14:35, 9 February 2004

4th anniversary of bloody "purge" in Noviye Aldy

Four years have passed since a "purge" was conducted in the village of Noviye Aldy on 5 February 2000. On 4 February 2000, when federal troops entered the village, there were no rebels there. There was no combat. It was a police operation, in the course of which 46 civilians, including women and old people, were shot dead. 10 more people, including a one-year-old child, were shot down in residential areas of Grozny adjacent to the village. The investigation launched by the office of the judge advocate in connection with the mass killing established that "the operations to "purge" the Noviye Aldy settlement on 5 and 10 February 2000 were conducted by OMON (special tasks police platoon) officers of the interior departments of Saint Petersburg and Ryazan Region..." Nevertheless no one was imposed punishment for the committed crimes. The investigation of the criminal case has been stopped "because of impossibility to establish people who are to be called to account."

Details of this case are given in the report by the Human Rights Center "Memorial": The Purge. Noviye Aldy Settlement, 5 February 2000: The Deliberated Crime Against Civilians (in Russian).

Source: Memorial Human Rights Center (Moscow, Russia)