On July 25, we also informed the Public Commission about the existence of these testimonies and their essence.
Early August Developments
In early August, we received an "Open Letter" from Batchaev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov to the Public Commission, dated July 28.
We did not know whether the Public Commission had received the same letter or if it had been sent there.
We decided to wait with the publication of the letter, which was not addressed to us; we began to collect additional information.
We obtained a tape with the testimony of GRU Senior Lieutenant Alexei Victorovich Galkin, who found himself in Chechen captivity under unexplained circumstances shortly after the September terrorist attacks, and comments by Abu Movsaev, who conducted the interrogation.
Very important new information was received that Batchaev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov were not acquainted with Achimez Gochiyayev, and the latter was not acquainted with Khattab and had never been photographed with him.
Communication with Achimez Gochiyayev
Communication with Achimez Gochiyayev was re-established.
During this round of negotiations, we were allowed to draft questions for Achimez Gochiyayev. We hoped to receive detailed answers to them.
Instead, we received a single handwritten postscript: "Answers to all questions are ready, discuss the details at the meeting."
This referred to a meeting with the person who helped us organize the communication, but this meeting did not take place.
August 2002 Context
It was August 2002. It was assumed that we would meet in Georgia.
Everyone remembers how in August-September Moscow began to exert pressure on Tbilisi, unprecedented for relations between independent states, in order to force the Georgian government to take a tough stance regarding Chechnya and Chechen refugees.
We knew that to a very large extent this pressure was caused by our activity in taking testimony about the September terrorist attacks from Achimez Gochiyayev, Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, and Batchaev, who were in Georgia at that time, which was no secret to anyone.