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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Czech Citizen Detained in Chechnya |
| 2007-10-28 |
| A Czech charity worker was detained in Chechnya Thursday on fraud charges, local officials said. Hana Demeterova, who was involved in charity projects in Chechnya, was detained by the authorities in the regional capital, Grozny, said Zaindi Mazhidov, an official with the local branch of Russia's Federal Migration Service. Mazhidov said that Demeterova was suspected of fraud, but refused to specify the charges. Officials at the Czech Embassy in Moscow had no immediate comment. In Prague, Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova said it had no information on the detention. Foreign charity workers in Chechnya have faced repeated harassment by federal and regional authorities, and some foreign charity groups have been barred from working in the war-ravaged region. The Russian authorities have been strongly suspicious of foreign humanitarian activities in the area and angrily rejected Western allegations of rights abuses. |
| Posted by:lotp |