Unknown men attack activists with ties to Berezovski

Unknown men attack legislators and activists with ties to Berezovski ... while his film "Assault on Russia" is shown in the provinces.

LOCAL LEGISLATORS, ACTIVISTS WITH TIES TO BEREZOVSKY ATTACKED IN PERM...

21 March 2002

Aleksandr Kostarev, a member of the political council of Liberal Russia and one of the organizers for the local showing of the film "Assault on Russia," was severely beaten in Perm on 20 March, RFE/RL's Perm correspondent reported. Three unknown men attacked him in the hallway of his apartment building with a metal rod. Kostarev sustained a concussion and is hospitalized.

"Assault on Russia" was the film financed by embattled oligarch Boris Berezovsky to prove the Federal Security Service's (FSB) role in the bombing of four apartment buildings in Russia in the fall of 1999 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 and 18 March 2002). The Perm branch of Liberal Russia believes that the attack was politically motivated.

Meanwhile, State Duma deputy and Liberal Russia member Yulii Rybakov told reporters in Moscow that unidentified men beat up three of his employees and also attacked a fellow faction member, AP reported on 20 March. In addition, he said two criminal groups in St. Petersburg have orders to kill him. Rybakov was detained at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport on 9 March while attempting to bring copies of "Assault on Russia" into the country.

Liberal Russia has called on President Putin to form a commission to investigate the 1999 explosions.

Also in St. Petersburg, the director of the city's branch of the human rights group Memorial, Veniamin Iofe, was attacked on the afternoon of 18 March following the showing of the film there, RFE/RL's St. Petersburg correspondent reported. Iofe was struck on the back of the head after exiting the building where the film was being shown.

Meanwhile, "Assault on Russia" was shown in Novosibirsk's city press center on 19 March. Its screening was sponsored by Yabloko, Union of Rightist Forces, and the Helsinki Group, and was attended by local television and newspaper journalists, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported. Liberal Russia official Arkadii Yankovskii told reporters that "Assault on Russia" will eventually be screened throughout Siberia, and that he already has agreements to show it in the cities of Tomsk and Barnaul. Duma Deputy Sergei Yushenkov (independent) told RFE/RL's Moscow bureau that the film has already been shown in Irkutsk.