DATE=2/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA (L)
NUMBER=2-259550
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Council of Europe's Human Rights
Commissioner, Alvaro Gil-Robles, is in Moscow for
talks with Russia's leadership about reports of
alleged human rights abuses in Chechnya. Moscow
correspondent Eve Conant reports Kremlin
officials say they will investigate television
footage of alleged atrocities committed by
Russian troops in Chechnya.
TEXT: European Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro
Gil-Robles met with Russian officials to discuss
allegations of executions, robbery, brutal
torture and rape carried out against the Chechen
population during Russia's military offensive.
The U-S based Human Rights Watch this week added
to a mounting number of allegations of abuse,
saying Russian troops in early February massacred
dozens of civilians on the outskirts of the
Chechen capital, Grozny.
Russian authorities have consistently denied the
allegations. But human rights workers say Chechen
refugees continue to give what they call
convincing evidence of brutality by Russian
troops.
Russian television has shown pictures of what it
says is a mass grave of Chechen fighters. The
pictures, made by a German television crew, show
mutilated bodies of several dozen Chechen men.
The pictures include footage of a tank dragging a
dead man across a muddy field and soldiers
throwing a body, wrapped in a blanket, off an
armored vehicle.
Russia's chief presidential spokesman on
Chechnya, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, said the pictures
required a thorough investigation.
/// Act Yastrzhembsky in Russian in full and fade
under ///
"This is serious material," he says. "All sides
must look into the circumstances of the death of
the people shown on the tape. After we answer
some questions," he says, "we will have a legal
evaluation."
But other officials, like Russian Federal
Security Services spokesman Alexander Zdanovich,
questioned the authenticity of the pictures.
/// Act Zdanovich in Russian in full and fade
under ///
"I believe this is all a falsification," he says.
"This could easily have been the burial of rebels
who had died in action. Talk of anyone shooting
these people," he says, "is pure nonsense."
Meanwhile, Russian troops are pressing on with
air and artillery attacks against the rebel
stronghold of Shatoi, near Chechnya's southern
mountains. Russian military officials say as many
as eight thousand rebel fighters have been forced
into the mountains and plan to launch counter-
attacks on Russian troops.
Russia's parliament Friday approved of a proposal
by Acting President Vladimir Putin to extend
until May 15th an amnesty for Chechen rebels
willing to lay down their weapons. (Signed)
NEB/EC/GE/KL
25-Feb-2000 07:47 AM EDT (25-Feb-2000 1247 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
