 War Criminals to be Pardoned by Putin
By Zaurbek Galayev, CHECHENPRESS, 20 September 2006
The undelying meaning of the Kremlin's "amnesty in Chechnya" show was finally revealed, as Putin proposed for the amnesty to be extended on Russian war criminals.
The members of Chechen Resistance have fully ignored the so-called "amnesty for the rebels". However, Russian news reports and television happily demostrated some persons who had allegedly surrendered to be pardoned. Obviously, all these people had nothing to do with the military activity. The worst accusation ever announced against any of them was that of being a relative to a combatant.
Thus, Akhmad Umarov, the brother of ChRI President Dokka Umarov, was kidnapped by the Russian invaders last year, and now presented to the public as a "capitulating rebel". Yet, judging by the Russin side's statements, the only possible "charge" against him was that he was President Umarov's brother. However, in their hurry to make a sensation out of Akhmad Umarov's "capitulation", the Russian propagandists made a serious mistake. They failed to prevent him from saying on camera that he had been kidnapped by "unidentified armed forces". One can imagine how many questions independent reporters might ask the "pardoned rebel" after that, and what conclusions might emerge about the true meaning of the "amnesty" campaign... So, in the best traditions of the present Russian system of terror, Akhmad Umarov dissapeared again.
The stories of other "pardoned rebels" were hardly more genuine. Civilians (some of whom are combatants' relatives) were kidnapped by Russians and given a choice: to go either to jail, or on television - to confess to participating in military actions and "be pardoned" on camera.
Until recently, all the Russian manipulations around the "amnesty" were purely propagandist, addressed to those ignorant about the real situation in Chechnya. They were simply intended to illustrate the "success" of Putin's policies which had "established peace" in Caucasus.
Now, at last, another side of this performance was revealed. Putin introduced a bill the State Duma of Russia, called "On the amnesty for the individuals who have committed crimes during the conduct of counter-terrorist operations in Russian Federation's regions situated within the Southern Federal District". This means a real amnesty for the real war criminals. Under the cover of amnesty for the fake rebels, Russian authorities are going to pardon their own war criminals. No more need to arrange for the "trials by jury" to clear people like Colonel Budanov of their charges. Budanov's comrades-in-arms are to be equalised with the Chechens, taken hostages at some marketplace, and "pardoned" together.
Well, one might say it is a good propagandist move, which will allow the war criminals to evade responsibility. At least, on the Russian side. On the other hand, it is going to create some problems for their local collaborators. After all, they solemnly promised on numerous occasions that the Russian war criminals would be punished. As usual, their Russian masters let them down.
As for the Resistance, it has no plans to pardon the Russian butchers.
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