| World Food Program (UN) Bitter cold worsens plight of hungry Chechens Moscow, 26 January 2006 - WFP has appealed for urgently needed funds to resume food rations for thousands of people in Chechnya and Ingushetia now suffering from bitterly cold winter weather. Two months ago, a lack of funding forced WFP to stop assisting 150,000 people in the region -- some of the poorest and most vulnerable Chechens. Pledges of further assistance have still not materialized; WFP has only received 12 percent of the US$22 million needed for its current, one-year operation. Coldest winter in years Russia is facing its coldest winter in over 25 years with dozens of deaths reported as a result of temperatures dropping to as low as minus 33 degrees centigrade in some parts of the country. “This year the weather has been especially harsh," said Chris Czerwinski, WFP’s Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Russian Federation. "It is terrible that impoverished people who have already faced years of suffering now face dangerously cold temperatures with no food,” he said. “They desperately need our help, and they need it now more than ever,” stressed Czerwinski. Basic necessities shortage WFP’s current operation, scheduled to provide 36,368 metric tons of food commodities to a total of 250,000 people, is experiencing considerable shortages of basic necessities like wheat flour, oil, oats, millet and salt. The internal conflict in Chechnya, which started in September 1999, caused thousands of people to flee into neighbouring regions. The continuing precarious security situation has prevented most of the refugees from returning home. Dire conditions Some 37,000 displaced Chechens have managed to make it back since 2004, but are now living in dire conditions and struggling to survive amidst the devastation. WFP normally provides food for one third of the population of Chechnya, including 120,000 of the republic’s most vulnerable population, 26,500 in neighbouring Ingushetia and 131,000 primary and secondary school children in 409 educational institutions scattered across 14 Chechen districts. Thanks to targeted funding of US$2.4 million from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department, WFP has been able to continue its Food-for-Education programme for 131,000 primary school children. WFP activities Within WFP’s emergency operation, food assistance is provided through various activities: * soup kitchens for orphans, the disabled and elderly in Grozny * food-for-work activities, in which participants help to rehabilitate infrastructure and are paid with food instead of cash * food-for-training, in which displaced Chechens are taught marketable skills in order to become self-reliant * food-for-education programmes for primary and secondary school children * food-for-health in clinics as an incentive for tuberculosis patients to undergo and complete treatment http://www.wfp.org/english/?ModuleID=137&Key=1994 "Chechen Society" newspaper, #02, 25 January 2006 http://www.chechensociety.net Anatolii Kovler: ”There is an accelerated procedure for the examination of cases at the European Court ” There are around 200 applications against the Russian Federation from inhabitants of the Chechen Republic waiting to be examined by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In a short, exclusive interview, Anatolii Kovler, the Russian representative at the European Court of Human Rights, speaks to the “Chechen Society” newspaper about what the fate of these so-called “Chechen cases” and others may be. Interview by Timur ALIEV - Our editorial office has received several letters from inhabitants of Chechnya in prison who complain about the unfair nature of their conviction. They would like to put in an application [to the court], but knowing that you sometimes have to wait several years for the European Court to examine a case they do not even try. They are afraid that they will simply not live to see the examination of their application. Is there any way that the examination of cases can be speeded up? - In the Rules of Court for the European Court in Strasbourg, Rule 41 foresees a procedure in which cases can be examined “out of order”. Priority is given to minors, people whose lives are at risk, those who are terminally ill and also to those who could be deported to a country where the applicant may be at risk of torture or death. - Are there any guarantees for the safety and life of the applicant? There is a well-known case of an inhabitant of Chechnya, Zura Bitieva, being killed after putting in an application to the European Court. It happened in May 2003. - The applicant has to let us know, that there is a threat to his or her life. Then according to Rule 39 of the Rules of Court urgent measures can be taken to defend the applicant (from being kidnapped too). We let the government know. Within a month the authorities have to inform us what they have done about it. - At what stage are the applications from the Chechen Republic now? Applicants often complain that their cases can gather dust for several months at the Court. - Well, not for several months. Although sometimes it does take several months. “Memorial” [meaning the Human Rights Centre, Memorial, which also prepares cases to be sent to the European Court – ed.] has created a huge number of cases with many of the necessary documents missing. We request them. Sometimes they have lost contact with the applicants – they have gone abroad or something else has happened. Translated by Claire C.RIMMER "Chechen Society" newspaper, #02, 25 January 2006 http://www.chechensociety.net eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 25/1/2006 Shady action against rights defender The trial of human rights defender Osman Boliyev, leader of the human rights organisation Romashka ("Camomile"), will continue in Dagestan on 30 January 2006. The previous hearing was postponed because of non-attendance on the part of prosecution witnesses whose whereabouts is unknown. The human rights activist is charged with illegal purchase, storage, and carrying of weapons (Part 1 of Article 222 of the Russian Criminal Code). On 15 November 2005, traffic police officers convoyed Mr Boliyev, resident in Khasavyurt, to a local police station to examine his car which they said was like a recently hijacked one. On their way, however, Mr Boliyev's car was stopped by riot police officers. The traffic policemen passed him to the riot policemen and went away. The riot policemen delivered Mr Boliyev to the police station. There, the human rights defender was searched and a grenade, taken to pieces, was found on him. In the opinion of lawyers who, with the assistance of the Public Verdict Foundation, defend the rights and interests of Mr Boliyev, there are a number of strange points in the prosecution materials. "Firstly, the search was not conducted at the scene where Mr Boliyev was detained, but only at the District Division of Internal Affairs. If we examine this logic, Mr Boliyev could easily get rid of the grenade pieces while following the traffic policemen's car, but he did not do that," a press release of the foundation says. "Secondly, there was no description of the grenade in the documents submitted to the prosecutor's office. Thirdly, there were no interrogations of witnesses who had attended the search. (The interrogations were only submitted several days later.) Fourthly, there were no administrative detention materials among the documents submitted to the prosecutor's office for opening a criminal case." In the opinion of a number of experts, the main reason for detaining and charging Mr Boliyev is his public activities. The Romashka organisation which Mr Boliyev heads is the initiator of a major legal action with regard to abduction of a local resident, Mr Israilov, by officers of the Khasavyurt City Division of Internal Affairs in Dagestan. Together with Karinna Moskalenko, a commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and a legal expert for the International Protection Centre, Mr Boliyev drew up and filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. The court considered the complaint a priority one. Besides, Mr Boliyev made public the fact that officers of Dagestan's law enforcement agencies had been the cause of death of a six-year-old girl during a special operation for detaining crime suspects. Two women missing in Chechnya's Tolstoy-Yurt GROZNY. Jan 26 (Interfax) - Two women are missing in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt in Chechnya. Markha Soltukhanova, born in 1982, went missing on January 23. She has not been found despite a vigorous search, a source at the Grozny district administration told Interfax. Selima Takhrorbayeva, born in 1980, is missing in the same village. She went to work on January 23, but did not reach her sewing factory or return home, the source said. Police and local residents are searching for the missing women. Russian Justice Ministry Seeking Closure Of Leading NGO MOSCOW, 27 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Russian human rights activists say the Justice Ministry is seeking to close down one of Russia's biggest human rights associations, the Research Center for Human Rights. The Federal Registration Service at the Justice Ministry says the Center has failed to provide information about its activities over for the past five years. It has now filed a suit with a Moscow city court asking for the Center to be closed down. The Research Center's director, Lyubov Vinogradova, told RFE/RL's Russian Service that the Ministry's claims were groundless. The Research Center for Human Rights was set up in 1992. It groups several human rights organizations, including the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers. WPS- January 27, 2006 Friday Chechen lawmakers have declared war on abductors Aidar Buribayev THE PARLIAMENT OF CHECHNYA HAS DECIDED TO ESTABLISH A SPECIAL COMMISSION WHICH WILL INVESTIGATE ABDUCTIONS OF CITIZENS; The parliament of Chechnya has decided to establish a special commission which will investigate abductions of citizens. The new body is headed by Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, speaker of the regional parliament and a close ally of Ramzan Kadyrov. The parliament of Chechnya has decided to establish a special commission which will investigate abductions of citizens. The new body is headed by Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, speaker of the regional parliament and a close ally of Ramzan Kadyrov. The commission consists of people familiar with this problem (for instance, Magomed Khambiyev, former defense minister of Maskhadov's Cabinet). He gave up in spring 2004 because his *40 relatives were taken hostages. Ibragim Suleimenov, a general of the Russian Army and former member of the Duma who convinced Boris Yeltsin to release Beslan Gantamirov from custody at the start of the second Chechen campaign, is another member of the commission. The decision to establish the commission was made a day before the discussion of the Chechnya problem in the PACE. Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov said: "Lawmakers cannot replace law enforcement agencies. We will meet with representatives of the security structures every day." He noted that abductions have become the most topical problem for Chechen citizens. The regional leadership focused on this problem in December during Vladimir Putin's visit to Grozny. Putin warned Chechen lawmakers: "We must stop abductions of people and punish the guilty regardless of what structures they represent." Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov noted that 3,000 people have disappeared in the republic since the end of the first Chechen campaign. Defenders of human rights state that 2,000 to 5,000 people have been abducted in the republic. The Memorial center states that 316 people were kidnapped in 2005; 151 people were released; 127 people disappeared for good. Defenders of human rights are sure that the majority of abductions are linked with the activities of Ramzan Kadyrov's security service. Anyway, the Chechen legislature will not be able to reproach the separatists. The Chechen prosecutor's office stated yesterday that only 700 guerrillas operate in the republic. In other words, the commission's investigation can damage the official security structures. Alexei Malashenko, an expert of the Moscow Carnnegie Center, said: "Kadyrov will have to account to Putin and sacrifice someone from his team." Kadyrov's commission may try to shift the blame onto the federal forces. Source: Gazeta, January 25, 2006, p. 2 Translated by Alexander Dubovoi |