Briefs

–EX-JUDGE SAYS INGUSHETIA ATTACKS STEM FROM FSB DEPREDATIONS

Boris Ozdoyev, the retired Ingush judge whose son Rashid was apparently kidnapped by the FSB after he tried to warn his colleagues in the Ingush procuracy and higher officials in Moscow of federal atrocities against civilians in Ingushetia (see Chechnya Weekly, May 5), told the Times of London last week that he had expected an explosion of violence in Ingushetia. “I felt sure it would happen,” he said. “The FSB works beyond any control and its illegal actions are creating terrorists….The relatives of these disappeared people have gone so crazy, I think they have turned to the rebels.”

–FORMER DEPUTY CHECHEN P.M. MURDERED IN MOSCOW

Yan Sergunin, who served as vice-premier of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration in 2001-2002, was murdered in Moscow by an unknown gunman on the night of June 24 to 25. The killer shot Sergunin and severely wounded his wife as the couple were leaving a downtown restaurant—then made his escape on a motorcycle.

–EUROPEAN RIGHTS BODY EXCLUDES CHECHNYA FROM AGENDA

In yet another victory for the Kremlin’s diplomacy, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted on June 21 not to include a discussion of Chechnya in its summer session. The next opportunity for the so-called “conscience of Europe” to debate the question will not come until October.

–REBELS STAGE ATTACK IN AVTURY

On the night of June 22 to 23—just one day after last week’s attacks in Ingushetia—rebel guerrillas mounted a much smaller raid on the town of Avtury in eastern Chechnya. In an interview published by the pro-Kremlin Strana.ru website on June 25, the head of the Shali district administration said that in the ensuing gun battle one serviceman in the Kadyrov administration’s security forces was killed, and another seriously wounded.

–TRIAL OF RUSSIAN AGENTS IN QATAR ENDS ON JUNE 30

The trial of two Russian intelligence operatives accused of murdering a Chechen extremist in Qatar is scheduled to end on June 30, London’s Telegraph newspaper reported on June 27. Correspondent Tom Parfitt reported from Moscow that Zelimkhan Yandarbiev’s widow has rejected an offer whereby she would have forgiven his killers in return for financial compensation. It is suspected that the offer, which might save the accused pair from a death sentence, came directly or indirectly from Russia’s Foreign Ministry.