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1.11.2005 Anti-Muslim repressions and kidnappings continue in Russia Vitaly Ponomarev RUSSIA, Moscow. In 2005, in 10 areas of the Russian Federation (Central Russia, the Volga Region, and Siberia) 39 people were held on charges in of so-called Islamic extremism, according to Vitaly Ponomarev, Director of the Central-Asian Program of the Human Rights Center Memorial, at an October 31 press conference, "Anti-Muslim Repressions in Central Russia" at the Independent Press Center. Scores of people are under investigation. No less than 40 percent of those under investigation undergo torture, noted Ponomarev. Recently in central Russia, terrorist accusations have been manufactured. The most scandalous of them is the Tatarstan matter, where 20 people were accused of preparing terrorist acts for the 1000th anniversary of Kazan. The kidnapping of former inhabitants of Uzbekistan continues. Vitaly Ponomarev reports that, according to Muslims of the Volga Region, each year 3 - 4 descendants from Uzbekistan disappear. The Director of the Civil Assistance Committee, Svetlana Gannushkina, discussed the fate of the 14 ethnic Uzbeks detained in Ivanov. One of them, Xatam Xadzhimatov, was freed as a citizen of Russia. The rest - 12 citizens of Uzbekistan and a citizen of Kyrgyzstan are located under guard in expectation of obtaining refugee status. The period for examining their petitions elapses on November 8th, and if the detained are not recognized as refugees, they are threatened with deportation. Gannushkina is certain that the leaders of Russia and Uzbekistan have an understanding about deporting Uzbek citizens to their native land, even though their extraditions are illegal. Gannushkina spoke about the recent deportation to Uzbekistan of Marcel Isayev and about the assistance of Russian authorities in the kidnapping, by Uzbek special services, of Russian citizen Alisher Usmanov. Translated by OM Kenney PRIMA-News Agency[2005-10-31-Rus-21] Russia: Rights Groups Say Muslims Are Unfairly Targeted In Fight Against Terrorism By Claire Bigg Muslims and human rights campaigners in Russia joined forces today to denounce what they describe as a persistent campaign of harassment and detentions targeting Muslims in the country. Growing numbers of ordinary Muslims, they say, are falling victim to the government's bid to show successes in fighting terrorism in the wake of the Beslan hostage tragedy. Moscow, 31 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The Russian government is fabricating cases against Muslims in order to prosecute them for terrorism, leading Russian human rights campaigners charged today. Vitalii Ponomarev, an activist at the rights group Memorial, told a press conference that 39 Muslims have been sentenced on terrorism charges since the beginning of this year across Russia, the Caucasus excluded. Dozens more are awaiting trial. The first wave of terrorism charges brought against Muslims began soon after the hostage tragedy in Beslan in September 2004, a trend that rights activists say is gaining pace. Ponomarev alleges that torture is routinely used to beat false confessions from Muslims. "Torture is used in about 40 percent of cases to obtain confessions. A new tendency is the fabrication of group cases. It is announced that large underground terrorist organizations have been uncovered. The most scandalous case, which has yet to reach court, is taking place in Tatarstan, where more than 20 people are charged with allegedly preparing terrorist attacks ahead of the millennium in the city [of Kazan, the capital]," Ponomarev said. The rights groups say that defendants are, as a rule, accused of having ties to Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic organization that Russia outlawed in 2003 as terrorist group. Hizb ut-Tahrir seeks to establish a caliphate in Central Asia, but formally rejects violence. Russia's Federal Security Service, however, accuses the group of supporting separatist rebels in Chechnya. Mars Gayanov, a 53-year-old Muslim from Bashkortostan, told reporters that Russian special forces in December raided his house, where they allegedly found Islamic extremist literature and homemade bombs. Gayanov denies hiding either bombs or extremist literature. He said law-enforcement officials tried to beat confessions out of him. "The interrogations started. On 1 January 2005, after lunch, I was transferred to another cell where they tried to beat confessions from me that I was a member, and even the leader, of a particular division of the so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir party -- by beating and torturing me. Neither I nor my sons are members of this party," Gayanov said. The fact that Gayanov was beaten while in prison has been officially established. He was given a suspended sentence, but his two sons were sentenced to five years and 7 1/2 years in prison. Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the rights group Civil Assistance, said the Russian government is rounding up Muslims in an attempt to make it appear that it is actively combating terrorism. "Politics are currently aimed at channeling popular dissatisfaction, which is always possible if there is some kind enemy," she said. "The enemy is once again the United States, and we also need an internal enemy. The internal enemy is chosen because it is different and because someone is afraid of him. I am absolutely convinced that Islam and the Islamic caliphate are a phobia of the president of the Russian Federation." Gannushkina said she has personally heard President Vladimir Putin make negative comments about Islam and accuse Muslims of plotting to establish a caliphate in Russia, particularly in Chechnya. Rights groups also accuse the Russian government of illegally allowing Uzbek security officers to operate on Russian territory and to detain Uzbek nationals allegedly involved in terrorist activities. Uzbek troops violently suppressed an uprising in the city of Andijon in May, which they blamed on Islamic radicals. Since then, Uzbek authorities have been seeking the extradition of suspects from Russia and Kyrgyzstan. Gannushkina said many alleged Uzbek terrorists have already been illegally transferred to Uzbekistan, although the Council of Europe and the European Union have denounced any such extraditions. "There is a very clear agreement -- the falsification of legal cases testify to this -- between the highest-ranking people in Russia and in Uzbekistan, according to which people whom the Uzbek government requests are sent to Uzbekistan," she said. In June, 14 ethnic Uzbek were arrested in the central Russian city of Ivanovo at the request of Uzbekistan for allegedly participating in the Andijon uprising. All but one are in detention awaiting extradition, despite efforts by lawyers and human rights groups. October 31, 2005 Monday 7:14 AM Eastern Time About 200 people abducted in Chechnya in a year By Yevgeny Sobetsky GROZNY, ITAR-TASS, October 31 Abductions of about 200 people have been reported to Chechnya's security agencies since the beginning of this year, including 16 in October, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov said. He told reporters after his meeting with chiefs of law enforcement bodies on Monday that he had ordered "carrying out serious analysis of abduction cases in order to take measures for the complete rooting out of this type of crime". "An end must be put to this disgrace," he said. Alkhanov added that "abduction of people increasingly often unrelated to their belonging to the bandit underground; those who run successful business or have some positions in authority structures are abducted," Alkhanov said. "This means that mercenary designs are increasingly noticeable in abductions, and abductions themselves are made with the aim of money extortion." Alkhanov said that he had ordered to chiefs of law enforcement agencies to intensify operational work for the search of missing people Russian Law Leaves Bodies in Limbo, Raising Muslim Ire By STEVEN LEE MYERS Tee New York Times, Published: October 31, 2005 NALCHIK, Russia, Oct. 30 - The bodies of 89 men, wrapped in black bags, are laid out in two refrigerated railroad cars at a militia post on the edge of town. The authorities refuse to return them to relatives for burial because of a law that is worsening the climate of anger and distrust that led to the deaths of these men in the first place. Placed in plastic bags and stacked in railroad cars in Nalchik, the bodies of men killed in a fight with the police there on Oct. 13 await burial. "What kind of terrorist is he?" Yekaterina Sabanchiyeva said of her only son, Murat. He would have turned 21 this week but he was caught in the violence that swept this city in the Northern Caucasus on Oct. 13, when scores of fighters attacked police and security stations. "It was not terrorism," she added, standing among a group of parents outside Nalchik's main mosque, appealing to officials to release the bodies, as the parents have each day since the fighting stopped. "They attacked the police." Many people here see the attacks as an uprising against corruption and abuse, including arbitrary arrests and police beatings of anyone suspected of embracing Islam. Last year the authorities closed six mosques in Nalchik. In the Kremlin's effort to curb terrorism, such distinctions hardly matter. Struggling to contain the violence from the war in Chechnya and a rise in Islamic-tinged militancy across the Northern Caucasus, the government has turned to a form of collective punishment. Under a law adopted in the wake of the siege of a Moscow theater in 2002, which ended with the deaths of at least 129 hostages, the bodies of those considered terrorists have been deemed unworthy of family burials. They are buried instead in anonymity - and in undisclosed locations. They have included the 31 terrorists reported killed in the school siege in Beslan last year; Aslan Maskhadov, the former president of Chechnya and rebel leader who died in a raid in March; and dozens of people involved in attacks in or near Chechnya. The intent of the law is to deny veneration of those who kill innocents, but it also denies families the chance to observe burial rites that are deeply engrained in the traditional cultures of the Caucasus. That has caused an angry reaction here in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkariya, the latest place to have scores of dead. Takhir Atmurzayev, the deputy mufti of Kabardino-Balkariya, said returning the dead would be a gesture of respect to the Highlanders, as people of this mountainous region are known. "If they are not buried, it might be another bomb that lands somewhere else in the future," he said. He cited Islamic scriptures, saying, "If a man is not buried, sin falls on all of this place." The fighting here killed at least 138 people, including 35 security officers and 14 civilians, the republic's coroner said. Visiting Nalchik on Sunday for the funeral of the republic's former president, who died Saturday, President Vladimir V. Putin denounced the others who died here on Oct. 13 as militants with "criminal goals." But unlike the incident in Beslan, where weapons and camouflage, as well as survivors, easily distinguished those involved, the dead whose bodies are being held included men in civilian clothes and adolescents as young as 15. Most were not fighters from Chechnya's war, but local residents. Many were educated and employed. Their relatives say that some were simply caught in the cross-fire. One man, who would not give his name, citing fear of reprisal, said his 16-year-old son had asked for money to buy shoes and never came back. The father identified his son's body in the morgue the next day. Kazbulat B. Kerefov, a defense lawyer and former police officer, went jogging the morning of the attacks. He was last seen outside the apartment building where he lived with his parents. His aunt, Yelena, said he spoke to young men in a sedan shortly before the fighting. Mr. Kerefov's father, Betal, identified his body eight days later. His limbs and torso were torn with wounds; his body was naked and stacked with others in the railcars.(They have since been put in bags.) Betal Kerefov worried that the authorities would spirit the bodies away. According to tradition, the family has kept its apartment door ajar, open for visitors expressing condolences. This is supposed to last three days. It has already been more than two weeks. "Our guys died on both sides," Mr. Kerefov said, adding that the refusal to return the bodies of the rest "means setting one family against the other." Saradin Alakayev, 25, had been arrested several times, most recently two days before the attacks. He died in the fighting near a police station. He had a son, who is 4, and a daughter, who is 4 months old. His father, Khauti, said his son had been dismissed from a factory job because the shop manager saw him praying. "What the authorities did to them, what the police did to them - this is why they attacked the police," Mr. Alakayev said. He drew a distinction that many here have: "They did not attack schools, kindergartens. They did not attack the children." As the violence grinds on in the Caucasus, officials in Moscow have debated stronger punishments for terrorists' families, including seizing assets and even the relatives. But the anguish here has caused some to express concern that a law written in Moscow did not consider local traditions - and the murkier circumstances of what happened in Nalchik. "It is not our law," said Vladimir Makhov, an officer in the local prosecutor's office, standing outside the two railcars where the bodies remain. "We would give them back." Aleksandr P. Torshin, a member of the upper house of Parliament leading an investigation into Beslan, acknowledged that some of those killed in Nalchik might not have been terrorists, saying it was sometimes difficult to know. "You cannot interrogate a body," he said. He defended the law, but suggested amendments might be necessary to allow a court to determine whether the dead had been terrorists. "It is much better to give them back the body than to give rise to new hatred," he said. The man at the center of much of the simmering anger here is the republic's former president, Valery Kokov. He ruled the republic like a fief for 14 years until he stepped down last month. He was buried Sunday with full honors after a memorial service attended by Mr. Putin. Khizir Otarov, an aide to the deputy mufti, said, "You judge people who are alive by how they respect the dead." C. J. Chivers contributed reporting from Moscow for this article. Jamestown Foundation: Eurasia Daily Monitor, 4 November 2005 Vol.2 issue 206 Dead bodies hiding truth about Russian failure in Nalchik During his visit to the Netherlands this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked about the massive October 13 rebels attack on Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. Dutch journalists wondered why the attack happened in what had been considered the most peaceful republic of the North Caucasus. While many people inside and outside Russia were shocked by the Nalchik raid, Putin called it a product of his successful policy in the region. "In Chechnya itself, as one can see, the terrorists have less and less opportunities to act effectively," so they must "try to transfer their activity to other regions in the North Caucasus" (newsru.com, November 2). After a group of Chechen rebels took about 700 people hostage in a Moscow theater in October 2002, an enraged Putin called for a harsh new anti-terrorist law. Among the provisions of the new law, the corpses of terrorists will not be returned to their relatives for burial. The relatives of the terrorists killed in Moscow and at the school in Beslan, North Ossetia, in September 2004 had no choice but to accept the policy. In Chechnya, if government agents kill a militant, his relatives try to get his body through bribery. But now the body-disposal issue has reached a fever pitch in Kabardino-Balkaria. The problem has two aspects. First, relatives of confirmed participants cannot accept the idea that they will never see the bodies and graves of their loved ones. Second, and more heartbreaking, the authorities classified innocent civilians killed in the crossfire as rebels, so their corpses will not be released either. The authorities appear to be using the corpses of bystanders to inflate the number of "insurgents" killed in the raid. Putin claims that 93 gunmen were killed and 40 arrested in Nalchik (newru.com, November 2). The official body count began to rise immediately following Putin's order to eliminate all of the attackers in Nalchik and seal the city. However, this order came around 1 pm, when most of the rebels had already escaped. Chechen warlord Shamil Basaev, who masterminded the operation in Nalchik, issued a statement saying that the rebels attacked military and police facilities at 9:14 am and finished the operation by 11:15 am (Kavkazcenter, October 15). Independent sources, eyewitnesses, and journalists confirmed this timeline. Regnum news agency (October 13) reported that the situation in the center of Nalchik had started to normalize by noon. Jamestown sources in Kabardino-Balkaria also said that gunfire moved to the city outskirts in the afternoon and became significantly less intense (see EDM, October 14). There were some pockets of resistance left in the city, but not more than 10 wounded militants who could not retreat. It seems improbable that the number of dead rebels -- only 20 by noon according to officials -- could jump to 61 in just two hours and then to more than 90 by the next morning (grani.ru, October 17). Izvestiya reported that while many of the dead looked like guerillas who hide in the mountains should look: with sunburned faces and muddy hands, other victims looked quite civilized, with white socks and clean clothes (Izvestiya, October 17). Many analysts have concluded that the "militants" in clean clothes were really innocent civilians. Numerous stories are circulating about civilians killed in crossfire and then labeled as gunmen. Arsen Kanokov, president of Kabardino- Balkaria, told Novaya gazeta (October 31) that there were 20 civilians among the dead whom the authorities had classified as rebels. Fatima Tlisova from Associated Press reported about a list of 40 persons who were accidentally killed in the fighting, but this is also not the final count. Azret Mechukov, the chief forensic expert of Kabardino-Balkaria, told Moskovsky komsomolets that there were only 28 gunmen in the city's morgue by October 14 (Moskovsky komsomolets, October 15). On October 21, the authorities announced that they had identified the bodies of 26 rebels, while the other 10 were so burned that DNA testing would be necessary. Yet at the same time, the officials declared they had 87 unidentified corpses in the morgue (Kavkazsky Uzel, October 21). This statement was made eight days after the raid, but even now there is no information about the pace of the identification process. It looks suspicious, especially, as journalist Anna Politkovskaya told Ekho Moskvy radio, the corpses were not refrigerated and rapidly decomposing (Ekho Moskvy, October 29). It seems likely that the 26 identified rebels and the 10 burned bodies were actual insurgents. The 10 were the wounded rebels who could not leave the city; Special Forces destroyed their hiding places and with flame-throwers and grenades. Together this accounts for 36 rebels killed in the raid, and if the one gunman who was taken prisoner is added the total is 37 rebels -- exactly the number of rebel casualties confirmed by the insurgency (Kavkazcenter, October 24). But if the real number of insurgents is only 37, who are the other dead? The most logical answer is that the others are civilians labeled as rebels to allow Russian troops to claim victory in Nalchik on October 13. Under this scenario it is understandable why the authorities have stored the corpses in refrigerators without electricity. They need to make the corpses unrecognizable as soon as possible. If the remains of the civilians are not returned to their relatives, the situation in Kabardino-Balkaria will deteriorate even further. Yet Putin seems unconcerned about this issue. He is more worried about the disclosure of the fact that the most of the dead in Nalchik are civilians, because it could reveal how Russian security officials failed to carry out Putin's order to destroy the rebels in the city. --Andrei Smirnov eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 21/11/2005 Rights still abused in Chechnya, Ingushetia Vladimir Shaklein, coordinator of the All-Russian public movement For Human Rights in Urals federal district, has summarised his recent trip to Ingushetia and Chechnya which he made with a view to studying the situation with the rights of refugees and their living conditions. According to him, many refugees in Ingushetia have to live in garages, in rooms at sand-pits or quarries, on farms, poultry farms, etc. In Chechnya, they live in former halls of residence and uncomfortable buildings where up to several hundred families live together. Two hundred and nineteen families, a total of 1,285 people, live in 110 rooms in a house in Grozny. There are 34 such houses in Chechnya, according to Vladimir Shaklein. Besides problems with accommodation, people complained that they had been excluded from lists of humanitarian aid recipients and that it was impossible to obtain compensations for their destroyed homes. "Dozens of people came to complain about officials in each temporary accommodation point that we attended. Most refugees are unaware of the work in Grozny of the republican Commissioner for Human Rights, Memorial, and other human rights organisations," Mr Shaklein remarked. 28.10.2005 Mothers of Beslan demand resignation of Putin, Patrushev and Nurgaliyev RUSSIA, Moscow. On October 27th, near the building of the General Procurator's office of Russia, victims of the act of terror in Beslan held a demonstration. "Putin, Patrushev, and Nurgaliyev are responsible for the blood of children", read a poster held by Ella Kesayeva, chairman of the Mothers of Beslan committee. We demand their resignation, she emphasized. They must answer for the fact that they did not save our children, but it is hardly possible to hope for justice in the courts of our country, said Kesayeva. To a question from a correspondent of PRIMA-News, about whether the victims of the act of terror intend to turn to the European Court of Human Rights, she answered in the affirmative. Participants in the action expressed distrust of the General Procurator's office regarding the investigation of the seizure by terrorists of Beslan School No. 1, where more than 330 hostages perished. They are especially disturbed by the recent statement of Attorney General Vladimir Kolesnikov's deputy asserting the innocence of officials in the loss of hostages, and by the fact that victims of the terrorist action were not allowed at the press conference. One of the inhabitants of Beslan arrived at the picket with a photograph of a woman and her daughter. The mother was burned alive in the seized school, and her daughter was shot by someone who is still unknown. Seven inhabitants of Beslan who suffered from the act of terror participated in the picketing together with members of the regional public organization North-East They held posters reading: "Enough of Kolesnikov’s lying and hypocrisy!", "Citizens Of Russia! Think!!! Each of you could be in our place!” the "Management of the Operational Staff – you must answer!", "International experts - investigate Beslan!” Some time after the beginning of the action, police from the Tverskaya OVD approached the participants and asked them if they had documentation for conducting the picket. Participants in the action answered that they would produce the document later, and reminded police about the loss of their loved ones, for which no one could answer. One of the police officers, a Senior Lieutenant, responded: "The murders were carried out according to the law". Documentation on the picket was not produced, and the police detained the participants and took them to the "Tverskaya" OVD. Journalists who entered the OVD building with the detainees were asked to leave. One of the Tverskaya OVD officers answered a question from a correspondent of PRIMA -News about the journalists’ removal from the police department as follows: "The Community Relations Center of the GUVD can tell you about that.” Translated by OM Kenney PRIMA-News Agency [2005-10-27-Rus-18] The "Russian-Chechen Friendship Society" is Under Severe Risk of being Destroyed by Russian Authorities. Its Director Stas Dimitrievsky Faces a Prison Term Vienna, 2. November 2005. In March and April 2004, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), together with the Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights (NNSHR), (re-)published two articles on the Chechen conflict, Aslan Maskhadov’s open letter to the European Parliament and Akhmed Zakaev’s appeal to the people of Russia. Both articles advocated a peaceful settlement of the conflict. In January 2005, in the aftermath of the Beslan tragedy, the authorities initiated criminal and administrative procedures against the RCFS, carried out by the prosecutor’s bodies, the Ministry of Interior, the tax inspection and the Ministry of Justice. These measures were clearly politically motivated and aimed at destroying the RCFS, one of the few independent and critical voices in Russia vis-Ă -vis the policy of the Government in the North Caucasus. The main target of the campaign of the Russian authorities is once again the freedom of speech, particularly on topics like Chechnya. It shall serve as a warning against all NGOs that they to could be persecuted any time, if they act in a way not liked by the Kremlin, for example by accepting foreign money for what the Kremlin regards as “political activities”. Russian President Vladimir Putin has again warned this summer that this is not tolerable for him. The different layers of the campaign against the RCFS are as follows: 1. Judicial case against the Pravo-zaschita newspaper. Justice Ministry / Prosecutors Office use Criminal Persecution under Article 282 of the Criminal Code (“Inciting ethnic hatred”) On 2 September 2005, Stas Dimitrievsky, as chief editor of the “Pravo-zaschita” (Human Rights Defence) newspaper, was officially charged under paragraph b of part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code (“inciting hatred or enmity on the basis of ethnicity and religion”), offences which carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison, for allowing the (re)-publication of two peace appeals by Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakaev. The bill was signed by the chief investigator of the Prosecutors Office of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Oleg Kiryukov. The case commenced in January 2005, when the Prosecutor’s Office of the Niznny Novgorod region initiated a criminal investigation into the publishing activities of the Pravo-zaschita newspaper, and Stas Dimitrievsky and his colleagues in Nizhny Novgorod, as well as their correspondents in Chechnya and Ingushetia were questioned “as witnesses” since then. Some of them, particularly in Chechnya, quit their job after that, because they felt threatened. The main evidence for the charge is based on an expert opinion, which the chief investigator of the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the FSB ordered on 18 January 2005. It was carried out by the expert of the Privolzhsky Regional Center of Legal Expertise at the Ministry of Justice, Larisa Teslenko. Dimitrievsky did not have the right to acquaint himself with the order to carry out the expert opinion, nor could he put questions to he expert, nor did he have the right to challenge the expert or to offer his explanations, or to require to conduct an expertise by another expert agency. The preliminary hearing under this case is to be held on 3 November 2005, and the main hearing will be most likely scheduled for 8 November 2005. 2. The fiscal harassment of the RCFS, threatening the continuation of its activities. Authorities use tax claims, treating operating funds as profit On 15 August 2005 the tax inspection of Nizhegorodski district made Resolution #25 claiming that the RCFS had violated the Tax Code, and that they have to pay profit tax for grants to implement specific human rights projects in the period from 2002 to 2004 from three foreign donors. Additionally the tax inspection ordered them to pay a fine. The total amount of the claims is 1.001.561 Rubles (around 28.200 Euro). It had been in March 2005, when the Federal Tax Inspectorate commenced an irregular audit of the RCSF’s accounts for the past three years and confiscated accounting and registration documents of the organisation. The money that is treated as if it would be profit was for projects with the National Endowment for Democracy (under the US State Department), the European Commission and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. All three projects are clear cut human rights projects without any part that could be seen as profit. Additionally, the USA and the European Union have bilateral agreements with the Russian Federation that such grants are not taxed. On 24 August, the RCFS appealed this resolution at the arbitrage court, because they regard this as unlawful. Nevertheless, on 26 August, the bank accounts were frozen, and money compulsory withdrawn on orders of the tax inspection. Only on 4 October 2005, the RCFS again obtained access to their bank accounts, when finally the tax inspection of Nizhny Novgorod followed a 12 September resolution of the Arbitrage Court to suspend the orders to collect profit tax and fines from the RCFS pending a decision about the appeal by this same court. The tax inspection first had refused to follow the order of the court for more than two weeks and only complied after a further appeal to the Federal Service of Officers of Justice in the Nizhny Novgorod region. At the same time the RCFS submitted a complaint to the superior body of the tax inspection of the Nizhegorodski district, that is Federal Tax Service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. On 14 October, the RCFS received their answer that they are no complying with the request of the RCFS, stating that the RCFS has published Maskhadov’s and Zakaev’s peace appeals in its newspaper, which according to the Federal Tax Service contradicts both the statutes of the RCFS and to article 2 of “some federal law”. The conclusion that the Federal Tax Service draws is that the RCFS has received the funds for implementing charity activities, and that “they are considered as a profit of the organization as it has spent the received funds beside the purposes of the projects.” Therefore, by stating that the tax claims were motivated by the publication of Maskhadov’s and Zakaev’s peace appeals, the Federal Tax Service acknowledged the political motivation behind their action. There is the strong impression that administrative pressure is imposed on the judge of the arbitrage court, Ms. Belyanina. The hearing of 26 October2005 was postponed until 16 November. The RCFS has invited international observers, which was strongly protested by the lawyer of the tax inspection who himself came with five (!) staffers of the tax authorities. 3. Interior Ministry uses criminal prosecution based on the tax claim On 6 October 2005, Stas Dimitrievsky was interrogated at the Nizhny Novgorod Region Department of the Ministry of Interor as a witness to the criminal case that charges the RCFS of “evading payment of taxes or dues in a big scale” (Article 199, Part I of the Criminal Code). This criminal case was already commenced on 2 September on the basis of the conclusions made by the tax inspection in their audit, even though their decision has been appealed. The RCFS learned about this only on 23 September, when Mr. Dimitrievsky was ordered to appear for a first interrogation. 4. Justice Ministry Registration Department uses the registration issue In late September the Justice Ministry held a hearing to nullify the registration of the RCFS on the ground that by law it cannot use “Russian” in its name. This case had begun in April 2005, when the Federal Registration Service (FRS) under the Ministry of Justice had undertaken an audit and then initiated a court case against the RCFS because of its failure to provide the FRS with required documents (documents, which had been confiscated by the Tax Inspectorate just some weeks before). For some time the attitude of the involved persons from the side of the Justice Ministry was that they would call the suit back as soon as the RCFS has changed the name of the organisation. But in the court hearing on this case on 26 October the representative of the Justice Ministry claimed to close the organization down. Through informal channels the RCFS was told that on this same day the head of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Ministry of Justice, Ms. Istomina, held a meeting telling her staffers that she had received an order from Moscow, and that they had to do whatever possible to close the RCFS down. The next, and maybe final, hearing of this case, was set for 2 November 2005. The organization then has one month to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court. 5. Unknown perpetrators use threats with leaflets On 9 September 2005, leaflets containing threats against the director of the RCFS, Stas Dimitrievsky, and the editor Oksana Chelysheva were distributed in the house where Dimitrievsky lives. Unlike similar leaflets which were distributed in March 2005 against Oksana Chelysheva, these leaflets contained real names and telephon numbers from a real organization, the National Bolshevik Party (NBP) of Nizhny Novgorod. From the beginning the RCFS believed in a provocation aimed at threatening the RCFS and discrediting the NBP. Contacts with the NBP confirmed this. On 13 September the local TV company “Kremlin” recorded a TV interview with Oksana Chelysheva, in which Chelysheva clearly said that the RCFS did not connect the threats with the NBP, and that the RCFS considered it as a clear provocation aimed at causing a clash between the RCFS and the NBP and at setting the investigation at a wrong track. When the “Kremlin” TV company then brought their report these statements were not included and the of-screen commentary stated that it was the national Bolsheviks that the RCFS suspects of threatening them. Therefore, Stas Dimitrievsky called the program editor of the TV company, Tatiana Ivanova. In the course of the discussion, which was recorded by Dimitrievsky, Ivanova claimed that the words of Chelysheva were not distorted, and added “we have information that the erasing of the site is part of the criminal prosecution” (Note: on 11 September 2005 hackers attacked the web-page of the RCFS and destroyed the database at the server of the provider; the RCFS could repair the damage). Background The RCFS, which was founded in 2000, is based in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, and has branch offices in Nazran and Grozny. The NGO distributes independent information about the human rights situation in Chechnya, Ingushetia and other North Caucasian republics, defends the interests of victims of war crimes and assists children and disabled people victimized by the conflict in Chechnya. The RCSF has repeatedly criticised the authorities of the Russian Federation for severe human rights and humanitarian law violations in Chechnya and surrounding areas. The RCFS received the 2004 Recognition Award of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). Conclusion The series of investigative and other measures in the past months targeting the RCFS, have apparently been aimed at obstructing their activities. As a result of official action taken in the most recent period, the important human rights work of the RSCF is now seriously threatened, and the safety of the members of the organization is endangered because of continued harassment in media and elsewhere. The outlook to the coming weeks is, that if the RCFS is indeed closed down on 2 November, the authorities can claim that the plaintiff in the arbitrage court (about the tax claims) does not exist any longer, and therefore close the appeal. By this they would have also automatically won the tax-case and could exact the rest of the claimed taxes. Stas Dimitrievsky then could be charged with all the accusations simultaneously (for “gross tax evasion” under Article 199, for enciting public enmity under Article 282), and the case would be considered by the court of general jurisdiction, where he could face a long prison term. ******* The International Helsinki Federation (IHF) urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to: · Put an end to all harassment against the RCSF and take effective measures to ensure the safety and integrity of Stanislav Dmtrievsky, Oksana Chelysheva and other members of the RCSF; · Protect the rights of all human rights defenders in the country in accordance with international standards, including the Declaration on Humans Rights Defenders (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998), article 1 of which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”; See also: IHF statement, "Russian Federation: Nizhny Novgorod Authorities Launch Final Crackdown on Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. Today’s Protest Picket Dissolved after Five Minutes – Participants Detained", 2 September 2005. IHF statement, “Continuing Persecution of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society. Its Partner Organisation Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Society Closed Down by Authorities”, 10 June 2005 IHF statement, “”We Fear for the Safety of our Colleagues in the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society… Russian Human Rights Organization Threatened”, 19 March 2005 IHF statement, “FSB Raids the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society”, 20 January 2005 IHF/NHC Report, The Silencing of Human Rights Defenders in Chechnya and Ingushetia, Sept. 2004 For further information: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights In Vienna: Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director, +43-1-408 88 22 or +43 -676-635 66 12; Henriette Schroeder, IHF Press Officer, +43-676-725 48 29 In Moscow: Tanya Lokshina, +7 -916-624 19 06 Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, Stas Dimitrievsky, Oksana Chelysheva, +7-8312-171 666 or +7-920 0115 3306 (mobile) RCIA reports Nizniy Novgorod Report # 795 The court hearing concerning the demand of the Ministry of Justice to close the RCFS down has been postponed On 2 November 2005 the judge of Nizhny Novgorod region Court Samartseva postponed consideration of the suit lodged by the Ministry of Justice against the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society with the demand to close the organization down. The time for the next hearing has not been fixed. The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society was represented by Alexander Lavrent'ev who appealed not to consider the suit as according to the “Law on Public Associations” the registration body has not right to lodge a suit with the demand to destroy an organization. After the judge made a decision not to comply with the request, the RCFS representatives stated that they were going to appeal this decision in the superior court by submitting a complaint. The judge made a decision to postpone the case hearing for an indefinite period of time until the case is considered by the Panel of Judges on civil cases at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. As a rule, it takes not less than a month to consider such complaints. As we reported before, this case had begun on 8 April 2005, when the Federal Registration Service (FRS) under the Ministry of Justice had undertaken an audit and then initiated a court case against the RCFS because of its failure to provide the FRS with required documents (documents, which had been confiscated by the Tax Inspectorate just some weeks before) (see O.R. 775 680 403). For some time the attitude of the involved persons from the side of the Justice Ministry was that they would call the suit back as soon as the RCFS has changed the name of the organization. But in the court hearing on this case on 26 October the representative of the Justice Ministry claimed to close the organization down. (From our correspondent) Shatoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 794 Armed clash in Aslambek-Sheripovo settlement On 30 October 2005 there was an armed clash between the Russian military and the Chechen guerrillas in the village of Aslambek-Sheripovo of the Chechen Shatoy district. According to the preliminary obtained information, both sides sustained casualties. That day at dawn local people saw many military armored vehicles of the Russian federal forces with a lot of manpower in them moving from Shatoy district center in the direction of the settlement of Aslambek-Sheripovo. At about midday there started intensive crossfire in Aslambek-Sheripovo settlement. At about 12.30 the Russian artillery destroyed one of the houses in the village. Then two corpses of the alleged Chechen combatants were taken to the premises of Shatoy district police office. It became also known that one of the Russian policemen was killed in the clash and the deputy chief of the Shatoy district police office Arbi Kadaev was wounded. (From our correspondent) Shelkovskoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 793 Kidnapping of a resident of Chervlyonnaya settlement On 25 October 2005 unidentified armed people in camouflage took away Dakaev Akhmed Alaudinovich (born 1952) by force from his own house situated at the address 6 1st Lesnaya Street in the settlement of Chervlyonnaya of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district. A source within the Ministry of the Interior of the Chechen Republic, the perpetrators were moving around in a VAZ 21099 car (the license plate #023 PM 26th region). (From our correspondent) Grozny rural district. Chechen Republic Report # 792 Two male corpses are discovered near Petropavlovskaya village On 27 October 2005 the service personnel of Grozny rural district police office discovered two male corpses in the forested area situated near the village of Petropavlovskaya of the Chechen Grozny rural district. Two naked corpses were reportedly discovered at the distance of 200 meters from the road. The corpses remain unidentified. According to the information from a source within the Ministry of the Interior of the republic, the corpses bear signs evidencing that death was caused by a blast that happened approximately a month ago. (From our correspondent) Naurskiy district. Chechen Republic Report # 791 Assault at a police checkpoint On 30 October 2005 a group of unidentified people attacked checkpoint #172 situated at the bridge over the Terek River not far from the settlement of Levoberezhnoye of the Chechen Naur district. According to the information obtained from a source within the law-enforcement bodies of the Chechen Republic, two police servicemen manning the checkpoint were wounded in the assault. They were attached there from Sverdlovsk Region of Russia. (From our correspondent) Kurchaloy district. Chechen Republic Report # 790 Ammunition cache is discovered near Geldagan village On 30 October 2005 service personnel of Kurchaloy district police office discovered an ammunition cache in the forested area situated six kilometers away from the village of Gelfagan of the Chechen Kurchaloy district. They were being searched the area when they discovered a cache with firearms and explosives hidden in ground. The information was obtained from a source within the Ministry of the Interior of the Chechen Republic. (From our correspondent) Kurchaloy district. Chechen Republic Report # 789 Assault at a policeman's house On 30 October 2005 unidentified people opened automatic fire machine guns at a house belonging to Yusupov Adam Kantashevich (born 1969) in Vostochnaya Street in Kurchaloy district center of the Chechen Republic. Yusupov is an assistant of the local police officer. According to a source within the Ministry of the Interior of the Chechen republic, there have been injured people in the assault. (From our correspondent) Grozny. Chechen Republic Report # 788 Reports about three Russian militaries being killed in the center of Grozny have found no confirmation On 28 October 2005 at 8 am a radio land mine was detonated at the junction of Ordjonikidzevskaya and Krasnykh Frontovikov Streets when the Russian military vehicles column was riding there. A correspondent of the RCIA has managed to establish that three Russian servicemen and a passer-by (his particulars have not been revealed) who happened to be there at the time of the explosion were wounded. One of the Russian military servicemen is told to be in the critical condition. The “Radio Freedom” wrongly reported the number of casualties the military suffered as three killed servicemen and eight other wounded but it has found no confirmation. (From our correspondent) Shalinskiy district. Chechen Republic Report # 787 Road conditions have become better in Shali district center 28.10.2005. In the end of the last week the road police set traffic lights at the junction of Lenin and Ivanovskaya Streets in the Chechen Shali district center. A correspondent of the RCIA reports local people as stating that it has resulted in the decrease in traffic jams and road accidents there. The junction of these two streets is situated in the very center of Shali town. The traffic is always high there as the number of private cars has increased in Chechnya. It is expected that a few more traffic lights will have been set in some other main streets of the town by the end of this year. (From our correspondent) Urus-Martan district. Chechen Republic Report # 786 Abduction of a resident of Alkhan-Yurt At night from 26 October to 27 October 2005 unidentified people in camouflage kidnapped a resident of the village of Alkhan-Yurt of the Chechen Urus-Martan district Umaev M. The man was taken away from his own house situated in Lenin Street. A correspondent of the RCIA reports Umaev's neighbors as assuming that he must have been kidnapped either because of his brother's debts or his own political convictions. The information was obtained from a source within the Ministry of the Interior of the republic. As of the present moment, the whereabouts and destiny of the man remain unknown. (From our correspondent) Vedeno district. Chechen Republic Report # 785 The vicinities of Pervyaskoye village are being fired from helicopeters On 26 October 2005 the forested area situated in the vicinity to the village of Pervomayskoye village of the Chechen Vedeno district was subjected to firearm launched from submachine guns by two military helicopters of the Russian federal forces. The helicopters launched missiles at the area too. According to the locals, they heard bursts of fire for about an hour. They assume that it must have been caused by the disclosure of a group of Chechen guerrillas in the area. (From our correspondent) Grozny rural district. Chechen Republic Report # 784 A road accident on Rostov-Baku highway On 27 October 2005 at 8.30 am a “KAMAZ” lorry that went first in the column of military vehicles of a reconnaissance unit of the federal forces collided with a “Volga” GAS 31 car on the Rostov-Baku highway not far from the village of Chechen-Aul of the Chechen Grozny rural district. Fortunately, neither four passengers of the “Volga” car not its driver got injured in the accident but the car was badly damaged. (From our corespondent) Grozny rural district. Chechen Republic Report # 783 Threats to undermine a school in Starye Atagi: the nightmare continues On 27 October 2005 the editorial office of the RCIA received detailed reports concerning threats to undermine the building of secondary school #2 in Starye Atagi village of the Chechen Grozny rural district. It was reported earlier that on 21 October a notice had been left in the school containing threats to undermine it. Immediately after it all the lessons were stopped and pupils were sent home (see our newsletter No1563 from 21 October 2005). Sappers were called to the school but they didn't find any explosive device. A correspondent of the RCIA visited the school and established some other details of the occurrence. It turned out that the situation developed the following day. On 22 October another notice with similar content was found in the school. It said that there was no explosive device hidden in the school building but it was threatened with a blast at any moment. The people who left the threatening message warned to leave the school premises immediately. There were some other interesting details in the notice. For instance, it said that the people behind the plans to undermine the school building were headed by a person nicknamed “Angel”. As the school principal was out at that time, Petimat Osmaeva who was acting as the principal called sappers from a military unit stationed at the outskirts of the village in the premises of the notoriously known mill as it is the place where the last traces of dozens of disappeared people are reportedly established. Having come to the school building, sappers thoroughly searched all the school premises including the attic and the basement. Having found no explosive device, the military left. However, school teachers decided not to continue classes. They sent their pupils back home again. They explained their decision by the fact that they couldn't watch the military acting inside the school building. The RCIA correspondent reports the teachers as stating that they can't confide children's lives to representatives of the federal force agencies. (From our correspondent) http://www.ria.hrnnov.ru/eng/index.php