Summary of the main news related to the conflict in Chechnya. Compiled by Prague Watchdog.
Monday, July 1
No major events.
Tuesday, July 2
The military court in Roston-on-Don, which looks into the case of Russian colonel Yuri Budanov, who in late March 2000 kidnapped, raped, and then killed 18-year-old Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva, instead of an expected sentence proposed to carry out a new, third psychological examination of Budanov's psychological state. The examination turned out to be crucial for Budanov's possible sentence.
General Moltenskoi, commander of the Joint Group of Federal Forces, said that the creation of local police stations in all inhabited parts of Chechnya will make it possible for the withdrawal of a large part of the group from Chechnya by the end of this year. After the withdrawal is completed, the remaining federal forces in Chechnya will number 22,000, Moltenskoi said.
Wednesday, July 3
Russian media reported that Abu Arsnukayev, the former head of the security service of the first Chechen President Jokhar Dudayev, asked pro-Moscow Chechen authorities to rehabilitate him, claiming he had committed no crime and is not linked to Chechen fighters any more.
The regional court in Stavropol, South Russia, jailed five Chechen fighters for 9-15 years - on charges including terrorism, carrying illegal weapons and hostage-taking - for their involvement in a raid on a hospital in the south Russian town of Budyonnovsk in June 1995. During the raid Chechen fighters led by Shamil Basayev seized a hospital and held over 1,500 civilians hostage.
Nikolai Ponomaryov, a special representative of the Russian Health Ministry, who has been working in Chechnya since November 2001 and was in charge of the reconstruction of health facilities in the republic, was killed when his vehicle hit a mine in Grozny, the ministry announced.
A group of human rights organisations associated in the All-Russian Committee for the Termination of War and Establishment of Peace in the Chechen Republic said they fully support the call by Ivan Rybkin, the former Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, who on June 28, 2002 sent an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he asked Putin to respond to the offer by Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov to launch peace talks.
Thursday, June 4
No major events.
Friday, June 5
A member of the Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship told Russian media that field commander Abu al-Valid, who was supposed to have taken command of units originally subordinate to killed field commander Khattab, drowned when crossing the river of Khul-Khulao and his corpse was later found by Chechen fighters, who took it away.
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