Daily Archives: May 22, 2007

Human rights activist Zarema Mukusheva’s documentary Crying Sun: The Impact Of War In The Mountains Of Chechnya is available for viewing on Google video. The 26 minute film, which is the first film produced by Memorial and the US based human rights group Witness, documents the effects of the Chechen war on the village of Zumsoi. In an interview with RFE/RL, Mukusheva said that the film

Especially follow[s] one man [Myahdi Muhayev] — during the war, his 15-year-old brother was abducted by Russian troops. Another brother was also detained, and after very cruel torture, became handicapped. Then our character himself is thrown into jail. After his detention by the federal services, he disappears for several days, and then there is an attempt to accuse him of serious crimes.

The other main character in the film is a schoolteacher in Zumsoi ..read more

The British Crown Prosecution Service has charged Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Alexandr Litvinenko. The question if anything will come of it. First off is a major legal hurdle. Article 61 of the Russian Constitution bars extradition of Russian citizens. It states, “a citizen of the Russian Federation may not be deported out of Russia or extradited to another state.” And this is the line the Russian government is taking. Marina Gridneva, a spokeswoman for the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office, told RFE/RL, “A citizen who has committed a crime on the territory of a foreign country can be prosecuted on the basis of materials provided by that country, but only in Russia, if there is an analogous crime punishable under Russian legislation.” So it might come down to how much Britain is willing to make a diplomatic issue out of Litvinenko’s ..read more

Finally the news we’ve all been waiting for. The British have formerly charged Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Aleksandr Litvinenko. Reports Kommersant:

KGB former officer Andrey Lugovoy will be charged with intentional murder of FSB former officer and then exiled dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Sky News reported referring to Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Britain will seek to extradite Lugovoy.

There was one more suspect in Litvinenko’s case, his business partner Dmitry Kovtun, who had also met with Litvinenko on the day of polonium poisoning in Millennium hotel. But no charges against Kovtun have been presented yet.

FSB former officer Alexander Litvinenko died in a London hospital on November 23. The doctors diagnosed polonium poisoning. Britain’s detectives visited Russia past year and interrogated Kovtun and Logovoy, who denied the involvement.

Boris Berezovsky, the exiled tycoon of Russia, was also questioned in the course of investigation. Berezovsky predictably blamed the ..read more