–HARASSMENT IN MOSCOW. A

Radio Liberty broadcast on harassment of Chechens who live in Moscow included an interview with Svetlana Gannyshkina, head of the committee Za grazhdanskoe sodeistvie (For civic assistance). She said that every day her organization gets appeals from people whose relatives have been arrested, sometimes because arms or narcotics have been planted on them. The situation, she said, has worsened since the October theater tragedy. She quoted the aphorism of Sergei Kovalev: “It’s easier (for the police) to find a dark-haired man than a bandit.” Another interview was with Musa Geshaev, a well-known Chechen writer and long-time Moscow resident, whose own son was arrested recently and whose latest book, a “Who’s Who” of famous Chechens, was said by the Russian authorities to be an instruction manual for guerrilla fighters. Marat Khairullin, a correspondent for the daily Moskovski Komsomolets, said that he did not have one Chechen acquaintance in Moscow, including long-time residents, who had not experienced such harassment.