THE TRIAL WILL BE SOON

Preliminary results of the investigation into the Moscow bombings: out of nine suspects, two will stand trial

...of the exercises in Ryazan in September 1999 by Lev Semyonovich Levinson.

• — Your commission has been working for over a year. Have you managed to investigate much?
  — The commission did not initially set out to conduct an operational investigation. Not because we weren't interested. It was clear that we would not get access to the materials of the criminal case, and conducting our own private investigation was beyond our power. And there was no need.

• — Then what were you doing?
  — In order to draw any conclusions, it is necessary to have the most complete information possible. We wanted all the contradictions that existed in official publications on this matter and in the statements of officials to be minimized. In fact, there were many such contradictions. And we tried to resolve them as best we could.

...Yuri Shchekochikhin. However, I will say right away, I do not link these deaths with the work of our commission. Official bodies are obliged to provide answers to parliamentary inquiries, but they do so reluctantly. I understand that there is an investigative secret, there are personal data of operatives. But the most important thing is a reluctance to share information. Today we cannot boast of an abundance of data. But on the other hand, we were able to collect a lot of assessments, observations, processed a lot of analytical materials and soon we can present a fairly interesting report.

• — Are there any unexpected findings unknown to the general public in Russia?
  — Yes. Let me give you just one example. Serious Western publications immediately after the explosions noted the clear benefit that the Kremlin would receive in this situation.

• — It was written that the "director" of this performance is an oligarch close to the Kremlin, BAB. That's how it's written — "BAB", the abbreviation has gained international currency. Do you adhere to this version?
  — No. But we are analyzing it along with those supported by Boris Berezovsky, and those to which Russian security forces lean. So far, we cannot give preference to any of them. The prosecutor's office's version also causes us serious doubts.

• — But after all, some of the criminals have been arrested, an investigation is underway.
  — We worked with the victims in the Volgodonsk case, talked with their lawyers. The commission is not sure that the people who committed the terrorist attack in Volgodonsk are involved in the bombings in Moscow.

• — And the version "FSB blows up Russia"?

• — And didn't Berezovsky help?
  — He had one time relation to the financing of "Liberal Russia". So the phone, perhaps, was partially paid for by them. And then, why be cunning — in July last year at the Baltschug Hotel, the Foundation for Civil Liberties organized a video link with London. A meeting of our commission was held at the Baltschug. We went for it because we had no other opportunity to hear the so-called testimony of Achimez Gochiyayev (one of the main suspects in the case of the Moscow apartment bombings — Ed.) we didn't have.

• — Why "so-called"?
  — Because we never managed to see them. Only a transcript, typed by someone unknown. We were promised the tapes for a long time, but more than a year has passed, and things are still where they were.

Chronicle of Events

Just a year after the explosions on Guryanov Street and Kashirskoye Highway, FSB officers stated: all participants in the terrorist attacks have been identified, they are being sought. Using the media, the special services made public the details of the preparation and execution of the terrorist attack. In particular, it became known how FSB officers tracked down one of the main participants in the mining — Achimez Gochiyayev. It turns out that he arrived in Moscow under the name of his distant relative who died in a car accident. It was he who rented basements in four residential buildings. Here, fortunately for the special services, the terrorist made an unpardonable mistake: he registered the lease of one of the basements in his real name.

Preparation for the explosions began in May 1999. The terrorists brought six tons of explosives to Moscow. It was prepared in Urus-Martan, then transported to the Stavropol Territory. In order not to arouse suspicion, it was placed in sugar bags. Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, Timur Batchaev, and Adam Dekkushev "packaged" the explosives in Kislovodsk. A Mercedes tractor with the deadly cargo set off for Moscow on September 5. Here the "sugar" was distributed among the rented basements. The clockwork mechanism in the house on Guryanov Street was set for midnight, on Kashirskoye Highway — for five in the morning.

Immediately after the terrorist attacks, when it was possible to establish how the explosives were delivered to Moscow, massive checks of all non-residential premises in the capital being rented out began. This made it possible to discover two more places prepared for explosions.

The special services managed to collect the most complete information about Gochiyayev. Until 1997, he was a very successful construction businessman. Then he got together with Wahhabis and handed over half a million dollars earned "for the fight against the infidels." He studied at the Khattab camp, and in his native Karachaevsk he opened "Muslim Society No. 3". Here he was an imam: he preached the ideas of Wahhabism among young people.

In February 1999, Gochiyayev was detained. He spent two months in a pre-trial detention center in Karachay-Cherkessia. And it was there, where Gochiyayev preached, that one of the imam's students was killed during the detention. After that, all suspicious persons and Wahhabi organizations were searched. A large amount of weapons and ammunition was recovered from the caches. All of Imam Gochiyayev's students were also detained.

Two months later, Achimez was released from custody, and he went to Chechnya, where he spent three months with Khattab. Then, having formed a sabotage group, he left for Moscow to prepare for the explosions.

In April of this year, the Prosecutor General's Office completed the investigation into the terrorist attacks in Moscow and Volgodonsk. The investigation established: Emir Al-Khattab, Abu Umar, Achimez Gochiyayev, Hakim Abaev, Denis Saitakov, Zaur and Timur Batchaev, Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, Adam Dekkushev were involved in the explosions. The organizers of the crimes are foreign citizens Khattab and Umar. Both were liquidated by special services during a counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya. Zaur Batchaev also died there. His brother Timur was destroyed on the territory of Georgia. Gochiyayev and Abaev remain at large for now. Both have been put on the international wanted list.

Krymshamkhalov and Dekkushev are arrested and are in one of the Moscow pre-trial detention centers. They are accused of participating in an illegal armed formation, terrorism, premeditated murder, illegal manufacture and storage of weapons.

The victims (and there are about 2,000 of them) have already familiarized themselves with the materials of the preliminary investigation. Now the defendants are getting acquainted with the case. As soon as this procedure is finished, the case will be transferred to court.

Igor KOROLKOV

Sidebar (fragments):

(Pulitzer Prize winner) Watergate investigation even in the first days of work Pentagon Donald Rumsfeld Deputy Paul Wolfowitz whether to assign responsibility terrorist attacks on Iraq and ita search for one hundred percent (Wolfowitz in a conversation with estimated the probability of participation 10-50 percent). These Secretary of State Colin Powell met with resistance wanting to fight on two Afghanistan and Iraq was first divided "Al-Qaeda" in Afghanistan Woodward based on Bush and his entourage that Rumsfeld objected publication of materials and generally did not consider legally binding evidence. He was up to statements by bin Laden to the Russian authorities "confessions" of Shamil Basaev the beginning of the second Chechen Powell insisted "whitewashing" paper would present evidence bin Laden and Saddam events of September 11 objected to such retelling, quotes him allies can also if we don't find solid evidence. Secondly, could create a "bad operations in Iraq and not be the last terror. And if they legally — with proof adversarial trial public expected security and even in "democracy" throughout According to Woodward Tenet tried to obtain involvement in terrorist attacks succeeded in this. In slowly faded away

THE HEXOGEN TRACE

The more terrorist attacks in the country, the less clarity there is about their organizers and perpetrators

"I WANT TO TELL ABOUT THE EXPLOSIONS OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS"

My name is Achimez Gochiyayev.

Since 1999, "Novaya Gazeta" has been monitoring the search for the perpetrators and organizers of the residential building bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk (a series of materials "FSB. Hexogen. Ryazan", "The Hexogen Trace", etc.). In 2004, the Moscow City Court sentenced Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Krymshamkhalov, who were charged with preparing and carrying out these monstrous terrorist attacks. Besides them, Timur Batchayev (but he was killed during an operation by Russian special services in Georgia) and Achimez Gochiyayev, who is still hiding outside Russia, were supposed to be in the dock. In 2003, "Novaya Gazeta" published an open letter from Krymshamkhalov and Batchayev to the commission investigating the residential building bombings in Moscow and Volgodonsk: "...Due to the statements made by us and Gochiyayev..., it seems that in the near future we will indeed face arrest or death... 1. We admit to being accomplices in the terrorist acts that took place in Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999... 2. We are accomplices in the attacks at our executive level, and we have nothing to do with the explosions themselves."

Later, we received a videotape with an appeal from Gochiyayev himself, in which he claims that FSB officers were involved in the preparation of the terrorist attacks. As we learned, at the time this recording was made, Gochiyayev himself was in the position of a hostage. He was ready to share the information known to him, but in his notes he demanded quite large sums of money for it — obviously, it was not he who demanded it, but those who were holding him. The first price was set at 500,000 US dollars, the last dropped to 150,000. As one might guess, Gochiyayev was indeed turned into a commodity obliged to bring in money. And those who fully control him release the information known to Gochiyayev according to the laws of kidnapping — in portions.

And now another document has reached our editorial office: Gochiyayev's handwritten (as presented to us) testimony. They were handed over to the editorial office by historian Yuri Felshtinsky, who received them from an intermediary in February 2005 in two formats: written and on an audiotape.

The newspaper is not a special service, so we cannot claim that this letter is original, nor can we confirm or deny the information set out in it. We do not know where the author of the letter is at the moment, whether he is free in his actions or still under someone's control. We can only officially state: we did not pay a single kopeck for these few sheets. In the cover letter from Yuri Felshtinsky, it was also indicated that he received the materials on a gratuitous basis.

Why are we publishing? Because we believe that the trial of Gochiyayev's accomplices, which took place behind closed doors, did not provide exhaustive answers to all the questions that arose during the independent investigation conducted by State Duma deputies and journalists. And, perhaps, this new information will allow us to get closer to the truth? This is a question for the special services. Otherwise, a strange pattern emerges: the more terrorist attacks in the country, the less clarity there is about their organizers and perpetrators.

The Russian Prosecutor's Office accuses me of organizing the residential building bombings that occurred in the fall of '99 in Moscow. I consider myself innocent and accuse the special services, specifically the FSB of Russia, of preparing and carrying out these monstrous explosions. My name is Achimez Gochiyayev. I want to tell the truth and convey to all people the bitter truth of what happened. Having analyzed all the events that took place before these explosions and subsequent events, I came to the conclusion that this was a pre-planned and well-prepared operation of the special services. When these events took place, I lived and worked in Moscow, was engaged in construction, the company was called "Kapstroy-2000" and was located near the "Barrikadnaya" metro station. On television they showed my photo, I realized that they wanted to frame me. I was on Guryanova and after everything I saw there, I did not meet with Ramazan Dyshekov, I decided to wait it out, but on September 13, when the second explosion occurred in the house on Kashirskoye Highway and when they showed my photo on television, I realized that they wanted to frame me. I...

Account of Events

A comrade I hadn't seen since almost school days, his name is Ramazan Dyshekov. He told me that he works and lives in Moscow, engaged in the sale of food products. Subsequently, he visited several more times and once he suggested that I engage in the sale of mineral water with him and asked me to find him water. One of my fellow countrymen, his name was Raul Chichikov, worked at my company; I assigned this matter to him, and in the future, Raul conducted work from my company with Ramazan. Our work went normally, Ramazan paid on time, there were no problems. After some time, Ramazan asked me to help him rent premises for warehouses in the south of Moscow and in the city of Ryazan; he said that he had good sales points in these areas. I asked Raul to search for these premises; he found many options and proposed them to Ramazan, who in turn selected suitable premises for himself. I gave them money for the rent of these premises, and the two of them handled the rental. Ramazan himself personally rented these premises for his company.

When the explosion occurred in the house on Guryanova, I was visiting, and Ramazan called me on my mobile; he said that he had an urgent matter and we needed to meet; he asked where I was, calling towards morning around 5 o'clock; I told him that I would come myself and began to get ready. And when I was already about to leave the house, I saw on the news on TV what had happened. I immediately went, then called the police and the rescue service and told them about the premises and Kopotevsky ponds and in Kolotna, and after that I left Moscow and returned to Karachay-Cherkessia. At home, from my brother who at that time worked in the criminal investigation department, I learned that they were searching for me intensely and they had an unspoken order from Moscow not to take me alive, and from that time until today I have been forced to hide. Now I know that Ramazan Dyshekov works officially in the FSB; at that time, no one could even guess about any of his connections with the FSB; he was then a secret agent. Raul Chichikov, who conducted business with Ramazan from my company, was killed a short time after these events; his body was found in the village of "Moskovsky" in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic; he was killed and they tried to burn the body. Thus, the FSB eliminated the main witness in this case.

My relatives and friends are subjected to the harshest pressure from the FSB; they are constantly interrogated and searched. My sister was forced to leave the republic after FSB officers took her and her young daughter to a cemetery and, threatening to kill the child, demanded that she give an interview to the press saying that I could have done this and that I am a mentally unstable person, and after that, fearing for the lives of her children, she was forced to leave.

False Evidence Presented by the FSB

On the FSB website, there is a photo of a young man in a black cap with a beard, and the FSB presents this photo as evidence in its favor; I declare that this is a lie, the person depicted in this photo is not me. This can be seen even if we carefully compare my photo and the photo of this person. In addition, an expert examination was conducted, the results of which proved that this person is not me. It is on such blatant lies that the FSB builds all the charges against me. Immediately after the explosions, my photo was shown on television and it was said that this was a photo of the person who rented these premises and allegedly this is a photo from a photocopy of a passport left in one of the real estate offices. But this photo is identical to the photo in my real passport, and as we all know, when a person receives a passport, a copy of the photo remains in the passport office, and when the FSB fabricated this case against me, it was not difficult for them to take a copy of the photo and show it on television. Here is a significant fact: the testimony of the person who rented out the premises on Guryanova. He did not recognize in my photo the person to whom he rented his premises. And Ramazan Dyshekov fits the description of the appearance to whom he rented his premises; I think if he were shown a photo of Ramazan, then

Achimez Gochiyayev
Moscow. Kashirskoye Highway
Moscow. Guryanova St.
EPA
Volgodonskodontsk