GROZNY. Jan 21 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 500 terrorist acts were committed in Chechnya in 2001.
"Terrorist acts remain a serious destabilizing factor. Most of them were committed in the most dangerous way with the use of large-capacity bombs, which has the most grave consequences," Prosecutor of Chechnya Vsevolod Chernov told Interfax on Monday.
"The terrorists killed 87 representatives of permanent interior departments, 37 heads and staff members of local authorities, and nine clergymen last year," he stressed.
Criminal proceedings are instituted in every case, and a thorough investigation is carried out, Chernov said.
Criminal proceedings against three members of the Dzhamaat terrorist group, Timerbulatov, Makhmudov and Akhmatov, have been completed. They committed a terrorist act in Gudermes on June 19, 2001.
Two vehicles stuffed with explosives were blasted on a parking lot near the Gudermes police department and the Chechen Supreme Court building on that day. The explosions killed three people and wounded 52, the prosecutor said.
"The explosion of another vehicle, parked near the prosecutor's office and district administration buildings, was prevented only by luck. The vehicle had more than 60 kilograms of explosives in its trunk," Chernov said. The case has been sent to the court.
"Such crimes are not only and not so much acts of individual terror. They are targeted and planned acts of intimidation against the authorities and people, which aim for an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear in the republic," the prosecutor said.