DATE=2/24/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=CHECHNYA KILLINGS
NUMBER=5-45505
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=GROZNY
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: International human rights groups are stepping
up their criticism of alleged atrocities committed by
Russian troops in Chechnya. The French group Doctors
of the World (Medicins du Monde) has denounced what it
calls "massive and systematic war crimes". The New
York-based Human Rights Watch has published the names
of 50 civilians killed this month in what it calls "a
pattern of summary executions" in the Chechen capital,
Grozny. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein visited Grozny and
reports that evidence of large-scale killing and
looting is not hard to find.
TEXT:
/// DOG BARKING ACT - FADE UNDER ///
A dog barks behind the high wooden fence at number 99
Communist Street in central Grozny. A sign scrawled in
chalk on the gate says "People live here".
We knock, and an elderly woman answers. She is
crying.
/// WOMAN SOBBING - FADE UNDER ///
"Lyuba, my daughter, she is dead" the woman sobs as
she opens the door. She stands aside to allow a
neighbor to come in, along with two journalists he has
brought along.
The neighbor, 52-year old Fyodor Sorokin, explains
what happened. It was exactly two weeks ago, at three
o'clock in the afternoon. A group of about 30 Russian
troops arrived on Communist Street, going house-to-
house in what they said was a search for Chechen
rebels.
But in what turned out to be an unfortunate twist of
fate, 74-year old World War two Soviet army veteran
Konstantin Sapronov and his 42-year old daughter Lyuba
Sapronova decided at just that moment to come out of
their hiding place at 99 Communist Street and go
around the corner to feed their dog.
When they failed to return, 78-year old Alexandra
Sapronova began to worry, and went outside herself to
see if she could find her husband and her daughter.
/// SAPRONOVA ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER
TRANSLATION ///
I was wondering why my people hadn't returned. Where
were they? Then I see the soldiers coming. They asked
me `Why are you crying, old woman?' I told them my
husband and daughter had gone out and not returned.
They said `They're over there lying in the road dead.'
/// END ACT ///
Fyodor Sorokin was also hiding in the house at 99
Communist Street when the soldiers arrived. He says
their main interest was not finding rebel fighters,
but televisions sets and other loot.
/// SOROKIN ACT ONE - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER
TRANSLATION ///
They were like real bandits, not Russian soldiers.
They took the guitar, the radio, and a bag with some
other things.
/// END ACT ///
After the soldiers left, Mr. Sorokin went outside and
picked up the bodies of his neighbors, brought them
in, and built two coffins out of scrap wood.
Two weeks later, the coffins still lie in the
courtyard of the house. In the ruins of Grozny, there
are no cars, so there is no way to transport them
to a cemetery.
But it is cold this time of year, so when Mr. Sorokin
opens the coffins to show the wounds, the bodies are
still fresh. He pulls open their shirt collars to
show neat bullet holes in each of their necks. Then
he exposes the ugly exit wounds under the arms. Both
have clearly been shot at close range, execution
style.
/// SOROKIN ACT TWO - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER
TRANSLATION ///
They shot here, and in the leg, too. It was the same
scoundrel (bastard) who shot both of them. She was
still bleeding when I moved her.
/// END ACT ///
As he replaces the lids on the coffins, Mr. Sorokin is
bitter. He says he cannot understand how Russian
soldiers can go around executing women and old men,
even loyal and decorated Russian war veterans.
/// SOROKIN ACT THREE - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER
TRANSLATION ///
Courageous Russians! Shot them to death! My younger
brother was killed in the first war, my brother-in-
law, too. My mother died from sorrow. This is all
the work of courageous Russians.
/// END ACT ///
As he speaks, Mr. Sorokin walks out of his yard and
across the street to point out the blood stained spot
on the road where his neighbor Konstantin Sapronov was
gunned down. A frightened little dog cowers and barks
just inside the gate. But something is wrong. A
closer look reveals that half the animal's face is
missing.
"Yes, they even shot the dog", Mr. Sorokin says, "but
he survived".
With Grozny closed to the outside world, there is no
way to know how many people -- and animals -- died in
the latest Russian offensive. A French doctor who
recently returned from a three-week mission in
Chechnya says he believes the death toll will be
higher than during the first Chechen war, which
claimed an estimated 80-thousand lives in 21 months.
Despite the heavy loss of life, Grozny survived the
last conflict. This time, however, the city itself
appears to have suffered a mortal wound. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/PLM
24-Feb-2000 06:18 AM EDT (24-Feb-2000 1118 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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