DATE=2/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BABITSKY FREED (L-2ND UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-259676
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A news reporter detained by Russian forces in
Chechnya more than one month ago says he was held in a
notorious prison comparable to the gulags of the
Stalin era. According to V-O-A Moscow correspondent
Peter Heinlein, the reporter has been released, but
still faces prosecution.
TEXT: In an interview with Russia's independent
television channel, Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei
Babitsky told of spending two weeks in the
Chernokozovo detention facility in northern Chechnya.
The 35-year-old Russian citizen says he was beaten by
what he called "sadistic" guards.
/// BABITSKY ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE TO
TRANSLATION ///
Newly-arrived prisoners are led along a corridor
to an interrogator. They must crawl through a
constant hail of blows from (guards wielding)
rubber truncheons. It is painful, but not
fatal. It is a light initiation compared to the
tortures inflicted on Chechens suspected of
cooperating with the bandits.
/// END ACT ///
Human rights groups say they have documented cases of
rape, torture, and execution of inmates at
Chernokozovo. However, a group of reporters taken on
a tour of the facility this week said they saw no
sign of ill-treatment, and Russia has vigorously
denied the allegations.
But Mr. Babitsky told of seeing prisoners whose bodies
were covered with burns and bruises from repeated
beatings, and hearing blood-curdling screams of men
and women in obvious agony.
/// BABITSKY ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE TO
TRANSLATION ///
Everything we read about the concentration camps
of Stalin's times, about German camps, it's
exactly the same there.
/// END ACT ///
Russian forces originally detained Mr. Babitsky in
January while he was on a reporting trip inside
Chechnya. But a few days later, officials announced
he had been traded to a Chechen rebel commander in a
bizarre swap for several Russian soldiers.
Colleagues and Radio Liberty officials expressed
skepticism about the swap and said they feared for the
news reporter's life. But he resurfaced last Friday
in neighboring Dagestan. Authorities there say he was
picked up in a document check in a bar, because he had
a forged passport.
Mr. Babitsky says the passport was planted on him, but
Russia's First Deputy Interior Minister, Vladimir
Kozlov, says evidence in the case is clear.
/// KOZLOV ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER
///
He says that Mr. Babitsky was aware it was a fake
document, and he used it. Mr. Kozlov says the news
reporter showed the passport to the police and he
showed it at the hotel, so it cannot be denied that
he used a false document.
Officials have hinted that Mr. Babitsky could also
face a more serious charge of collaborating with the
Chechen rebels.
Nevertheless, Mr. Babitsky was freed Monday after
Acting President Vladimir Putin intervened. He was
flown back to Moscow and reunited with his children.
Officials of the U-S government-funded Radio Liberty
say Mr. Babitsky will likely hold a news conference
Wednesday to give further details of his whereabouts
and his treatment during the time he was missing.
(Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/JP
29-Feb-2000 13:23 PM EDT (29-Feb-2000 1823 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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