Is Journalism Worth Dying For?: Final Dispatches by Anna Politkovskaya, Arch Tait Page A
Authors: Anna Politkovskaya, Arch Tait
Ads: Link
Maskhadov’s life will be under scrutiny, full as they were of peace initiatives, the Internet, and text messages bleeping from morning until night?
Basayev and Sadulayev want to hear nothing about peace. Their answer to the assassination of Maskhadov is only a long war, a parallel clandestine government, and explosions, armed conflict, and people dying on all sides every day.
And against this background, we have the constant bluffing by government officials about how wonderful it is in the newly Chechenised and Kadyrovised Chechnya. Mike Tyson, a semi-naked Miss Sobchak, an aquapark, a Disneyland, free parliamentary elections, Zhirinovsky and the rest of them posing against the backdrop of Grozny to which peace has supposedly returned. In fact they are all in a bunker, in a besieged city within a city, a government complex where they have now even built houses for the bureaucrats so they don’t ever have to risk taking a step outside the confines of this stronghold. The reality – not the politicians’ virtual reality – is that there is a total absence of even elementary control of the country, and an equally total absence of security for people who have nowhere to run to, and are forced to survive by fair means or foul.
Could not peace have been given a chance?
THE “MARCH 8” CASE: THOSE WITH MASKHADOV WHEN HE WAS LIQUIDATED ARE SENTENCED
December 5, 2005
The Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic has sentenced Vakhid Murdashev to 15 years’ imprisonment, Viskhan Khadzhimuratov to seven, Musa Yusupov to six, and Ilias Iriskhanov to five and a half. By recent Chechen standards these sentences are considered light. Theyoung lads the security services seize, torture and force to confess to “terrorism” usually get 17–24 years.
Why this should be one can only guess. In throwing the book at boys nobody knows anything about, judges are taking no risks and ingratiate themselves with the authorities. In the case of Maskhadov’s associates the risk is obvious: there are plenty of pro-federal officials in Chechnya who continue to pay Basayev a “resistance levy” to buy their way out of trouble and avoid execution as collaborators.
That, however, is not the main reason. It did not become clear in the course of the trial who actually killed Maskhadov. The state prosecution, without producing a single witness, made public the conclusion of a ballistic test which claimed that Maskhadov was killed by a bullet fired from a Makarov pistol belonging to Khadzhimuratov, Maskhadov’s bodyguard and nephew.
Why should the court suppose he was killed by a bullet? The results of the post-mortem were not published, so the cause of death remains unknown and you can bandy about whatever ballistic “evidence” you choose. Khadzhimuratov did not admit responsibility for the killing and the court ended up falling between two stools, apparently accepting the claim that Khadzhimuratov had fired the shot, but not finding him guilty of murder.
The obvious conclusion is that the purpose of this trial was to create a myth about how Maskhadov died. The verdict makes clear what legend was required for public consumption: the federals had virtually nothing to do with the assassination, it was the Chechens themselves who killed their leader. Moreover, it was all within a single family: Maskhadov was killed by his nephew, so if there is to be any settling of scores it will be contained within the family.
Is this what we expected from the Maskhadov trial? Of course not. We expected to learn the truth about his death, but that has been kept secret, so we can look forward to endless rumors, inventions, gossip and myths for years to come, as was the case when Maskhadov’s predecessor, Djohar Dudayev, was assassinated.
THE MAN WHO RE-EDUCATED FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS
September 21, 2006
On September 13, in a now notorious border checkpoint battle between the Chechen and Ingush militias, the Deputy Commander of Chechnya’s OMON Militia
Basayev and Sadulayev want to hear nothing about peace. Their answer to the assassination of Maskhadov is only a long war, a parallel clandestine government, and explosions, armed conflict, and people dying on all sides every day.
And against this background, we have the constant bluffing by government officials about how wonderful it is in the newly Chechenised and Kadyrovised Chechnya. Mike Tyson, a semi-naked Miss Sobchak, an aquapark, a Disneyland, free parliamentary elections, Zhirinovsky and the rest of them posing against the backdrop of Grozny to which peace has supposedly returned. In fact they are all in a bunker, in a besieged city within a city, a government complex where they have now even built houses for the bureaucrats so they don’t ever have to risk taking a step outside the confines of this stronghold. The reality – not the politicians’ virtual reality – is that there is a total absence of even elementary control of the country, and an equally total absence of security for people who have nowhere to run to, and are forced to survive by fair means or foul.
Could not peace have been given a chance?
THE “MARCH 8” CASE: THOSE WITH MASKHADOV WHEN HE WAS LIQUIDATED ARE SENTENCED
December 5, 2005
The Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic has sentenced Vakhid Murdashev to 15 years’ imprisonment, Viskhan Khadzhimuratov to seven, Musa Yusupov to six, and Ilias Iriskhanov to five and a half. By recent Chechen standards these sentences are considered light. Theyoung lads the security services seize, torture and force to confess to “terrorism” usually get 17–24 years.
Why this should be one can only guess. In throwing the book at boys nobody knows anything about, judges are taking no risks and ingratiate themselves with the authorities. In the case of Maskhadov’s associates the risk is obvious: there are plenty of pro-federal officials in Chechnya who continue to pay Basayev a “resistance levy” to buy their way out of trouble and avoid execution as collaborators.
That, however, is not the main reason. It did not become clear in the course of the trial who actually killed Maskhadov. The state prosecution, without producing a single witness, made public the conclusion of a ballistic test which claimed that Maskhadov was killed by a bullet fired from a Makarov pistol belonging to Khadzhimuratov, Maskhadov’s bodyguard and nephew.
Why should the court suppose he was killed by a bullet? The results of the post-mortem were not published, so the cause of death remains unknown and you can bandy about whatever ballistic “evidence” you choose. Khadzhimuratov did not admit responsibility for the killing and the court ended up falling between two stools, apparently accepting the claim that Khadzhimuratov had fired the shot, but not finding him guilty of murder.
The obvious conclusion is that the purpose of this trial was to create a myth about how Maskhadov died. The verdict makes clear what legend was required for public consumption: the federals had virtually nothing to do with the assassination, it was the Chechens themselves who killed their leader. Moreover, it was all within a single family: Maskhadov was killed by his nephew, so if there is to be any settling of scores it will be contained within the family.
Is this what we expected from the Maskhadov trial? Of course not. We expected to learn the truth about his death, but that has been kept secret, so we can look forward to endless rumors, inventions, gossip and myths for years to come, as was the case when Maskhadov’s predecessor, Djohar Dudayev, was assassinated.
THE MAN WHO RE-EDUCATED FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS
September 21, 2006
On September 13, in a now notorious border checkpoint battle between the Chechen and Ingush militias, the Deputy Commander of Chechnya’s OMON Militia
Similar Books
