Thirteen pro-Chechen gunmen who took 120 people hostage last week at an Istanbul luxury hotel, and four others suspected of providing them assistance, were in Turkey formally charged in court and ordered held until trial. Tuesday, May 1
A Russian Interior Ministry detachment raided Grozny’s central marketplace, beating dozens of people present in the place and shooting at local residential buildings. Three mutilated bodies of the marketplace’s staff were found in the area later on. It is not clear yet if there is a direct link between the raid and the killings. Wednesday, May 2
Demostrators took to the streets of Grozny in protest against the raid on Grozny’s central marketplace on May 1. A group of women errected barricades, urging authorities to find the offenders of a three-man killing in the marketplace. Thursday, May 3
The administration of Grozny joined the protest of local inhabitants and accused Russian troops of beating Chechen civilians and killing three of them during a May Day operation in the central marketplace.
Assisting Chechen refugees and protecting their rights in Azerbaijan are the major aims of the newly-established Committee of Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan. The committee intends to obtain a refugee status for 7,000-8,000 Chechens living in Azerbaijan now, without which the Chechens are not eligible for international humanitarian aid. Friday, May 4
A prominent Chechnya's religious leader, Mullah Nasruddin Matuyev, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen when he was returning home from the mosque in the village of Novye Atagi.
Head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Nikolay Patrushev, Minister of Interior Boris Gryzlov, and Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov held a meeting with commanders of the North Caucasus unified federal forces in Khankala, the headquarters of the Russian army in Chechnya.
The Russian President‘s special representative for human rights and freedom in Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov, said that seventy criminal proceedings had started against members of the federal forces in Chechnya, with twenty-two of them concerning killing of civilians in Chechnya.
Saturday, May 5
FSB head Nikolai Patrushev announced that due to security reasons the Kremlin-backed Chechen government would temporarily move from Grozny back to Gudermes. The government officially moved to Grozny on April 23, after the deadline for the move was several times postponed because of security concerns. Sunday, May 6
The views expressed on this web site are the authors' own, and don't necessarily reflect the views of Prague Watchdog, which aims to present a wide spectrum of opinion and analysis relating to events in the North Caucasus.
