Hello, I’m Mari. I investigate politics and take pictures. This is a diary type blog, a link to my portfolio will become available in the very near future. Tumblr (3.0; @maribastashevski)http://maribastashevski.com/File 126 (Disappearing in Caucasus) focuses on a decade of abductions that have taken place in...http://maribastashevski.com/post/363819169http://maribastashevski.com/post/363819169Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:51:14 -0500 Someone just blew up 30 km. of gaspipes in Derbent. Mind, it boggles. http://maribastashevski.com/post/350665654http://maribastashevski.com/post/350665654Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:11:00 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwr0fhhXkI1qzojy0o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Hectic days in Dagestan.</p> <p>Two more (two yesterday) assumed leaders of Makhatchkala insurgency group were executed during a special operation conducted in a densely populated area of the city this afternoon. According to the MVD press-reports the two were responsible for setting up an explosives trap earlier this morning.  Similar to above security frenzy echoed throughout Dagestan since the attack on ‘siloviki’ on 6th. of January.</p>http://maribastashevski.com/post/350617728http://maribastashevski.com/post/350617728Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:13:00 -0500Just finished photographing first part of a new project. The project whatever media it turns out to...http://maribastashevski.com/post/350632035http://maribastashevski.com/post/350632035Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:28:00 -0500“Do you promise that if I die some embarrassing and boring death that you’re gonna tell...http://maribastashevski.com/post/205388974http://maribastashevski.com/post/205388974Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:03:00 -0400Anatomy of Injustice: Full-fledged report about a decade of Russian Journalist assassinations and...http://maribastashevski.com/post/202019204http://maribastashevski.com/post/202019204Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:24:00 -040040 Days, Simply and Impossibly.: I got up the stairs, opened the door, took off that wretched...http://maribastashevski.com/post/202155671http://maribastashevski.com/post/202155671Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:24:00 -0400<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kquz4zxExF1qzojy0o1_r1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>1.Photo: A postcard with a depiction  from a US-made horror movie in the room of the abducted. </p> <p><u><br/></u></p>http://maribastashevski.com/post/202096258http://maribastashevski.com/post/202096258Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:24:00 -0400Kill a Generation: Tatiana Lokshina about the murder of human rights advocate Zarema Sadualevahttp://maribastashevski.com/post/202158700http://maribastashevski.com/post/202158700Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:24:00 -0400<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwlnc6dA6G1qzojy0o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Zarema Sadulayeva, 33, founding director of the humanitarian NGO “Save the Generation” was found murdered alongside her husband, Umar Dzhabrailov in their car, in Chernorechye a suburb of Grozny, in the early hours of the morning. The newly wedded couple, both of whom worked for “Save the Generation” were abducted from their office on Mayakovskaya Street in the center of Grozny, yesterday at 2 p.m.</p> <p>A witness notified friends and family of Zarema that five members of law enforcement dressed in spot-green and black uniform entered the office and made a casual inquiry about a prosthetic limb, they asked for the administrator and waited until Zarema and Umar arrived to the office, they then escorted the couple outside and drove off to an unknown location.The same people, says the witness, then returned to collect the mobile phones and the car of the victims.</p> <p>Immediately, the friends and relatives contacted all local law enforcement agencies and military points in Chechnya in search of the couple but none of the Siloviki would confirm the whereabouts or the arrest of the two. Heda Saratova, a journalist and a friend of the victim, said that the officials told her that they had, several times found the trail of the couple in detention Centers in the republic, but had been unable to track down a current location.</p> <p>At 6 p.m. a group of all concerned for the safety of the victims stormed the office of the Leninski ROVD demanding an instantaneous investigation. A member of Kadyrov’s Presidential Service, Movsar Arzaliev was among them and confirmed that the president had been notified of the events and that he was personally following the progress.</p> <p>By 11.30 p.m. the group was removed from the Leninski ROVD territory, but powerless and unsure of where to look next, they just remained motionless outside the gates late into the night. Those who knew the couple well are not surprised by the murder but say they cannot begin to imagine what exactly could have triggered this execution.</p> <p>Zarema did humanitarian work focusing on issue of Chechen children and had for the most part worked closely with the problem of handicap and war-related trauma frequent among the Chechen Youth. Unlike Estemirova, she had not voiced her opinion against Kadyrov publicly and was not engaged in politically sensitive work. A close relative of the two suspects the men might have been after Umar. He continues to add that it is possible the wife had simply tried to prevent the men from abducting her husband.</p> <p>In the past her husband, Umar, has been convicted for ties to the insurgency and sentenced to four years in prison; he was amnestied earlier this year. The abduction took place on his birthday. Both victims had multiple body wounds suggesting they might have been tortured before death.</p> <p>A family relative said a lock of hair found in Zarema’s hand was removed by the prosecution for a forensic expertise. A member of Chechen organization who at this point wished to remain anonymous, suspects an alternative motive. “In connection to the murder of the Natalia Estemirova, the employes of the human rights organization “Memorial” Grozny, were uncertain about how to continue their work in Chechnya. Let’s not dismiss the possibility that Sadulaeva was murdered to show that any NGO-related activity, not limited to the direct criticism of Kadyrov is fraught with consequences and can result in this kind of execution,” he commented.</p> <p>Similar to the abduction of Estemirova, the perpetrators had crossed two major checkpoints while transporting the victims, not only that but had also felt at ease to return to the crime scene and leave with the car belonging to one of the victims. Scores of mourning and horrified friends and relatives gathered at the office of the Nurdi Nuhadzhiev, the Chechen Human Rights Ombudsman, to discuss the murder of Zarema and Umar and plea for investigation.</p> <p>Although the office promised to keep an intense security barrier between the remaining witness and protect him, the atmosphere in the room is far from hopeful. “They are only saying that they want to protect him, what they want to do instead is to silence him”. Said one of the close relatives of Zarema. Sombre and subdued, her friends have little doubt that this, same as many other murders in Chechnya, will remain a mystery and that the perpetrators will never be named.</p> <p>Incidents like this one and the murder of Estemirova are picked up by local and foreign media, but are only a small fraction of the abductions and murders that are daily occurrence in present Chechnya. Over 60 people have been registered as officially abducted this year, among them women and children.</p> <p>The body of a 16 year old, Samhan Shamilev, who was taken from his home by the members of the law enforcement two days ago, was found on the outskirts of Serzan’-Urt earlier this morning. “This is only a continuation of a long drawn-out conflict between civilians and the “siloviki” (representatives of the law-enforcement agencies involved directly or indirectly in the counter-terrorism movement) in Chechnya since 2000,” said the prominent Chechen human rights lawyer Dokka Itslaev. “As always, the special forces don’t even bother to conceal their actions in the region even mildly as they’re absolutely certain of impunity from the Kremlin”.</p>http://maribastashevski.com/post/345953655http://maribastashevski.com/post/345953655Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:20:00 -0400Stas was killed. Took a while for Natalia to come to terms with his death. She lived on a tenth...http://maribastashevski.com/post/202220488http://maribastashevski.com/post/202220488Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:11:00 -0400Dagestan -Curse of The Sixth Department: He takes a drag on his a cigarette and...http://maribastashevski.com/post/124837906http://maribastashevski.com/post/124837906Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:07:00 -0400Dagestan P.S.: Chernovick is facing liquidation, too: An independent newspaper for Dagestan is...http://maribastashevski.com/post/124818825http://maribastashevski.com/post/124818825Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:21:00 -0400  Men eyeing the legal enforcement building from a roof of an adjacent building in...http://maribastashevski.com/post/124810608http://maribastashevski.com/post/124810608Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:02:00 -0400   Aliev at the Tchernovik Newspaper office.    Adallo is an Avarian poet and a vivid activist from...http://maribastashevski.com/post/115818247http://maribastashevski.com/post/115818247Sun, 31 May 2009 13:10:00 -0400Friday’s Suicide attack on MVD, Grozny  left a toll of four dead with five wounded. In a snap,...http://maribastashevski.com/post/108977793http://maribastashevski.com/post/108977793Sun, 17 May 2009 06:29:00 -0400Earlier this morning Dennis Sugrobovy, a head of an ORB n. 10, told the media that MVD found and...http://maribastashevski.com/post/96215505http://maribastashevski.com/post/96215505Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:02:00 -0400Cases from the North Caucasus -Russian Justice Initiative: 3000-5000 people abducted on the...http://maribastashevski.com/post/93219892http://maribastashevski.com/post/93219892Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:04:00 -0400