A group of less then twenty gunmen, who in protest against Russian action in Chechnya had held hostage dozens of guests and staff members in the Swissotel in Istanbul, Turkey, surrendered to the Turkish police early in the morning. Nobody was injured.
Russian prosecutors have investigated 329 crimes against civilians in Chechnya in the past 17 months, says the Progress report on the activities of the Joint Working Group on Chechnya presented to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Pro-Russian Chechen government headed by Stanislav Ilyasov moved officially from the second largest city Gudermes to the capital Grozny.
Tuesday, April 24
French photographer Brice Fleutiaux, who was kept as a hostage in Chechnya from October 1999 to June 2000, commited suicide, reportedly after a long period of depression. Based on his experience from Chechnya, Fleutiaux has written a book "Hostage in Chechnya" ("Otage en Tchechenie"), which was published in France several days ago.
Wednesday, April 25
Six policemen were killed and five injured as a bomb tore apart the criminal police building in Gudermes.
Skulls of 32 people were exhumed from the mass grave found on April 16 near the village of Gezikhoy.
Sixteen human rights organizations, including Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group, published an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to stop the forced relocation of Chechen refugees from the camps in Ingushetia back to Chechnya, which should be completed by the end of the year.
Thursday, April 26
Several hundred people gathered at Moscow's Pushkin square to demand an end to the Russian military operations in Chechnya and to call for the immediate launching of peace talks.
Friday, April 27
No major events.
Saturday, April 28
A court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced two former Russian servicemen to 15 years of imprisonment for their participation in Chechen armed formations.
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