The Month in Brief - November 2006November 1
Alexander Litvinenko, an exiled former Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, was poisoned by radioactive polonium-210 in London.
260 guerrillas have surrended since the mid-July call by the Federal Security Service (FSB) head Nikolai Patrushev on the guerrillas to start talks with the authorities, RIA Novosti reported, referring to Chechnya's Security Council.
November 2
Dozens of students clashed in the Grozny State University. About 10-20 participants in the skirmish, which was allegedly caused by a dispute between two men over a young lady, were shortly detained.
November 7
Seven Russian OMON policemen from the Russian autonomous republic of Mordovia were killed in a guerrilla ambush in Chechnya's Shatoysky district. According to various reports, the incident took place somewhere near the villages of Day, Nokhchi-Keloy and Kenkhi.
Umar Dzhabrailov, Chechnya's deputy in Russia's Federation Council, called for the replacement of the Moscow-backed Chechen President Alu Alkhanov by Chechen Premier Ramzan Kadyrov.
November 8
17-year-old Chechen Kazbek Dadakhanov, reportedly a distant relative of former amnestied guerrilla leader and Moscow-backed Chechen politician Bislan Gantamirov, was stabbed to death in Moscow.
November 9
In two separate judgements, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia for the detention, disappearance and presumed death of Chechen national Said-Khuseyn Imakayev and his father Said-Magomed Imakayev as well as for the detention and murder of Nura Luluyeva whose body was found in a mass grave in Chechnya, and ordered Russia to pay compensation to the families of the victims.
November 10
Marshal Igor Sergeyev, former Russian Defence Minister (1997-2001), died of blood cancer at the age of 68 in Moscow.
November 11
The Constitutional Court of the Chechen Republic held its first session.
November 13
Human Rights Watch stated in its report that „torture in both official and secret detention facilities is widespread and systematic in Chechnya. Chechen authorities denied the use of torture.
November 13
Kavkazsky uzel reported that 41 residents of the Chechen village of Borozdinovskaya lodged with Moscow's Presnensky Court a claim to the Russian Ministry of Defence because of the June 2005 raid, in which one resident one killed and 11 other residents disappeared without trace.
November 14
The remaining 33 members of the disbanded Chechen special unit "Gorets" who were blocked at their base in the village of Pobedinskoye near Grozny by Premier Ramzan Kadyrov's forces for several months laid down their arms under security guarantees from the powers-that-be.
Sultan Isakov, secretary of the Commission for Compensation Payments, was arrested on suspicision of taking bribes. He was released on November 19.
November 15
Rallies and other events in honour of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya took place in several Russian cities.
Pro-guerrilla website Camagat.com published a video appeal in which Kabardino-Balkarian guerrilla leader Anzor Astemirov, aka Amir Seyfulla, who commands the local sector of the Caucasus Front, threatened the Russian leadership with new attacks and called on "neutral" Muslims to join the resistance or risk retribution.
November 16
Russian renowned sociologist and pollster Yury Levada, who since 2003 has headed the respected independent polling agency Levada Center, died of a heart attack at the age of 76 in Moscow.
November 18
Movladi Baysarov, former commander of Chechen special unit "Gorets", was shot dead by Chechen police in Moscow.
November 21
Judge Vladimir Bukreyev, who in 2003 sentenced former Russian Colonel Yury Budanov for the murder of Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva, was arrested for fraud.
November 23
Alexander Litvinenko, an exiled former Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) agent, who was poisoned by radioactive polonium-210 n London, died. On the next day, his friend Aleksandr Goldfarb read an alleged deathbed letter of Litvinenko in which the victim accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of his killing.
November 24
Chechen police shortly detained an Austrian TV crew working in Chechnya. Having interrogated them at the Achkhoy-Martanovsky district police station, the Federal Security Service (FSB) agents accused the journalists of making an unauthorized trip to the Shatoysky district and seized their videotapes.
Two journalists of Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta received death threats in connection with their reporting on the North Caucasus and investigation of the murder of their colleague Anna Politkovskaya, respectively.
November 26
Abu Havs, a Jordanian-born guerrilla commander fighting in the North Caucasus, was killed along with four Chechen guerrillas in a security operation in the Daghestani town of Khasavyurt.
A drunk driver crashed into the convoy accompanying the Moscow-backed Chechen President Alu Alkhanov. One security officer died in the accident, which took place near the Ingushetian village of Yandiry.
November 26-27
During their two-day visit to Chechnya, a delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) led by Andreas Gross met with representatives of the Moscow-backed Chechen leadeship, including Premier Ramzan Kadyrov and President Alu Alkhanov and discussed the idea of organizing the "Round Table" in Grozny on the political situation in the republic.
November 28
The NGO Chechen National Salvation Committee reported that former Russian Colonel Yury Budanov, who is serving his ten-year sentence for murdering Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva in 2000, asked for a pardon.
November 28-30
A group of about 90 refugees, mostly Kists originally living in Chechnya, left Georgia's Pankisi Gorge and arrived in Grozny. Chechen authorities said that they are the last refugees who wished to return to Chechnya and that about 50 other former residents of Chechnya preferred to stay in Georgia.
Compiled by Prague Watchdog. Along with these monthly summaries, we also publish weekly summaries, distributing them on Mondays to the subscribers of our free weekly newsletter. (T)
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