Karachai-Cherkessia: President Under Pressure
Verdict in high-profile trial brings more protests against local leader.
Karachai-Cherkessia: President Under Pressure
Verdict in high-profile trial brings more protests against local leader.
The main event on December 25 in Karachai-Cherkessia was supposed to be the sentence passed on the president’s former son-in-law in a sensational trial. Then on the same day the federal security agencies announced that they had carried out a special operation in the centre of Cherkessk, the capital of the autonomous republic, in which they had killed two Islamist militants.
Although the authorities said the two events were not linked, both have rebounded on the local president, Mustafa Batdyev, seriously damaging his authority.
At the end of a long trial, the North Caucasian republic’s Supreme Court sentenced Ali Kaitov to 17 years’ imprisonment for the premeditated murder of local parliamentarian Rasul Bogatyryov and six of his friends. Two of Kaitov's friends who carried out the crime, Azamat Akbayev and Temirlan Bostanov, were sentenced to life imprisonment, and 13 other people involved in the crime received prison sentences ranging from two to 16 years.
Kaitov had been married to Batdyev’s daughter and his case only came to court after persistent denials from officials in Karachai-Cherkessia that he was implicated in the murders and following high-level intervention from Moscow.
The authorities swiftly issued a statement saying that the trial and the December 25 special operation were not connected. However, a direct link came to light when it was revealed that one of the alleged militants Ruslan Tokov had been caught in the apartment of Kaitov’s fellow accused Temirlan Bostanov and that Bostanov’s younger brother was with him. Tokov put up resistance and was killed after a ten-hour siege of the apartment block. Another alleged militant, Akhmat Salpagarov, was killed in the town's southern district the same evening.
The opposition newspaper Vesti Gor then piled the pressure on President Batdyev in an explosive article on January 10, specifically linking the president to the dead militants and making a number of allegations. Amongst them was that eyewitnesses had seen Tokov visiting the president’s house shortly before the special operation.
The newspaper said that the special operation was only possible because the federal security agency, the FSB, had decided not to inform the local authorities about their plans and only revealed them just as the assault was about to start.
The article created a furore in the republic – all the more so because the president is head of the republic’s so-called anti-terrorist centre and has vowed to take tough measures against Islamic militancy. The opposition demanded that the federal authorities in Moscow intervene and that Batdyev should resign.
Islam Krymshamkhalov, leader of the opposition and member of the local parliament, accused the presidential administration of double standards. “The threat of terrorism and the impression the leadership of the republic makes that they are fighting it have long been a way of blackmailing the federal centre, with the aim of making Moscow close its eyes,” he said, accusing the authorities of abusing their powers.
Batydev himself avoided any mention of the charges against him, when he made his New Year’s address to Karachai-Cherkessia. He told his fellow-citizens, "The industrial development of the republic is taking shape, the population's well-being and the republic's attractiveness for investments have significantly grown during the past year.”
When IWPR called presidential spokeswoman Yelena Yensen and asked for a comment on the allegations made against Batdyev, she refused to give an answer and put the telephone down.
Batdyev was defended by Dmitry Kozak, Russian presidential representative for the North Caucasus, who said that the special operation against the militants was in no way connected to the president.
The president is still under fire from the relatives of the seven murdered men.
The seven went missing in October 2004 and their burned and dismembered bodies were later discovered in an abandoned mine.
Despite evidence linking Kaitov to the disappearances, the republic’s law enforcement bodies did almost nothing to investigate the case. The republic's prosecutor Vladimir Ganochka refused to open a criminal case and interior minister Alexander Obukhov said in the local parliament that more than 100 policemen had searched Kaitov's dacha but had failed to find any evidence of a crime. Batdyev publicly swore by Allah that his son-in-law was not involved in the disappearances.
However, an independent investigation by the relatives of the dead men found a mass of incriminating evidence at Kaitov's dacha, including bullet cases from automatic weapons, bullets, and blood and brain material on a pavement slab.
Batdyev then disavowed his son-in-law and his daughter Lyudmila divorced Kaitov.
Angry protesters twice stormed the government headquarters in Cherkessk, demanding the resignation of Batdyev and senior officials.
Federal representative Kozak resolved the crisis by promising a full criminal investigation. Ganochka was dismissed, interior minister Obukhov was moved to another region of Russia and the Russian prosecutor's office became involved in the investigation. But he also defended Batdyev and said that he would not tolerate him becoming a victim of a “pogrom” demanding his head.
In the trial, prosecutors said that the murders were the result of a fight for control of the local chemical factory, following Batdyev’s election as president in 2003.
Both sides are contesting the outcome of the trial. Kaitov's lawyer Boris Kuznetsov said that the case against his client was fabricated by Batdyev’s political opponents.
"We have said many times that an objective trial is impossible in this republic," Kuznetsov told IWPR. "Islam Burlakov, chairman of the republic's Supreme Court, was Batdyev's opponent in the 2003 presidential elections. He will not miss the chance now to take it out on his son-in-law for his defeat in the elections."
For their part, the relatives of the seven dead men said that Kaitov deserved life imprisonment for the murders.
"The main thing is that the court made no ruling regarding the republic's president Mustafa Batdyev whom the injured regard as responsible for the criminal terror in the republic and guilty of committing a punishable act - covering up a crime," Fatima Bogatyryova, sister of one of the murdered men, told IWPR.
Mikhail Duguzhev is the pseudonym of a freelance journalist in Cherkessk.
Although the authorities said the two events were not linked, both have rebounded on the local president, Mustafa Batdyev, seriously damaging his authority.
At the end of a long trial, the North Caucasian republic’s Supreme Court sentenced Ali Kaitov to 17 years’ imprisonment for the premeditated murder of local parliamentarian Rasul Bogatyryov and six of his friends. Two of Kaitov's friends who carried out the crime, Azamat Akbayev and Temirlan Bostanov, were sentenced to life imprisonment, and 13 other people involved in the crime received prison sentences ranging from two to 16 years.
Kaitov had been married to Batdyev’s daughter and his case only came to court after persistent denials from officials in Karachai-Cherkessia that he was implicated in the murders and following high-level intervention from Moscow.
The authorities swiftly issued a statement saying that the trial and the December 25 special operation were not connected. However, a direct link came to light when it was revealed that one of the alleged militants Ruslan Tokov had been caught in the apartment of Kaitov’s fellow accused Temirlan Bostanov and that Bostanov’s younger brother was with him. Tokov put up resistance and was killed after a ten-hour siege of the apartment block. Another alleged militant, Akhmat Salpagarov, was killed in the town's southern district the same evening.
The opposition newspaper Vesti Gor then piled the pressure on President Batdyev in an explosive article on January 10, specifically linking the president to the dead militants and making a number of allegations. Amongst them was that eyewitnesses had seen Tokov visiting the president’s house shortly before the special operation.
The newspaper said that the special operation was only possible because the federal security agency, the FSB, had decided not to inform the local authorities about their plans and only revealed them just as the assault was about to start.
The article created a furore in the republic – all the more so because the president is head of the republic’s so-called anti-terrorist centre and has vowed to take tough measures against Islamic militancy. The opposition demanded that the federal authorities in Moscow intervene and that Batdyev should resign.
Islam Krymshamkhalov, leader of the opposition and member of the local parliament, accused the presidential administration of double standards. “The threat of terrorism and the impression the leadership of the republic makes that they are fighting it have long been a way of blackmailing the federal centre, with the aim of making Moscow close its eyes,” he said, accusing the authorities of abusing their powers.
Batydev himself avoided any mention of the charges against him, when he made his New Year’s address to Karachai-Cherkessia. He told his fellow-citizens, "The industrial development of the republic is taking shape, the population's well-being and the republic's attractiveness for investments have significantly grown during the past year.”
When IWPR called presidential spokeswoman Yelena Yensen and asked for a comment on the allegations made against Batdyev, she refused to give an answer and put the telephone down.
Batdyev was defended by Dmitry Kozak, Russian presidential representative for the North Caucasus, who said that the special operation against the militants was in no way connected to the president.
The president is still under fire from the relatives of the seven murdered men.
The seven went missing in October 2004 and their burned and dismembered bodies were later discovered in an abandoned mine.
Despite evidence linking Kaitov to the disappearances, the republic’s law enforcement bodies did almost nothing to investigate the case. The republic's prosecutor Vladimir Ganochka refused to open a criminal case and interior minister Alexander Obukhov said in the local parliament that more than 100 policemen had searched Kaitov's dacha but had failed to find any evidence of a crime. Batdyev publicly swore by Allah that his son-in-law was not involved in the disappearances.
However, an independent investigation by the relatives of the dead men found a mass of incriminating evidence at Kaitov's dacha, including bullet cases from automatic weapons, bullets, and blood and brain material on a pavement slab.
Batdyev then disavowed his son-in-law and his daughter Lyudmila divorced Kaitov.
Angry protesters twice stormed the government headquarters in Cherkessk, demanding the resignation of Batdyev and senior officials.
Federal representative Kozak resolved the crisis by promising a full criminal investigation. Ganochka was dismissed, interior minister Obukhov was moved to another region of Russia and the Russian prosecutor's office became involved in the investigation. But he also defended Batdyev and said that he would not tolerate him becoming a victim of a “pogrom” demanding his head.
In the trial, prosecutors said that the murders were the result of a fight for control of the local chemical factory, following Batdyev’s election as president in 2003.
Both sides are contesting the outcome of the trial. Kaitov's lawyer Boris Kuznetsov said that the case against his client was fabricated by Batdyev’s political opponents.
"We have said many times that an objective trial is impossible in this republic," Kuznetsov told IWPR. "Islam Burlakov, chairman of the republic's Supreme Court, was Batdyev's opponent in the 2003 presidential elections. He will not miss the chance now to take it out on his son-in-law for his defeat in the elections."
For their part, the relatives of the seven dead men said that Kaitov deserved life imprisonment for the murders.
"The main thing is that the court made no ruling regarding the republic's president Mustafa Batdyev whom the injured regard as responsible for the criminal terror in the republic and guilty of committing a punishable act - covering up a crime," Fatima Bogatyryova, sister of one of the murdered men, told IWPR.
Mikhail Duguzhev is the pseudonym of a freelance journalist in Cherkessk.
