News

Vice Prime Minister of the Chechen Government Ziyad Sabsabi met with George Kunz, a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Northern Caucasus, in Grozny on April 1.

Ibragim Khashagulgov, 1988, died in the Sunzha district hospital, Ingushetia, on April 1. He was badly wounded on March 25, when a Russian military helicopter suddenly assaulted the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia's Sunzha district.

Speaking about the campaign for refugees' return to Chechnya from tent camps in Ingushetia, human rights activist Kim Wiesener noted that "the situation here hasn't changed ? the refugees are still being pressured to leave by the authorities."

On March 26-28, Yerevan-Baku satellite TV conferences were held. They were organized by the Yerevan and Baku Press Clubs under the "Possible Resolutions to the Karabah Conflict: Expert Evaluations and Media Coverage" joint project, supported by the Open Society Institute Network Media Program.

The All-Russian Conference "Ways for Overcoming Xenophobia, Racial Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism in the Multination Russian Federation" was held at the training center Moskovsky on March 28-30, with the assistance of the European Union within the framework of a 3-year project.

The North Caucasian Counter-terrorist Center (Center T) has been created pursuant to an order by Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev.

On March 31, staff of the opposition newspaper Batumtsi were detained and conveyed to an addiction clinic for examination.

The resolution on political prisoners in Azerbaijan adopted at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2004 contains the requirement made to the republican leadership to settle the problem of political prisoners by the autumn of 2004. However, under the present circumstances Gummatov may not reach the end of 2004.

Chairwoman of PEN Armenian Center Anna Akopian, who is the wife of chairman of the Armenian Helsinki Association Mikael Danielian, told a press conference on March 31 that she and Mikael Danielian himself rated the March 30 attack on the rights activist as a manifestation of state terror against freedom of speech.

Federal security agencies together with Moscow-backed Chechen armed units are conducting large-scale purges in the villages of Sernovodskaya and Assinovskaya in the Sunzha district of the Chechen Republic.

In such a way, the members of the Union of Democratic Revival express their protest against the results of the 28 March parliamentary elections in Georgia under a proportional representation system.

Shaa Turlayev gave himself up as a result of special measures taken by the Chechen president's security service and law-enforcement agencies, reported the regional headquarters on the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus.

The chairman of the Ichkerian parliamentary committee on foreign relations, Akhyad Idigov, has sent a letter to the human rights organization Sintar via e-mail in which he asserts that Akhmadov's plan is a trap if not reviewed.

Council members considered the issue of the observance of rights and freedoms of servicemen deployed on the territory of the region.

The last tent was folded there today and the last 137 refugees left the camp for Chechnya.

A week before the elections for the Georgian parliament, South Osetia's parliament passed a resolution on the illegitimacy of this procedure on the territory of the unrecognized republic.

Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on March 25, US diplomat Douglas Davidson said: "The United States urges Russian federal and local authorities to support voluntary returns to Chechnya and to provide alternative shelter for IDPs [internally displaced persons] who wish to remain in Ingushetia."

Authorities of the Adjarian Autonomous Republic made an attack on the only opposition newspaper Batumtsi, reported the Our Adjaria political movement.

"We send a letter asking the prosecutor's office to provide information on virtually every abduction. They open a criminal case following every abduction. Most of the prosecutor office's replies to our requests say that the kidnappers have not been found," the Memorial spokesman, Dmitry Grushkin, said.

On March 26, Russian soldiers conducted a special operation in the village of Duba-Yurt, Chechnya's Shali district.