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06 July 2008

Mass Graves Discovered in Chechnya

07/03/2008 - Kommersant reported on July 3 that the first mass grave dating from the period of the second military campaign in Chechnya has been discovered in the republic’s Groznensky district. According to preliminary data, the grave could contain the remains of as many as 300 people. Chechnya’s human rights ombudsman, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, has asked Russia’s prosecutor general, Yury Chaika, to launch an investigation into the grim discovery. According to Nukhazhiev, the grave contains the bodies of people killed by federal artillery fire in 1999 as they were fleeing Grozny via the so-called “green corridor” that was set up for civilians trying to leave the besieged Chechen capital.




Chechen Rebels Ratchet Up Attacks Yet Again

07/03/2008 - On June 30, unidentified gunmen fired on servicemen from a unit of Interior Ministry Internal Troops located on the outskirts of the village of Komsomolskoye in Chechnya’s Urus-Martan district, Kavkazky Uzel reported. No one was hurt in the incident. On June 29, unidentified gunmen fired on a police headquarters in the village of Elistanzhi in Chechnya’s Vedeno district, killing Khamad Chataev, deputy commander of the Interior Ministry Internal Troops’ special Yug battalion and seriously wounding another battalion member. A civilian was also killed in the attack. Also on June 29, two policemen and the parents of a rebel who were trying to convince him to surrender were killed when they were ambushed by rebels near the village of Roshni-Chu in Chechnya’s Urus-Martan district, Interfax reported. The news agency identified the slain police officers as Senior Lieutenant Islam Abdulov, head of the criminal investigation section of the Shatoi district internal affairs department (OVD) and Captain Akhdan Arsnukaev, also with the Shatoi district internal affairs department. On June 27, four policemen were killed and four wounded in a shootout with rebels near the village of Dargo in Chechnya’s Vedeno district during which the rebels also shot up and damaged an armored personnel carrier. Two rebels were killed in the gun battle. RIA Novosti reported that the four slain policemen were members of the patrol-sentry service of the Chechen police force’s Kadyrov Regiment No. 2.

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Ingushetia’s Militants Reportedly Target Rights Abusers, Police Informers

07/03/2008 - Interfax reported on July 2 that unidentified attackers in Nazran, Ingushetia, fired grenade launchers and automatic rifles at the home of an officer with the criminal investigation department of Nazran’s main internal affairs directorate (GUVD) on the evening July 1. No one was hurt in the attack and the home was only slightly damaged. On July 1, two policemen were killed and five wounded in the Ingushetian town of Malgobek when their vehicles came under fire. A local police source told RIA Novosti that according to eyewitness testimony and a preliminary investigation, a group of unidentified assailants driving a Lada sedan opened fire on a police patrol vehicle, killing two law-enforcement officers and wounding three, and several minutes later attacked another police car. “Two police officers were wounded in the second attack,” the source said.