A military court in Makhachkala, Dagestan, has acquitted a Russian marine suspected of being involved in a plot to murder Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov. A one-legged Private Sergei Tiunov, arrested in November 2001 together with two members of the Rappani Khalilov rebel unit, was freed from custody in the courtroom.
| The Russian "marines" are naval infantry. They're trained for land warfare, and their amphib capabilities and training aren't in the same category as the U.S. or British Marines. Established by Peter the Great, they're looking forward to their 300th birthday year after next. Pacific Fleet has a division of naval infantry, Baltic, Northern, and Caspian fleets each have an independent brigade, and Black Sea Fleet has an independent regiment. Tiunov presumably belonged to the Black Sea Regiment... |
Private Tiunov was arrested on November 16, 2001 as he, together with two rebels, a Dagestani national Mukhtarpasha Ismailov and an Algerian Yusef Said Saudani, were heading to Dagestan from Chechnya. The Algerian, who first introduced himself to local police as John Benini, claimed to be a British citizen. All three were detained in the Novolak district of Dagestan, at a police checkpoint in Novochurtakh. Upon detention the police seized a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 9 magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition from Saudani alias Benini, and an F-1 grenade, 3 contact fuses, 2 TNT blocks, a bayonet, a military uniform and lots of medicines from the other two.
"What you boys plannin' on doin' with all that there hardware?"
"Elk, officer. We're gonna hunt some elk." |
It is noteworthy that approximately at the same time Salman Raduyev, a notorious Chechen warlord, went on trial in the Dagestani capital, Makhachkala. Vladimir Ustinov, the countryâs top prosecutor, took part in the trial as a public prosecutor. âWe have come to kill those prosecutors,â Tiunov said during questioning. Later, however, it transpired that he was not talking about his own intentions, but of those of his companions.
| "I meant, THEY have come to bump off the prosecutor! THEY!" |
According to Tiunov, the rebels had taken him prisoner and before captivity he fought in Chechnya. The marine said he had served in Chechnya in military unit No.63969, based in the village of Zandak, in Chechen highlands of the Nozhai-Yurt district. In early 2000 he was taken prisoner by the Chechen field commander Rappani not far from his unit. Two weeks before this happened Tiunov lost his leg, having stepped on a landmine, and alleged that together with his companions he was now heading to Dagestan where Tiunov hoped to receive medical treatment. The Ustinov murder plot charges were dropped almost immediately.
| "Chief of staff? We have a one-legged Marine, a Dagh, and an Algerian with a turban... No, they don't walk into a bar. I mean we have them in custody... No, sir. It's not a joke... Well, I guess it would make a good one, wouldn't it?" |
Having found no evidence of detaineesâ intention to murder the Prosecutor General, prosecutors asked the court to convict Tiunov of desertion, arms theft, illegal possession of firearms and participation in an illegal armed formation. By âthe illegal armed formationâ prosecutors meant the unit of the rebel field commander Rappani Khalilov, whom Tiunov and the rebels referred to simply as Rappani. The name of that field commander remained virtually unknown to the wide public until on May 9 last year his men perpetrated a terrorist act in the Dagestani port of Kaspiisk, killing 39 people during a Victory Day parade. During investigation into the Kaspiisk blast it transpired that Khalilov had a training base in Nozhai-Yurt. He recruited his men mostly in Dagestan and taught them the technique of sabotage. Khalilovâs rebels, as a rule, avoided open clashes with the federal forces and upon completing the training course in the mountains went back home to prepare terrorist acts. However, as the Dagestani court established on Monday, Private Tiunov did not belong to Rappani Khalilovâs unit.
| "See? I told you! They captured me. An' that was 'cuz I only had one leg..." |
The former marine was acquitted on three of four counts of charges brought against him. His defence also proved that weapons seized from the detainees belonged not to Tiunov, but to his companions. At the same time, the court established that the marine had committed one crime, after all. In June 2000, armed with an assault-rifle, he deserted from his unit with his fellow-serviceman Andrei Trofimov, who died in an artillery raid a year later. As a result, the court sentenced Tiunov to 2 years of correctional labour and ordered to release him from custody in the courtroom. As regards the two rebels detained together with Tiunov, the Dagestani court had not been that lenient towards them. In July last year Ismailov was sentended to 7 years in prison for participation in illegal armed formations, illegal acquisition and possession of firearms, as well as the illegal purchase of drugs. Benini was handed a 6 months longer sentence for illegally crossing the state border of the Russian Federation.
| I think the turban might have had something to do with it... |
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