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Pro-Moscow Mayor Accuses Russians Of Killing Chechen Civilians
SLEPTSOVSK, Russia, May 3 (News Agencies) - The pro-Moscow mayor of Grozny, Bislan Gantamirov, on Thursday accused Russian troops of beating and killing Chechen civilians during a May Day search operation in the marketplace of the Chechen capital, Russian media reported.
The Russian administration has refuted the accusation, but Chechen separatist president Aslan Maskhadov insisted the violence took place.
"Three people who had no link whatsoever with [Chechen separatist] rebels were killed and a dozen others injured by mortar shells fired by a unit" of the Russian interior ministry forces, Gantamirov told television station NTV.
"The soldiers also arbitrarily arrested a dozen people who they then beat savagely," the mayor said in a statement carried by Interfax news agency.
Gantamirov urged Russian authorities to punish the soldiers responsible for the attacks.
Police announced on Wednesday they had found the mutilated bodies of three men in Grozny marketplace after a search operation on Tuesday, allegedly carried out by Russian soldiers to prevent violence on May Day. The police said they had not identified the victims or their killers.
The statement from the mayor's office said the marketplace was "totally ravaged by the soldiers who also opened fire without reason on neighboring houses."
Maskhadov's spokesman said that drunken Russian soldiers wreaked havoc in the marketplace, arbitrarily arresting over 60 people and savagely beating three men before shooting them with grenade-launchers.
Maskhadov called on international human rights groups to launch their own investigation of the incident, based on evidence and testimony of numerous witnesses.
The Russian interior ministry issued statement saying it was "surprised that a reinforcement of security in the marketplace, which has for a long time been the scene of thefts and murders, should have provoked such a reaction from the mayor."
Meanwhile, Ria Novosti news agency reported that a school headmaster and a Russian policeman had been killed in Chechnya in the past 24 hours, and 13 police officers injured.
The headmaster was shot dead on Wednesday night at his home in Valerik, a village southwest of Grozny, Ria Novosti reported the pro-Russian administration in Chechnya as saying.
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