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Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - november 2007

Persoverzicht Tsjetsjenië - november 2007

2 november 2007

- Duma election campaign: (i) Member of the Central Elections Commission (CEC), Igor Borisov, told the press that in a letter of invitation to the OSCE bureau, Russia had recommended that 70 OSCE observers be sent to monitor the Duma election, but added that Russia is ready to consider increasing the number of OSCE observers if this is justified. (ii) US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is quoted as having described as “quite negative” the Moscow-proposed restrictions on election observers. (iii) Vedomosti publishes the list of 27 regional governors who have been ‘authorised’ by the Presidential Administration to use President Putin’s name and image in the election campaign. The list includes inter alia Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, St. Petersburg governor Valentina Matviyenko, Sverdlovsk governor Eduard Rossel, Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiyev, Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and others. (iv) Dailies report that the Russian Supreme Court has started considering complaints from three parties whose lists of candidates have been denied registration by the CEC to take part in the Duma election. (v) The CEC has approved a schedule allocating free airtime on federal TV and radio channels among parties registered to take part in the Duma election on 2 December. Under the schedule, free airtime will be made available starting from 6 November. (Interfax, MT, NG, RG, Vedomosti)

14 november 2007

- Truth commission on Chechnya: PACE is considering the setting up of a special Committee to establish historical truth about the war in Chechnya. RIA NOVOSTI sources in PACE state that the reporter on this issue will be Andreas Gross. He will present his proposal regarding setting up a committee in January 2008. (Vremya Novostei)

- Controversial general appointed: A general accused of human rights abuses in Chechnya will be appointed commander of the Defence Ministry's department for combat training, news reports said Tuesday. Human rights organizations have said that troops under Shamanov's command in Chechnya committed atrocities against civilians. In one instance, up to 40 people died when his troops stormed the Chechen village of Alkhan Yurt in 1999, human rights investigators said. (The Moscow Times, Interfax)

16 november 2007

- Strasburg pays real price for Chechnya: European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Chechen Citizen Khantabay Lhamidov's who's property and business was destroyed by the military. The Court ruled to pay Mr. Khamitob EUR 172.000, which is record amount so far. According to observers this decision opens way to thousands of such claims. Presently the authorities pay only RUR 350 000 (EUR 10 000) per family for the loss of property in Chechnya. (Kommersant)

20 november 2007

- Prosecutor warns of attempts to destabilize the situation in N. Caucasus: Deputy Prosecutor General in charge of the Southern Federal District, Ivan Sydoruk, yesterday stressed that terrorists had received more than $1.5 million to destabilize the situation in the Northern Caucasus ahead of the Duma election. According to Sydoruk, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan are the “most vulnerable regions” in this regard. (Gazeta, Interfax)

22 november 2007

- Chechen activists slam appointment of general accused of HR abuses: Kommersant points to a negative reaction by Chechen human rights activists, including Chechnya’s human rights ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, to the recent appointment of the former commander of federal troops in Chechnya, Vladimir Shamanov, to the post of the head of the Defence Ministry's department for combat training. Human rights activists have repeatedly accused federal troops under Shamanov’s command in Chechnya of human rights violations. (Kommersant)

23 november 2007

- Prosecutor demands long prison terms in officers’ case: The prosecutor has asked the North Caucasus District Military Court to sentence to 18 years and 20 years in prison two officers of the Interior Troops, Sergey Arakcheyev and Yevgeny Khudyakov, who are accused of murdering three Chechen civilians in 2003. (Interfax, Kommersant)

26 november 2007

- Trud (Saturday’s issue) publishes an article by Gennady Charodeyev, which reports on the Czech authorities’ decision to repatriate to Russia Said Batalov, a Russian national born in Chechnya. The daily notes that the decision is taken in line with the EU-Russia readmission agreement.

27 november 2007

- More violence in Northern Caucasus: (i) Media report on the killing in Dagestan of member of the Dagestani Public Chamber, Nariman Aliyev, and his wife. (ii) Electronic media report that a police officer was wounded in a shootout between policemen and militants today in Chechnya. (iii) Human rights activists have called on Russian Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, and the head of the Human Rights Council under the Russian President, Ella Pamfilova, to take control over the probe into the recent attack on a Ren-TV crew in Ingushetia. (Gazeta, Interfax, Kommersant, VN)

29 november 2007

- Interior Minister on situation in N. Caucasus: (i) Gazeta quotes Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev as saying that the situation in the Northern Caucasus, in particular in Dagestan and Ingushetia, remains complex and tense. He also highlighted an increase (by 20%) in the number of non-combat losses in the Interior Troops in 2007. (ii) A serviceman from the Yug (‘South’) battalion of the Interior Troops was killed and three policemen were wounded on Tuesday in Chechnya. (Gazeta, Interfax, NG)

30 november 2007

- Strasbourg Court rules against Russia: The European Court of Human Rights has ordered that the Russian Government pay €60,000 as compensation of moral damage and €6,500 in legal expenses to Zainap Tangiyeva, a Chechen woman who lost her mother, father and uncle during a counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya in 2000. (Gazeta, RIAN)

- Verdict in ‘Ulman case’ upheld: The Russian Supreme Court has upheld the North Caucasus District Military Court’s verdict against several special task force servicemen under the command of Cap. Eduard Ulman, who had been sentenced to long prison terms for murdering six Chechen civilians in 2002. The whereabouts of Ulman and two his fellow servicemen remain unknown. (VN, Gazeta)

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