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INVESTIGATION OF CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS

24.12.1999 14:00

Participants:
YURI S. BIRYUKOV - Head of the Main Department of the General Prosecutor's Office for the North Caucasus, 2nd category state councillor (justice)
YURI P. YAKOVLEV - Deputy Military General Prosecutor of Russia ALEXANDER G. ZVYAGINTSEV - Head of the Public Relations Centre of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia

BIRYUKOV: I would like to begin with a crime review for the North Caucasus. Over 240,000 crimes (12% more than last year) were committed there in the first 11 months of 1999. The number of kidnappings went down by 3.8% and amounted to 279 (289 last year). In the past six years, 2,100 people were kidnapped in the North Caucasus, including 987 servicemen and over 60 foreigners. Of them, 850 (including 209 servicemen) were released.

Separatism has had a negative effect on the situation in the North Caucasus in the past seven or eight years. You remember what happened this past autumn, when Chechen separatists attempted to spread their influence to Daghestan and change the territorial integrity of Russia by tearing Daghestan from it. The militants seized villages in the Botlikh and Tsumadinsky districts of Daghestan. Criminal proceedings were instituted for all these cases. It has been established that brothers Shamil and Shirvani Basayev, Emir Khattab, Bagautdin-ali Magomedov and several others organised the armed revolt. The ruling was passed on taking legal action against 26 terrorists, who have been put on the wanted list.

We have dispatched 34 criminal cases to the Supreme Court and regional courts of Daghestan. They concern the rank-and-file participants in the revolt and members of illegal armed groups. One case concerns Ashikov, a translator of the international terrorist Khattab who ensured the militants' communications on the territory of the Tsumadinsky district. He has been convicted. By the end of this year, we will have instituted 50 proceedings.

The case of the explosion of a residential block in Buinaksk will be heard in court this coming January. The accusations have been presented to Daghestani residents Abdulkadyrov and Magomedov, as well as the Salekhov brothers, who had been put on the federal wanted list.

An analysis of the crime situation in the liberated regions of Chechnya shows that it is very complicated. Over 8,000 administrative breaches of law were exposed in the Nadterechny, Naursky and Shelkovskoi districts and the city of Gudermes, and 385 crimes were registered, including 14 murders, ten crimes involving grave bodily harm, 65 larcenies and five socially-dangerous acts related to the illegal acquisition, storage and disposal of drugs.

A half of all crimes have not been exposed yet. Since the beginning of the counter-terrorist operation, 65 grenade-throwers, 29 submachine guns, 14 handguns, five rifles, 364 grenades, mines and over 10,000 bullets have been confiscated in the above regions. Armed criminal groups attack the premises of the temporary Interior Ministry offices and commit acts of terrorism against peaceful civilians. Several persons have been kidnapped.

The bandit chieftains find different ways to maintain their influence. The leaders of the Chechen separatists plan to initiate the so-called national referendum in the republic on the secession of Chechnya from the Russian Federation. Seeking to present it as the expression of the will of the population freed from the bandits, the extremists will claim that they are acting on the initiative of the local administrations, which are being created in the liberated regions, and invite UN and OSCE observers to monitor it. The propaganda materials circulated by the separatists speak about, and stress, their influence on the foreign readership. The probable objective of such actions of the bandit chieftains is the desire to end the counter-terrorist operation, ensure the beginning of peace talks and thus get a respite necessary for forces regrouping and replenishing their material stocks.

The bandits used mine-throwers against the villages of Ozernoye and Verkhny Naur in the Nadterechny district, a fact proved by the investigation of this case. The attack killed ten, wounded 26 and destroyed eight houses.

We have factual material to prove that the bandits executed those innocent civilians in the Chechen Republic who resisted them by demanding that the bandits leave their village. The tragedy in Alkhan-Yurt has not been investigated yet, which means that we cannot draw any conclusions yet.

Some bandit groups are panicking. They are preparing to leave the republic in the guise of refugees and to escape to the neighbouring federation members using false documents, printed in Grozny. The Main Department for the North Caucasus pays special attention to exposing, finding and detaining those who actively supported the anti-constitutional Chechen regime, took part in and assisted the illegal armed groups. The "War" case has been instituted and is investigated in close collaboration with the FSB and the Interior Ministry of Russia.

We are searching for and exhuming mass graves of citizens, who had been exterminated by the bandits, as well as the kidnapped and the places of their detention in Chechnya.

[The demonstration of video tapes, provided by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia, exposed the bandit outrages in the village of Mikenskaya, Naursky district.]

BIRYUKOV: The witness you saw in the tape was interrogated. These events happened before the federal forces came to the Mikenskaya village. The local administration subordinate to Maskhadov was operating there. ITAR-TASS reported that we would question Aslan Maskhadov, because this looks very much like the genocide of a part of the Russian population of Chechnya. The Chechen president must take requisite measures. The ethnic Russians were outraged by that execution and lynched one of the killers in the village square.

This happened because the anti-constitutional regime, which developed in the Chechen Republic, did not respect human rights but waged extermination campaigns against ethnic Russians, who live in the republic.

VREMYA, ORT: Did the Office of the Main Military Prosecutor institute proceedings over the death of people in Alkhan-Yurt?

YAKOVLEV: The Main Military Prosecutor Office received a telegram from Vakhidov, administration head of Alkhan-Yurt, several days ago. Regarding the telegram as information that should be verified, we ordered the military prosecutor of the North Caucasian Military District to do this. He dispatched an investigation group to Alkhan-Yurt.

The rumours about the institution of proceedings over this case are not true. We are checking on this information, and no arrests are made during the verification period. We need a sanction of the prosecutor, a military or a territorial one, to arrest suspects. The military prosecutors have not issued such sanctions.

It has been established during the inspection that the village of Alkhan-Yurt was a fortified area, where up to 400 fighters were deployed. The command of the regiment stationed outside Alkhan-Yurt held negotiations with Vakhidov until December 1, asking him to make the fighters leave the village. But Vakhidov did not want to talk, fearing retribution by the fighters. The federal forces were shot at during reconnaissance sorties. Naturally enough, they used aviation in an attempt to protect their units. An attempt to break through the fighters' defences was made on December 1. We lost eight in killed and 37 in wounded, two tanks and two infantry fighting vehicles. And four infantry fighting vehicles were damaged.

ASSOCIATED PRESSE: Migrants from Chechnya reported facts of looting by the Russian troops. Did you investigate this information? And did you produce any relevant facts?

YAKOVLEV: We hold inspections on the people's requests. There are facts of looting, but they were not massive. Three cases were instituted during the developments in Daghestan. One of them concerns a murder, another the violation of rules of driving special military vehicles, and the third concerned a theft.

We registered one crime committed against locals in Chechnya, when a group of servicemen entered and opened fire in the mosque in the village of Sernovodskaya. They also attempted to steal religious artifacts, but were detained and arrested. Three crimes were committed against locals in other regions. Written requests contain many superficial information designed to discredit the armed forces.

QUESTION: Russo-Georgian tensions have been growing of late. Is the Office of the General Prosecutor collaborating with the Georgian counterpart in trying to preclude the movement of the militants across the border?

BIRYUKOV: We have no such contacts with the Georgian Prosecutor Office now, but contacts over the kidnapping of people took the form of the dispatch of international legal requests to the Georgian Prosecutor Office.

ZVYAGINTSEV: I would like to remind you of the Minsk Covenant, signed by both Russia and Georgia. Under it, we can take preventive measures. Russia is willing to do this, and we only need the desire of Georgia to start acting.

TV CENTRE: Premier Putin said some militants or those who fought on the side of Chechen bandits have crossed over to the federal side. Do you have such information? And what happens to such persons?

BIRYUKOV: The State Duma of the Russian Federation announced an amnesty in early December. And these persons are treated in accordance with the Duma resolution "On amnesty." But this does not concern those to whom the amnesty cannot be applied. I mean those who are guilty of grave crimes, murders and terrorism. We are checking these persons and decisions are made individually. Those who are covered by the amnesty are exempt from criminal investigation.

TV CENTRE: How many proceedings did you institute against those who have surrendered?

BIRYUKOV: The Main Department of the General Prosecutor's Office for the North Caucasus is investigating only one criminal case, "War." And the investigation groups are dealing with each individual in the framework of this case, including those who had laid down arms.

YAKOVLEV: The acting General Prosecutor went to Chechnya, where he addressed all armed groups in connection with the amnesty. He invited those, whose hands are not spattered with blood to surrender their weapons and be covered by the amnesty, thus becoming the full-fledged citizens of the Russian Federation, with all the ensuing duties of the state with regard to them. Go to your families, engage in economic activities and resume your civilian duties, he said. According to our information, some 10-15 people surrendered weapons in Mozdok, which will terminate the criminal investigation with regard to them.

ZVYAGINTSEV: It is not all the same to the Office of the General Prosecutor how legality is established in Russia, including Chechnya. The law is the law for both Russians and Chechens. During the past Chechen campaign, we instituted criminal proceedings against 1,500 citizens of the Russian Federation.

BIRYUKOV: The military prosecutor office is operating in Chechnya now. We have groups of military prosecutors, investigators and other legal specialists working in each direction. Since the beginning of the counter-terrorist operation, we instituted proceedings against 125 servicemen, and 42 of them (conscripted men, officers and contract servicemen) have been called to account.

TV-6: What crimes did they commit?

YAKOVLEV: The most widespread crime is desertion, which means that a serviceman left his place of service without permission. But it sometimes happens during hostilities that servicemen are taken prisoner by bandits. If we establish the fact, we do not institute proceedings against the serviceman in question. But there have been cases of service evasion, although not as numerous as in 1994-96.

Some servicemen mishandle weapons. Others lose military property, or steal weapons and munitions. There are nine suicide cases. And proceedings are instituted in each case.