From: MSN Nicknamepsychoteddybear24 (Original Message) Sent: 11/16/2007 6:31 AM
Chechnya Weekly - Volume VIII, Issue 44
November 15, 2007
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Death of Ingush Boy Sparks Further Unrest
* Ingush Authorities Block Opposition Website
* ChRI Parliament Condemns “Caucasian Emirate” Proclamation
* Kadyrov Offers Umarov Medical Care
* Rebels and Security Forces Battle in Makhachkala
* Briefs
* Weaknesses in Moscow’s Chechnya Policy
By Mairbek Vatchagaev
* The Kremlin Calls on Shamanov Again
By Andrei Smirnov
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Death of Ingush Boy Sparks Further Unrest
A six-year-old boy was killed on November 9 by security forces during a special operation targeting a suspected member of an “illegal armed formation” who had allegedly taken refuge in the home of Ramzan Amriev in the village of Chemulga, located in Ingushetia’s Sunzhensky district. Kavkazky Uzel on November 9 quoted an unnamed Sunzhensky district law-enforcement official as saying that he did not have precise information about the incident because “federal power structures” had launched an operation in Chemulga that morning and kept local police away from the scene. The shooting, he said, took place inside the home of the Amriev family, during which Ramzan Amriev’s six-year-old son, Rakhim, was fatally wounded. Kavkazky Uzel reported that the site of the special operation was surrounded by personnel from Ingushetia’s branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB), who prevented anyone from entering or exiting Chemulga.
The following day, November 10, Kavkazky Uzel quoted the parents and relatives of Rakhim Amriev as saying they were convinced that the six-year-old boy was killed by a deliberate gunshot to the head and not because of a ricocheting bullet. According to Ramzan Amriev and his neighbors, the Amrievs’ home was surrounded by around forty members of the Magas-based “Anti-terror” directorate, who, through megaphones, demanded that the occupants exit the house one at a time. However, as soon as Ramzan Amriev came to the door, the door was smashed in and the entire Amriev family–Ramzan, his wife Raisa and their children: 17-year-old Luiza, 15-year-old Orshtkho, 11-year-old Laliska and 6-year-old Rakhim–laid down on the floor. The security forces then reportedly opened fire at the walls inside the home. After the shooting died down, it was discovered that Rakhim had been killed by a shot to the head, Kavkazky Uzel reported. His parents and neighbors then told a Regnum News Agency correspondent who arrived at the scene that they were convinced the security forces shot the child deliberately, not accidently. According to Regnum, security forces made the remaining members of the Amriev family, along with a group of neighbors, stand outside in bare feet: 22 people, only eight of whom are adults, were forced to stand outside without shoes for around a half hour. One mother was “roughly” prevented from putting socks on for he six-year-old child, the news agency reported.
In its account of the incident, Kommersant on November 12 quoted Ramzan Amriev as saying that three spetsnaz commandos had burst into his home, one of whom began shooting over the heads of the family members. The newspaper wrote: “At that moment, the Amrievs’ youngest son, six-year-old Rakhim, who was lying next to his mother ([and)] apparently frightened, jumped up. A bullet hit him in the back and he died on the spot. His mother, trying to shield her son, received a wound in the arm. After that, the spetsnaz forced the Amrievs outside and began to search the house. During the search, a Kalashnikov automatic rifle was found, but Ramzan Amriev contends that the weapon was planted. ‘They did that in order to escape punishment for the murder of a child: Rakhim supposedly accidently died during an exchange of fire,’ noted Mr. Amriev.”
The deputy head of the Chemulga administration, Aslan Amriev, told the Regnum News Agency that the security forces, who arrived in the village in six automobiles and two armored personnel carriers, had demanded that he tell villagers that someone had shot at soldiers from Ramzan Amriev’s house. Aslan Amriev said he refused to comply with the security forces’ demand despite the fact that they threatened to shoot him if he refused.
Kavkazky Uzel on November 10 quoted Ingushetia’s prosecutor, Yury Turygin, as giving his version of the incident. “Members of the special units blockaded the R. Amriev’s house and, according to them, they returned fire after they were fired on,” Turygin told journalists. “After that, during an inspection of the home, the body of the child was discovered with a head wound.” Turygin also claimed that it was Ramzan Amriev himself who was “a suspect in grave crimes” and the target of the special operation but that Amriev had not been found. Kavkazky Uzel also quoted the Ingushetian prosecutor’s office as claiming that security forces had found an automatic rifle and shell casings from automatic weapons of various calibers in the Amrievs’ home.
Despite Turygin’s comments, Kommersant reported on November 12 that the republic’s law-enforcement structures in fact had no claims against Amriev and had raided his house on November 9 in order to detain a certain Makhauri, who was on the republic’s wanted list for allegedly being a member of the “illegal armed formations.” Ramzan Amriev, for his part, told Kommersant: “Makhauri is our distant relative, but he lives in the village of Assinovskaya and has never stayed with us.” Amriev said he believed someone slandered his family and that the federal security forces targeted his home without verifying the accusation.
Kommersant quoted Bamatgiri Mankiev, a deputy in Ingushetia’s People’s Assembly, as saying that incidents in which federal siloviki target ordinary citizens without cause are becoming systematic. “The siloviki feel their impunity and therefore permit themselves such lawlessness,” he told the newspaper. Mankiev, who also heads the Ingush parliament’s commission for investigating human rights abuses, said that members of the republican parliament will make a special statement concerning the incident in Chemulga. “We will put before the federal authorities the issue of the responsibility of siloviki for violating the rights of local inhabitants,” he said, adding that the parliamentarians might demand the resignation of Ingushetia’s prosecutor, Yury Turygin. Mankiev asserted that Turygin was “clearly unable to handle the situation” and “rose in defense of the siloviki who killed the child.”
Kavkazky Uzel reported on November 10 that in the wake of the killing of six-year-old Rakhim Amriev, residents of Ingushetia are planning to hold a protest in Nazran on November 24. An organizing committee for the protest posted an appeal on the independent Ingushetiya.ru website stating that the aim of the protest is “to discuss the situation that has developed in the republic and appeal in the name of the people of Ingushetia to the president of Russia.” “Inhabitants of Ingushetia, fellow citizens, adults and youth, men and women, everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of our people, it is impossible to tolerate what is going on any longer,” the appeal stated. “Terrible things are happening here, but we are silent. The innocent are murdered – we are silent! Children are murdered – we are silent! The current leadership of the republic is busy only with enriching itself and is unable to end this lawlessness.”
Kavkazky Uzel on November 11 quoted one of the planned protest’s organizers as predicting that at least 10,000 people will participate. The website quoted Magomed Korigov, another organizer of the demonstration from the village of Sagopshi, as saying: “The republic’s current administration has completely discredited itself in the eyes of the people; it has no authority whatsoever. [(Ingushetian President Murat)] Zyazikov has brought so much harm to the people and the federal center has left so much vulnerable with its actions that the situation here is on the brink of a revolution.”
Kavkazky Uzel quoted Magomed Mutsolgov, head of the Ingush human rights NGO “Mashr,” as saying about the death of six-year-old Rakhim Amriev: “This is the most outrageous of all the cases of human rights violations that have happened in Ingushetia recently. A young child, who had only begun to live, suffered not during some sort of bandit settling of accounts or accidently as the result of ricocheting bullets, but from a direct gunshot to the head. It defies any explanation.” Mutsolgov added: “I believe that the leadership of the republic and country must immediately react to the incident. Those guilty must be taken into custody and called to account. The inhabitants of Ingushetia are indignant to the highest degree, and if urgent measures are not taken at all levels, a new wave of protests might begin in the republic, the consequences of which are hard to forsee.”
Kommersant on November 12 quoted Mutsolgov as saying that with the December 2 State Duma elections looming, the local authorities in Ingushetia will do everything possible to prevent the protest over the killing of Rakhim Amriev from taking place. If it does take place, Mutsolgov said, it will become a huge action against the administration of Ingushetia’s president, Murat Zyazikov. “The people are tired of the negligence of the authorities of Ingushetia,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kavkazky Uzel reported on November 14 that the United Nations Children’s Fund–UNICEF–released a statement stating its deep regret over the death of Rakhim Amriev and called on all sides to respect the lives of children, especially the right to life.
Ingush Authorities Block Opposition Website
The independent Ingushetiya.ru website, citing unnamed sources within Ingushetia’s Interior Ministry, reported on November 13 that Ingushetian Interior Minister Musa Medov had ordered two Ingushetian Internet providers, ZAO “ITT” and OOO “Telekom,” to block internet users' access to Ingushetiya.ru. According to the website, anyone inside Ingushetia who tried to access Ingushetiya.ru was being rerouted to a pornographic website. According to Ingushetiya.ru, the director of OOO “Telekom” Ibragim Albakov and his programmer Iles Dzaurov were summoned on November 12 by Medov and ordered to block access to Ingushetiya.ru, warning that OOO “Telekom” would be closed down if they did not comply.
Ingushetiya.ru reported that Medov was acting on the orders of Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov, who fears unrest if the opposition goes ahead with its planned demonstration in Nazran on November 24 to protest the killing of six-year-old Rakhim Amriev by security forces in the village of Chemulga on November 9. Kavkazky Uzel reported on November 13 that Medov, again acting at Zyazikov’s behest, also ordered the main mobile phone operators in Ingushetia–Beeline, Megaphon and MTS–to block access to Ingushetiya.ru via mobile phones.
Kavkazky Uzel on November 13 quoted the owner of Ingushetiya.ru, Magomed Yevloev, as saying that the main reason his website was being blocked was that Zyazikov fears that the truth about the situation in Ingushetia will reach “a maximum amount of the population,” as well as “federal structures” and the Kremlin. Yevloev told Kavkazky Uzel he thought his website was being blocked now both because of the protest demonstration set to take place in Nazran on November 24 and the Ingushetian authorities’ fear that residents of the republic will not go out and vote for the pro-Kremlin United Russia party in the State Duma elections, which will take place throughout Russia on December 2. Yevloev said the authorities in Ingushetia fear that by having access to Ingushetiya.ru, the public will find out about the “falsification” of the December 2 federal parliamentary vote in Ingushetia, which, he claimed, is “already prepared.” Yevloev said his website is lodging complaints with the Prosecutor General’s Office and Rossvyazokhrankultura (the Federal Service for Public Communications, Media Law Enforcement and the Protection of Cultural Heritage), which is the Russian government’s media watchdog, over the actions of the providers in blocking access to Ingushetiya.ru, adding that the providers’ actions include illegal behavior connected to, among other things, the dissemination of pornography.
Kavkazky Uzel on November 14 quoted the director of OOO “Telekom,” Ibragim Albakov, as confirming that people trying to access Ingushetiya.ru were being rerouted to a pornographic website. Albakov, however, categorically denied that his company had anything to do with it.
Police, Engineers Attacked in Ingushetia
Against the backdrop of growing unrest over the death of a six-year-old boy during a security sweep, violence against law-enforcement personnel in Ingushetia continues. Itar-Tass reported on November 15 that the chief of the transport police department of the Nazran railway station, Salman Arapkhanov, died after being shot by three unidentified gunmen in the garden of his house in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, in Ingushetia’s Sunzhensky district, the previous evening. On November 8, two policemen were attacked and seriously wounded by unknown gunmen in the city of Karabulak.
On the evening on November 13, unidentified attackers threw a grenade and fired into the home of a resident of Nazran’s Nasyr-Kort municipal district. The grenade failed to detonate and no one was hurt in the attack. On November 12, unknown gunmen fired on a car carrying three Russian communications engineers in Nasyr-Kort, killing one and seriously wounding the other two. As Ingushetiya.ru noted, the engineers were repairing a mobile-phone transmission tower belonging to the Megafon company, which is owned by the brother of Belan Khamchiev, who is heading the list of candidates that the pro-Kremlin United Russia party is running in Ingushetia for the December 2 State Duma elections.
ChRI Parliament Condemns “Caucasian Emirate” Proclamation
On November 14, the parliament of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) posted a statement on the Chechenpress website about the proclamation of a “Caucasian Emirate” by Dokka Umarov, the ChRI president and Chechen rebel leader (see Chechnya Weekly, November 1 and 8). The ChRI parliament said that Islam has been “the force which … strengthened the fighting spirit of our fathers and grandfathers” during more than 400 years of resistance against Russia. Morever the parliament's statement noted that while the ChRI constitution of 1992 designated Islam as the state religion, it also proclaimed freedom of religion for representatives of other faiths and thus established“an adjusted balance between the lofty religiosity of our people and the civilized forms of our sovereign statehood.” The ChRI parliament stated that the proclamation of a “Caucasian Emirate” in the forms and formulations used by Umarov in his video “converts our struggle for national liberation into the category of so-called ‘international terrorism’.” The proclamation of a “Caucasian Emirate” also strips the resistance forces of “legal status and legitimacy,” which cannot be permitted, the ChRI parliament stated. According to the statement, leading Chechen alims (Muslim scholars) have denounced the proclamation as “political sabotage” against the ChRI and its constitution, and an “indisputable evil” from the point of view of Sharia law, which also plays into the hands of the “Kremlin regime and the clique of national-traitors.”
The ChRI parliament’s statement claimed that a group led by rebel ideologues Movladi Udugov and his brother Isa Umarov was behind the proclamation of a “Caucasian Emirate” and accused this group of “ideological sabotage” during the period between the two Chechen wars and of “unleashing” the second Chechen war. The ChRI parliament called on resistance supporters to “rebuff the provocateurs decisively and not permit another provocation launched by the anti-Islamic and anti-Chechen group.”
Kadyrov Offers Umarov Medical Care
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov on November 14 called on Chechen rebel leader Dokka Umarov to emerge from the underground and confess before the people. Kommersant on November 15 quoted Kadyrov as saying that if the “seriously ill Umarov” agrees to do so, he can count on “qualified medical help.” The newspaper quoted acquaintances of Umarov as confirming that he is in poor health and claiming that he has gone to a mountain resort in Kabardino-Balkaria to recuperate.
“I emphatically call on Doku Umarov to get on his knees and with tears in his eyes beg the people for forgiveness,” Kadyrov said. In a direct appeal to Umarov, he added, “Your fellow terrorists have run to the West, and I advise you to do the same if you do not have the gumption to kneel before the people.” According to Kommersant, Kadyrov said “not one of the organizers or perpetrators of terrorist acts on the territory of Chechnya remains or will remain unpunished.”
Turning to the subject of Umarov’s health, Kadyrov said: “I have reliable information that Umarov is seriously ill; that he doesn’t have a single tooth in his mouth; that his legs are rotting from the cold. The winter will be cold; he will not survive it.”If Umarov comes out from underground, he can count on medical help and even qualify as an invalid, Kadyrov said. “Maybe he’ll be given the status of and an invalid of the first or second group and a court will determine at which ([prison)] colony it will be better for him to live out his day rather than rot in the mountains,” Kadyrov said.
Kommersant quoted Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky as saying that Umarov indeed has health problems. “In one of the armed clashes shrapnel destroyed his ([lower)] jaw, and now he has an artificial one,” he told the newspaper. “Besides that, his leg was injured in a mine explosion.” Babitsky said that Umarov has had access to medical help. “Umarov, as far as I know, is now located not on Chechnya, but in Kabardino-Balkaria,” he said. “Their ([the rebels’)] bases there have both medicine and good doctors.”
The Latvian newspaper “Chas” reported on November 9 that members of the Russian army’s recently-formed 34th motorized rifle mountain brigade were searching for Umarov in Kabardino-Balkaria, and that Umarov and members of his “gang” are suspected of being behind the murder of nine hunters and forest rangers murdered in Kabardino-Balkaria. Authorities believe the victims were killed after coming across a group of militants (Chechnya Weekly, November 8).
Rebels and Security Forces Battle in Makhachkala
Unidentified gunmen fired at a car with police officers on the outskirts of the village of Pokrovskoye in Dagestan’s Khasavyurt region on November 15, killing the driver and injuring another person, Itar-Tass reported. According to Dagestan’s Interior Ministry, the incident was the second attack on policemen on the outskirts of Pokrovskoye in recent days. On November 8, a senior police sergeant of the Khasavyurt Regional Police Department was killed in his own house in the same village.
Eight suspected militants were reportedly killed in a special operation in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, on November 12. Interfax quoted Dagestan’s Interior Minister Adilgerei Magomedtagirov as saying that seven men and one woman were killed when special police forces fired on an apartment building. According to Russian media reports, the security forces used a tank to attack and flatten the building. Footage shown on Russian television showed security forces using armored personnel carriers and a tank and firing heavy weapons into an apartment building.
Kommersant reported on November 13 that the security operation destroyed the “backbone” of the “Seifullah” (“Sword of Allah”) group that had carried out two attempts to assassinate Adilgerei Magomedtagirov and other terrorist attacks. According to the newspaper, the number of militants killed in the operation was nine, not eight: the bodies of seven men and two women were found in the ruins of the building, it reported. Kommersant quoted Magomedtagirov as saying that the slain militants had been members of the “Buinaksk Jamaat” who had carried out “tens” of attacks on police and soldiers. Magomedtagirov, however, did not mention that the group had tried to assassinate him. The newspaper quoted sources in the Buinaksk prosecutor’s office and police as saying the dead militants had previously been under the command of Sharia Jamaat leader Rasul Makasharipov and that after Makasharipov was killed in the summer of 2005, they went on to form “Seifullah.”
Briefs
