#4
Sweeps in Chechen town continue despite grisly findings
AFP
March 7, 2002

The Russian federal army has launched another sweeping operation in the Chechen town of Argun, despite the discovery of bodies of civilians arrested earlier there over the past week, a Russian rights group reported.

The sweep was launched Tuesday, a day after the bodies of four young men, who were arrested in Argun last week, were returned to their relatives, the Memorial group said.

According to the spokesman of Chechnya's rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, the four men, one of whom worked for local police, were murdered last week.

Another 24 bodies, which bore marks of violent deaths, were found in the mass grave uncovered in Argun last week, and which mainly contained bodies of people arrested in the sweeps and then reported missing.

Russian federal forces conducted a 10-day security sweep through Argun around the New Year targeting separatist rebels but human rights groups said that many civilians went missing during the operation.

Eighteen unidentified bodies have been discovered in Chechnya since the beginning of the year and a total of 72 unidentified bodies have been found since the start of the Russian crackdown in the separatist republic on October 1, 1999.

Civil liberties observers have denounced Russian "clean-up" operations in Chechnya, alleging widespread human rights abuses involving beatings, kidnappings and summary executions.

Federal forces have become bogged down in a brutal guerrilla conflict in the southern Russian republic, where more than 3,500 Russian soldiers have died according to an official toll that observers say is far below the real figure.

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