From: MSN Nicknamepsychoteddybear24 (Original Message) Sent: 10/26/2006 8:32 PM
Chechnya Weekly - Volume VII, Issue 41
October 26, 2006
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Khanty-Mansiisk Cops Suspected in Politkovskaya Murder
* Alkhanov Says He Will Not Step Down
* Levada Poll Reveals Russian Doubts Regarding the Dubrovka Siege
* Umarov Releases Statement Marking Id Al-Fitr
* Briefs
* Dagestani Rebels Show Their Faces
By Andrei Smirnov
* Chechen Troops Accompany Russian Soldiers in Lebanon
By Andrew McGregor
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Khanty-Mansiisk Cops Suspected in Politkovskaya Murder
Kommersant reported on October 25 that investigators believe former officers of an Interior Ministry unit from Siberia’s Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous Okrug, which had been deployed in Chechnya, were involved in the October 7 murder of Novaya gazeta correspondent Anna Politkovskaya (Chechnya Weekly, October 12). Politkovskaya published an article in September 2001 accusing officers from the regional Department of Internal Affairs (UVD) in the city of Nizhnevartovsk of committing various human rights abuses while stationed in Chechnya. In particular, she accused Sergei Lapin, a senior lieutenant from the Nizhnevartovsk UVD’s criminal investigation department, known by his nickname “Kadet,” along with two of his superiors, Major Aleksandr Prilepin and Colonel Valery Minin, of complicity in the January 2001 abduction and murder of Grozny resident Zelimkhan Murdalov. In subsequent articles, she accused these and other members of the Nizhnevartovsk unit of murdering a number of other Chechen civilians. Novaya gazeta subsequently received an email death threat signed by “Kadet” and Politkovskaya fled to Austria for a time (The Monitor, October 18, 2001).
Nizhnevartovsk authorities brought charges against Lapin in 2002, but later dropped them. However, he was tracked down by the authorities after years in hiding and charged with various crimes related to Zelimkhan Murdalov’s disappearance and murder, including “intentional infliction of serious harm to health under aggravating circumstances.” Lapin was found guilty in March 2005 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. According to Kommersant, Prilepin and Minin, who are still wanted by the authorities, were recently spotted in Nizhnevartovsk. The Moscow Times on October 26 quoted a Nizhnevartovsk police spokeswoman as confirming that a team of investigators from the Prosecutor General’s Office had arrived in the Siberian city a week earlier to pursue the investigation into Politkovskaya’s slaying.
Novaya gazeta deputy chief editor Sergei Sokolov told Ekho Moskvy radio on October 23 that law-enforcement authorities had launched another criminal investigation, this one on the basis of an article that was published by Politkovskaya on March 20 in the bi-weekly. Politkovskaya’s article included her descriptions of and some clips from footage sent to her that was apparently shot by someone using a cell phone camera. One clip appeared to show the aftermath of a road accident involving a car belonging to Chechen siloviki and a Russian armored personnel carrier. Several Russian servicemen could be seen lying on the ground, apparently either dead or unconscious. The clip then showed, as Politkovskaya described it in the article, “people in Kadyrovite uniforms” beating another federal serviceman, who apparently had also been traveling in the APC, to the ground next to the other servicemen. “The crowd presses in, swinging with feet, fists, rifle butts,” Politkovskaya wrote. “Finally the crowd gives way. The bodies of the servicemen, sprawled on the dirty damp-clayey side of a Chechen road, remain lying motionless, facedown. One of the soldiers is kicked in the head; he doesn’t react—[he is] either dead or deeply unconscious.” Another clip showed a group of men wearing the camouflage uniforms of the Kadyrov-controlled Chechen security services forcing two men into the trunk of a car. Ramzan Kadyrov appeared to be among this group of uniformed men (Chechnya Weekly, March 23).
On October 24, Nezavisimaya gazeta quoted Acting Assistant Chechen Prosecutor Nadezhda Nazarova as saying that the republican prosecutor’s office was working on identifying the individuals who appeared in the video recordings that Politkovskaya wrote about, including the person described as resembling the Chechen prime minister. Nazarova told the newspaper that criminal proceedings have been instituted on the basis of the video recording back on April 24 under article 286 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, which concerns officials exceeding their authority. According to Nazarova, the prosecutor’s office asked Novaya gazeta for the video files. “The republican prosecutor’s office apparatus investigated the case,” Nezavisimaya gazeta quoted her as saying. “The video recordings in question were examined, but there was no confirmation of Ramzan Kadyrov’s presence on them. Indeed, he could not have been on them anyway. There was no confirmation of the presence of members of his entourage on them either.” Nazarova added: “I cannot say whether or not Kadyrov was questioned. But even if he did not offer an explanation, witnesses questioned on the spot did.”
The newspaper further quoted Nazarova as saying: “In the files it says that personnel from the Nevsky Internal Affairs Ministry regiment—the regiment guarding the oil complex—were at the scene of the incident (the episode involving the abduction). The regiment is comprised of former members of Akhmad Kadyrov’s security staff, but at the time it was officially part of the republican Internal Affairs Ministry structure.” Since no individuals had been identified, Nazarova said, the case was “suspended” on June 24. “I cannot say whether the case will go any further,” she said. “I can officially say that work on identification of the individuals is still proceeding. The suspension of a case does not mean it has been closed.”
Meanwhile, the European Parliament on October 25 issued a non-binding resolution urging EU member states to give “serious thought” to their future relations with Russia in light of the Politkovskaya murder, the Associated Press reported. Earlier, on October 18, the president of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Rene van der Linden, told a Moscow conference on democracy-building that he would demand from Russian officials that a thorough investigation into Politkovskaya’s murder be conducted, Reuters reported. Van der Linden was scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov while in Moscow.
On October 20, the international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the French government to strip President Vladimir Putin of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor that President Jacques Chirac awarded him on September 22. “It beggars belief that Putin has been given one of the greatest honors France can bestow on a person,” the group said in a statement. “A total of 21 journalists have been murdered in Russia with almost total impunity since he became president. Chechnya is a black hole for news coverage. Putin waited 48 hours before making any comment about the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, one of the few journalists to cover the Chechen conflict, and then he chose to say ‘her impact on Russian political life was minimal’”
Reporters Without Borders also noted that the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Russia twice, most recently on October 12, when it ruled that Russia was responsible for the murder of five members of a Chechen family by federal forces—Khasmagomed Estamirov, Khozh-Akhmed Estamirov, Toita Estamirov, Khasan Estamirov and Said-Akhmed Masarov—in the suburbs of Grozny on February 5, 2000. As Reuters reported, the court ordered Russia to pay 220,000 euros ($275,700), to be shared between seven relatives of the victims, in moral damages and a further 7,751 euros to be shared between two of the seven in material damages.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the editors of Novaya gazeta and Anna Politkovskaya’s son, Ilya Politkovsky, in Moscow on October 21, during her official visit to the Russian capital.
Alkhanov Says He Will Not Step Down
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov said on October 19 that he has no intention of resigning. As Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on October 20, Alkhanov was asked during a press conference in Moscow about the rumors that he would be forced to resign after October 5, the day Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov reached the age of 30—the minimum age for a Chechen president as stipulated by the Chechen constitution. Alkhanov responded that he had been elected by the people and that what happened in the future would depend on “the will of the Most High and the president of the Russian Federation.” Nezavisimaya gazeta commented that Alkhanov was clearly annoyed by the question about his rumored resignation, responding to it “through clenched teeth.”
Alkhanov also said during his press conference that Chechen fighters might take up arms on behalf of Abkhazia and South Ossetia if the breakaway Georgian regions were attacked by Georgian government forces. “I would not be bold enough to say that volunteers would not go to help the fraternal peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” Vedomosti on October 20 quoted Alkhanov as saying. He noted that Chechen volunteers had participated in various conflicts during that past 12-13 years, even adding that “if Georgia were attacked today, then volunteers would aid Georgia.” Alkhanov also claimed that Abkhazia’s October 18 request that Russia recognize it as an independent state reflected “the will of the people.”
Vedomosti quoted a source in “one of the Russian special services” as saying that the idea of using Chechens in a potential armed conflict with Georgia has both supporters and opponents within the Russian military and special services. According to the source, the arguments of the opponents “are connected not only with the negative experience of using Chechen volunteers under the command of Shamil Basaev during the Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-1993, but also with the fear of a possible destabilization of the situation in the North Caucasus and an excessive strengthening of Kadyrov,” the newspaper wrote. Thus, in the event of conflicts in Abkhazia and Ossetia, regular Russian forces would probably be used, the special services source told Vedomosti.
Levada Poll reveals Russian doubts Regarding the Dubrovka Siege
A poll conducted by the independent Levada Center timed to the fourth anniversary of the hostage seizure at the Dubrovka theater in Moscow found that a majority of Russians believe the authorities are hiding the truth about the incident. According to the poll, which was conducted in mid-October and the results of which were posted on the Levada Center’s website, Levada.ru, on October 23, only 5 percent of the respondents said they thought the authorities are telling the entire truth about the hostage seizure and the events surrounding it, while 51 percent said the authorities are telling only part of the truth. Another 25 percent said they thought the authorities are hiding the truth, while 9 percent said they are “lying and dodging.” As Gazeta pointed out on October 25, when the same poll was taken in November 2002, a month after the hostage seizure, 9 percent said they thought the authorities were telling the entire truth about it while 5 percent said they were “lying and dodging,” meaning that the level of trust has dropped over the last four years.
On October 23, 2002, a group of armed Chechen militants seized 923 audience members and cast members of the musical “Nord-Ost” at the Dubrovka theater center in Moscow. A total of 130 hostages were killed and more than 700 injured when Russian special forces stormed the theater. All of the hostage-takers—21 men and 19 women—were also killed. Most of the hostages died as a result of the narcotic gas that the security forces pumped inside the theater.
Kavkazky Uzel reported on October 23 that relatives of the Dubrovka victims plan by the end of this year to sue the high-level officials who headed the operational headquarters set up by the government during the crisis. The headquarters was headed by then Deputy Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Vladimir Pronichev (currently the FSB’s first deputy director) and then Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev (currently chairman of the State Duma’s Security Committee). The website quoted Tatyana Karpova, the co-chair of “Nord-Ost,” a group comprised of former Dubrovka hostages and victims’ relatives, as saying that her group had collected enough proof of the officials’ guilt to file suit against them. According to Karpova, only one federal investigator has been probing the Dubrovka case in the years since the incident. The Moscow Times on October 24 quoted Igor Trunov, a lawyer representing dozens of survivors of and relatives of those killed in the hostage seizure, as saying that Moscow courts have considered 62 of the 82 compensation claims that have been filed with them, and that damages have been paid in 41 of the cases. According to Trunov, the most money awarded to a claimant was 75,467 rubles ($2,803) and the smallest amount was 2,710 rubles ($100).
“Survivors of the attack say the authorities not only botched the raid but did not plan for the aftermath, when hundreds needed medical help and, critics say, did not get it,” the Moscow Times noted. “Doctors and rescue teams did not know which antidotes to administer to victims in the critical period immediately following the raid; this led to the deaths of dozens. Survivors also accuse authorities of hiding information about the lethality of the gas used.”
The English-language newspaper quoted Pavel Finogenov, whose brother Igor was killed during the security forces’ raid on the theater, as saying: “The feeling is simply that of disappointment in the authorities, which comes from the injustice we have been subjected to throughout the course of the investigation. We demand the truth. The question is not about compensation money. It is about the truth.”
“Nord-Ost” co-chair Tatyana Karpova said on October 26 that Anna Politkovskaya, who acted as a negotiator with the Dubrovka hostage-takers, would be included among the victims of the theater siege. “We consider her death a terrorist act and will enter her in the list of those killed in the terrorist act,” Newsru.com quoted Karpova as saying. As the website noted, it was thanks to the negotiating efforts of Politkovskaya and pediatric surgeon Leonid Roshal that the hostage-takers agreed to give the hostages food and water.
Meanwhile, Moscow Prosecutor’s Office told Itar-Tass on October 23 has been extended until November 19 and is likely to be extended even further. The investigation has already been extended six times.
Umarov Releases Statement Marking Id Al-Fitr
In a statement posted on the separatist Daymohk and Chechenpress website on October 23, Chechen rebel leader Dokku Umarov congratulated Muslims on the Id al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan. During Ramadan, the mujahideen of the Caucasus “continued to show the will and courage in defending the insulted and humiliated, sacrificing the most precious—their lives,” the statement read. “May Almighty Allah accept this holy blood as well on the way to Jihad—the best of sacrifices.”
It continued: “We are remembering today those who died on their way to Allah, innocents whose lives have been destroyed, and the ordeals of those who are being detained in Russian concentration camps. We pray for the souls of the killed and for the salvation of those who are suffering in the enemy prison. We are also remembering today orphaned children, and widowed sisters. May Allah protect them from the craftiness and cruelty of the enemy and keep them well off. And may all of those who are separated from home return free to Chechnya for our fatherland’s prosperity.”
Umarov concluded his statement by saying that the war is not yet over. “Our nation is still mourning for the killed, subject to violence and humiliation, looking for the missing,” it read. “The tragedy of the devastated and offended fatherland of ours continues. And mujahideen are doing everything they can in this unequal battle in order to forestall the enemy reaching its final objective. Pray for us, like we pray for you. By Allah, we are trying to go the way of Jihad with dignity for the glory of Islam and retaliation against our butchers. Patience and happiness to you. May Allah awards victory to everyone who is on His right way.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported on October 24 that a Swedish court had detained a Russian man accused of being involved in the 1999 kidnapping of a photographer in Chechnya, pending an extradition request by Russian authorities. The 29-year-old man, identified in court documents as Magomed Uspaev, with the alias Maga Zahkijev, is accused by Moscow of taking part in the kidnapping of Vladimir Yatsina, a photographer for Itar-Tass. Yatsina was captured by Chechen rebels in July 1999, and later murdered by those who held him hostage. Earlier this month, Sweden’s Justice Department received a Russian extradition request for Uspaev, which will be decided at a later date.
MosNews on October 25 quoted Uspaev’s lawyer, Richard Backenroth, as telling the Swedish news agency TT that his client was innocent of the charges. “He does not deny taking part in the [Chechen] conflict, but he denies any involvement in the kidnapping,” Backenroth was quoted as saying. Uspaev claims to be a cousin of Chechnya’s late former president and rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, which Backenroth said is the reason he is being targeted by Russian authorities.
BRIEFS
--ZYAZIKOV POURS COLD WATER ON CHECHEN-INGUSH REUNIFICATION
Ingush President Murat Zyazikov said on October 24 that neither Ingushetia nor Chechnya needs a merger of the two republics. “I, as president of Ingushetia, one of the presidents of the Vainakh people, want to state: today, we don’t need this,” Agentstvo Natsionalnykh Novostei (ANN) quoted Zyazikov as saying during a press conference in Moscow. “In the history of our country we have gone through all kinds of consolidations [and] mergers, [and] you yourselves know what it led to in many cases.” At the same time, Zyazikov said the two republics remain “together” in terms of economic, social and family ties. Last month, the speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, reiterated his call to merge the two republics, along with parts of Dagestan (Chechnya Weekly, September 8). The Soviet-era Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic was dissolved in June 1992.
--ALKHANOV SAYS CHINA TO FINANCE A FISH FARM IN CHECHNYA
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov announced during a press conference in Moscow on October 19 that the China Development Bank will fund a 100 million-ruble ($3.7 million) project to build fish hatchery in Chechnya, the Moscow Times reported on October 20. Alkhanov, who recently visited China, said the bank, possibly with other investors, will later build shops and restaurants to sell the fish, investing a total of $300 million in Chechnya. Alkhanov said the final details of the fish farm, with financial guarantees from Russia’s state-controlled Vneshekonombank, would be signed by November 11 during a visit by Chechen officials to China. According to the Moscow Times, officials at the Chinese Embassy in Moscow said they were unaware of the plans.
Dagestani Rebels Show Their Faces
By Andrei Smirnov
Sharia Jamaat, the Dagestani rebel group, has shown the faces of its leaders by posting a video appeal on the Kavkaz-Center rebel website. This appeal, posted on the website two weeks ago, is in fact the first video made by the Dagestani rebels. Previously, all statements and appeals in the name of the Sharia Jamaat appeared on the Internet only in written form, so that nobody was able to see who was really behind these documents and whom the authors were. The faces of the Dagestani insurgency leaders could be seen only when they were killed in special operations conducted by the republican police and FSB troops.
This 20 minute-long video appeal is interesting because it features the current Dagestani rebel leaders speaking live and gives an idea of their motivations and the propaganda methods that they use in Dagestan.
The video shows a group of eight Dagestani rebels, only four of them unmasked. All the fighters look very young, 20 to 25 years old. The appeal is made in Russian, which is natural for multiethnic Dagestan, so we cannot say exactly which ethnic group each of the rebels belongs to. The leader of the group sits in front and presents himself as Shamil. He is most likely Shamil Gasanov, whom the Dagestani Interior Minister this past August called the only rebel commander still alive among those who operated in Makhachkala, the republican capital. According to the Utro.ru website, Gasanov became famous last February after he shot dead two policemen in a Makhachkala café when they tried to check his ID (Utro.ru, July 18).
The appeal can be divided into several parts. The Sharia Jamaat appeals to Dagestani policemen and personally to republican Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov. The militants also appeal to ordinary local Muslims who do not support them or who sympathize with their cause but would not dare join the rebels. The rebels also describe their motives for fighting against the regional and Russian authorities and provide some details about their possible war tactics in future.
Addressing Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, Gasanov tries to humiliate and frighten him as much as possible. Instead of Adilgerei, Gasanov calls him Khamilgerei (“khamil” means donkey in the language of the Avars, the regional ethnic group that the minister belongs to). “If you, a boor and a reprobate, hear me, I tell you, you have managed to pass by our mine once, but next time you will be ours”, Gasanov says, demonstrating with these words that the Sharia Jamaat was behind the assassination attempt on the republican interior minister near Makhachkala this August (Chechnya Weekly, August 10).
Then Gasanov appeals to Dagestani policemen in general: “You know that we are in the cities and we are in the woods, but what is the use of it, you cannot catch us.” Addressing Dagestani Muslims, Gasanov shames those who do not want to recognize that jihad (holy war) is going on in Dagestan or who recognize this but are not willing to join the rebels. Gasanov uses both religious and social arguments to persuade ordinary Dagestanis to join the insurgency. He says that jihad is the duty of all Muslims and “to become a shahid (martyr) is the highest mercy of Allah.” The rebel commander then cites numerous human rights violations in Dagestan as proof that there are good grounds for jihad in the region, given that local Muslims are oppressed by infidels (Russian authorities). “All Dagestani authorities, policemen and officials are our enemies, they are enemies of Allah, and the Russian constitution, Putin and [Dagestani President Mukhu] Aliev mean nothing to us.”
Another rebel leader who makes a speech on the video uses more flexible arguments. He not only threatens Dagestani policemen with murder if they do not give up their jobs, but also tries to persuade them to switch to the rebels’ camp. “If you are Muslims you must be on our side, we fight for Allah and you fight for money,” he says. “If we die, we go to heaven, and if your die, you go to hell.” Then, the commander starts to speak about Imam Shamil, the Dagestani leader of the 19th century who fought against Russia under the Tsars. There is no doubt that Imam Shamil is the strongest argument in the rebels’ propaganda since he is highly respected by all Dagestanis. Appealing to Dagestan’s policemen, the rebels said, “If your respect Imam Shamil and if you have his picture on the walls of your houses, how can you confront those of us who want to establish Sharia law here, [who want] to fulfill the aim of Shamil’s struggle against Russia?”
Explaining the fact that they have been very quiet this year, the rebels say that this is their tactical choice, and that preparations for future attacks are under way. They promise to continue to use bombs and ambushes, but at the same time, they point to their grenade launchers and say that “one day we will attack policemen in their departments.” They also promise to use grenade launchers to attack Magomedtagirov.
This video by the Dagestani rebels could be explained by their need to remind the Dagestanis that they still exist. But the Sharia Jamaat’s long silence in recent months does not mean that they are weak. Moreover, such a long period of silence could mean that they preparing for a war on a much larger scale than in previous years. There have been several clashes in Dagestan recently, but all of them were initiated by local policemen and not insurgents. Four policemen were killed in the clashes; all of them died because they tried to check cars or IDs of rebels. This means that the Dagestani insurgents are continuing to follow a strategy of avoiding confrontation with police, while preparing operations on a scale that one can only guess.
Andrei Smirnov is an independent journalist covering the North Caucasus. He is based in Russia.
Chechen Troops Accompany Russian Soldiers in Lebanon
By Andrew McGregor
In a surprise move, the Russian Defense Ministry assigned security responsibility for its team of military engineers in Lebanon to two detachments of Chechen troops, despite the outcry from human rights activists who cite the units for incidents of kidnapping, torture and murder. In Lebanon, the Chechens will be operating in a land once ruled by Circassian Mamlukes from the North Caucasus. Neither the United Nations nor Israel was given advance warning of the Chechen deployment.
The engineers will build temporary bridges to repair what Russia’s Defense Minister described as Israel’s “barbaric bombing attacks” (Interfax, October 4). Press reports suggest that the idea of sending Russian Muslims as peacekeepers to Lebanon was broached in Moscow by a delegation of Saudi and Lebanese diplomats (Kommersant, October 4)
