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Kavkaz goes down for the count ...
Lithuania shut down on Saturday a Chechen separatist web site operating from the country and used by warlord Shamil Basayev to claim responsibility for the Beslan school siege. The web site, Kavkazcenter.com, was blocked by the state security department and now displays a message saying that it has been temporarily disabled pending the outcome of a court decision on its legality. In the past, Chechen rebels, including Basayev and former separatist president Aslan Maskhadov, had used the site for statements on the conflict. A state security department spokesman said the site had been closed while an investigation is conducted to determine whether the site had been used to "blatantly propagate material that promotes terrorism and ethnic strife," the Baltic News Service reported. The closing of the site followed a meeting Friday of the country's defense council, after which Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said it would be shut down. The web site has caused a diplomatic rift between Russia and Lithuania. Lithuania's ambassador was summoned last week to the Foreign Ministry and told "in tough terms" to ensure the site ceased its activity, the ministry said in a statement. At Moscow's urging, Vilnius tried to close down the site last year. However, a Lithuanian court ruled that the site could not be closed, and the country's Constitutional Court is expected to weigh in on the issue next year. The web site used to operate from servers in the United States and Britain, but was removed after its users were accused of sending thousands of spam e-mails to Internet users around the world. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-09-19 |
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