October 2005 Nalchik attack
Encyclopedia
The 2005 Nalchik attack was a raid
by a large group of militants on Nalchik
(pop. 250,000), in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
(KBR) of southern Russia
, on 13 October 2005.
A number of buildings associated with the Russian security forces were targeted. More than 100 people (142 according to official tallies), including at least 14 civilian
s, were reported to have been killed during the ensuing shooting, which continued into the next day. Many other people were wounded.
After the raid, Arsen Kanokov
, the newly appointed president
of the KBR, admitted publicly that it could have been triggered at least in part by brutal crackdowns by local police
.
on the Kavkaz Center
website puts the exact time at 9:14. The initial attack included nine targets:
Soon after, a gun store called Arsenal was robbed and three police station
s were attacked as well.
An attack on the KBR MVD directorate on fighting the organized crime
, one more target, was prevented by pure chance. Public transport
shut down across Nalchik, and sporadic fighting continued across the city until at least noon.
, announced on Echo of Moscow
that several of the attackers been taken alive. He also claimed that all enemy combatants seized so far were members of a radical Islamist group known as Yarmuk Jamaat
. Radio Free Europe
speculated that the name of this group may be a reference to a 7th-century battle
in which Arab
forces defeated a Byzantine
army.
At 1:45, according to an FSB source cited by Echo of Moscow
, attackers attempted to seize an FSB building but were repelled. A rebel sniper
killed one FSB worker and wounded four, and the building was seriously damaged and caught fire.
At 2:30, a group of policemen located in a building surrounded by attackers managed to free themselves. Agentura also reports that at this time the first communications from the attackers were published on the kavkazcenter website.
At 3:00 RIA Novosti announced, quoting Interior Minister
Alexander Alexeyevich Chekalin, that Russian President Vladimir Putin
had ordered a full blockade
of Nalchik. Chekalin announced that the Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, and FSB were conducting a joint operation, in which "anyone with weapons in his hands who displays armed opposition, should be subject to liquidation."
By the early afternoon Dmitry Kozak
, Vladimir Putin
's envoy to the Southern Federal District
had arrived in Nalchik from Rostov-na-Donu, and was quoted by Radio Free Europe
as saying: The situation is normalizing...At least mass unrest and attacks have been put down. The bandits that today attacked the law enforcement forces have been dispersed. There remain only a few pockets of resistance—two, to be more precise. Fighting is still going on near the Interior Ministry's third department, where unfortunately people are being held hostage. There is an operation going there at the moment. [But] there are no more threats. However, Radio Free Europe also relayed reports from Russia's ORT
state television channel that "heavy gunfire could still be heard near the central market
by mid-afternoon" and that "explosions were reported in various neighborhoods of Nalchik."
Eventually, most of surviving rebel forces retreated to the mountains.
A few, mostly wounded gunmen, who were cut off by federal reinforcements, holed up with police and civilian hostage
s in captured buildings (including a police station and souvenir shop) but were killed by special forces
the following day. According to the Russian officials, no hostages were killed during these final rounds of fighting. According to MSNBC
, on the morning of October 14, attackers fired on a police car in the suburb of Khasanya outside Nalchik, killing two OMON riot police officer
s.
MSNBC also described the conditions in central Nalchik on the next morning:
By midday on October 14, the head of the regional government Gennady Gubin, told Interfax that "all points of rebel resistance have been suppressed and hostages freed. Now the security forces are conducting a sweep of the city to find rebels who are hiding." The Russian government had deployed 1,500 regular troops and 500 special forces troops to Nalchik to regain government control of the city.
that the attackers had operated in 10 mobile groups, each with a different set of targets.
MSNBC reported several statements made by Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Novikov to reporters in Nalchik. In particular Novikov announced that:
According to kavkazcenter, the operation had been "carried out by forces of the Kabardino-Balkarian Sector of the CF (Caucasian Front
) and associated units from other sectors of the Caucasian Front," with "217 Mujahideen
" in all participating.
Asked about who might have been behind the rebel raid on Nalchik, pro-Kremlin prime minister
of Chechnya
Ramzan Kadyrov
answered that Chechens had nothing to do with it:
, murder
, armed rebellion
, and infringement
on the life of police officers. There was a number of documented cases of torture
of detainees and the investigation was roundly criticized by Russian and international human rights
groups. Mass media published photos of the detainees with traces of tortures. Those who died in the pre-trial prison were added to the number of those killed in the streets.
Kommersant
reported on October 28, 2006, citing detainees' lawyers, that the charges against 13 of them had been dropped because of an amnesty
, while the pre-trial detention period for the remaining 56 was extended to April 2007. Another 39 people accused of involvement in the raid remained at large.
On June 27, 2006, the ex-Guantanamo prisoner, Ruslan Odizhev, a lifelong friend of Anzor Astemirov
and suspected of leading the attack on Omon headquarters, was killed in the centre of Nalchik, in an apartment block on Schokenzukov Prospekt, facing the local (official) mosque, while resisting arrest, together with another suspect, Anzor Tengizov.
, in which he claimed to have had "general, operational command" for the attack on government buildings. He denied that his group was involved in the attacks on stores, however. The Nalchik attack came just over a year after the Beslan school hostage crisis
, for which Basayev also claimed responsibility. An Ingush
militant, Ilias Gorchkhanov, leader of the Ingush Jamaat
, was said to have been one of the attack's commanders on the ground. Basayev claimed that Russian security forces had been tipped off some five days before the attack, which resulted in increased security in Nalchik, but that despite increased security, the attack was not cancelled.
The raid was reportedly in response to months of persecution of practising Muslims in the region, including arbitrary detention
and torture
by law enforcement
official
s, and wholesale closure of mosque
s.
In April 2006, asked about the upsurge in attacks in Dagestan, Ingushetia
and Kabardino-Balkaria and whether fighters there coordinate their actions with the Chechen rebels, the top rebel commander Doku Umarov
responded:
The trial proper began in March 2009 in a specially constructed and heavily guarded building in Nalchik and continued as of June 2011. Fifty-eight men are being prosecuted, one of the original 59 accused having died in custody in 2008. The men are indicted on a range of charges including murder, hostage-taking, terrorism and illegal possession of weapons. Nine of the men admit illegal possession of arms, one admits being part of a “criminal armed group” and one has admitted “partial guilt”. The rest deny all charges.
During hearings the defendants are held in four or five groups in metal cages and they address the court via microphones placed at the front of each cage.
Several of the men on trial have claimed they were tortured in custody.
The defendants have used court hearings to threaten their enemies in the police and security forces. In February 2011, one of the accused said that Khachim Shogenov, the former interior minister of Kabardino-Balkaria, should be called to give evidence “while he was still alive.” He added: “Such people will be killed in this republic. By the time this process ends, praise be to Allah, they will all be destroyed.”
According to the Basayev's later statement, 37 attackers died in the operation. The rebels put the federal losses at over 300 dead and wounded. In his statement, Basayev blamed guerrilla casualties on the information leak before the operation.
A year later, many relatives were still demanding in vain that authorities return for proper burial the bodies of 92 men allegedly killed during the attacks; a number of families have taken cases to the European Court of Human Rights
in Strasbourg
to petition for the return of bodies. In June 2007 the government said it had cremated
the bodies of the 95 suspects on June 22, 2006. The relatives argue that the decision, taken by one of investigators
for the Southern Federal District
, Aleksei Savrulin, and former Deputy Prosecutor for the Southern Federal District Nikolai Shepel, was unlawful.
Nikolai Shepel, stated that the attack was organized by "International Terrorist Organizations", that also previously organized the Beslan school hostage crisis, raid on Ingushetia, and the attack on Gosnarkocontrol (drug control agency) in Kabardino-Balkaria. The Duma
deputy from Chechnya Akhmar Zavgayev also blamed international terrorists for the attack.
Former Guantanamo Bay
detainee Rasul Kudayev
was arrested in Nalchik for allegedly taking part in the preparation of the attack, and participation in the attack itself (taking the road police post in Khasanya suburb of Nalchik). According to same source Rasul Kudayev pretends being at home at the time of the incident, which can be witnessed (according to his brother) by relatives, neighbours, journalists, and his lawyer.
It was reported that the militants may have planned to overrun the city's airport and use the aircraft
there in suicide attack
s similar to the September 11 attacks. However, this seems unlikely since the attack was not concentrated at the airport. The target of the airport attack was more likely the army unit stationed there.
department, Albert Sizhazhev, claimed on February 14, 2006, that the attack in Nalchik was financed by foreign intelligence agencies
. According to NTV
, Sizhazhev said the attack was organized by "ringleaders of the bandit underground of Kabardino-Balkaria" who "had the powerful financial support of foreign special services."
According to ITAR-TASS, the head of the religious affairs department of Kabardino-Balkaria's Ministry of Culture, Dzhambulat Gergokov, claimed that the "bandit underground" in the republic was funded via non-governmental organization
s working in Chechnya.
On October 17, 2006, deputy Interior Minister of Russia Arkady Yedelev was quoted by RIA Novosti saying about Anzor Astemirov
, one of the organizers of the militant attack:
Yedelev's allegations were repeated by him on June 4, 2007. He did not identify any countries.
Raid (military)
Raid, also known as depredation, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose and is not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being...
by a large group of militants on Nalchik
Nalchik
Nalchik is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. It covers an area of...
(pop. 250,000), in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic
Kabardino-Balkaria
The Kabardino-Balkar Republic , or Kabardino-Balkaria , is a federal subject of Russia located in the North Caucasus. Population: -Geography:The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part....
(KBR) of southern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, on 13 October 2005.
A number of buildings associated with the Russian security forces were targeted. More than 100 people (142 according to official tallies), including at least 14 civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s, were reported to have been killed during the ensuing shooting, which continued into the next day. Many other people were wounded.
After the raid, Arsen Kanokov
Arsen Kanokov
Arsen Bashirovich Kanokov is the president of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic in Russia.- Biography :...
, the newly appointed president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the KBR, admitted publicly that it could have been triggered at least in part by brutal crackdowns by local police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
.
Outbreak of fighting
According to the Russian news source Agentura, fighting began about 9 AM on the morning of October 13, while a statement made by Shamil BasayevShamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal...
on the Kavkaz Center
Kavkaz Center
The Kavkaz Center is a privately run website by pro-Chechen which aims to be "a Chechen internet agency which is independent, international and Islamic" that "does not represent the viewpoint of any state structures"...
website puts the exact time at 9:14. The initial attack included nine targets:
- Center T anti-terrorist service of the Interior Ministry
- Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (FSB) state security organisation
- FSB Border GuardBorder guardThe border guard, frontier guard, border patrol, border police, or frontier police of a country is a national security agency that performs border control, i.e., enforces the security of the country's national borders....
- paramilitaryParamilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
OMONOMONOMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...
riot militsiya unit - Road Patrol Police Regiment (PPSM)
- federalCentral governmentA central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
tax service directorateDirectorateA directorate is an agency usually headed by a director, often a subdivision of a major government department.* Immigration and Nationality Directorate* Dairat al-Mukhabarat al-Ammah * Veterinary Medicines Directorate... - militaryMilitaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
registration and enlistmentArmed forcesThe armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
office (Voyenkomat) - Nalchik airportAirportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
- regional headquartersHeadquartersHeadquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
of the Russian penitentiaryPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
system
Soon after, a gun store called Arsenal was robbed and three police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
s were attacked as well.
An attack on the KBR MVD directorate on fighting the organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, one more target, was prevented by pure chance. Public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
shut down across Nalchik, and sporadic fighting continued across the city until at least noon.
Public announcements and prolongation of the conflict
At 1:20 pm, the President of Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria republic Arsen KanokovArsen Kanokov
Arsen Bashirovich Kanokov is the president of the Kabardino-Balkaria republic in Russia.- Biography :...
, announced on Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow is a Russian radio station based in Moscow, broadcasting in many Russian cities, in some of the former-Soviet republics , and via the Internet, which some observers describe as "the last bastion of free media in Russia"...
that several of the attackers been taken alive. He also claimed that all enemy combatants seized so far were members of a radical Islamist group known as Yarmuk Jamaat
Yarmuk Jamaat
Yarmuk Jamaat is a militant Islamist jamaat organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in the North Caucasus...
. Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
speculated that the name of this group may be a reference to a 7th-century battle
Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the armies of the East Roman-Byzantine Empire. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what is today the border...
in which Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
forces defeated a Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
army.
At 1:45, according to an FSB source cited by Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow
Echo of Moscow is a Russian radio station based in Moscow, broadcasting in many Russian cities, in some of the former-Soviet republics , and via the Internet, which some observers describe as "the last bastion of free media in Russia"...
, attackers attempted to seize an FSB building but were repelled. A rebel sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
killed one FSB worker and wounded four, and the building was seriously damaged and caught fire.
At 2:30, a group of policemen located in a building surrounded by attackers managed to free themselves. Agentura also reports that at this time the first communications from the attackers were published on the kavkazcenter website.
At 3:00 RIA Novosti announced, quoting Interior Minister
Interior minister
An interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
Alexander Alexeyevich Chekalin, that Russian President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
had ordered a full blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
of Nalchik. Chekalin announced that the Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, and FSB were conducting a joint operation, in which "anyone with weapons in his hands who displays armed opposition, should be subject to liquidation."
By the early afternoon Dmitry Kozak
Dmitry Kozak
Dmitry Nikolayevich Kozak , is a Russian politician, serving since October 2008 as deputy Prime minister of the Russian Federation....
, Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
's envoy to the Southern Federal District
Southern Federal District
Southern Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its territory lies mostly on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Its population was 13,856,700 according to the 2010 Census, living on an area of...
had arrived in Nalchik from Rostov-na-Donu, and was quoted by Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
as saying: The situation is normalizing...At least mass unrest and attacks have been put down. The bandits that today attacked the law enforcement forces have been dispersed. There remain only a few pockets of resistance—two, to be more precise. Fighting is still going on near the Interior Ministry's third department, where unfortunately people are being held hostage. There is an operation going there at the moment. [But] there are no more threats. However, Radio Free Europe also relayed reports from Russia's ORT
Channel One (Russia)
Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...
state television channel that "heavy gunfire could still be heard near the central market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
by mid-afternoon" and that "explosions were reported in various neighborhoods of Nalchik."
Eventually, most of surviving rebel forces retreated to the mountains.
Second day
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
s in captured buildings (including a police station and souvenir shop) but were killed by special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
the following day. According to the Russian officials, no hostages were killed during these final rounds of fighting. According to MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, on the morning of October 14, attackers fired on a police car in the suburb of Khasanya outside Nalchik, killing two OMON riot police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
s.
MSNBC also described the conditions in central Nalchik on the next morning:
- "Bloodied corpses still lay in the streets on Friday. One was near the entrance to police station No. 2 and the regional anti-terrorist center, where most of the windows had been blown out and even tramway lines outside had been brought down. Seven more bodies were sprawled across the street, most with horrific head wounds. Heavily armed police poked and kicked at the bodies, presumably those of militants, all clad in tracksuits and running shoes. Outside the local Federal Security Service building, several heavily armed officers picked gingerly through a black backpack that had apparently belonged to a militant, pulling out a candy bar, a bottle of water and a black T-shirt."
By midday on October 14, the head of the regional government Gennady Gubin, told Interfax that "all points of rebel resistance have been suppressed and hostages freed. Now the security forces are conducting a sweep of the city to find rebels who are hiding." The Russian government had deployed 1,500 regular troops and 500 special forces troops to Nalchik to regain government control of the city.
Identity and number of attackers
There was an uncertainty about the size of the rebel force. Russian sources put the figure at between 80 and 300, while Basayev claimed that 217 fighters had been involved. Police told the news agency TASSInformation Telegraph Agency of Russia
The Information Telegraph Agency of Russia , is the major news agency of Russia. It is headquartered in Moscow.- History :Its origin is in a letter sent by Finance Minister Vladimir Kokovtsov to foreign minister in March 1904 writing that "our trade and industrial circles, as well as the Finance...
that the attackers had operated in 10 mobile groups, each with a different set of targets.
MSNBC reported several statements made by Deputy Interior Minister Andrei Novikov to reporters in Nalchik. In particular Novikov announced that:
- Ilyas GorchkhanovIlyas GorchkhanovIlyas Gorchkhanov was the first leader of the Ingush Jamaat, which later became part of the Caucasus Front's Ingushetian Sector in Ingushetia of the Second Chechen War....
had led the attack, and had been killed - two-thirds of the militants were local residents
- there had been at least 100 attackers in all
- most were 20 to 30 years of age
According to kavkazcenter, the operation had been "carried out by forces of the Kabardino-Balkarian Sector of the CF (Caucasian Front
Caucasian Front (Chechen War)
The Caucasian Front also called Caucasus Front or the Caucasian Mujahadeen, was formally established in May 2005 as an Islamic structural unit of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's armed forces by the decree of the separatist President of Chechnya Abdul-Halim Sadulayev during the Second Chechen...
) and associated units from other sectors of the Caucasian Front," with "217 Mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
" in all participating.
Asked about who might have been behind the rebel raid on Nalchik, pro-Kremlin prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov is the President of Chechnya and a former Chechen rebel.Ramzan is a son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007 Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as President, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post...
answered that Chechens had nothing to do with it:
"If Chechens had been there, then it wouldn't have ended so quickly. It was their own people there. It was weak guys, which is why it ended quickly — they got the better of them in two hours."
Arrests
Following the raid, law enforcement officials detained dozens of people; many of the detainees were reportedly tortured. At least one person was reported to have "disappeared" following the raid. Upon investigation, some of the detainees have been charged under nine articles such as terrorismTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, armed rebellion
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
, and infringement
Infringement
Infringement, when used alone, has several possible meanings in the English language.In a legal context, an infringement refers to the violation of a law or a right. This includes intellectual property infringements such as:*Copyright infringement...
on the life of police officers. There was a number of documented cases of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
of detainees and the investigation was roundly criticized by Russian and international human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
groups. Mass media published photos of the detainees with traces of tortures. Those who died in the pre-trial prison were added to the number of those killed in the streets.
Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...
reported on October 28, 2006, citing detainees' lawyers, that the charges against 13 of them had been dropped because of an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
, while the pre-trial detention period for the remaining 56 was extended to April 2007. Another 39 people accused of involvement in the raid remained at large.
On June 27, 2006, the ex-Guantanamo prisoner, Ruslan Odizhev, a lifelong friend of Anzor Astemirov
Anzor Astemirov
Anzor Astemirov , also known as Emir Sayfullah , was an Islamist militant leader in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the North Caucasus....
and suspected of leading the attack on Omon headquarters, was killed in the centre of Nalchik, in an apartment block on Schokenzukov Prospekt, facing the local (official) mosque, while resisting arrest, together with another suspect, Anzor Tengizov.
Claim of responsibility
Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on Kavkaz CenterKavkaz Center
The Kavkaz Center is a privately run website by pro-Chechen which aims to be "a Chechen internet agency which is independent, international and Islamic" that "does not represent the viewpoint of any state structures"...
, in which he claimed to have had "general, operational command" for the attack on government buildings. He denied that his group was involved in the attacks on stores, however. The Nalchik attack came just over a year after the Beslan school hostage crisis
Beslan school hostage crisis
The Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...
, for which Basayev also claimed responsibility. An Ingush
Ingush
Ingush may refer to:* The Ingush language* The Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus...
militant, Ilias Gorchkhanov, leader of the Ingush Jamaat
Ingush Jamaat
Ingush Jamaat, also known as the Ingush sector of the Caucasian Front, is an Islamist militant organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in the Russian region of Ingushetia and Chechnya in the North Caucasus. In 2005 it became a part of the Caucasian...
, was said to have been one of the attack's commanders on the ground. Basayev claimed that Russian security forces had been tipped off some five days before the attack, which resulted in increased security in Nalchik, but that despite increased security, the attack was not cancelled.
The raid was reportedly in response to months of persecution of practising Muslims in the region, including arbitrary detention
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...
and torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
by law enforcement
Law enforcement agency
In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...
official
Official
An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...
s, and wholesale closure of mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s.
In April 2006, asked about the upsurge in attacks in Dagestan, Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg...
and Kabardino-Balkaria and whether fighters there coordinate their actions with the Chechen rebels, the top rebel commander Doku Umarov
Doku Umarov
Doku Khamatovich Umarov is a major Chechen Islamist rebel militant in Russia. He is responsible for numerous terror attacks on civilians, earning himself the nickname "Russia's Osama Bin Laden"....
responded:
"We have three fronts [outside Chechnya] - in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia and Dagestan. Fighters in Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria communicate with the military amir and then through myself. They coordinate all their actions with us. (...) They are ordinary civilians who have risen against arbitrariness toward Muslims in those republics. No matter how hard we try to make them refrain from combat operations, we will not succeed. They are our brothers in faith and therefore we help them - we share our experience and direct them. God willing, we are planning to send our experienced instructors there this year. We will not leave them on their own. It is our duty to help them."
Trial
Preliminary hearings in the prosecution of 59 men suspected of taking part in the attack began in October 2007, but the trial was then delayed for more than a year as court officials sought to find a team of jurors. Between October 2007 and November 2008, an estimated 1,200 citizens were summoned as potential members of the jury. However, more than 500 never appeared in court, and all but 13 of the remainder asked to be excused. In February 2009, the court finally abandoned the idea of a jury trial, deciding it would go ahead with three presiding judges instead.The trial proper began in March 2009 in a specially constructed and heavily guarded building in Nalchik and continued as of June 2011. Fifty-eight men are being prosecuted, one of the original 59 accused having died in custody in 2008. The men are indicted on a range of charges including murder, hostage-taking, terrorism and illegal possession of weapons. Nine of the men admit illegal possession of arms, one admits being part of a “criminal armed group” and one has admitted “partial guilt”. The rest deny all charges.
During hearings the defendants are held in four or five groups in metal cages and they address the court via microphones placed at the front of each cage.
Several of the men on trial have claimed they were tortured in custody.
The defendants have used court hearings to threaten their enemies in the police and security forces. In February 2011, one of the accused said that Khachim Shogenov, the former interior minister of Kabardino-Balkaria, should be called to give evidence “while he was still alive.” He added: “Such people will be killed in this republic. By the time this process ends, praise be to Allah, they will all be destroyed.”
Casualties
The Russian government and the rebels have published significantly different casualty figures. According to the Russian officials, 89 attackers were killed and 36 captured, while 35 federal servicemen and 14 civilians also died. At 15:40 GMT, CNN reported that 97 people were hospitalized in connection with the attack, according to the Russian Health Ministry.According to the Basayev's later statement, 37 attackers died in the operation. The rebels put the federal losses at over 300 dead and wounded. In his statement, Basayev blamed guerrilla casualties on the information leak before the operation.
Bodies controversy
According to news reports, some of the dead classified as "terrorists" were actually civilians accidentally killed in the crossfire. There were also reports that young men have simply vanished without a trace despite having no proven connection to the raid, some other allegedly detained in the day after the raid and then presented dead as the killed insurgents. Despite public protests by family members, the bodies were not released.A year later, many relatives were still demanding in vain that authorities return for proper burial the bodies of 92 men allegedly killed during the attacks; a number of families have taken cases to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
to petition for the return of bodies. In June 2007 the government said it had cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
the bodies of the 95 suspects on June 22, 2006. The relatives argue that the decision, taken by one of investigators
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
for the Southern Federal District
Southern Federal District
Southern Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its territory lies mostly on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Its population was 13,856,700 according to the 2010 Census, living on an area of...
, Aleksei Savrulin, and former Deputy Prosecutor for the Southern Federal District Nikolai Shepel, was unlawful.
Alleged connections with international terrorism
On October 20, 2005 Deputy Prosecutor General of RussiaProsecutor General of Russia
The Prosecutor General of Russia heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russian Federation ....
Nikolai Shepel, stated that the attack was organized by "International Terrorist Organizations", that also previously organized the Beslan school hostage crisis, raid on Ingushetia, and the attack on Gosnarkocontrol (drug control agency) in Kabardino-Balkaria. The Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
deputy from Chechnya Akhmar Zavgayev also blamed international terrorists for the attack.
Former Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
detainee Rasul Kudayev
Rasul Kudayev
Rasul Kudayev is a Russian citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.Kudayev is a Muslim from the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria....
was arrested in Nalchik for allegedly taking part in the preparation of the attack, and participation in the attack itself (taking the road police post in Khasanya suburb of Nalchik). According to same source Rasul Kudayev pretends being at home at the time of the incident, which can be witnessed (according to his brother) by relatives, neighbours, journalists, and his lawyer.
It was reported that the militants may have planned to overrun the city's airport and use the aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
there in suicide attack
Suicide attack
A suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
s similar to the September 11 attacks. However, this seems unlikely since the attack was not concentrated at the airport. The target of the airport attack was more likely the army unit stationed there.
Alleged financing by foreign intelligence agencies and NGOs
The deputy head of the Kabardino-Balkaria Interior Ministry's anti-organized crimeOrganized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
department, Albert Sizhazhev, claimed on February 14, 2006, that the attack in Nalchik was financed by foreign intelligence agencies
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
. According to NTV
NTV Russia
NTV is a Russian television channel. As a subsidiary of Vladimir Gusinsky's company Media-Most, it was a pioneer in the post-Soviet independent television media, but was later taken over by state-owned Gazprom.- History :...
, Sizhazhev said the attack was organized by "ringleaders of the bandit underground of Kabardino-Balkaria" who "had the powerful financial support of foreign special services."
According to ITAR-TASS, the head of the religious affairs department of Kabardino-Balkaria's Ministry of Culture, Dzhambulat Gergokov, claimed that the "bandit underground" in the republic was funded via non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
s working in Chechnya.
On October 17, 2006, deputy Interior Minister of Russia Arkady Yedelev was quoted by RIA Novosti saying about Anzor Astemirov
Anzor Astemirov
Anzor Astemirov , also known as Emir Sayfullah , was an Islamist militant leader in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, in the North Caucasus....
, one of the organizers of the militant attack:
"I will put it straight, that people like [Anzor] Astemirov are linked to the secret serviceSecret serviceA secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...
s of some countries that are planning blitzkriegBlitzkriegFor other uses of the word, see: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg is an anglicized word describing all-motorised force concentration of tanks, infantry, artillery, combat engineers and air power, concentrating overwhelming force at high speed to break through enemy lines, and, once the lines are broken,...
s in South OssetiaSouth OssetiaSouth Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
, AbkhaziaAbkhaziaAbkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
and the South CaucasusSouth CaucasusThe South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
, and are pursuing a militant escalation on our territory to transfer some of their gunmen from IraqIraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
to Russia."
Yedelev's allegations were repeated by him on June 4, 2007. He did not identify any countries.
See also
- 2004 Nalchik raid2004 Nalchik raidThe 2004 Nalchik raid was an armed attack against headquarters of the regional branch of the Federal Drug Control Service in Nalchik, capital of the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in the North Caucasus, which took place at about 3 to 6 a.m...
- 2004 Nazran raid2004 Nazran raidThe Nazran raid was a large-scale raid carried out in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia, on the night of June 21-22, 2004, by a large number of mostly Chechen and Ingush militants led by the Chechen commander Shamil Basayev...
- 2004 Avtury raid2004 Avtury raidThe Avtury raid took place on 12-13 July 2004, when a large group of Chechen militants assaulted the Chechen village of Avtury.-The attack:...
- 2004 Grozny raid2004 Grozny raid2004 raid on Grozny was a series of overnight attacks in central Grozny, capital of Chechnya.According to estimates of the investigation group, 250-400 fighters entered the city on August 21, established their own roadblocks, and simultaneously attacked a number of polling stations and other...