WAR CRIMES AND ATROCITIES (True Crime) (43 page)

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Russia is not permitting humanitarian organizations to operate freely and is virtually blocking any direct assistance for the refugees so desperately in need of help. There are limited medical supplies and the Chechen children are not permitted to attend school.

Although many of the refugees are unsure how long their welcome will last, the majority told interviewers that they would not return to their homes – or what is left of them – unless the Russian soldiers leave. The same thing was heard again and again, ‘We are afraid for our male population, afraid we will have no husbands or sons’.

MASS GRAVES

The bodies of people who had been lost since the beginning of 2001 have started to turn up in mass graves. The first grave was uncovered on 25 February, 2001, at Khan-Kala, near Grozny, where there is a Russian military base. There were 200 corpses in the mass grave. Their arms and legs had been tied up and the majority were wearing blindfolds. Many of the corpses bore signs of mutilation, including stab wounds, broken limbs, flayed body parts, severed fingertips and ears cut off.

Reeling from the shock of the first discovery, the Chechen people had to face another at Roshni-Chu. This grave bore the body of a one-year-old baby. Since then more mass graves have been uncovered, revealing the atrocities that have taken place. Local people who discovered a grave in April 2002 in a mountain cave at Achkhoy-Martanovsky, reported that all the 100 bodies found there had been beheaded.

The discovery of these graves led to another grue-some detail; some of the bodies had had their internal organs removed. This opened the floodgates to speculation – what exactly had happened to these organs? There have been claims that the organs have been sold on the black market to be used in laboratories or as much sought-after transplants. Despite these allegations, as yet there is no organization to investigate these claims and get to the bottom of the missing organs.

WHAT IS LEFT OF CHECHNYA

The ongoing war has taken its toll on Chechnya and its people. Russian bombing has destroyed over 50,000 homes and out of the original 424 villages, 270 have been completely destroyed. Land mines and bombs have contaminated the agricultural lands of Chechnya, and threaten the future survival of a nation. Although Russia is trying to use the war against terrorism as an excuse for what is taking place in Chechnya, it is obvious that Putin is trying his hardest to cover up the atrocities that have really taken place. What is equally worrying, however, is the lack of a strong Western response to the continuing abuses of a people who are wounded by years of war.

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This 2010 edition published by Canary Press,
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ISBN: 978-1-907795-39-8

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Contents

Introduction

PART ONE: ANCIENT ATROCITIES

The Sword of David Carves Out the Kingdom of Israel

Alexander the Great Destroys Thebes

PART TWO: MEDIEVAL WAR CRIMES

William the Conqueror and ‘the Harrying of the North’

The First Crusaders Take Jerusalem from the Infidel