More Rights Abuses

From today's RFE/RL Newsline:

RUSSIAN TROOPS CONFESS TO MURDER OF CHECHEN CIVILIANS. Unnamed Russian servicemen have confessed to apprehending three Chechen civilians on the outskirts of Grozny on 16 November and shooting them in the back of the head as they lay prone on the ground, Interfax reported on 19 November quoting Maksim Toporikov, military prosecutor for the combined Russian forces in the North Caucasus. Nurdi Nukhadjiev, who heads Chechnya's service for the defense of constitutional rights, said the Defense Ministry has not clarified the circumstances of and motive for the killings, and he said that human rights groups intended to stage large-scale protests. LF

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST ARRESTED IN DAGHESTAN. Osman Boliev, head of the human rights NGO Romashka, was detained on 15 November while washing his car outside his home in Khasavyurt, Interfax and Chechenpress reported on 18 and 21 November, respectively. A search of Boliev's automobile yielded a hand grenade that served as grounds or charging him with illegal possession of weapons. He is reportedly also suspected of maintaining contacts with illegal armed formations. Boliev has lodged two formal omplaints with the Strasbourg-based European Court for Human Rights, one in connection with the abduction of a resident of Khasavyurt in October 2004 and a second in connection with the murder of a six-year-old Chechen girl during a "special operation" in the summer of 2005. LF