Bodies found at Russian base

The Council of Europe has asked Russia for permission to inspect a mass grave found outside its military headquarters in Chechnya…

The Council of Europe has asked Russia for permission to inspect a mass grave found outside its military headquarters in Chechnya.

A total of 16 bodies, all Chechen males, have been found at the site, an abandoned village close to the Khankala base, outside the capital, Grozny, but federal authorities have sealed it off.

The dead, some with gunshot wounds, were found strewn around the roads and houses of the village, which has been abandoned for several months. Two bodies of missing Chechen teenagers were identified by relatives at the weekend but further inspections have been stopped.

The council hopes to have permission for its visiting Human Rights Commissioner, Mr Alvaro Gil-Robles, who is on a tour of the region, to be given access to the area today.

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The find follows allegations, also being investigated by Mr Gil-Robles, that Russian army units are operating a programme of extortion, detaining Chechens in hastily dug pits until their families pay ransoms.

These allegations come just a month after Russia was given a pat on the back for improving human rights in the province, with the council restoring voting rights for Moscow in its parliamentary assembly, that had been suspended last year.

Human Rights Watch, which says it has evidence of several massacres of Chechen civilians by Russian soldiers, wrote yesterday to the Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, urging action.

The group says it wants permission to see if the dead include those on a list of more than 50 Chechens who it believes have disappeared during detention.

Russia's human-rights commissioner, Mr Oleg Mironov, said yesterday the human rights situation in Chechnya was poor and needed "urgent measures" to improve. But Mr Mironov, a supporter of the Communist Party, is seen by some observers as making the comments to attack the rival Unity Party in government.

Russia says the site, a former holiday village named Zdorov (meaning health), is sealed because a criminal investigation is under way. A senior prosecutor has already begun an examination of the site which must first be cleared of landmines.