Journalist who reports from Chechnya again in Russian custody

Allegations of human rights abuses in Chechnya mount

February 26, 2000
Web posted at: 10:50 a.m. EST (1550 GMT)

In this story: Russia: Video footage misrepresented Troops bombard rebel stronghold RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

MOSCOW -- A radio reporter, the focus of international concern after he was arrested by Russian troops in mid-January, was again in Russian custody on Saturday, in the midst of increasing international criticism of Moscow for alleged human rights abuses in Chechnya.

MESSAGE BOARDS The battle for Chechnya Changes in Russia

Andrei Babitsky, a Russian national whose U.S.-funded Radio Liberty reports from the rebel-held portions of Chechnya have infuriated Moscow, surfaced again on Friday when he was detained during a routine passport check, according to the Russian Interior Ministry.

Babitsky was carrying a false Azerbaijani passport when he was arrested in Makhachkala, the capital of Chechnya's neighboring republic of Dagestan. Charges of document forgery had been initiated against him, ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Dagestan's Interior Ministry spokesman as saying.

Officials said he could face up to two years in jail.

Babitsky had mysteriously disappeared from public view after he was detained by federal forces in January. Russia claimed it had exchanged him for two Russian soldiers captured by Chechens. The swap, the officials said, had been done with Babitsky's consent.

Russia: Video footage misrepresented

Babitsky's latest arrest and a disturbing videotape have added to international concern about alleged human rights violations in Chechnya. The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles is expected to fly on Sunday to the North Caucasus to inspect refugee camps in Ingushetia and the Chechen capital of Grozny, ITAR-Tass news agency said.

Gil-Robles' visit coincides with disputes whether video footage of Russian soldiers piling bodies of Chechen men into a mass grave are images of atrocities or of Russians burying Chechen rebels.

Russian officials said the videotape, released by Germany's N24 Television, were Russian troops burying rebels killed in fighting, gathered from various battle sites.

The respected Russian daily Izvestia said it was its reporter who had filmed the videotape.

U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Friday that the footage and other reports of human rights abuses in Chechnya were "very troubling."

"I think it is imperative for the Russians to allow the appropriate international agencies unfettered access ... to find out what really went on," he said in Washington.

Regardless of the videotape, international human rights groups say they have been gathering other evidence and photographs indicating human rights abuses by Russian troops in Chechnya.

"The evidence about these abuses is just overwhelming and the denials of Russian authorities just cannot stand," Peter Bouckaert, of Human Rights Watch, told CNN.

Troops bombard rebel stronghold

But in Grozny, rebel snipers continued to fire on Russian positions, shooting from the basements of deserted buildings, ITAR-Tass said.

Meanwhile, Russian jets and helicopter gunships have been bombarding the Shatoi region by day, thwarting an attempt by about 2,700 Chechen rebels to break out from one of their last strongholds.

The rebels' Internet Web site Kavkaz.org confirmed the Russian gains and the intensive air strikes, which it said had caused widespread civilian casualties in the Shatoi area.

The Web site also said the rebels had ambushed and destroyed a 300-strong detachment of Russian troops near the village of Khorsenoy. The report could not be independently confirmed.

Interfax news agency said Russian troops had taken full control of the Itum-Kale district not far from the border with Georgia. It said up to 40 rebels had been killed in the fighting.

Russian authorities on Friday reopened border crossings between Chechnya and the neighboring region of Ingushetia, providing some relief for refugees trying to flee the war zone. Restrictions on movement inside Chechnya, however, appeared to remain in effect.

Russia sent ground forces into Chechnya in late September to fight separatist rebels whom it blamed for apartment bombings in Russia. The bombings came after Chechnya-based Muslim fighters invaded the neighboring republic of Dagestan in August and were driven out by Russian forces.

Correspondent Matthew Chance, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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NATO, Russia relax tense relations
February 16, 2000
Russia appears in control of Grozny's Minutka Square
January 31, 2000

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