlovsk, Stavropol, Tambov, and Tula Regions participated in the conference. Human rights activists and representatives of areas where police cleansings, filtration and other forms of collective punishments were perpetrated, responded to the call of victims in Blagoveshchenk to create a united movement of victims of police arbitrariness. The movement Beaten Russia begins its public campaign with the following demands: -The resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliyev, the resignation of Chief of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Yuri Kalinin, and the resignation of Chief of the Federal Drug Control Service, Victor Cherkesov - The cancellation of all written and unwritten departmental orders legalizing filtration and other disturbances of the rights and freedoms of citizens - The categorical prohibition of torture, "filtration" and collective punishment -The prosecution of criminal cases for each act of lawlessness, torture, and collective punishment carried out by law-enforcement agencies -An investigation on the facts of "filtration" and of collective punishments by the General Procurator's office. According to a statement by representatives of Russias regions: "Our country is increasingly more immersed in an abyss of arbitrariness and sadism of authority. Those in power are no longer limited to "individual" tortures and slaughters, but with increasing frequency they engage in the practice of "collective punishments. As has been proven, these violations of law are not the manifestation of local despots, but are produced on the basis of secret departmental orders, which are anti-constitutional, but are officially acknowledged by the Justice Department... The punitive experience of Chechnya has been transferred into the heart of Russia ". Translated by OM Kenney PRIMA-News Agency [2005-07-28-Rus-24] eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 27/7/2005 Mass detention in Chechnya A policing operation was conducted by officers of Chechnya's presidential security service in Argun, Shali district, at about 4.00 am on 27 July. The operation was carried out in the district of so-called Islamic settlement, Zavodskaia and Sheripov streets. About 100 men aged 14 to 70 were detained in the clean-up, according to preliminary information, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society reports. Practically all detainees were later released. The destiny of only one of the detained men, Magomed Abuyevich Ayubov, remains unknown. Ayubov is reported to be a Chechen police officer. Invaders and their henchmen continue to kidnap in the Chechen Republic According to the CKNC, on the 23 rd of July, 2005 in the Chechen settlement Gehi, at five o'clock in the morning invaders rushed into the house of Arsanukaev Alihan born in 1984, living in the Ustarhanov Street (former Titov Street) No. 12 and without any explanations took him away in an unknown direction. According to the wife of the kidnapped, the rushed arrived to the house by four cars two of which were of the 99-th model, one "Niva" and one "Hachbeck" without license plates. Eyewitnesses say that there were no less than 15-20 of the kidnappers. Some of them were in masks and had a conversation in the Chechen language. Relatives of Arsanukaev undertake all measures, possible in such cases. Applications are sent to the puppet and occupational structures; however there is no data on the destiny of Arsanukaev yet. On the 27 th of July, 2005 in Djohar at 12 o'clock in the afternoon near the building of the mayoralty an uncle of Arsanukaev Alihan - Arsanukaev Umalt, born in 1973, an inhabitant of the village Gehi was kidnapped. According to the eyewitnesses, the people, who kidnapped Umalt Arsanukaev, were wearing a military uniform. As well as in the first case, numerous applications to the puppet formations of the Urus-Martan region gave no results as well as the attempts to find Umalt independently. CHECHENPRESS, 29.07.05 http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/07/29/06.shtml --------------------------------------------------------------------- In the center of Djohar two people are kidnapped by invaders According to the SNO, in the afternoon on the 25 th of July, in the center of Djohar gangsters of an occupational grouping kidnapped 2 young people. According to the eyewitnesses, the gangsters, moving by several cars, rushed into a cafe in the Victory Avenue of Djohar, and threatening with physical violence took away in an unknown direction two young men, in the age of 28-30 years. According to some information, one of the kidnapped is an employee of militia. The surnames of the kidnapped are being specified. At the same time till now the destiny of the head of the charitable organization “We shall rescue the generation”, kidnapped by Russian chastisers on the 15 of April, this year in Djohar in the region of the micro-district Ippodromnyy, remains unknown. Then, during the next gangster sortie of invaders, Murad Muradov was kidnapped from an apartment in the house in the Bogdan Hmelnitskiy Street . The gangsters stole documents of the organization “We shall rescue the generation”, office equipment and personal things from Muradov's apartment. CHECHENPRESS, 29.07.05 http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/07/29/02.shtml ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The leader of the headquarters of the OS VV of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has filled up the statistics of the liquidated terrorists The so-called “chief of the investigation of the headquarters of the Moscow district of the VV of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia" Vasily Chubenko has died with the wounds, which he got as the result of firing in Dagestan . The DAYMOHK referring to the "1 channel" of the TV of invaders informs on it. CHECHENPRESS, 29.07.05 http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/07/29/03.shtml http://www.lenta.ru/news/2005/07/29/road1/ Peaceful demonstration of refugees fired at in Grozny Some unknown persons opened fire today at the peaceful demonstrators in Grozny reports Ekho Moskvy. In the morning several dozens of refugees from Ingushetia have blocked a road in the Staropromyslovsky district as their sign of protest against the abduction of their compatriot, 20-year old Ilyas Azimov. About 11AM fire from the submachne gun was opened on them. Next to those rallying people stood a unit of police. The Memorial human rights organization described with reference on the eyewitnesses that Azimov was abducted by some unknown armed people wearing masks from a point of the temporary accomodation of the Ingush refugees on the night of 28-29 July. In this case his mother and many of his neighbors were beaten up. It's possible that the refugees can leave Chechnya in organized manner as the inhabitants of Borozdinovskaya village, after the zachistka on 3 June. Translation by M.L. |