INFORMATION CENTER OF THE SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP
Press release No. 519 from September 14, 2003

Report from the Chechen Republic
The way Kadyrov understands democracy.
The decision to hold a political mass-meeting of protest in Grozny is made.
The undisguised removal of petroleum products.
Shali district

The way Kadyrov understands democracy.
According to the head of election committee of Malik Saidullaev in Shali district Kaimov Said-Ali, the force structures subordinate to acting president of the Chechen republic Akhmad Kadyrov hinder the employees of the committee from their work: they don't give them a chance to launch the agitation campaign, they don't let them broadcast the information about Malik Saidullaev, they are not allowed to post placards with the information about this candidate for the president of the Chechen Republic. Armed Chechens in uniform are tearing placards off walls. They are motivating it by the prohibition to carry on agitation in offices. But the same people are putting large portraits of Kadyrov in place of the destroyed placards. All the appeals of the election committee of Malik Saidullaev to the head of Shali district administration have turned out useless: Sharip Alimkhadjiev has turned down their demands.
People all over Shali district made indignant by actions of Kadyrov's fellow-fighters are tearing off and burning all the posters agitating for Kadyrov. As a result of it, armed guard has appeared near posters and bill-boards agitating for this "presidential contender".
The number of cases when drivers of intercity buses who are refusing to put agitation posters for Kadyrov in their buses are threatened with dismissal is increasing. The Informational Center of the Society for the Russian-Chechen Friendship notes the fact that there are no other agitation posters except those that agitate for Kadyrov.

Grozny
The decision to hold a political mass-meeting of protest in Grozny is made.
The head committee holding the election campaign of Malik Saidullaev is going to carry out a mass-meeting of protest in Grozny on September 15, 2003. The aim of the meeting is to express protest to the decision to override the registration of Malik Saidullaev as a presidential contender that was made by the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic. Representatives of the head election committee motivate their intention by the opinion that the Supreme Court reached such a verdict under pressure of the present ruling regime. The appeal of the head committee says that "all the administrative resources are used in the election campaign of one of the so-called leaders of the Chechen Republic. The number of infringements committed during his election campaign is unprecedented. There is absolutely no equality of rights that contradicts paragraph 7 of article 48 of the Law on Election".
The head committee of the election campaign of Malik Saidullaev appeals to all the people who are concerned about the scale of the catastrophe to participate in the meeting of protest.

The undisguised removal of petroleum products
According to an employee of the Informational Center of the Society for the Russian-Chechen Friendship, on September 13, at 10.05 am a motorized column consisting of nine petrol tank trucks ("KAMAZ", "KRAZ" and "MAZ"trucks) went through checkpoint ?111 situated on the motorway Mesker-Yurt - Khasavyurt in the direction of Dagestan. The column was convoyed by armed Chechens in three "Zhiguli" cars. Inhabitants of Mesker-Yurt village and the state farm "Jalka" testify that such columns used to appear on the motorway only at night time. But petroleum products obtained by primitive oil production and processing have been taken out of the republic in a completely undisguised way for the last two weeks only. According to local people, such business has been established by people subordinate to Kadyrov under his guidance.

(From our correspondent)
Editor-in-chief Stanislav Dmitriyevsky.
Editor of the current issue Oksana Chelysheva.
This edition has been put out with the support of The National Endowment for
Democracy, as part of their "Russian-Chechen Information Partnership
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