Prosecutors deny information about civilians murdered in Chechnya

Interfax. Monday, Apr. 14

ROSTOV-ON-DON/GROZNY. April 14 (Interfax) - Representatives of the  prosecutor's office on Monday denied western media speculation about  the mass murders and extrajudicial executions of civilians in  Chechnya.  

In particular, 'Le Monde' cited the Chechen administration's secret  report and alleged that over 100 executions of civilians occurred in  Chechnya each month in 2002 and that over 3,000 dead bodies had been  found in mass graves.  Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky told Interfax he  did not know anything about the secret report on civilian casualties  prepared by the Chechen administration.  "As for the figures mentioned by Le Monde, we're talking about  clearly biased data selection," he said.  Civilian casualties in Chechnya may include people who died as a result of terrorist attacks, particularly those killed as a result of  a recent bus explosion, he said.  

"It is just absurd when they say that over 100 civilians died as a result of extrajudicial executions in Chechnya each month," Fridinsky  said.  He said that 156 murders have been registered in Chechnya in the past  three months, which is much fewer than the figures reported in western media.  Concerning the crime situation in Chechnya, Fridinsky said that the  total number of crimes in the republic decreased by 14% in the past  three months. The number of extremely grave crimes decreased by 4.5%  and grave crimes fell by 51%. The number of attempted murders  decreased by 11% and the number of unresolved murders fell by 6%.  "Unfortunately, the number of kidnappings, including by rebel groups, has not decreased yet," Fridinsky said.  Fridinsky admitted that graves are periodically found in Chechnya and  that their age varies from several days to several years. "Many of  the bodies have not been identified yet as not all the tests have  been conducted and it is too early to say whether these people were civilians or not," he said. The Chechen prosecutor's office told Interfax that it had not provided any official information for a report on civilian deaths in Chechnya.

"No one from the Chechen administration or other authorities have requested the prosecutor's information on this matter. We do not know anything about the existence of this 'secret report,'" Chechnya's Deputy prosecutor Alexander Nikitin said. "It leads one to believe that the figures were either chosen at random or the report itself is a fake and provocation," he said. Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen administration also expressed doubt about the existence of such a document. "I have not heard that such a report was prepared in my administration and I have never ordered it to be prepared. In any case, the figures given in the paper are clearly too high and the facts are debatable," Kadyrov said in an interview with Interfax on Monday. The author of the Le Monde article said that the report contained information about the violence reigning in Chechnya and that it had been sent to "the highest federal level." Le Monde alleges that the 30-page document is the first attempt to officially sum up the results of the crimes committed against civilians in Chechnya. According to the paper, the section of the report devoted to murders committed in Chechnya between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2002 states that 1,134 civilians were killed in 2002 and that on the average 109 Chechens were killed each months. Le Monde also alleges that the report contains information about the number of mass graves in Chechnya, According to Le Monde, 49 areas where such graves were found are listed on two pages of the report.