Government shares death toll figures

More than 6,000 federal servicemen and police officers have died and more than 8,000 have been wounded over the entire period of the "counter-terrorist operation" in Chechnya. These figures were given by Chechnya's Prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko in Grozny on 17 March, at a round table discussion on the interaction between government and civil society.

According to Mr Kravchenko, the criminogenic situation in Chechnya is becoming more stable. The number of crimes registered in 2004 shrank by 1,589 as compared with 2003. The number of grave crimes shrank by 32% and premeditated murders by 40%.

Two hundred and five people have been discharged under an amnesty declared for members of illegal armed formations, Mr Kravchenko says. "They all take part in reconstruction processes in the republic," ITAR-TASS cites.

The prosecutor noted the crime fighting system that had formed in the republic "allows us to control the situation in the region." According to him, 143 criminal cases have been opened against servicemen over the years of the "counter-terrorist operation."

Police officers who commit crimes do not go unpunished either. In 2004, 53 criminal cases were opened against police officers who broke the law. Thirty policemen were convicted under various charges in 2003 and 24 criminal cases opened against officers of the Internal Affairs Ministry were sent to court in 2004.

• Abductions still underway in Chechnya
• Police officer murdered in Chechnya
• Clean-ups in Chechnya's Achkhoy-Martan, Sunzha districts
• Witness confesses to firing control shots
• More casualties in Chechnya
• Police officer found dead in Grozny, Chechnya
• Five rebels, policeman killed in Chechnya's Sunzha district
• Six bodies found in Grozny

More about North Caucasus:

• Human Rights Practices in Russia's North Caucasus - 2004