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Chechnya Weekly- January 10, 2008- Volume IX, Issue 1
January 10,  
 
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Kadyrov Threatens to Close TV Stations that Fail to Propagate Islam
* Chernokozovo Prison Inmates Allege Beatings and Torture
* Growing Number of Chechens Reportedly Seek Refuge in Europe
* Rival Rebel Groups Exchange Accusations, Issue Decrees
* Briefs
* Russian Forces Face Serious Problems Hunting Rebels in Dagestan’s Mountains
By Andrei Smirnov
---------------------------------------------------------------------Kadyrov Threatens to Close TV Stations that Fail to Propagate Islam
During a meeting on January 9 with district administration heads, district and city imams and television company chiefs, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov threatened to close local television stations that do not devote time to explaining the foundations of Islam in order to prevent young people from falling under the sway of propaganda by “Wahhabis, Taliban and other religious sects,” Newsru.com reported on January 10, citing the Chechen government’s website.
Kadyrov called on the imams of Chechnya’s mosques to demonstrate their knowledge of Islam on television, not in “squabbles” or “disputes,” and called on the TV company heads to provide airtime for this. “I, as head of the republic, guarantee the necessary financial and technical support on this issue,” Kadyrov said. “Television is a powerful instrument in the business of education. And today it is more necessary than ever for us to pay attention to the moral-ethical education of youth.” Kadyrov called on the administration heads and imams to monitor television programs and take measures to ensure that there are more programs of a “spiritual-moral and patriotic” nature. “We must be patriots of our land and the media must take direct part in the development of the culture of our people, and the most important thing required of us is to bring to society complete and objective information about the vital functions of the republic,” Kadyrov was quoted as saying.
Kadyrov said that the district television companies' broadcasts did not always correspond to the ethical or moral norms accepted in Chechen society. "The channels in question almost day and night show nothing but music clips and Western films," he said. "At the same time, their content is not edited. Films and clips that are almost amoral in character are presented on the air. I consider such things simply intolerable. At the same time, only individual television companies show broadcasts about their native land, the history of the republic, Islamic sermons, about the lives of our prominent compatriots and so on." According to Newsru.com, 54 television companies are registered in Chechnya but only 19 are currently operating.
Kadyrov's comments were his latest demands that traditional religious and cultural norms be observed in Chechnya. Last November, he told a government meeting that wedding salons in Chechnya must no longer sell or rent European-style wedding dresses and switch to selling “national wedding attire,” and also called on Chechnya’s culture minister to ensure that national dance and musical groups and other artists dress modestly (Chechnya Weekly, November 15 and 21, 2007). Later in November, Kadyrov called on all women in Chechnya cover their heads with scarves. According to the Associated Press, the call, which Kadyrov made during a television address, was a "recommendation," not a legally binding order or legislation passed by Chechnya's parliament (Chechnya Weekly, November 29, 2007). In September, Kadyrov ordered female government employees to dress "strictly in accordance with the republic’s dress code," stating that their apparel "must comply with the Chechen traditions" (Chechnya Weekly, September 13, 2007).
In a piece published by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting on January 9, Artur Israilov reported from Grozny that a sign had recently been posted outside the entrance to the Youth Chamber in the Chechen capital stating that women "without headgear" are not allowed entry into the building. Israilov wrote, "Similar signs have appeared outside many other government buildings." He added, "The Press House got its signpost with similar wording last month, but changed it a week later for a slightly politer one saying, 'Women are respectfully asked to observe national dress traditions.' Either way, though, the rules are being strictly enforced—the security guards refuse to allow women in if they are not wearing headscarves, whether they are guests or are employed by the press ministry or one of the newspapers located in the building."
Chernokozovo Prison Inmates Allege Beatings and Torture
The head of the International Committee on Problems of the North Caucasus, Ruslan Kutaev, has said that a group of prisoners in Chechnya's notorious Chernokozovo remand prison colony claim they have been the victims of beatings and torture at the hands of their jailers, Kavkazky Uzel reported on January 9. Kutaev, a former envoy of Aslan Maskhadov, the late Chechen president and rebel leader, told Ekho Moskvy Radio that 124 Chernokozovo inmates had signed a complaint that was sent to him. The complaint was also sent to Russia's human rights ombudsman, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, charging that healthy prisoners were being held together with prisoners infected with HIV and tuberculosis, and that prisoners had not been issued either underwear or bedding. He also said that prison staff was subjecting prisoners to "torture and beatings," and that it cannot be ruled out "spontaneous disturbances" will erupt in the colony.
Kavkazky Uzel noted that at the start of 2007, Chechen human rights ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiev also cited problems at the Chernokozovo remand prison, where, he said, inmates with tuberculosis and psychological disorders were being held together with healthy individuals. Nukhazhiev said 20 inmates had complained that evidence had been extracted from them using "illict and legally forbidden methods" but added that they had refused to register official complaints about torture, citing fears of reprisals by prison staff. As Kavkazky Uzel then reported, the press service of the Chechen prime minister said the abuses had been committed not by Chernokozovo employees, but by staffers ORB-2, an operative-investigative unit of the Southern Federal District’s main Interior Ministry department. Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has also accused ORB-2 of torture and other abuses in Chechnya (Chechnya Weekly, March 22, 2007).
Growing Numbers of Chechens Reportedly Seek Refuge in Europe
The head of the International Committee on Problems of the North Caucasus, Ruslan Kutaev, said late last month that a large number of Chechens are fleeing the republic for Europe. The Turkish website Ajans Kafkas on December 27 quoted Kutaev as saying that "Chechens are constantly seeking ways to be in Europe at all costs" and that 15,000 Chechens had left the republic over the previous six months, with 5,000 fleeing over the previous month alone.
The website quoted Kutaev as saying that Chechens were leaving because there is no future for them in their homeland. "Most of the Chechens who left are young people who see no good prospects of … having a nice future under the occupying administration of dictator Ramzan Kaydrov," he said. According to Ajans Kafkas, Kutaev declined to comment on how the figures were collected.
Whether or not Kutaev's figures are accurate, some European observers have confirmed that large numbers of Chechen refugees have been entering their countries. The website of Germany's Deutsche Welle, Dw-world.de, reported on January 4 that while German police say crime has not increased since Europe’s visa-free area was expanded on December 21, illegal immigration has "peaked" and many of those caught heading for Germany are Chechens with asylum status in Poland. According to the German international broadcaster, a "disproportionate" number of those caught attempting to enter Germany illegally "come from the war-torn Russian province of Chechnya and hold asylum papers that are valid in Poland but not in the rest of the Schengen area." Deutsche Welle reported that on December 25, police stopped 18 Chechens traveling in Polish taxis on the motorway connecting Berlin with Stettin in Poland. They were deported to Poland, where they had legal residency, and another 10 would-be immigrants from Chechnya were apprehended on the same highway later in the week. According to Germany's DPA news agency, more than 7,000 Chechens currently have permission to remain in Poland and 1,782 received legal asylum status in 2007.
The Czech News Agency (ÈTK) reported on January 5 that Czech police have tightened checkpoints fearing that mainly Chechens who are trying to get from Poland to the south of Europe will take advantage of last December's extension of the Schengen area. “Special attention is [being] paid to persons of Chechen nationality … in reaction to information that the Chechens who have applied for asylum in Poland could be moving across our territory to the south of Europe,” Czech police spokeswoman Barbora Kudlackova told ÈTK. The news agency quoted Public Czech Television as saying that Polish police had detained large groups of Chechen refugees still on Polish soil.
Meanwhile, Ingushetiya.ru reported on December 28 that a growing number of people are also leaving Ingushetia for Europe and that the number of migrants had increased significantly in the last five years. The independent website said that according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 3,555 residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia asked for asylum in Poland since November 2007, which represents a 70 percent increase in the number of Russian citizens seeking asylum in Poland. Ingushetiya.ru quoted Musa Kaimov, a columnist with the Chechen newspaper Groznensky Rabochy, as writing in the newspaper last September 20: "In Moscow, in Ukraine, in Belorussia, hundreds of Chechens are searching for channel through which to go abroad. They are cheated by guides, arrested at the border, yet the flow of refugees is not abating. If this tendency continues, Chechens may turn into a people without a homeland."
Rival Rebel Groups Exchange Accusations, Issue Decrees
The Kavkaz-Center website on December 24 posted the text of what it said was an “official statement of the Vakil (head) of the Vekalat of the Caucasian Emirate (the official representation of the Caucasian Emirate abroad) in connection with recent events in the Caucasus and information published in the media.” The statement, signed by Umar Dakaev, said that in connection with “known events in the Caucasus (the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate, the power struggle in Georgia and in Russia, etc.), various slanderous rumors, lies and disinformation are being spread using the ‘Chechen theme’, which is raised today as a propaganda shield by various groups and entire states.”
Dakaev said that “a Chechen murtad (apostate) Kakiev, who is the puppet leader of a gang called ‘Zapad’ (West),” claimed “Chechen special forces” had entered Abkhazia with intention to fight against Georgia “if needed.” This was a reference to Said-Magomed Kakiev, the former commander of the Zapad special-purpose battalion who is currently Chechnya’s deputy military commissar, who claimed last month that servicemen from the Zapad Battalion and the Vostok Battalion—the other Chechen-manned special-purpose unit of the Russian Defense Ministry’s 42nd Motorized Infantry Division—had been sent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia (Chechnya Weekly, December 20, 2007). Dakaev said of Kakiev’s claim: “Moscow has given maximal publicity to this statement, with the explicit aim of blackmailing, threatening and intimidating Tbilisi. It is clear that the criminal Kremlin regime is prepared to use the ‘Chechen card’ and the so-called ‘North Caucasus volunteers’ for its purposes, in view of the Kosovo problem and in event of a resumption of hostilities between Abkhazia and Georgia. I responsibly declare on behalf of the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate that there are no ‘Chechen special forces’ in Abkhazia, as there are no and will be no ‘North Caucasus volunteers.’ The Caucasian mujahideen will not participate in Moscow’s provocations, and will do everything possible to foil the plans of the Kremlin.”
Dakaev also denounced as “a crude anti-Chechen provocation” an article published in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper on December 23, which claimed that Georgian authorities were planning to assassinate the Georgian opposition tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. The article quoted from a purported audiotape of a senior Georgian Interior Ministry official asking Uvais Akhmadov, whom the newspaper described as “a member of a notorious gang of Chechen brothers who specialized in kidnapping and murder,” to kill Patarkatsishvili. According to the Sunday Times, the conversation was recorded by Akhmadov, who despite “his apparent willingness to go along with the plan” decided he “wanted nothing to do with it” and reportedly “tipped off the tycoon’s allies about the tape.”
Dakaev claimed the material featured in the Sunday Times had been supplied to British media by opponents of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. “I officially declare that Uvais Akhmadov is a private person and has nothing to do with either the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate or with the Vekalat (representative office) of CE abroad, or with the Armed Forces or with the special services of the Caucasus Emirate,” Dakaev said in his statement. “Unlike his hero-brothers Akhmadov, who became Shaheeds (inshaAllah) in the Jihad against the Russians kafirs (infidels), Uvais Akhmadov has never been a ‘field commander’.”
Dakaev also charged that Uvais Akhmadov had been “deceived and used” by Akhmed Zakaev, prime minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI)—who, Dakaev alleged, had arranged the meeting between Akhmadov and the senior Georgian Interior Ministry official who asked for Patarkatsishvili to be murdered. Dakaev called Akhmed Zakaev “a private person” and “a refugee” who has “nothing to do either with the Caucasus Emirate or with the former Chechen Republic of Ichkeria or with the mujahideen.” He added that Zakaev’s “activities” are being investigated “by the Mukhabarat (Intelligence Service) of the Caucasus Emirate” and that Zakaev “is accused of dissemination of appeals, in wartime conditions, to disobey authorities of the Caucasus Emirate, as well as for attempts to introduce sedition and disunity among the mujahideen.” Dakaev claimed that Zakaev “organized an illegal group of 5-7 members of the abolished parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers of the ChRI, by which he has tried to do shady deals in the name of ‘the ChRI government in exile’, by spreading lies, slander and disinformation in the mass media.”
Dakaev added: “In this regard, I officially declare that former Internet agencies of the ChRI, ‘Chechenpress’ and ‘Daymohk’, as well as other agencies related to these, have nothing to do either with the Caucasus Emirate or with the mujahideen. Neither the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate nor the mujahideen bear any responsibility for the information aired on these Internet agencies. In addition, Zakaev’s case is being reviewed by the Supreme Sharia Court of the Caucasus Emirate based upon facts of his remarks against Muslims, ridicule of Islam and Sharia and calls to Kufr (disbelief).”
Dakaev’s statement concluded: “I inform all interested parties on behalf of the Caucasus Emirate that the only legitimate authority that represents the Caucasus Emirate abroad is the Vekalat of the Caucasus Emirate. All other organizations, groups and individuals have nothing to do neither with the Caucasus Emirate or with the Caucasus or Chechen mujahideen. Any statements or measures taken abroad by anybody on behalf of the command of the mujahideen, the authorities of the Caucasus Emirate or the former ChRI without a warrant by the Vekalat of the CE will be considered as a provocation and will be perceived by the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate as deliberate hostile acts.”
Last month, Dokka Umarov, the erstwhile Chechen rebel leader who now identifies himself as Amir of the Caucasus Emirate Abu-Usman, issued a series of decrees, including one abolishing the political institutions of “the former” Chechen Republic of Ichkeria—including Umarov’s former post of ChRI president—for being “inconsistent” with Sharia (Chechnya Weekly, December 13, 2007).
Zakaev, for his part, announced on December 1 that the ChRI parliament had named him ChRI prime minister. In the statement, which was posted by Chechenpress, Zakaev condemned both “the traditional Islamic ideology a la [Chechen President Ramzan] Kadyrov and the ‘Islamic order’ a la [Chechen separatist ideologist Movladi] Udugov,” accusing the latter of attempting to “split the core of the armed Chechen resistance by creating another breakaway organization known as ‘the Emirate’.” Zakaev added that “bitter experience teaches us never again to allow such a manipulation of religious values” and that one of the “key tasks” for the new ChRI government would be to “preserve the unity of our armed forces.”
Chechenpress subsequently reported that Zakaev held a meeting in Warsaw on December 11 “with the candidates to the Cabinet of Ministers of the ChRI Government as well as Chechen Representatives, Honorary Consuls and famous human rights activists to discuss the composition of the ChRI Cabinet of Ministers.” On January 6, Chechenpress posted a series of decrees issued by Zakaev appointing and naming the new ChRI Cabinet of Ministers.
On January 7, Chechenpress posted an announcement by the ChRI Prosecutor General's Office that it had revived several investigations into crimes committed on ChRI territory between 1996 and 1999, including the murder of six International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid workers in Novye Atagi in December 1996 and the abduction and beheading of three British mobile telephone engineers in the republic in late 1998. The ChRI Prosecutor General's Office claimed it had received information from witnesses that, in both cases, Isa Umarov and Movladi Udugov had "ordered and inspired" the murders which, according to the office, were committed by Apti Abitaev and members of his group.
Briefs
- Six Rebels Reportedly Killed in Dagestan Fighting
A spokesman for Russia's Interior Ministry said on January 10 that Russian troops killed six rebels during a special forces operation in the Tabasaransky district of southern Dagestan, Reuters reported. Itar-Tass reported on January 8 that a militant had been killed and a Russian army serviceman injured in fighting in Dagestan's Tabasaransky district (see Andrei Smirnov's piece below). Meanwhile, on January 9, a bomb blast in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, hit a car in which Gazi Gaziev, the top railway official in Dagestan and a member of the republic's legislature, was riding, the Associated Press reported. The news agency quoted Akhmed Magomaev, head of Makhachkala's transport police, as saying that Gaziev and his driver were hospitalized with minor injuries and their lives were not in danger.
- Ingush Insurgents Kill Border Guards and Police Officer
A police officer was killed and another wounded in an attack by rebels in Ingushetia on January 8, Interfax reported. "Small arms and grenade launchers were used in the attack," the news agency quoted a North Caucasus security official as saying. "A major from the Sunzha district police department was killed, and a lieutenant from the town of Salsk in the Rostov region was wounded. He was hospitalized, and he is out of danger now." On December 27, rebels in Ingushetia ambushed a border guard's vehicle, killing two officers and wounding two other servicemen, the Associated Press reported, citing the Interior Ministry branch for Ingushetia.
- Russian Officers Sentenced for Murder of Chechen Construction Workers
On December 27, a military court Rostov-on-Don sentenced two Russian Interior Troops officers, Lieutenant Yevgeny Khudyakov and Lieutenant Sergei Arakcheyev, to 17 years and 15 years in prison, respectively, for the murders of three construction workers at a checkpoint outside Grozny in January 2003, the Associated Press reported. Khudyakov failed to show up for the verdict. Civilian juries had twice acquitted them for lack of evidence, but the case was sent to the military court after the Supreme Court's military branch annulled the verdicts at the request of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government (Chechnya Weekly, October 13, 2005 and January 18, 2007).
- Golos Beslana Goes on Trial for "Extremism"
Golos Beslana (Voice of Beslan), the group led by women in North Ossetia who lost relatives in the September 2004 school hostage siege in which more than 300 hostages died, more than half of them children, said on January 10 that Russian prosecutors are charging it with extremism. Reuters reported that the group, which has accused senior security officials of bungling the security operation in Beslan, said on its website (Golosbeslana.ru) that prosecutors had filed charges over a 2005 appeal the group issued to politicians in Europe and the United States and that a trial will get underway on January 14 in Nazran in neighboring Ingushetia. "It is self-evident they are carrying out an order from Moscow," Ella Kesayeva, who co-chairs Golos Beslana, told Reuters. "They may now declare our organization an extremist one and shut it down altogether. What do Ingush prosecutors have to do with a public organization registered in North Ossetia? We are a thorn in the flesh for authorities because we are holding an investigation of our own and point to the culprits of the tragedy, including top-level officials."
Russian Forces Face Serious Problems Hunting Rebels in Dagestan’s Mountains
By Andrei Smirnov
Russian security forces continue to comb the mountain areas of Dagestan looking for insurgent groups. Russian security officials believe that the severe cold in the mountains, which is in the minus 15-20 degrees Celsius—unusual for the North Caucasus—and heavy snowfall would make it impossible for the Dagestani guerrillas to survive if they could be isolated from mountain villages and if their dug-outs and bases in the forests were destroyed. On December 15, Russian police and Interior forces sealed off the village of Gimry in the mountainous Untsukulsky district, and as of today the village is still almost completely isolated from the outside world. An independent Dagestani journalist, Abdurashid Saidov, told Jamestown that a source in Gimry had informed him about the current situation in the settlement. According to Saidov's sources, police forces started the sweep in the village by dividing Gimry into several sectors. The locals were allowed to move only inside the sector they lived in and a nighttime curfew was imposed. Policemen, mostly of the Russian origin, conducted house-to-house searches, sometimes inspecting the same house several times. The officials announced that a dug-out full of weapons had been found in a house during these searchers and that some rifles, including a Kalashnikov, had been discovered along with ammunition in some of the other houses. According to officials, 59 residents of Gimry were arrested as terrorist suspects (RIA Novosti-Dagestan, December 24, 2007).
At the same time, the residents complained about police behavior, claiming that the security sources had engaged in looting and carried out illegal arrests. Kavkazky Uzel reported on December 20 that people in Gimry said the policemen deliberately planted weapons during the searches in order to create a pretext for the detention of one man. According to Abdurashid Saidov’s sources, the main problem for the locals now is their isolation from the outside world and inability to buy food. Saidov said that the residents of Gimry used to go to the city of Buinaksk in the neighboring Buinaksk district to sell the fruit they grow and to buy what they needed. Now, a Gimry resident can leave the village only if he or she is on a list, and his or her name can be struck off the list any time without any explanation from the police. Moreover, policemen and the military confiscated wooden cases with persimmon that the locals had prepared for sale, which is the main source of income for the villagers.
Security officials told the residents that the troops would stay in Gimry until “the situation is normalized.” It is unclear what they meant by that, especially considering the fact that a group of rebels that had a base near Gimry had successfully broken through the siege as far back as on December 20. While most of the Russian forces (about 1,000 troops) were concentrated in Gimry and terrorizing the local civilians, mountain routes nearby were blocked by small squads of Dagestani policemen from the Gumbet and Kazbek districts—two Dagestani districts adjacent to the Untsukulsky district. The rebels attacked a police post in the mountains, killing two police officers and wounding three, and left the sealed area under the cover of darkness (Kavkazky Uzel, December 21, 2007).
Unable to confront experienced and diehard insurgents, the police forces are trying to deprive them of the population's support in the Dagestani mountain areas. Gimry village was sealed off precisely for this purpose.
On December 28, Dagestan’s president, Mukhu Aliev, met with elders in Makhachkala, the regional capital. During the meeting, Aliev openly threatened residents of Untsukulsky district. Addressing the residents of Gimry, the republic's president said “for a long time the residents of Gimry did not behave properly.” He added: “I warned you many times that this day (the security sweep) would come to you sooner or later.” Aliev also warned the residents of Balakhoni, another Untsukulsky district village, saying, “we will surround your village and won’t let you rest” if the locals continue to help the guerrillas. Aliev also promised during the meeting “to make mincemeat of Balakhoni village” and said that the police forces would not leave Gimry anytime soon (RIA-Novosti-Dagestan, December 28, 2007).
Despite Mukhu Aliev’s tough rhetoric and the harshness of the mopping-up operation in Gimry, the recent events in Tabasaransky district, another mountainous district of Dagestan, demonstrate how difficult it is for the Russian forces to hunt the rebels in the mountains. On January 8, combined forces of the Russian army, police, Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service (FSB) Special Forces tried to surround a rebel squad in the Tabasaransky district village of Tsanak. According to official reports, the operation started at 5:00 a.m. and it was only at 9:00 a.m. that the first clash between the police and the rebels took place. This means that it took four hours for the security forces to locate the whereabouts of militants in a village with a population of less than a hundred villagers. Furthermore, the rebels attacked first and after several hours of fierce fighting managed to escape, retreating under heavy fire from helicopters, tanks and heavy machine guns (Kavkazky Uzel, January 9).
The security officials explained their problems by pointing to the difficult mountain terrain, snow and cold temperatures, but it should be noted that the militants face the same natural obstacles. There is a special mountain brigade in Dagestan - President Vladimir Putin’s favorite unit—but it is apparently unable to deal with such “problems” as mountain woods.
The hunt for the rebels is now under way in Dagestan, but its outcome may be different from what the authorities expect. Instead of eliminating the rebels, who find ways to escape every time they are surrounded the security forces, the sweeps will likely create more militant recruits from the villages that are now being swept or will be swept later this winter.
Andrei Smirnov is an independent journalist covering the North Caucasus. He is based in Russia.
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