NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) – A senior Russian rights activist said he and a television crew had been abducted and beaten by security agents in the southern region of Ingushetia, just hours before a protest against police brutality.
Archive for November, 2007
Top Russian rights activist says detained, beaten
November 24, 2007Fight Breaks out between Protesters and OMON and Special Forces. Officer Shoots Unarmed Person Point Blank
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 14:51
In the region of the town bus terminal near the “Ingoil” petrol station where the protesters have moved to, fighting has broken out. OMON and police officers, along with representatives of other law enforcement agencies, have entered the thick of the protest, attempting to disperse it and arrest the participants in the action.
Eye witnesses report that one of the police officers, provisionally identified as an officer of the mobile unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Russian Federation, has shot one of the protesters point blank.
Protesters Fight off Third and Fourth Storm. OMON Manages to Seize and Take away Kaloy Akhilgov
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 13:32
Protesters in Nazran have beaten off two more attempts to disperse the protest, undertaken on the command of the chief of the OMON Ministry of Internal Affairs for Ingushetiya Magomed Tsoroyev. He issued orders to his subordinates, demanding the use of firearms against the unarmed people. During the last storm police managed to seize the leader of the Ingush youth organisation “Heritage” Kaloy Akhilgov, who was not taking part in the protest but had driven to the bus terminal to see what was happening.
Information is coming in that the storming groups of OMON and FSB have shot at several civilian vehicles, injuring several people.
Police Attempt to Seize Mukhmed Gazdiyev, but Protesters Stop Them. Disabled Man Is Beaten.
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 13:04
OMON forces have attempted to steam into the crowd of protesters and seize one of the protest organisers, a disabled person in the first category, Mukhmed Gazdiyev, who has both arms missing. But the crowd has beaten off the police attack. During the assault, OMON forces managed to beat up the elderly man.
The stand-off in Nazran continues. Ordinary residents of the republic are coming to the aid of the protesters, indignant at Zyazikov’s corrupt regime and the actions of the law enforcement agencies to disperse the peaceful protest.
Protest in Nazran Continues. People Wounded. The Second Storm Is Beaten off
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 12:27
OMON and police forces have just made a second attempt to disperse the protest at the bus terminal in Nazran. During this attack weapons were used by the police. Among civilians there are injuries. Under a shower of stones, fruit and eggs the OMON and police were again forced to retreat.
Protesters who have receive bullet wounds have still not been taken to hospital. They are receiving help from youngsters participating.
Protesters Beat off the First Attack by the Police and Troops
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 12:19
Participants in the protest in Nazran assembled near the town bus terminal have beaten off the first storm by the police and special forces. At present they are throwing eggs at the police forces.
Shooting at the Bus Terminal. Police and Troops Attempt to Disperse Protesters by Force
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 12:04
At Nazran’s bus terminal police and troops have opened fire in an attempt to disperse protesters. The situation is tense. People are being taken by force and driven away in armoured vehicles.
Activist, journalists kidnapped in Ingushetiya
November 24, 2007NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) – One of Russia’s top human rights activists and a handful of journalists were beaten and briefly abducted from their hotel in the southern province of Ingushetia, a rights group said on Saturday.
Oleg Orlov of rights group Memorial said he and a film crew from REN-TV channel were taken from the hotel in Ingushetia’s capital Nazran by a group of armed and masked people who said they were from the security forces, dealing with terrorism.
“They kept us in a truck for several hours, then took us out of the truck outside the town and beat us. Then they drove away leaving us in a field,” Orlov told Reuters.
Ekho Moskvy radio station reported that one of the TV crew members had concussion.
Orlov said the kidnappers were from the security forces or the police, who he accused to employing scare tactics before a planned mass opposition demonstration across the country.
“It was a blatant action of intimidation, they get paranoid,” he said.
The police were not available for comment.
Russia’s opposition is planning to hold demonstrations across the country on Saturday to protest against a pro-Kremlin party’s stranglehold on politics ahead of a parliamentary election next month.
Demonstrators were planning to protest in Nazran, but the action was banned by the authorities after organizers said over 10,000 people were expected to attend it.
Violence is not rare in Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus region, with barely a day passes without a shooting, bombing or kidnapping.
(Writing by Tanya Mosolova; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
People Gather for the Protest near the Town Bus Terminal
November 24, 2007ingushetiya.ru 24.11.2007 11:50
The protest in Nazran has begun assembling near the town bus terminal. As our correspondent reports from the scene, several hundred people are rallying on the road near the bus terminal.
Soglasiya Square is closed. Because of this people are having to start the protest at the bus terminal.
REN TV Journalists Seized Again. They Have Been Driven away at Midnight along with Human Rights Activist Oleg Orlov, Beaten, and their Cameras and Documents Taken
November 24, 2007The authorities of Ingushetiya have robbed them and taken away their documents and cameras.
We have already reported to you the happy conclusion to the story of the REN TV journalists in Ingushetiya.
This, alas, is not the end of it.
At around midnight people in camouflage burst into their hotel “Assa” in Nazran, covered their heads with black sacks and drove them away. They came to some deserted place, took their documents and cameras and said, “Now we will kill you”. However, they simply left them there. The journalists and human rights activist Oleg Orlov from “Memorial”, who was seized with them, managed to make their way by foot to the Cossack village Nesterovskaya in Sunzhensky district and to get to the police.
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