Summary of the main news related to the conflict in Chechnya. Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
Monday, December 9
The Chechen Military Prosecutor's Office announced the establishment of a special investigation and operational group to search for persons who have disappeared in the region. The group should start working as of January 1, 2003.
The office of Russia's Prosecutor General announced that it had sent to Great Britain a request for the extradition of Chechen politician Akhmed Zakayev, who was arrested by the British police on December 5 in London and then released on bail.
Tuesday, December 10
The Kremlin promised not to make moves aimed at forced repatriation of Chechen refugees from Ingushetia, said Lyudmila Alekseyeva, chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a member of the presidential human rights commission, after the commission's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wednesday, December 11
The participants in Moscow-backed "Chechen People's Congress", which was for security reasons moved at the last moment from Grozny to Gudermes, expressed their support to the planned referrendum on the new Chechen constitution and the republic's intergration into the Russian Federation.
The Bow Street Magistrates Court in London for the first time looked into the extradition of Chechen politician Akhmed Zakayev, who was arrested by the British police in London on December 5 and then released on bail. The hearing will continue on January 9.
Speaking at a news conference after the preliminary hearing in front of the Bow Street Magistrates Court in London, Chechen politician Akhmad Zakayev called on Europe to act like in Kosovo in 1999 and to intervene in the war in Chechnya by deploying a peacekeeping contingent in the republic.
Thursday, December 12
The Russian presidential press service announced that President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree on the planned referrendum in which the draft Chechen constitution, the draft act on presidential elections and the draft act on parliamentary elections in Chechnya should be approved.
Several hundred people took part in a demonstration in the centre of Moscow, calling on the Russian leadership to end the war in Chechnya and launch talks with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. The protest was organized by the All-Russian Committee for Termination of War and Establishment of Peace in Chechnya.
Friday, December 13
No major events.
Saturday, December 14
Chechen field commander Salman Raduyev died in a prison in Solikamsk in Russia's Permskaya oblast, where he was serving his life sentence. Raduyev, who in 1996 carried out a terrorist raid on Kizlyar and then clashed with Russian forces in Pervomayskoye, was detained in March 2000 and sentenced in December 2001.
Sunday, December 15
Russian President Vladimir Putin met in the Russian capital with the head of the Moscow-backed Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov and Premier of the Moscow-backed Chechen government Mikhail Babich. They talked on social and economic issues, including the creation of an inspection for the supervision of the use of funds for Chechnya's reconstruction, and on staff changes.
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