Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - april 2007

• 2007-05-03
• Europa in de wereld

2 april 2007

- Berezovsky, Zakayev questioned by Russian investigators in London: (i) On Friday in London, a Scotland Yard detective and a Russian investigator questioned Boris Berezovsky in the inquiry into the killing of the ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko. The investigators also questioned Akhmed Zakayev, an exiled Chechen separatist leader. These were the first interrogations in the case made by Russian investigators in Britain. (ii) In a televised interview broadcast yesterday, a new witness in the probe claimed that Litvinenko’s killing might have been linked to Berezovsky’s seeking asylum in the UK. Press notes that Berezovsky called the new theory an attempt by Russian authorities “to cover the crime”. (Gazeta, Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, MT, RG, VN)

- Russian official’s visit embarrasses White House: Dailies report that President Bush came under fire over his meeting last week in Washington with Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, an advisor to the Russian Defence Minister and a veteran of two Chechen campaigns. Shamanov, who is also co-chairman of a US-Russian commission on missing soldiers, had been accused of overseeing some of the atrocities against civilians in Chechnya. (Kommersant, MT)

3 april 2007

- Strasbourg Court set to rule in disappearance case: In a front-page article, Gazeta reports that the European Court of Human Rights is due to rule this week in the case of the disappearance in 2000 in Chechnya of Chechen resident Shakhid Baisayev. The daily notes that Russia will mostly likely lose this case. Meanwhile, Chechen authorities are preparing a letter to President Putin with a request to assist in search of some 3,000 Chechen residents who have gone missing. (Gazeta)

5 april 2007

- Russian Ombudsman’s report on HR in Russia: Presenting an annual report on the human rights situation in Russia yesterday in Moscow, Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin said the majority of human rights violations in 2006 related to the social sphere (medical services, education and the housing sector). In an interview with Novye Izvestia, Lukin stressed that his office receives 300 complaints from Russians every day. He also expressed the view that the human rights situation in Chechnya has improved. (Kommersant, Novye Izvestia, RG, VN)

- Warlord killed in Chechnya: Police reported on the killing in an operation yesterday in Chechnya of a Chechen militant field commander, Amir Khairulla (Suleiman Imurzayev), on the eve of the swearing-in of Ramzan Kadyrov as Chechen President today. Ramzan Kadyrov said that in 2004, the killed militant claimed responsibility for assassinating Chechnya’s President Akhmat Kadyrov. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, NG, RG, VN)

- Prosecutors demand 83 years in prison for four defendants in Ulman case: According to Kommersant, prosecutors have demanded 83 years in prison to four special force servicemen headed by Cap. Eduard Ulman for killing six civilians in Chechnya in 2002. The daily writes that the prosecution has asked to sentence Ulman to 23 years in prison. (Kommersant)

6 april 2007

- Kadyrov sworn in as Chechnya President: Press reports on the swearing-in of Ramzan Kadyrov as Chechen President yesterday in Gudermes. At a ceremony, Kadyrov, the youngest of Russian regional leaders, renounced plans to sign an agreement on the division of power between the federal Government and Chechen authorities and spoke in favour of “further consolidating the vertical administrative system in Russia”. He also outlined that “human rights and freedoms will be the key goal”. Observers suggest that now Kadyrov will concentrate all the power in Chechnya in his hands. (Gazeta, Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, MT, NG, RG, VN)

- Strasbourg Court rules against Russia in disappearance case: The European Court of Human Rights has ordered that Russia pay a Chechen woman about 52,000 euros in damages and almost 13,000 euros in court costs related to her husband’s disappearance and presumed killing in Chechnya in 2000. The Court ruled that Russia failed to investigate the incident properly. According to media reports, this is the latest of some 200 similar cases pending before the Strasbourg Court. (Gazeta, Kommersant, MT, RIAN)

9 april 2007

- Ethnically motivated brawl at a Moscow university?: In a front-page article, Nezavisimaya gazeta reports on a brawl between students from Kazakhstan and Chechnya at Moscow’s Gubkin University of Oil and Gas in late March. Representatives of the University leadership, however, denied ethnic motives behind the brawl. (NG)

11 april 2007

- Chechnya Parliament approves candidate for Chechen PM: Chechen Parliamentarians have unanimously approved as Chechnya’s PM Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov-proposed candidacy of his first cousin Odes Baisultanov, 42. Kadyrov has cut the number of deputies to Chechen PM from 8 to 3 and brought law enforcement agencies under his direct control, thus “having concentrated political power in his own hands”, Kommersant points out. (Interfax, Izvestia, Kommersant, MT, RG, VN)

13 april 2007

- Defendants in Ulman case escape?: According to media reports, Cap. Eduard Ulman and his two fellow servicemen yesterday failed to attend a hearing at the North Caucasus District Military Court. Ulman and three other special force servicemen are accused of killing six civilians in Chechnya in 2002. Only one of the four defendants was present in the courtroom. Electronic media report that the prosecution asked the Court to put the three defendants in the ‘Ulman case’ on the federal wanted list. (Gazeta, Kommersant, NG, Novye Izvestia, Interfax)

16 april 2007

- Court puts three defendants in Ulman case on wanted list: Captain Eduard Ulman and his two fellow servicemen, who have not shown up at hearings in their trial on charges of killing six civilians in Chechnya, have been put on the federal wanted list by the North Caucasus District Military Court. (Gazeta, Izvestia, Kommersant, Novaya gazeta, VN)

17 april 2007

- Vice-PM discusses national projects in Chechnya: Dailies report on the visit yesterday to Chechnya by 1st Deputy PM Dmitry Medvedev to study the implementation of priority national projects in Chechnya in education, healthcare, housing and agriculture. Press quotes Medvedev as highlighting that “the situation in Chechnya has changed for the better”. (Gazeta, Izvestia, MT, RG)

20 april 2007

- Six policemen from Karelia wounded in Chechnya: Six policemen from Karelia were wounded in a night attack in Grozny on Wednesday. Media reported that one policeman was killed and two others wounded in an operation against militants in Dagestan on Wednesday morning. (Interfax, VN)