Over the second half of the year 2007 the situation in the Republic of Ingushetia has drastically changed for the worse. On the one hand, there is direct evidence of the unprecedented scale of activity on the part of the militants: nearly each day of July, August, September and October brought news of attacks on public officials, landmine blasts and shooting attacks in the Republic. According to Yu.N.Turygin, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia, in 2007 the number of attempts on lives of law enforcement officers had increased by 85% as compared to 2006[1]. On the other hand, the “siloviks” have been themselves grossly abusing human rights in their fight against the militants. Additional armed forces were deployed in the republic, while the local law enforcement officers were transferred to a heightened alert regime. Still, instead of creating a flexible and reliable security system that would primarily work towards prevention of violence, the “siloviks” in Ingushetia continue with their regular malpractices - executions, abductions and torture - which result in the endless inflow of new combatants into the armed underground.

We do not doubt the necessity of fighting terrorism; however, such fighting must be in keeping with the Russian laws and Russia’s international obligations in the field of human rights’ protection.

The current short report attempts to systematize the available information on human rights violations in Ingushetia in 2007 and to display the tools of violence escalation. We have also analyzed potential developments in the near future in the event that the authorities fail to restore the legal framework of fighting against the armed guerilla underground as well as its relations with the civilian opposition. In fact, we are just revealing, with support of practical examples, the key provisions of the background report “The Situation in the Republic of Ingushetia. On the Way Toward Destabilization” prepared by the Memorial Human Rights Center in September 2007[2]. Back in 2005, the Memorial Human Rights Center, in its report “A Conveyer of violence. Human rights violations during counter-terrorist operations in the Republic of Ingushetia” warned that the existing system could not counteract terrorism effectively and would regenerate new and more dreadful forms of violence[3]. The recent events in Ingushetia prove the truthfulness of that warning.

In our view, the situation in Ingushetia requires most urgent attention from the authorities of all levels in Russia and from international organizations.

This report once again illustrates the point formulated in the works of A. D. Sakharov, - human rights, peace and security are inseparably entwined. Grave and massive violations lead to destabilization of the situation and, further on, to a disaster.

In conclusion, we offer our understanding of what steps are required to be taken in order to relieve the tension and prevent an even more profound social upheaval in the Republic of Ingushetia.

2. Ingushetia, 2007. What is actually happening?

The aggravation of the situation in Ingushetia in 2007 is far from being the first in the Republic’s recent history. Outbursts of violence have happened here before. Militant attacks on police officers and soldiers; murders of public officials; law-enforcement “special operations” accompanied by extrajudicial killings and abductions - such have been realities of life in Ingushetia during the last five years.

The activity of the armed underground forces has perceptibly intensified in the summer and autumn of 2006, after the murder of Shamil Basayev here. However, with regard to the level of violence the current situation can only be compared with the events of June 21-22, 2004, when numerous militant detachments for several hours maintained control over a number of settlements, including the cities of Nazran and Karabulak. The attackers put up outposts at major intersections, which enabled them to check documents and shoot passing security personnel on-site, - the largest operation of the underground militants took 78 human lives, 113 people were injured.[4]

Of course, the year 2007 will not see the repetition of 2004 but it was in something radically different. Now the insurgents no longer organize or carry out large-scale operations avoiding direct clashes. They limited their activity to shooting ambush and attacks on the ”siloviks” and officials.

At that time, three and a half years ago, the Ingush involvement in the attacks against Ingush police officers caused surprise and perplexity among residents of the Republic. Nowadays it is, unfortunately, no longing perceived as surprising.

Over the years, the armed underground in Ingushetia had managed to create an effective network of semi-autonomous groups. In summer 2007 they began an unprecedented hunt on security servicemen, law enforcement officers, federal military personnel and officials.

The tactic of the federal ”siloviks” in their fight against illegal armed groups has not changed. Human rights and the law are still either not taken into account or deliberately ignored. Arrested and detained people usually disappear and die. "Special operations" in settlements are often accompanied by beatings, looting and harassment of local residents. The "siloviks" commit out-of-court executions, brutally torture suspects, impede the work of lawyers, widely falsify criminal cases.

All this inevitably destabilizes the situation and strengthens the position of the armed underground forces. The cruelty of investigations and judicial arbitrariness are common knowledge among the republic’s population. Over the years, many people have developed well grounded discontent and even hatred towards representatives of the public authorities. The militants thus find acceptance on the part of the victims of such violations and people who are seeking to avenge their relatives thus becoming a mobilization base for the guerrillas. The reasons for taking up arms could be simple protest against injustices committed by the authorities and the arbitrariness of the "siloviks".

In response, the state only aggravates its methods of combating the militants: the brutal counter-terrorism tactic used in Ingushetia is similar to the methods employed in Chechnya in 2000-2003.

In summer 2007 murders of people belonging to minority ethnic groups: Russians, Gypsies, Koreans became rather common. Over the period from July to early November, 24 Russian-speaking residents of Ingushetia had been killed. Unidentified attackers acted confidently and defiantly, sometimes shooting victims in broad daylight. All those people killed had been practicing peaceful professions, among them were schoolteachers. There were also many women, elderly people among the victims. Murders of the most respected residents of non-Vainakh nationality aroused wide indignation - the vast majority of population strongly condemns these crimes. Neighbors, friends, colleagues of Russian-speaking residents of Ingushetia have been striving to help them to the best of their ability while the authorities are trying to protect them. However, the persons responsible for these murders have to date not been found. Non-Vainakh people, quite naturally fearing for their own safety, are now leaving Ingushetia.

The current grave armed conflict in Ingushetia has a number of reasons behind it..
On the one hand, the armed underground is purposefully trying to destabilize the situation in the Republic.

On the other hand, the security servicemen continuously and flagrantly violating the rights of Ingushetia's residents also contribute to the militants’ success in expanding their mobilization base.
The majority of the population still does not support the militants, does not share the separatist ideology and does not seek to impose Islam on the public administration system.

But the distrust with which they regard public institutions is clearly growing. The reality of a political crisis in the Republic is evident. The current leaders of Ingushetia are unable to influence the situation and cannot solve any of its urgent problems: whether that be protection of the population from attacks of insurgents and the arbitrariness of the ”siloviks”, achieving economic development, creation of jobs or defending what is perceived by most people as national interests[5].

Alongside with these problems, which affect the majority of the Republic's residents, the number and size of the luxury mansions belonging to the Republic’s officials are growing. Social discontent in the community has reached a critical level but there are no democratic mechanisms of influencing the authorities. Federalism in Russia has practically been cancelled.

The crisis of power is only partially due to its corruption and inefficiency. Over the last years, the Northern Caucasus (with the exception of Chechnya) has seen the creation of a management system in which the role of the federal security services has rapidly increased. The executive and legislative branches of power in the North Caucasus Republics (again with the exception of the President of the Chechen Republic) have almost no levers by means of which they could exert any influence over the "siloviks" and, therefore, they could not seriously affect the security situation in their regions to counteract arbitrariness and violence.

In 2004, amidst a wave of indignation caused by the actions of the insurgents, who have been unleashing battles across Ingushetia, the republican authorities had an excellent opportunity to receive real support from the population. Currently the rigidly built vertical structure of power combined with the mistrust of the republic's population of the authorities leaves no such hope. Fearing protest actions, the authorities prohibit all pickets, rallies and manifestations. The inability of the population to express its discontent with the policy of the authorities only exacerbates the unstable situation in the Republic.

On September 19-20, 2007 the news of the abduction of two Ingushetia residents by the "siloviks" led to mass riots in Nazran. Several hundred people blocked the busy intersections of Nazran with concrete blocks demanding to find and return the abducted people, to investigate the abductions and murders of other residents of Ingushetia and to punish those responsible. The republican riot police officers, upon orders received from the superiors, tried to disperse the rally and unlock the intersection. The clashes were accompanied by beatings of people, firing of automatic guns and armored machine guns over the heads of the crowd. People threw stones at the policemen. The riot squad was forced to retreat. Only after learning that the two abducted men have been released, the people unblocked the intersections and the crowd dispersed.

The authorities have demonstrated to the residents of Ingushetia that the law and human rights do not mean anything to them and that it is only possible to gain something by means of force.

On November 9, 2007 during a regular special operation in the village of Chemulga a six-year-old boy was killed. The murder caused outrage in the Republic. This time the protest rally was planned in advance. To avoid the possibility of a protest rally against the arbitrariness of the "siloviks" being held on November 24 in Nazran, the Republican authorities resorted to unprecedented measures. However, neither the heightened security on the streets of the city, nor the threatening statements from the neither authorities, nor even intimidation of the alleged leaders of the rally have produced any effect. Several hundred people, mainly young people came to the square in the centre of Nazran. The rally was dispersed.

Amidst these circumstances the triumphant results of the election to the State Russian Duma held on December 2 were announced.*[6] It is unlikely that this will enhance the trust in the authorities in the eyes of the Republic's population.

In July 2007 two additional regiments of the Ministry of Interior troops were brought to Ingushetia. The residents perceive the presence of military forces as a sign of tension and as a factor that at the same time contributes to its further growth. More troops appearing on the roads and the streets of settlements also mean more targets for attacks by armed groups. While in October this "heightened security" was reduced, the military presence in all other republics of the North Caucasus is significantly smaller than in Ingushetia.

The Memorial does not question the need to combat illegal armed activities and terrorism but this struggle must be conducted in keeping with the Russian law and Russia's international obligations on human rights. Otherwise, it is counterproductive and leads to destabilization of the situation in the regions, a sad example of which we have in Ingushetia.

3. Winter - spring 2007

In the first half of 2007 news from Ingushetia were responsible for making up the greater part of the violence chronicles from the North Caucasus. In January and February unidentified people carried out three attacks on the local religious leaders, including the Mufti. Two people were injured as a result. In January-May there were altogether 12 attacks on the militaries and policemen resulting in three policemen and one soldier being killed, two military officers being wounded. Twice the armed militants offered resistance to the Ministry of Interior officers in charge of carrying out special operations, the deputy head of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Interior of RI was wounded.

Twice - in January and in April - the military forces carried out a series of massive artillery and bomb attacks in forests on the territory of Ingushetia.

On March 23^th, Uruskhan Zyazikov, born in 1928, uncle of the President of the Republic of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov and father of the head of the Ingush President‘s Security Service Ruslanbek Zyazikov, was abducted by unidentified persons.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Ingushetia, ”at about 12.10 pm on March 23, 2007 on Zheleznodorozhnaya street of the Barsukinsky district of the Nazran city, four unidentified men, masked and dressed in camouflage, armed with automatic weapons, arrived from the direction of the FAD-Caucasus road in a silver-coloured VAZ - 21112 vehicle, approached Urukshan Zyazikov, born in 1928, Moussa Zyazikov, born in 1940, and Issa Zyazikov, born in 1942, who were on his way to the mosque. Three criminals (the driver remained inside the car), jumped out of the car and, despite the resistance offered by the Zyazikovs, attacked Uruskhan and brutally forced him into the car, while Moussa, who attempted to intervene was shot in his leg from an assault rifle by one of the kidnappers, thus, suffering moderate injury”.

According to the newspaper Kommersant[7], Ruslanbek Zyazikov is "a person invested with much power in Ingushetia. It is said that all new assignments to the key posts in Ingushetia have to be agreed upon with him. The Mayor of Nazran Magomed Tsechoyev, former director of the city market, is regarded as a protégé of the Chief of the President’s Security Service. Even the current Prime Minister of the Republic of Ingushetia, Ibragim Malsagov, was appointed to his position not without certain intervention on the part of the influential official, according to the rumors".

This is not the first case of abduction of a close relative of the President of Ingushetia. A year earlier, on February 27, 2006 in Nazran a member of the People's Assembly, the 70 - year-old Magomed Chakhkiev, Murat Zyazikov's father-in-law, was also abducted. The responsibility for the abduction was claimed by a certain Amir Habibullah, who called himself the Leader of the Ingush Jamaat "Shariah". On May 1, 2006 under unclear circumstances Chahkiev was released. According to unverified information, a considerable ransom was paid for his release[8].

Urushan Zyazikov was unexpectedly released on October 11, 2007, shortly before the principal Muslim feast of Uraza-Bairam (the end of the Ramadan fasting), without any ransom being paid[9].

Despite a certain intensification of the militants’ activity in Ingushetia, news about their attacks, explosions and armed clashes were relatively uncommon (compared to the neighboring Chechnya). The main problem was the marked increase in the frequency of illegal actions on the part of the security services personnel. Often, the ”siloviks” would penetrate into the territory of the Republic of Ingushetia from the neighboring republics of Chechnya and North Ossetia and were operating without informing the local police or the republican Prosecutor's Office.

Often armed masked men raided homes without introducing themselves or producing identification documents. People who attempted to protest were beaten and often valuables and money would disappear in the course of the raids. Many detained people would disappear for a few days and were then "found" in the detention center of Vladikavkaz, the capital of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. People in Ingushetia would hear about the extremely cruel treatment to which Ingush detainees were subjected there. Given that the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992 have not yet been completely overcome, this has inevitably contributed to further aggravation of the situation. Officials attributed the fact of the detaineesd being taken out of Ingushetia to the neighboring republic by the lack of a proper detention facility which has not yet been build in Ingushetia. But it is clear that the construction of a detention facility in Nazran is being deliberately postponed, in order to have a pretext for taking the suspects from Ingushetia out of the Republic. This way makes it easier to “pressurize” the arrested and hinder the work of lawyers.

As an example of a typical case for today’s Ingushetia, which had, however, a lucky ending for the detained people. In the evening of February 7, 2007, in the city of Nazran, personnel of an unidentified security service conducted a number of arrests. According to the HRC "Memorial", the "siloviks" arrested at least five people, all of them were residents of Ingushetia.

Approximately at 5 pm three armored personnel carriers, a Ural track and 15 cars carrying armed men stopped near house No 107 on Gazdiev Street. According to witnesses, the "siloviks" who numbered more than 150 people, spoke mostly Russian but the Ingush and Ossetic languages were also heard. In house No 107, which is home to the Sultygov family, also hosts a car repair shop. Therefore, in addition to the several inhabitants of the house there were customers who had come to have their cars repaired in the yard.

The "siloviks" immediately ordered everybody to lie face down on the ground in the courtyard. Then they put everybody against the wall with their hands up and they had to stand there like that for about three hours. The "siloviks" searched all the people present there and confiscated their documents, money and personal belongings. The money had not been returned to anyone of those who had been searched. All the people who had been in the yard of the Sultygov's house, were also detained and subjected to personal search. After a while, the owner of the house, Adam Kerimovich Sultygov, was brought into one of the rooms and asked about the origin of the Niva-Chevrolet vehicle, which was being repaired at the car repair shop.

The security services' staff had carefully inspected the car and proceeded to search the Sultygovs' house and the garage. No warrant authorizing such search was ever presented to anybody. Nothing illegal was discovered. Later, it turned out that in the course of the raid the following had been stolen: jewels, money in the amount of 300 US dollars, tools; all the documents had also been seized.

Approximately at 11pm Adam was told that he was being detained, no explanation of the reason was provided, he was only promised release after interrogation. Several people were detained together with Adam Sultygov. All the detainees were taken to a building in the city of Vladikavkaz, and beaten during the first day. Sultygov was again asked about the owner of Niva Chevrolet.

Several foreign-made cars had been taken away from the shop. Later, they were returned to their owners, but the car audio players had been stolen.

Three days later, on the evening of February 10, all the detained people were released, after they had signed a statement certifying that they have no claims against the Ministry of Interior personnel who had detained and interrogated them. In the "Decree on the release of suspect" which was issued to each of them, it was stated that the detention was carried out in connection with the investigation of a criminal case of the shooting attack on the military convoy of the Russian Ministry of Interior on February 6, 2007. For all this, Sultygov and the other detained people did not receive back their passports and other papers seized during the search.

Such practice would give rise to even greater indignation on the part of the population of Ingushetia. Sometimes the republican police personnel have tried to counter the illegal practice of taking the detainees (in fact, the abducted people) out of the republic Ingushetia.

On March 29, at around 5:20 pm a convoy of three vehicles carrying armed men tried to leave the territory of Ingushetia for North Ossetia. At the local traffic police service post the cars were stopped for inspection. It turned out that they were carrying officers of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Interior (UBOP) of North Ossetia as well as two local residents abducted by them. The Ingush police demanded to explain on what grounds these people had been detained, why they were being taken out to the neighboring republic and why the local law enforcement agencies of RI had not been notified about this operation. Instead of giving any explanations, the driver of the car suddenly pulled forward and the car disappeared on the territory of North Ossetia. With the help of additional forces staff of MVD RI managed to detain other 15 officers of UBOP of North Ossetia who was in two other vehicles, which was brought into the office of MVD RI. The second abducted local resident, Bagaudin Tochiev, was released. He, together with his relatives, also arrived at MVD RI. According to his relatives, Bagaudin Tochiev expressed his readiness to come and give his testimony should the law enforcement authorities ask him to do so. But, instead, unidentified masked men, who had not produced any identification documents, seized him and tried to take him out of the Republic.

On the same day, the press secretary of the Ministry of Interior of RI, Nazir Yevloyev, said: "a number of law enforcement officials of North Ossetia were delivered to the Ministry of Interior department of Ingushetia where the situation is currently being clarified. The problem is that the law enforcement officers of North Ossetia were trying to detain certain persons on the territory of Ingushetia without informing the Ingushetia Ministry of Interior of this operation. This is unacceptable and such attempts shall not be tolerated but summarily suppressed. Law is the same for everyone, those working within the Ministry of Interior structure shall accurately follow orders and everyone is equal before the law. Otherwise, it so happens that people are disappearing and this arouses an indignant response from the population".[10]

Nevertheless, the law enforcement authorities of Ingushetia resolved to refrain from initiating a criminal case and conducting an investigation against the officials of the UBOP of the Ministry of Interior of North Ossetia. The latter were taken from the Ministry of Interior building to the republican prosecutor's office where they were interviewed and subsequently released.

In connection with this incident, the Ministry of Interior of North Ossetia released an official statement claming that "the Ingush police have forgotten that suspects in crime are subject to detention all throughout the territory of the Russian Federation". The Chief of the UBOP of the Ministry of Interior of North Ossetia Mark Metsyaev stated that his agency was authorized to operate in the territory of Ingushetia without notifying the local police. But the Ingush Ministry of Interior officers have displayed "certain lack of understanding".[11]

During the special operations the "siloviks" have on more than one occasion killed people who did not offer any resistance. Thus, on February 7, in the center of Nazran two young men - Adam Izmailovich Gardanov and Magomed Bashirovich Chakhkiev were shot dead. In the bulletin communicated by the press service of the FSB Department for Ingushetia it was alleged that Gardanov and Chakhkiev had "offered armed resistance and were destroyed by retaliation fire” at the time of their arrest. But the eye-witnesses of the murder - dozens of people, including deputies, law enforcement officials and human rights activists unanimously denied approval of the “siloviks” that those killed people tried to resist.

Similarly, on 15 March in the courtyard of his home was killed Husen Uvaysovich Mutaliev, who was immediately declared by the law enforcement authorities of Ingushetia to have been ”the ideological leader of the illegal armed groups”.

At about 6 am four vehicles carrying masked members of the security services (up to 25 people) approached the Mutalievs' house situated at address: Malgobe, Kievskaya st, 61. They broke into the house. The”siloviks” had neither introduced themselves nor produced any documents, were behaving very rudely and insulting the members of the Mutaliev family. Having searched the household and found nothing, they grabbed Husen Mutaliev, took him out into the yard, brought near one of the cars and started beating him. Mutaliev escaped and tried to flee. He was then exposed to opened fire from automatic guns. Husen fell, but was still alive. Despite his injuries, he was thrown into the "Volga" car and the "siloviks" left. Hussein's brother, Hassan Mutaliev went after them in his own car. At the so-called "Kanytshevsky crossroads" the "siloviks”' convoy was stopped by the police of RI. The”siloviks” showed a ”special pass” (the GrOU pass for the Northern Caucasus), and moved on in the direction of North Ossetia. Hasan was stopped.

In the afternoon of the same day the Interfax web-site reported: "During the special operation by the law enforcement authorities of Ingushetia and North Ossetia in Malgobek (Ingushetia) an active participant of the illegal armed groups Husen Mutaliev was killed, Interfax-South was told on Tuesday by a source in the law enforcement authorities in Ingushetia. "On Thursday afternoon during the attempted arrest of Husen Mutaliev in Malgobek, born in 1980, who was on the federal list as a suspect in a series of abductions (Article 126), the latter offered armed resistance and attempted to exploded a hand-grenade. At that moment he was shot and a possible explosion was thus avoided"- claimed the source.

According to him, ”the wounded militant was taken to the local hospital where he died of the wounds received. According to the Interfax source, there was operational information claiming that Husen Mutaliev was the ideological leader of the illegal armed groups who were followers of the Wahhabi ideology, as well as an active participant of the field commander Magomed Bogatyryov's illegal armed group. In addition, he is suspected of participation in the attack on Ingushetia in June 2004”.

The next day, on March 16, the Mutalievs were officially informed of the death of Husen and received his body from the city morgue of Vladikavkaz.

At the Malgobek district department of internal affairs the relatives of the murdered Husen were told that Husen Mutaliev had not been on the wanted list and there was no information as to his connection with the militants. The Prosecutor's Office of the city of Malgobek opened a criminal case on the murder of Husen Mutaliev pursuant to Article 286 (exceeding official powers), which was then transferred to the Prosecutor's Office of the Southern Federal District and then dismissed ”for the absence of corpus delicti”.

Earlier, on February 5, 2007, Husen Mutaliev communicated with the HRC Memorial. He asked to help him with ensuring his personal safety and protection of his constitutional rights. "They detained me in September 2006, beat me and tried to force to confess my guilt in a crime which I had not committed. Then I was released because they had nothing against me. But now they are again persecuting me. After the assassination attempt against the mufti I was again summoned to the police to give testimony. What should I do? I am ready to answer any but only if I am treated decently. All this is happening because of my having studied in Egypt, they are persecuting me because of this, even in the mosque, I don't even go to the mosque anymore because everyone who goes to the mosque is perceived as a Wahhabi”,- that is how Mutaliev explained his situation to an officer of the Memorial. "There are many young men like m, who are being harassed because they are Muslims", - said Husen before he left and promised to return to the HRC Memorial office with his friends who also being persecuted on religious grounds. The young people were going to make a public statement announcing that they are ready to answer the questions from the authorities but are demanding respect for their constitutional right to freedom of conscience. Husen never came back.

The Head of the FSB for RI Colonel Igor Bondarev, apparently, firmly believed that "the end justifies the means" and that acting in this way his agency would be able to achieve the desired result. On March 16, RIA Novosti broadcasted his interview given to the press service of the Republican UFSB.

In that interview Bondarev said that the efforts of the law enforcement agencies had led to the underground militant forces that used to operate in the region having been practically eliminated.

"It is possible to say that their activities are of a rather disorganized nature. Several notorious militant leaders have been eliminated and charged with various criminal offences.” According to him, the UFSB was responsible for a significant share of that success. Bondarev gave the following opinion on the current situation of the militant forces: "I would not speak of any sufficiently noticeable forces. The situation in the republic is quite stable. Complete stabilization is our task and we are working on it".

The UFSB Chief denied the allegations "already appearing on certain extremism-sympathetic Internet web-sites" claiming that the militants of the Ingush Jamaat are actively operating on the territory of the republic.

"All these declarations are too far from the truth and I would not speak of the existence of any Ingush Jamaat at all. This is pure bluff, an attempt to make their movement seem more significant for the public", - said Bondarev.[12]

Colonel Bondarev was clearly mistaken; he was refusing to see the obvious. As early as in February the popular web-site Ingushetiya.ru announced that "dozens of young people who perfectly realize that tomorrow they may find themselves among the "suspects", "killed while offering armed resistance" are already thinking about engaging into the armed struggle against the FSB and the law enforcement system of the Republic of Ingushetia <…>. These dangerous trends can only be stopped by the republican authorities, whose duty it is to protect the population from extra-judicial killings and repressions".

In May, several abductions had taken place in the Republic. Two of the abducted people disappeared without a trace.

On May 5, 2007, in the Nasir-Kortovsky district of the city of Nazran on Komsomolskaya st near house No 15, members of unidentified security services abducted Hussein Magomedovich Mutsolgov, born in 1986, residing at: the village of Surkhakhi, Kazansky side street, 16, and Zaurbek Isayevich Yevloyev, 25, resident of the village of Nasir-Kort, Komsomolskaya st, 15.

Hussein and Zaurbek were standing near Yevloyev's home when masked armed men (over 10 people) drove towards them. Unidentified people grabbed Mutsolgov and Yevloyev, taped their mouths with scotch, put cotton wool in their ears, put on black plastic bags their heads and shoved into a minibus.

In the evening the relatives brought home Zaurbek Yevloyev. According to his words, after the actual abduction the two young men were taken somewhere in a car travelling for about 2 or 3 hours. Finally they were brought to a stranger place and taken to a room of the basement type. It was damp and cold. After a while, Hussein was taken away somewhere but Zaurbek was put into a car and released somewhere on the outskirts of stanitsa Assinovskaya of the Sunzhensky district of the Chechen Republic.

As of early 2008, Hussein Mutsolgov's whereabouts remain unknown. There is certain information that allows to suggest that he was kept at the illegal secret prison in the village of Goyty of the Urus-Martan district of the Chechen Republic (see Section 4.5. of this report).

On May 22, 2007 in the city of Nazran, near the office of the Federal Migration Service Department for Ingushetia, unidentified armed people wearing camouflage uniform, driving a Gazel vehicle, abducted Akhmed Mugamedovich Kartoyev, born in 1977, resident of Nazran, Moscovskaya st., 17/90. The Gazel vehicle (registration number: C351 KT/06) driven by Akhmed Kartoyev was blocked by a white Gazel minibus with tinted windows (registration number 486 (or 495), region 95). Out of the minibus jumped armed masked men dressed in camouflage uniform. Threatening to use the weapons they pushed Kartoyev into their car and drove away to an unknown destination. Akhmed Kartoyev was not on the wanted list, he worked at the House of Culture in the village of Ekazhevo.

As of early 2008, Akhmed Kartoyev's whereabouts remain unknown.

At the same time, while all these incidents are happening, the republican authorities continue to repeat that the situation in Ingushetia is peaceful and stable.

4. Summer-Autumn 2007

In the summer 2007 the situation in Ingushetia was drastically destabilized. News of incidents of shooting, explosions and attacks were coming from Ingushetia on an almost daily basis. On July, 25 a ”special preventive integrated operation” started with additional troops being introduced into the republic. However, these measures did not help to suppress the armed underground - quite on the contrary, they contributed to multiplying the number of targets for potential attacks.

In the summer demonstrative brutal murders of representatives of non-Vainakh population again began to happen: from June to mid-November, twenty-four people belonging to the minority nationalities in Ingushetia had become victims of terrorists.

On June, 28 the President of Russia dismissed the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia Beslan Khamkhoyev, Musa Medov (who had already held the position of the acting minister earlier) was appointed in his place.

Counter-terrorism operations continue to be accompanied with grave violations of the rights of the local residents. During this period, incidents of human rights abuses in the Republic became even more flagrant and massive.

In September, during a meeting in the town of Magas, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District D. N. Kozak came down with harsh criticism on the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia. In particular, he demanded punishment for the Ingush policemen, who acting in their line of duty, detained the unidentified persons who opened fire on a crowded street in the town of Karabulak and refused to produce their documents to the policemen (later it was revealed that they were members of the FSB special riot police squads). That attitude of the Plenipotentiary Representative inevitably contributed to demoralization of the republican police forces and to increasing the impunity and lack of control over the security services serving as "death squads" on the territory of RI.

In October, the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation appointed four new deputies for Musa Medov, three of whom, ethnic Russian, had previously worked in the federal structures and had no connection with the local personnel.

Since the second half of the summer a trend for greater participation of the local "siloviks" in counter-terrorism operations has emerged. This may be due to the appointment of Musa Medov as Minister of the Interior. Following numerous protest actions of Ingush citizens against the abductions by the security services arriving to Ingushetia from North Ossetia, Medov promised: the detaineesd would no longer be brought to Vladikavkaz. During the summer and autumn of 2007 special operations increasingly involved Ingush servicemen, and among places where the detaineesd were exposed to "illegal methods of interrogation" names of the law enforcement agencies of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia have been increasingly appearing. Such "Ingushatization" of the conflict can have very dangerous and long-lasting consequences.

As a result of the events happening in the Republic of Ingushetia, the protest potential of the population has increased sharply. During the summer and autumn more and more massive protests of local residents have been occurring - a new reality for Ingushetia. Twice Ingushetia has seen massive riots.

4.1. Escalation of the militants’ activity

Since the beginning of the summer 2007, a notable escalation of the militants’ activity in the territory of RI has been observed. Paradoxically, it followed the increase in the counter-terrorism activities conducted by the state security services here. The most frequent targets of the attacks were officials, soldiers and the police.

Only in the course of the first two summer months about two dozen attacks on the military and the Ministry of Interior personnel were committed, resulting in the death of eight people, among them, four civilians killed by random bullets and shell splinters. More than fifteen people were injured.

Some crimes were committed on the grounds of religious intolerance. It is known that the Muslim community in the republic is divided into the followers of the "traditional" Islam (supported by the majority of believers), and the followers of the branch of Islam, which is non-traditional for Ingushetia. The State supports the so-called “tariqa” which has been established in Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan over the last century - the Sufi branch of Islam. The vast majority of believers in the country are traditionally adherents of this teaching. Since the late XX century preachers of a different teaching - the Salafism Islam - calling for a "return to the original Islam” appeared in the North Caucasus. Supporters of this teaching, which Russia not quite accurately labels as Wahhabism, are under close surveillance of the special security services.

The militants professing radical Islamism have been committing attacks against the clergy, who, in their view, are collaborating with the authorities and with the special security services. When the ”siloviks” have to investigate crimes, they, in the first place, "work through" the lists of "non-traditional" Muslims who are perceived as suspicious by definition. Representatives of this group primarily become victims of illegal actions on the part of the special security services, law enforcement agencies and the military.

***

Here is a list of attacks carried out by the militants during the summer.

Here and below, in the preparation of the list of attacks by militants, in addition to the results of the Memorial Human Rights Centre monitoring, the drafters of the report used information obtained from the following public sources:

Interfax news agency, Itar-Tass news agency, newspaper «Vremya Novostei», newspaper «Kommersant», IA Kavkaz-Uzel, gazeta.ru, IA Regnum, Ingushetia.RU, NEWSru.com, polit.ru, Ekho Moskvy radio station , REGIONS.RU, RIA Novosti, the official web-site of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation.

In the morning of June 3 a bomb exploded at the gate of a private house belonging to the Rector of the Islamic Institute Magomed-Bashir Aushev located in the city of Nazran on Tolstogo st.

On June, 7 in Nazran a police patrol stopped a passenger car for checking documents and came under open fire.

On the night of June 10 in Nazran a hand grenade exploded in the yard of the house belonging to Magomed Kartoyev, head of the management department of FMS RI. Nobody was injured.

On June, 16, a grenade was thrown into the courtyard of the house of the widow of the republican OMON commander, police colonel Musa Nalgiev, who himself was killed a year ago. The former colleagues of the murdered colonel were gathered inside the house at that time for a memorial dinner. Nobody was injured.

Late in the evening of June 16, unidentified people opened fire at a group of young people who had stopped for some rest near the waterway in the vicinity of the village of Ekazhevo. Three people were killed, two were wounded. One of the killed three was a police officer, one of those wounded - an OMON officer.

On June 18, in Nazran a police car came under fire, nobody was injured.

On June 20, in Karabulak, the deployment base of a mobile detachment of the Russian Ministry of Interior and OMON came under fire from grenade launchers and assault rifles, three people were injured as a result. Soon, the three suspects were detained and released the next day under a written pledge not to leave the place.

On June 21, in Nazran the car of Yuri Ivashov, the Senior Prosecutor of the Head Department of the Prosecutor' General’s office for the Southern Federal District of Russia came under fire, Ivashov received an non-severe gutter wound as a result.

On June 25 in Nazran unidentified persons opened fire at the car belonging to the operations department of the Ministry of the Interior. One person was wounded.

In the morning of June 26 in the city of Nazran militants opened fire near the place of deployment of the Nazran frontier guards detachment. Random bullets flew into the window of a house on Moscovskaya street, opposite the frontier detachment base, killing a sixteen-year girl - Makka Ismailova.

On June 29 in Karabulak unidentified persons opened fire at an OMON, car, no-one was injured.

On June 29 in Karabulak a landmine exploded killing one local resident..

On July 3 in Karabulak Khavazh Daurbekov, Deputy Head of the Plievsky municipal district of Nazran, was assassinated.

On July 3 in Nazran a former police officer was seriously wounded as a result of a shooting attack.

ON July 4 in Nazran fire was opened at the Observation tower of the FSB frontier Service for Ingushetia, no-one was injured.

On the night of July 6, the deployment location of the 503^th motorized infantry battalion in stanitsa Troitskaya came under fire from grenade launcher and submachine guns. No-one was injured.

On the same night, some officers of the Republican Ministry of Interior came under fire, no-one was injured.

On the evening of 16 July in the village of Barsuki the area where the houses of President M. Zyazikov and his closest relatives are located came under fire. As a result of the fire, considerable damage was caused to the house of Ruslanbek Zyazikov, Chief of the President's Security Service.

On July 18 in Karabulak a car carrying soldiers came under fire, one soldier was injured.

On July 21 in Karabulak a member of the Ministry of Public Relations of the Republic of Ingushetia was killed as his car came under fire opened by unidentified persons. The murdered 55-year-old Vakha Vedzizhev, was a well-known religious leader in the republic.

On the same day the media reported a shooting attack on the motorcade carrying the President of the Republic of Ingushetia M.M. Zyazikov. The convoy managed to escape the zone of fire at a high speed. Cars were damaged but no-one was injured. The press service of the President of the Republic of Ingushetia had denied the occurrence of the attack.

On July 23 one policeman was killed and another wounded in a fire attack on a car in the village of Sredniye Achaluki.

On July 24 and 25 several cars carrying military personnel came under fire, no-one was injured.

On the night of July 26 in Nazran militants attacked with fire the permanent deployment base of a regiment of the Russian Ministry of the Interior internal troops, no-one was injured..

On July 27 militants were piling shells on the buildings belonging to the UFSB and the presidential administration in the town of Magas in Ingushetia for about half an hour. One soldier was killed and several others were injured.

On the night of July 30 in Karabulak a hand grenade was thrown into the courtyard of a house belonging to a police officer, no-one was injured. On the same night in the town of Malgobek a police officer was wounded with shrapnel from a grenade thrown into the courtyard of the house,.

On July 31 in the Malgobek'sdistrict a bus carrying officers of the Russian Ministry of Interior came under fire, one police officer was killed and three others were seriously injured.

***

On July 25 the local television broadcasted an interview with the Deputy Minister of the Russian Ministry of Interior Arkady Yedelev. The official claimed that he had arrived to Ingushetia on the orders from the Minister of Interior Rashid Nurgaliev to organize a ”special integrated complex of preventive operations” the need for which he explained with "the recent events" that “have, in the first place, aroused a major protest from the people", the need to fight against ”the bandits on our streets and roads” as well as against ”some still active fragments of illegal armed groups coming in from the territory of Chechnya”. General Yedelev said that two additional regiments of the Ministry of Interior internal troops would be introduced into the republic. He called for understanding on the part of the population with regard to the ongoing special operations. Talking about the republican Ministry of the Interior, he announced that a reshuffle was going to take place among its personnel and that this was “agreed upon with the President of the Republic of Ingushetia and the newly appointed Minister of Interior Moussa Medov”.

By the summer of 2007, the following troops were permanently deployed in Ingushetia: in Nazran - the 126^th regiment of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior and in stanitsa Troitskaya - the 503^th motorized infantry regiment of the 9^th motorized infantry division of the 58^th Army of the Ministry of Defense. On August 8 and 9 additional military units of the Russian Ministry of Defense were introduced, numbering about 2,500 soldiers of whom 1,500 were stationed in the Sunzhensky district (the camp was set up next to village of Alkhasty), while the remaining 1,000 were stationed in the Malgobeksky district (the camp was set up next to the village of Achaluki). A significant number of armored personnel carriers and other military equipment were brought in.

Paradoxically, the intensification of the ”anti-terrorism activities” of the state security services was followed by an even greater escalation of the militants’ activity. The peak of aggravation of the situation happened at the end of August when a day would not pass without some news of blasts, and attacks by terrorists coming in. Militants were attacking soldiers in broad daylight in busy settlements, often - in crowded places, and almost always had no difficulty in escaping from the scene of action. Despite the significant presence of ”siloviks” in the republic and a dense network of checkpoints and outposts, only in few cases the assailants were detained within a short while.

The victims of the attacks were primarily soldiers and local policemen. The bloodiest attack can by right be considered the August 30 attack that happened in the centre of Nazran, when the explosion of a mined car killed four policemen. According to the Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia Yu. N. Turygin, soldiers often became targeted as a result of their own lack of discipline since they failed to follow the established routes and neglected the security measures. Negligence led to traffic accidents. Thus, on August 29 on the “Kavkaz” motorway near the bridge over the Sunzha river in the Barsukinsky district of Nazran a military armoured personnel carrier collided with an UAZ armored vehicle which was carrying soldiers. As a result of the collision, "UAZ" caught fire, the three soldiers inside the vehicle were killed.

However, the majority of soldiers and policemen perished at the hands of the militants.

On August 6 in Malgobek a driver of the Malgobeksky district department of internal affairs Alikhan Albakov was shot dead.

On August 11, in stanitsa Troitskaya unidentified people opened fire at the Acting Chief of the Sunzhensky district department of internal affairs Issa Merzhoyev from a car driving past at full speed. The policeman was taken to the hospital in a critical state.

On August 13 at about 12 p.m. in the village of Ekazhevo a traffic police patrol car came under fire, two policemen were wounded.

On the same day, during a special operation in the forest area near the village of Yandare the soldiers of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior came under open fire. Three soldiers were wounded.

On the night from 16 to 17 August in stanitsa six shots from a hand grenade launcher Troitskaya came from a car driving up to the location of the 503^th motorized infantry regiment. No-one was injured.

On August 17 an explosive device was discovered in the territory of the Karabulaksky refinery.

On August 19, in the town of Karabulak unidentified people driving a Zhiguli car wounded two local residents sitting on a bench by opening fire at them from a Makarov pistol.

On August 20, in the forest area near the village of Ghalashki the insurgents opened fire against soldiers of the Interior troops, who were conducting search activities in this area. No-one was injured.

In the morning of August 21, in the village of Barsuki a car carrying the Ingush Ministry of Interior special battalion personnel was exposed to open fire. Pugoyev Salman, the driver, was wounded as a result.

On the same day, at about 2 pm, in Nazran, at the entrance to the Frontier Service Department for the Republic of Ingushetia a soldier of the border troops was wounded from automatic weapons. The republican law enforcement services denied this, saying that the soldier suffered as a result of careless handling of weapons.

On the same day, a unit of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior was ambushed and came under fire in the forest area near the village of Dattykh. One soldier enlisted under contract was injured. This was reported by the temporary headquarters of the united forces in the North Caucasus, but the Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Interior of RI denied that the shooting had taken place.

On August 22 in stanitsa Troitskaya the insurgents opened fire at a police car from automatic weapons, two policemen were wounded.

In the evening of August 22 on the road between the villages of Yandare and Surkhakhi a convoy of policemen and soldiers of the Ministry of Interior Internal Troops came under attack. An armored personnel carrier was blown up on a mine and after that the convoy was exposed to open fire. An OMON officer from the Rostov region serving on a mission in Ingushetia, died as a result, a platoon commander and four conscripts were wounded.

On August 23, in stanitsa Troitskaya a police and the Ministry of Interior Internal Troops checkpoint was exposed to firing. One person was wounded as a result.

On the night of August 24 in the town of Karabulak two shepherds from Dagestan were shot dead by unidentified people. Later, the following message appeared on a web site belonging to the militant group: this was the revenge on those who had cooperated with the law enforcement services.

On August 24 in the village of Yandare a soldier of the Internal Troops of the Republican Ministry of Interior was killed as a result of open fire.

On the same day in the village of Ekazhevo unidentified people in two cars, opened fire at the car carrying two young men; both were wounded of different degrees of severity.

On August 29 in Nazran militants opened fire at a car carrying the senior lieutenant Maxim Russkikh and lieutenant Alexei Gorbulya, both died as a result.

On August 30 in the town of Karabulak, near the base of OMON of the Republic Ministry of Interior, an explosion occurred. No-one was wounded.

On August 31 the police department of Nazran was informed about a suspicious car parked in the town centre near the local Cultural Centre. When policemen of the PPS (Traffic Police Service) of the Republic Ministry of Interior approached the car, an explosion occurred, four policemen were killed, two were injured.

In the evening of August 31 in Nazran, unidentified people wearing masks, armed with automatic rifles, stopped, beat and robbed three traffic police officers. The policemen had their government-issued weapons, permits, money and mobile phones taken away. The victims were taken to hospital.

4.2. Murders of people belonging to the ethnic minorities in the Republic and subsequent investigation. An open letter of public opinion representatives of the Republic of Ingushetia

During the summer and autumn of 2007 Ingushetia experienced a new wave of brutal murders of Russians and Russian-speaking families[13]. According to the Republic's Prosecutor, the bandits had declared a real hunt against people belonging to the ethnic minorities.

On the night of July 16 in stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya unidentified people shot dead the family of a Russian teacher Lyudmila Terekhina. At about 1 am a group of armed men entered the house at Groznenskya St., 74 "a". They entered the room where the Terekhins were sleeping and asked in Russian: "Where is the money?" - Not waiting for any answer to come they shot Lyudmila, and, after that, her two children, Marina and Vadim, and left the house. The only member of the family left alive was Lyudmila's brother Sergei Artyukhov, disabled since childhood (practically blind).

On July 18, during the funeral of the Terekhin family at the local cemetery an improvised bomb exploded, injuring ten people.

On August 25 at 15:30 during a funeral at the Christian cemetery of stanitsa Troitskaya an explosion occurred. A land mine detonated when a tractor carrying the body of the deceased Victor Ilyich Myachit and two other stanitsa residents, ethnic Russians, that were walking nearby, was aproaching the gate. Georgy Vassilievich Chernets, resident at Sadovaya St., 62, who was driving the tractor, was injured with splinters. He was taken into hospital.

On August 28 at 23:45 in stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya an explosive device was thrown into the yard of the house belonging to the 25-year-old Nina Penkova (Komsomolskaya St., 6). No-one was injured.

On August 30, at about midnight, in the town of Karabulak the family of the local Russian teacher of the Russian language, Vera Borisovna Draganchuk, was murdered. The assailants got over the fence and entered unnoticed into the room in which the family waa watching television, they shot the teacher’s husband, Anatoly, and her two sons, Mikhail, 24, and Denis, 20. Vera Draganchuk herself managed to escape.

On September 6, in st. Ordzhonikidzevskaya, on Boyadzhiev St., 37, in the house belonging to the Korean family of Lagay, two family members were shot dead in the head: the father and the son Lagay.

On September 7 in Nazran near the gate of house № 12 on the Islamskaya street Natalia Mudarova, chief medical officer at the blood transfusion station was shot from a machine gun from the close quarters. She was a Russian with married to a Chechen husband.

On the night of 11 September in the st. Ordzhonikidzovskaya three members of the gypsy family Lyulyakov were killed. The criminals in masks broke into the house located at st. Komsomolskaya, demanded money and values and killed three adult males: Vassily, 55, and his two sons, Yanysh and Piotr, 19 and 26. Women and children were spared by the killers.

On the night of September 15 in the town of Malgobek a bottle containing incendiary mixture was thrown into the window of the Pleshakov family’s apartment, the apartment caught fire. No one was injured since the owners of the apartment were not at home.

On 14 October, during the Muslim holiday feast of Eid-Bayram, in broad daylight, at about 14:00, the Kortikov family was shot from rifles. The murdered were the 54-year-old Nikolay and his pregnant daughter-in-law, Zoya. Nikolay’s wife, Kortikova Tatiana, was gravely wounded, their surviving neighbor Valentina Nemova died in hospital.

On October 15 in st. Troitskaya an empty house belonging to a Russian family was exploded. The family were at that time outside the Republic and were just going to come back to Ingushetia in few days.

On November 4, at about 22:00 in the village of Yandare masked armed men penetrated onto the territory of a brick factory and opened fire at the workers. Three of them, immigrants from Kabardino-Balkaria, the Stavropol region and Belorussia, V. B. Ponamarev, S.A. Butusov and V.N. Oskin were killed. A.D. Troschak, a resident of the Stavropol region, was wounded in the arm.

On November 5, at about 20:00 in Nazran on Gadziev street several armed men coming in a "Zhiguli", shot two drivers of a locomotive railway depot - the Armenians S.A Avetisov and V.S. Hurshudyan. Both died in hospital.

On November 12 at 13:40 in Nazran, gunmen opened fire with submachine guns at the car carrying technicians who came to Ingushetia from the Krasnodar region to repair the equipment at the cellular communications tower. As a result, one of them, Garun Safargaliev, was killed; his brother Renat Safargaliev and his colleague Aleksandar Borisov were seriously wounded. Another injured person was Ayshat Satuyeva, a refugee from Chechnya, who was not far from the place of firing. The criminals fled by car.

Over the period from mid-July until mid-November 24 civilians belonging to ethnic minorities had been killed by unidentified criminals on the territory of Ingushetia. These murders and attacks may be regarded as part of the systematic pressure on the non-Vainakh population of the republic. The victims are often the most respected representatives of the Russian-speaking population. Teachers Draganchuk and Terekhina enjoyed great authority in the Republic. Four generations of the gypsies Lyulyakov family had been living in Ingushetia working at a state farm. The father Lyulyakov, a tractor driver, was well-liked by everybody.. "There is no man in our stanitsa whom he would not have helped to bring something or to plough up a field" the local residents were saying. After the murder of the Lyulyakovs all the Gypsy families left Ingushetia. Prior to their departure they had been living under the protection of local residents.

The Ingush population reacted with extreme indignation to the murder of the Russian-speaking residents. "This is a provocation, someone wants to destabilize the situation," such was the summarized general opinion coming from Antonina Petrovna Hasieva, Deputy Head of the Administration of the Sunzhensky district.

The victims themselves could not explain the reasons for the atrocities committed against them. "We used to live so well, so peacefully, we cannot even tell you how well it was. We had never had trouble with anybody… I worked as a fluorographic nurse in the polyclinic of Karabulak, I know half of the population of the city… We had never locked our house, we were never afraid of anybody. I have only Ingush friends and now live at my neighbors’ home. People keep coming to me, crying, expressing their condolences. One neighbor has brought lime, another whitewashed the room, the shop assistant from the store has been asking me not to leave"- said Tatyana Draganchuk, the daughter of Vera Draganchuk. Now, Vera and Tatiyana Draganchuk left Ingushetia and are staying with their relatives in the Stavropol region.

According to its Prosecutor's Office, there are approximately 2,800 Russian-speaking residents in Ingushetia. Prosecutor Y. N. Turygin believes that these murders have been triggered off by the existing programs of return of the Russian-speaking population into the Republic.

On September 9, 2007 a "Press Release of the Caucasus Front Ingush Sector" was posted on the Kavkaz-Center web-site belonging to the separatist forces, in that press release the "mujahideen" absolutely denied the involvement of his combats in the murders of the Russian residents in Ingushetia and in the explosion at the cemetery during the funeral:

"We make no difference as to the nationality of the people, and if people live in peace, whether they are Russians, Chinese, Koreans or representatives of any other nationality, as long as they are not participating in the fight against the Islam and Muslims, we do not have anything against them."

The authors of the press release accused the security servicemen of committing those crimes.

However, it shall be remembered that earlier, in January-March 2006, a series of attacks on Russian-speaking inhabitants had already occurred in Ingushetia. On May 17, 2006 on the same Kavkaz-Center web resource an interview with "the Ingush mujahideen commander Amir of Magas"[14] was published, where he, among other things, stated the following:

"Upon the orders of the Military Amir of the structures in the active sectors of the Caucasus Front special operative group (SOG) have been formed with the operational and tactical task goals. One of those goals is target work on specific individuals <…> Departments of SOG have already been implementing a number of retaliatory actions and military operations in response to the actions of the FSB and other kafirs and munafiqs, including actions against the Russians in the North Caucasus (e.g. in Ingushetia) whom we from now on regard as military colonists, with all its consequences. " (emphasis by HRC "Memorial")

Although at the time of writing those on whose orders the murders of the republic’s Russian-speaking residents were committed as well as the executors of the crimes had not been identified with any degree of reliability, the above words of one of the leaders of the militants still suggest that the responsibility for these crimes lies with some of the militant groups (probably acting autonomously from each other).

Special attention should be given to the words of the self-proclaimed “Amir of the Caucasian Emirate" Dokku Umarov. While speaking on October 7, 2007 of his definitive switching to aggressive radical fundamentalism, in particular he stated[15]:

"I deny all kafir laws that have been established by them in this world. I deny all the laws and systems that are introduced by the infidels in the land of the Caucasus. <…> I am saddened by the position of those Muslims who only declared those kafirs who directly attacked them as enemies. At the same time they are seeking support and sympathy from other kafirs forgetting that all the infidels are one nation ".

On October 30, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia Y.N.Turygin said at a meeting with the Human Rights Center Memorial that the investigating authorities had achieved certain results in their inquiry into the killings of the persons belonging to the ethnic minorities: 6 criminal cases had been initiated, a number of individuals involved in these crimes had been identified. According to the prosecutor, they all belonged to one criminal group operating on the territory of Chechnya and Ingushetia. The suspects were declared wanted.

However, the residents of Ingushetia doubt the effectiveness and integrity of the investigation, the ability of the law enforcement officials to put an end to the activities of the criminal groups. On November 7, representatives of the public wrote an open letter to the President, the Parliament and the Public Prosecutor, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District and the President of Russia. In that letter, they asked the above-mentioned officials to create a commission in charge of monitoring the inquiry into the murders of the Russian-speaking inhabitants in Ingushetia. Among the signatories (81 people) were representatives of public organizations, political parties, journalists, academicians, lawyers, prominent public figures in the republic. Their appeal, in particular, says:

"This series of murders, including the murders of representatives of ethnic minorities came as a great shock to us… Whoever was behind those crimes, they were aimed at undermining the foundations of the Ingush society and identity, at discrediting the Ingush people and destabilizing the situation in the region. These killings are not only cruel but also difficult to explain - those who perpetrated them cannot expect to encounter anything other than revulsion and outrage on the part of the Ingush people.

We believe that impartial investigation of these crimes is regarded a matter of honor by the people of Ingushetia. We want to know who is behind these provocations in our republic, who are they that are trying to provoke destabilization of the situation, what their political goals are that compel them to commit such brutal and senseless killing of innocent people. The criminals must be punished under the law, whoever they may have been, and the truth about the atrocities committed by them will put an end to the speculation and rumors stirring indignation and trouble in the republic.

At the same time it is absolutely unacceptable that these notorious crimes will be «fastened» on the spur of the moment on any random people. No one has the right to shoot residents of Ingushetia who might appear somehow suspicious to them, to torture and to apply illegal methods of investigation to the detaineesd. Otherwise, innocent people will suffer, and these killers will remain at large and continue with their criminal activities further destabilizing the so far complicated situation in the Republic. Regarding the urgent importance of this question we ask you to create a public commission in charge of monitoring the course of investigation of these killings. Every one of us is ready to take part in and contribute to its work. "

Talking about shooting and tortures, the authors of the letter were referring to quite specific examples of lawlessness committed by officers of the FSB, the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecutor's Office against residents of Ingushetia.

4.3 Domiciliary search during the targeted "preventive operations" and "cleansing” operations in settlements.

"Siloviks" regularly conduct search in the houses of Ingushetia’s civilians. During these operations they have repeatedly been violating the human rights norms and the provisions of the Russian law. Some examples thereof were given in Chapter 3 of this report.

Often certain families become the customary targets of the regular "preventive" checks repeatedly carried out over the years. These "operations" are often conducted not even by the Republican Ministry of Interior staff but by the personnel of other security services sent to operate in the Republic - by the mobile Detachment of the Russian Ministry of Interior, the FSB special police, etc. In doing so, the republican Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office were usually not even notified of the operation being carried out.

Here are two typical examples.

On June 1, 2007 gunmen broke into the courtyard of the Merzhoyev's family house in stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Shosseynaya st., 14. They failed to produce any identifying documents or introduce themselves. Although no-one offered any resistance, they opened fire above the heads of the young children swimming in an inflatable pool. The soldiers hit Ramzan Merzhoyev with the butt of a gun. His father, Hazhbiker Merzhoyev, disabled of the 1^st category (with part of his leg amputated) was thrown onto the ground and searched, while being pelted with verbal abuse. Then they proceeded to searching the home - without attesting witnesses being present and without drawing up a protocol of the search. Not having discovered anything of illegal nature, the armed men left[16]. But before that they had beaten Adam Merzhoyev, another son of H. Merzhoyev, of the school age. As a result of the beatings Adam's finger was broken.

The Merzhoyev family together with their neighbors appealed to the Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia upon the fact of causing severe bodily injuries to Adam Merzhoyev and other violations of their rights. Their complaints were forwarded to the military prosecutor's office, from where, in September 2007, they were returned - the military prosecutor reported that "from the message of the Chief of the Russian FSB department in the Republic of Ingushetia,- the military agency authorized to conduct search operations, it appears that the Office of the Federal Security Service in the Republic of Ingushetia did not conduct any search operations in the Mezhoyev family's house on June 1, 2007"[17].

As a result, a criminal case was never opened.

In the office of HRC "Memorial" in Nazran received a visit from Osman Abuyevich Bogatyryov, a resident of the city of Malgobek, born 1976. In his written statement, he reported that after his release from prison unidentified men had been following him and that he feared for his safety. On the night of April 30, 2007 unidentified masked men dressed in civilian clothes came to Bogatyryov’s house and conducted an inspection of the rooms. Neither did they introduce themselves nor did they show any documents. They were looking for Osman. Their conduct was rude, they refused to answer the questions of the relatives as to why they needed Osman.

"Knowing the situation in the republic, I am worried about my own life and well-being as well as that of my relatives. Seeing all the lawlessness and violations of the citizens' rights, the only thing that I can do is ask you for help. I ask you to provide all possible assistance to me and my relatives, "- wrote Bogatyryov in his statement.

Earlier, on March 22, 2005 Osman Bogatyryov was arrested in the city of Nalchik by officers belonging to an unidentified security service. He was kept in the building of the UFSB office in Kabardino-Balkaria for a while and then transferred to the pre-trial detention center of the city of Vladikavkaz. The investigation team of the General Directorate of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the Northern Caucasus charged him pursuant to Articles 210 (organization of a criminal community), 222 (illegal possession of weapons), 278 (forcible seizure of power), 317 (Encroachment on the life of an officer of a law-enforcement agency), 205 (terrorism) according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The charges were examined by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia. In November 2006 Bogatyryov was acquitted by the jury of almost all the articles and condemned only pursuant to Article 222. On January 19, 2007 Bogatyryov was released.

Similar statements about "preventive searches" were reported to the HRC "Memorial" in the summer and autumn of 2007.

***

2007 saw the revival of the practice of "cleansing operations" for entire settlements. During the April and May the "cleansing operations" in the villages of Ali-Yurt, Surkhakhi, Gayrbek-Yurt, stanitsa Voznesenovskaya, the city of Malgobek lasted for periods from a few hours to several days. They were conducted jointly by the federal and the local security services[18], and, although during these special operations, there was usually no severe violence against the local population, there were no robberies nor abductions, yet there were numerous procedural violations, including refusals of the "siloviks" to introduce themselves according to the established norm, to produce their documents. Rudeness and cursing at local residents were commonplace.The official results are humble: one person had been identified: a certain Daurbekov who was on the federal wanted list on suspicion-of being a member of the illegal armed groups was. Daurbekov was taken by the "siloviks" to an unknown destination.

On July 28 another "cleansing operation" took place in the village of Ali-Yurt. It distinguished itself from the above-described instances by its ferocity, by its rudeness and massive violations of human rights, she reminded "mopping up operations" of Chechen villages during 2000-2003.

A day before, at about 10:00 pm on July 27, the insurgents opened fire at the UFSB building and the building of the RI Presidential administration. One soldier was killed and several others were injured.

On July 28, the representative of the operational headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation told journalists that the insurgents had opened fire from the direction of Ali-Yurt, escaping in the same direction. In this connection the village was declared the zone of the anti-terrorist operation: "The units of a regiment of the Internal Troops blockaded this village. <…> The anti-terrorist operation involved units of the Internal Troops, of the republican Ministry of Interior as well as the united forces in the North Caucasus."[19] Later, the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia denied any involvement of the local police in the events in the village of Ali Yurt.[20]

According to official reports of the law enforcement officials to the media, in the village of Ali-Yurt had been "strengthened passport control, inspecting of vehicles and houses where militants might seek shelter. The operation is carried out strictly according to the Russian legislation». During the special operation several suspects were detained, which will be checked for involvement in the firing in Magas.[21]

The interview with the residents of Ali Yurt revealed that at about 4 am members of the federal security services blockaded the village, started breaking into homes, without introducing themselves, opening fire into the air, cursing with obscene words, beating people without any apparent causes. Their victims were mostly men residing on the Zyazikov st. and the Ordzhonikidze st.

The "siloviks" had beaten the local mullah Ramzan Nalgiev, born in 1927, who was returning home from the morning prayers in the mosque having broken his ribs. Tanzila Akhmedovna Esmurzieva, seven months pregnant, was beaten in her own home.

The armed men broke into the courtyard of Yakhiy Yevloyev's house (Zyazikov St., 15), threw the owner on the floor, wrang his hands behind his back and started beating and kicking him in the kidneys. The "siloviks" were asking him who had opened fire by night from the direction of Magas and where Yakhiya himself was at that time. The answers were not listened to; Yakhiya's passport was thrown aside without being looked at. After that, having ordered Yakhiya to lie on the ground without moving, the military men moved on to the neighbouring yard belonging to Bilan Yevloyev. There they took all the people out into the yard and started beating all the males. Bilan Yevloyev's youngest son, a teenager of 16, suffered substantial injuries as a result received a major bruise on his head.

Among other victims was also the local elder and mullah Makhmoud Bagaudinovich Yevloyev: a month earlier the President of RI presented to him a VAZ-2107 car as a gift, now the car was smashed with the butts of the guns.

There is information that children under 15 had also been beaten during the "cleansing operation".

This was an action of intimidation, senseless and ruthless, with an effusive flow of obscene words, sporadic shooting and fits of hysteria: "You killed our people, bitch!". All this resembled in almost all the details the "cleansing" operations in the Chechen villages in the first half of this decade, although, here, fortunately, there were no murders. The fact that it was precisely a punitive action is confirmed by the lack of interest on the part of soldiers in the local residents' documents and by the "interrogations" in which interrogators did not even listen to the answers of the people they were beating. One soldier shouted that he was ready to burn down the entire village and suffer the most severe punishment in order to eliminate the possibility of any new attacks from this side.

Seven people were detained in the village:

Akhmed Sultan-Khamidovich Ganizhev, born in 1985, resident of the village of Ali-Yurt, Yandiev st., 37;

Ruslan Alievich Ganizhev, born in 1980, resident of the village of. Ali-Yurt, Ganizhev st,." 7a";

Khavash Bagaudinovich Gagiev, born in 1978, resident of the village of.Ali-Yurt, Albogachieva st, 26;

Bilan Bagaudinovich Tutayev, born in 1970, resident of the village of.Barsuki, Magistralnaya st., 6;

Magamed Musayevich Izmailov, born in 1990, resident of the village of. Surkhakhi, Gvardeyskaya st, 17;

Roman Viktorovich Pavlov, born in 1983, permanent registration in Slavgorod, the Altai region, working for hire in Ali-Yurt;

Andrey Anatolyevich Petukhov, born in 1986, permanent registration in the Republic of Mari-El, working for hire in Ali-Yurt.

A few hours later the heads of the republican security services, including the Minister of Interior Moussa Medov, the deputy Chairman of the Government of RI, the head of the Anti-Terrorism Commission Bashir Aushev arrived. The Ingush policemen who arrived with them started checking people's passports, without resorting, however, to force or insulting the local residents.

With regard to the detained, the RIA Novosti agency reported, quoting "an informed source" that "during the special operations in Ingushetia in the village of Ali-Yurt, a number of individuals who may be involved in the shooting attack on the UFSB building in RI were identified. Currently several suspects who have been detained are being checked by the investigating agencies on the subject of their possible involvement in the crime. All the people are permanent residents of the Republic.[22]

The detained were taken to the FS republican department building in the city of Magas. According to Ruslan Ganizhev, in the car he and Akhmad Ganizhev had black bags put on their heads. Upon their arrival they were taken (apparently) to the basement and interrogated separately. During the interrogation, they were beaten on the legs, kidneys and heads. They were asked questions about the militants, there were attempts to coax them into cooperation. The interrogation lasted several hours. At around 8:00 pm Ruslan and Akhmed Ganizhev as well as Khavazh Gagieva were thrown out onto the road between the villages of Surkhakhi and Yandyrka, still with the bags on their heads. Catching a passing-by car they got home. All the three men were in a serious condition and taken to hospital on the same day. Ruslan Ganizhev was diagnosed with brain concussion, rib fractures and kidney prolapse.

Later on the other detainees were also released.

All in all about 30 residents of the village of Ali-Yurt were taken to the central clinical hospital of the city of Nazran.

Many victims have submitted written complaints to the republican Prosecutor's Office. According to the Public Prosecutor of RI Yu.N.Turygin[23], an inspection was conducted and its results were sent to the Military Prosecutor's Office with a recommendation to initiate criminal proceedings. But the Military Prosecutor's Office has considered insufficient the evidence of the fact that the military personnel were involved in the beatings and returned the materials. However, the Investigation Committee of the Public Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Ingushetia has opened criminal case No 07500032 pursuant to Paragraph 3 a of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official powers) on the fact of exceeding of the official powers by officers of law enforcement agencies.[24] At the same time, according to the Prosecutor of RI, if during the investigation it will not be possible to identify the specific individuals involved in the mass beating of Ali-Yurt residents, the punishment shall be inflicted upon the supervisor of this special operation, "who is, at the very least, guilty of negligence".[25] However, the Prosecutor does not know the representative of which agency was n charge of this special operation. It is unclear how the Prosecutor imagined charging an officer of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior or an FSB officer in a criminal case initiated on the fact of abuse of power not by the military but by law enforcement staff!

As expected, by the end of January 2008, nobody had yet been charged with the crime.

The residents of the village who dared to complain, have been receiving threats from unidentified people.

On August 2, the office of the HRC Memorial in the city of Nazran was visited by Magomet-Girey Belanovich Aspiev, one of the victims of the Ali-Yurt events, and reported that on August 1, at approximately 11:15 pm unidentified people in civilian clothes knocked on the gate of his house. They did not greet the owner, called him by his name and ordered him to stop complaining about the actions of the security forces in Ali-Yurt, saying: "This is your last chance." Then one of them took out a pistol and ordered Aspiev to return into the house. Magomet-Girei obeyed, but three minutes later he went out again - there was nobody at the gate. On the same day Aspiev appealed to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

What can be achieved with such special operations in the region where the majority of the population until very recently was far from being ready to support the armed opponents of the Russian government? The result may only be hatred and an increased support of the militants as well as the swelling of their ranks.

Perhaps this was realized by the leaders in charge of the "anti-terrorist operation" in the region. In any case, after the events in Ali-Yurt, despite the numerous shooting attacks by the militants on representatives of the state power and on the government agencies in Ingushetia, there were no more such "cleansing operations" in settlements.

4.4. The special operation in the house of the Aushev family, illegal detention and torture of Magomed Aushev.

On June 17, the FSB officers carried out another special operation in Ingushetia resulting in one person being killed and later declared a militant, his relatives being robbed and beaten, one of them being taken away and tortured. This case, so common and ordinary for Ingushetia, came as the beginning of a chain of events that influenced the further development of the situation in the republic.

The target special operation took place at about 7 a.m. in the village of Surkhakhi. Ruslan Khavazhevich Aushev, born in 1980, residing at the Aushev St., 28, was killed as a result of this operation.

The press-service of the law enforcement agencies reported that during the special operations “one of the leaders of the Wahhabi underground, Ruslan Aushev, was killed”. According to the UFSB spokesman for RI Alexander Cherepanov, Ruslan Aushev who was among those behind the attack on Ingushetia on the night from 21 to 22 June 2004 and the school siege in Beslan, had long been wanted by the law enforcement authorities. They blocked him in the village of Surkhakhi. "The house where, according to our operational information, this bandit was hiding, was surrounded by a dense cordon. The special police forces wanted to avoid shooting and suggested that the militant surrenders, but he opened fire". Then, according to Cherepanov, the special police forces opened heavy fire in response but the fire from the house did not stop because the gunman was hiding in a specially equipped and fortified place on the attic; the operation resulted in, Aushev being killed.[26]

Soon after the incident the staff members of the HRC Memorial visited the scene, interviewed the relatives and the neighbors of Ruslan Aushev as well as the witnesses. As a result, the picture of the events in Surkhakhi was somewhat different from the one presented by Cherepanov.

Early in the morning houses No 30 and No 28 on Aushev St. were blockaded by about eighty officers of the security forces, most of them wearing masks, who were brought in two armoured personnel carriers, six Gazel minibuses and several passenger cars. They spoke only Russian but some of them had a strong accent. The “siloviks" immediately proceeded to penetrating into the two houses.

Ruslan Aushev's family lived in house No 28 and their relatives live in house No 30.

According to the owner of house 30, Isropil Abdul-Mazhitovich Aushev, born in 1955, he was sitting in the yard and telling his beads, when suddenly armed men appeared in the courtyard having climbed in over the fence. They immediately aimed their guns at him, ordered him to pull up his shirt and to turn around with his back to them. Only after that the house owner was asked who he was and who was in the house. Isropil gave his name and said that there were only members of his family in the house. Pushing Isropil in the back with blow guns, the soldiers entered the house following him and ordered everybody to go out. The inhabitants of the house, apart from Isropil himself, were his sister Khadizhat, his nephew Magomed Osmanovich Aushev and Mikhail Aushev with his wife and six children. When all went out, everyone, including women and children, was put to the wall and searched. The men were taken away and were ordered to lie face down on the ground. Then, pushing Isropil in front of them, the "siloviks" carefully inspected the house, the attic and the adjacent buildings, reporting after checking each of the rooms on the radio transmitter: "All clear." The search took about one and a half hour, after that the main group of "siloviks" entered the yard.

House No 28, owned by Khavazh Khamoyevich Aushev, was also searched in a similar way. At about 5:30 pm more than two dozen "siloviks" surrounded his house and ordered the owner to come out. Khavazh and his eldest son Timur came out holding up their hands. They were handcuffed, taken under the shed and put onto the ground. “The women and children were taken out of the house and accompanied to the neighbors' house, after that the premises were thoroughly searched.

According to the members of the Aushev family, the youngest son of the owner, Ruslan, had been living here quite openly for a long time and before the Morning Prayer on June he was also at home. But after that he left for somewhere - Khavazh said he did not know where he went. It is clear that when the "siloviks" arrived, Ruslan Aushev made an attemp to escape and hide himself in the house of his relatives who were also his next-door neighbors.

Why was he trying to escape? It is likely that Ruslan Aushev could have a connection with the militants. However, as it turned out, the law enforcement authorities were not even aware of the fact that Ruslan Aushev was “long wanted" by them. After his death, a correspondent of the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site was told by an officer of the Nazran district department of internal affairs that Ruslan Aushev was not on the wanted list. [27].

At about 7 o'clock one of the "siloviks" standing in the cordon opened fire from a grenade launcher at the attic of house No 30 (owned by Isropil Aushev). Intensive shooting broke out. For 20 minutes the attic was exposed to fire from automatic weapons from all sides, including the yard and house No 28. After that, the "siloviks" started beating Isropil and kicking him with the butts of their guns accusing him of lying. He tried to argue that they have just carefully inspected his house themselves and found no-one, how could he know that someone had got into there.

Isropil Aushev, his nephew Magomed Osmanovich Aushev, born in 1982, and the two sons of Mikhail Aushev, Hassan, born in 1986, and Hussein, born in 1988, had their fingers on both hands tied together behind the back with wire and were taken away from the courtyard. Magomed was put onto the floor of a Gazel vehicle. Hassan and Hussein were pushed into the armored personnel carrier. The detainees were being kicked and beaten with iron pipes. Isropil was brought back into the yard for identification of the body of the murdered person in the attic. That person was Ruslan Khavazhevich Aushev, resident of house No 28, who was probably hiding in the attic of the neighboring house. The right hand of the body was missing as was part of the left hand, the body itself had multiple shrapnel wounds and lacerations. It appears that he was shot dead from the grenade launcher. Ruslan was allegedly found with the aid of special infrared scanners, according to what the "siloviks" had told Isropil themselves.

Following the identification Isropil was forced to sign a protocol. The protocol, however, did not contain any mention of that after the search certain documents and property belonging to the Aushev family were missing: passports, birth certificates, the vehicle registration certificate, the military service record cards, 40,000 rubles, two tape recorders, five gold rings, a ladies’s gold watch, a gold chain and others belongings.

In the house of Khavazh Aushev 300,000 rubles and 5,000 dollars, some gold and jewelry, etc were missing after the search.

According to Khavazh Aushev, when the shooting was over, the "siloviks" ordered him to shovel two hundred sheaves of hay to make sure that there was nothing and nobody under them. He was shown two opaque plastic bags and told that they contained some objects from his home which were being taken away. Khavazh was forced to sign some papers in the presence of two officers acting as attesting witnesses. During the search the "siloviks" smashed almost all windows, broke the doors, furniture and were throwing the belongings around.

Before leaving, the armored personnel carrier of the "siloviks" smashed the gate of house No 30, crushed the car parked in the yard of Hassan Aushev, then the armoured personnel carrier heavily damaged the house itself which was built of sun-dried brick. They took with them the body of Ruslan Aushev but returned it back to the relatives four hours later.

At about 11:30 am Isropil Abdulmazhitovich Aushev, Hassan Mikhailovich and Hussein Mikhailovich Aushevs were taken in the armoured personnel carrier to the UFSB for RI building in the town of Magas. There they were interrogated until 5:00 pm and after that released.

Magomed Osmanovich Aushev was taken to the UFSB building separately in the Gazel minibus. Then, according to Magomed Aushev, the "siloviks" said that they would take him to Vladikavkaz and hand over to their Ossetian colleagues.

On the way to Vladikavkaz he was being kicked in the head and in the kidneys. When they were stopped by traffic police posts Magomed could hear that the "siloviks" identified themselves as FSB officers and were freely allowed to continue their journey. He also heard them talking among themselves about intending to change the number plate on the car. At a certain moment, the car stopped. One person in the convoy brought a black bag, which was put on Aushev’s head. After their arrival, the bag was pulled off his head and Magomed was brought into a large building. Aushev believes that it was the FSB or the UBOP (Department for Combating Organised Crime) building in Vladikavkaz. Most of the people who were there, spoke Ossetian. Magomed was brought into a damp room on the fourth floor. Wires were tied to his toes and the current was turned on. While this was being done, water was also poured on Aushev. The "siloviks" did not ask any questions. They claimed from the very beginning: they know that Magomed was concealing Ruslan Khavazhevich Aushev in his attic, that he knew the place where the cache with weapons, which they had found near the Alkhanchurtsk's canal, was kept. They said that they would force him to confess it. Someone in the room wanted to call a certain Vitya: "His relatives were killed in Beslan, he will know how to talk to you “properly”. Fortunately, "Vitya" was not found around. Magomed had the bag put back on his head, was taken away from the building, pushed into a car and taken to an unknown place. There Aushev was pushed into a hole about 1.5 meters deep and water was again poured on him. Then the men began to imitate the burial of Aushev throwing soil into the hole and saying: "In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit". One of them said: "If we return the body to the Ingush, it is better for it to be fresh." All through doing this, the executioners were telling their victim that he would disappear without a trace and that they had buried many people in the same way before him. Then the executioners dragged Magomed out of the pit, put two bulletproof vests on him and opened point-blank fire at him from a pistol. They took turns in shooting.

Aushev was not killed but taken to that same building where he was interrogated earlier. They again connected electric wires to his toes and with the comment "We are now going to listen to Kolya Baskov (singing) (a Russian singer who started his carrier as an opera singer)", they began to torture him with the electric current. After that they beat him with rubber truncheons on his kidneys and feet. Magomed was again forced to confess to having been concealing Ruslan Khavazhevich Aushev and other crimes that he had not committed. Then Aushev was asked about some people unknown to him. Some time later, a very big sturdy man entered the room. He was wearing rubber gloves. The man threatened Magomed that unless he signs the statement that they were going to give him, all that had happened before will seem a mere nothing to him. But if he agrees, they would release him. Magomed had no choice but to agree. He signed a few papers without reading. Then the “siloviks” gave him the receipt which claimed that on June 1, 2007 Magomed Aushev received from the military officers 35,000 rubles for hanging a piece of blue cloth on the gate of his house if Ruslan Aushev comes to visit him. The same document alleged that he had received the money on the night of June 17, 2007. In actual fact, there had never been any question of such an agreement, Magomed Aushev never received any money nor hung anything on his gate. However, perfectly realizing how hopeless his situation was, Magomed signed that paper also.

After that the “siloviks” gave Magomed a cell phone number. Aushev was instructed to call this number and fix a meeting on June 18 at 1 pm in the vicinity of the bus station of the city of Nazran. Otherwise, they promised to kill his brothers and abduct himself even if he decides to leave for his parents' home in the city of Yakutsk. To make their threats sound more credible, the "siloviks" cited several cases in which the detained people were released under the same conditions and later disappeared without a trace or were killed having failed to observe the agreement. They gave a few names: Oligov[28], Mutaliev[29], Mutsolgov[30].

When they finished interrogating Magomed Aushev, they put a black bag on his head, put him into a car and took away to an unknown destination. This time Magomed again heard the "siloviks" speaking about the need to change the number plates on the car To do that, they stopped at a certain location. Magomed also remembers that on their way their car hit a boy on a bicycle. The "siloviks" spent a while settling this conflict, speaking Russian and Ossetian. Then Magomed was thrown out of the car. When he pulled the bag off his head, he saw that he was lying on the side of the Ali-Yurt - Surkhakhi thoroughfare.

On June 18, Magomed Aushev phoned the number given by the "siloviks" and postponed the meeting until the next day, referring to the need to attend the funeral of Ruslan Aushev on that day.

On the same day, Magomed Aushev appealed to the HRC Memorial with a written statement in which he asked for protection from the arbitrary actions of the security services and for assistance in protection of his rights. He did not intend to become a secret informer or to keep the appointment.

On June 20, Khavazh and Hassan Aushev, in their turn, appealed with a written statement to the HRC Memorial. They asked for assistance in claiming back their documents that were stolen from the house.

The HRC Memorial publicized the facts of human rights violations against the members of the Aushev family, including the fact of coercion with the use of torture of Magomed Aushev into secret collaboration with the FSB. A letter describing the above-mentioned facts and containing a request to hold an enquiry on them and, if they are confirmed, initiate criminal proceedings was addressed to the Prosecutor General. On August 10, the RI Prosecutor's Office in Nazran sent a reply indicating that "on June 17, 2007, at approximately 6 o’clock, when the officers of the UFSB for RI were conducting search in house 30 on Aushev St. in the village of Surkhakhi <…> Ruslan Khavazhevich Aushev, resident of 28, Aushev St., who was hiding in the attic, using a PM pistol <…> offered armed resistance to the UFSB officers. R;H.Aushev was wounded,by the fire opened by the officers after which he brought into action an explosive device of unknown origin and was killed on the spot. "

With regard to the armed resistance offered by Ruslan Aushev, a criminal case had been initiated, then closed due to the death of the person to be charged. "The District Prosecutor's Office has made a decision to send the materials concerning the unlawful acts of the UFSB officers manifested in violence against H.M. Aushev, I.A-M.Aushev , M.O. Aushev, Kh.Kh Aushev and in stealing their documents and belongings after the described events to the Military Prosecutor, military baze 04062 located in the stanitsa Troitskaya of the Sunzhensky district of the Republic of Ingushetia." [31]

The Military Prosecutor's Office did not reply to the inquiry from the HRC Memorial while the repeated inquiry addressed to the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia received an unexpected, amazing reply from the Nazran Interregional Investigative Division of the Department of Investigations of the Investigative Committee of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Ingushetia. It turned out that following the inquiry from the Memorial an additional inspection had been conducted which was followed by an order to transfer the materials to the Department of Investigations of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic. According to the ruling, "the enquiry upon these facts has established that on June 17, 2007, at about 5 am, unidentified law enforcement officers (italicized by the HRC Memorial), following the operational activities in the house located at 30, Aushev St., the village of Surkhakhi, Nazran district, Republic of Ingushetia, delivered M.O. Aushev, residing at the above address, onto the territory of the Chechen Republic (italicized by the HRC Memorial) where he was subjected to violent treatment.

M.O. Aushev who was interrogated in the course of the enquiry explained that <…> after the operational activities <…> the law enforcement officers took him into the Gazel vehicle and brought him either to Vladikavkaz or to Grozny, where he was subjected to violent treatment.” [32]

Note that the officers of the UFSB for RI who, accor ding to the reply received from the Deputy Prosecutor dated August 10, searched the house of the Aushev family, turn into "unidentified law enforcement officials", as stated in the documents of the Investigative Division five months later. And this was, as stated above, despite the fact that the FSB had publicly acknowledged its participation in this special operation as well as that the members of the Aushev family were subjected to interrogation in the building of the UFSB for RI in the town of Magas.

Also the records of the Investigative Division inexplicably claim that Magomed Aushev was taken not to Vladikavkaz but to Grozny instead. Everything in Aushev's story points to Vladikavkaz - the time that the journey took, the conversations held in the Ossetian language and the threat of his interrogators. For the investigator all this does not appear to be of any importance, he has his own intricate logic: he refers to the fact that later, on September 18, Magomed Aushev was abducted by unidentified persons in Chechnya (see Section 4.5. of this report for more information on this abduction) and, according to the words of Magomed Aushev, the abductors were the same people that abducted him on June 17. Therefore, it now becomes the task of the local Department of Investigations of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for the Chechen Republic to find those “non-unidentified persons” in Chechnya, The main motivation here is the desire to close this dangerous case as quickly as possible and not to let anyone suspect that the FSB officials could be involved in something illegal.

Thus, the structures of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office as well as the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Ingushetia itself have shown themselves unwilling to investigate the illegal activities of the FSB and other law enforcement agencies in the territory of Ingushetia, and thereby they contribute to the destabilization of the situation in the Republic.

The HRC Memorial does not question the legitimacy of the special operations conducted by FSB officers in cases of obtaining operational information concerning involvement of a certain person in the guerilla activities. However, it is unacceptable that the special operations in the village of Surkhakhi were accompanied by gross violations of human rights and of the norms of the Russian law.

Subsequent events have shown that these violations of legitimacy brought about a chain of events with direct consequences for the Republic of Ingushetia.

On June 25, the residents of the village gathered to hold an unauthorized protest rally.

On June 27, they forcibly prevented the abduction of an inhabitant of the village by FSB officers. And when, in September the "siloviks" tried to take vengeance on Magomed Aushev abducting him together with his second cousin, this led to mass riots in Nazran (see Section 4.9. of this report). Magomed's uncle, Maksharip Aushev, who was never engaged in politics before these events, became one of the organizers of the protest actions.

4.5. Illegal detentions and abductions with the purpose of obtaining information and recruitment. Illegal places of detention

In the summer and autumn of 2007 illegal detentions (indeed, abductions) of citizens continued to take place, apparently for the purpose of obtaining information and possible recruitment. As before, the detained were taken to places of illegal detention, where they were tortured. Here are two examples.

Late in the evening of July 31, near the Republican Hospital in the city of Nazran, officers of unidentified security services abducted a resident of the village of Ekazhevo Ramzan Husseinovich Gagiev, born in 1982. A month and a half before Gagiev underwent medical treatment at the surgical department, in ward No 3. He underwent two operations and was moving around with the help of crutches. After 11 pm he went outside and did not return. On August 1, Ramzan Gagiev was found in the vicinity of stanitsa Nesterovskaya unconscious with a plastic bag on his head. He had been severely beaten.

A staff member of the Memorial met with the victim and found out from him the circumstances of his abduction. According to the words of the latter: ”At about 11:15 pm I left the hospital and went out into the street to a local store. On my way back, somebody called out to me in Ingush: "Hey, who is coming?". I turned round to where the voice was coming from and saw two cars: a white VAZ-2107 and a steel-colored VAZ-21099. I asked the man sitting in the car: "Did you call me?". 5 or 6 persons in military uniform jumped out of the cars, put a bag on my head and thrust me into the cabin. I began to choke and asked them in Ingush to pull the bag off my head. In response I heard in Russian: "Shut up, you bitch!". I made a hole in the bag with my teeth and so I was able to breathe. We were traveling for something like an hour on an earth road. When the car stopped, they said in Ingush: "Get out". I was brought into some room. They began to ask questions. First they asked in Ingush: "Where are you working?". I told them that I am working at the Federal Drug Control Service. I was hit in the groin in response. Then they asked: «Do you have a family, any children?". “Two children”, - I answered. "You won't have anymore" - they said and again hit me in the groin. Between themselves, some of them were speaking Chechen. On that night I was beaten all in all 4 times. They beat me on the head with fists and in the groin. The next day, I was asked: "Where do you have pain?". I said them, after the operation I had renal pains. They began to beat me on the kidneys and ribs, having previously chained me to the chair. I heard that near me someone else was being beaten. I ask them: "Is someone else being beaten here too?" - The answer came: "Another two people are getting their lot". "What for?" - I asked. They said in Ingush: "We are going to sell you all to the Ossetians." I had lost consciousness several times during the beatings. I had water poured on me. The next morning, I heard someone say in Ingush that a search was being conduct and that it was necessary to take me away. I was put into a car, smacked badly on the head and lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness I realized that I was lying in an aryk (irrigation ditch). I started crawling out onto the road. When I reached the road level I passed out. I was accidentally found by a man traveling past by. "

The Prosecutor's Office in the city of Nazran made a decision to refuse to initiate criminal investigation into the Gagiev's abduction.

On August 8, after 1 pm in the town of Karabulak officers of an unidentified security service abducted a local resident Ibrakhim Mukhamedovich Gazdiev, born in 1978, residing at Proletarskaya St, 85.

Ibrakhim went out to a food store driving his brother’s car, VAZ-2110. Next to the town administration building Gazdiev's car was stopped by armed men in masks (7-8 people) and dressed in camouflage uniform. According to the eye-witnesses, they had arrived there on a Mercedes and a white Gazel minibus. After checking Gazdiev’s documents, the "siloviks" thrust him into the Gazel and took him away to an unknown destination. Gazdiev's car was also taken away with them. At the time of writing this report, the fate of Ibrakhim Gazdiev remains unknown.

Gazdiev was the director of a building materials store, was never on any wanted list. According to his relatives, on May 31, 2007 the officers of the Department of Investigations of UFSB for RI conducted a search in their house, nothing illegal was found. Since then, no-one has contacted the family.

On September 2, in the city of Nazran security authorities officers detained a local resident, Magomed Alikovich Tsoloyev, born in 1978, residing at the Nazran, Bazorkina Ave, 38/28.

On that day Magomed, together with his mother and his uncle, were taking furniture and household utensils into the house. At that moment, a UAZ-452 (the so-called “pill") and three passenger cars carrying about 20-25 people stopped near them. The people were all wearing masks except one. They were dressed in a combination of civilian clothes and military uniforms, some of them were wearing jackets with the inscription "FSB". One of the siloviks approached Magomed and hit him on the head with some heavy object. Then a few other people in masks ran up to him and began to beat Magomed who was lying on the ground. They were beating him for a few minutes, after which they dragged him along on the asphalt pavement and thrust him into the UAZ vehicle. Magomed’s mother and uncle tried to defend him. The men opened fire at the ground near their feet and in the air above their heads. One of the officers raised his rifle butt against the woman but Magomed’s uncle shielded her and received a blow in the chest.

The "siloviks" left without informing the relatives of Magomed Tsoloyev about the reasons for his detention and the place where he was being taken. In the car the “siloviks” continued to beat the detained on the head. From their conversation Magomed was able to guess that the abductors were Ingush. 40-45 minutes later he was brought, as it turned out later, to the Malgobek municipal department of internal affairs. Having put a plastic bag on his head, they took him to the second floor, where he was interrogated with the use of torture - beaten on the head with a plastic bottle full of water, his torturers were putting out their cigarettes against his bare back. Tsoloyev was forced to confess his involvement in the assassination of several police officers on August 31 near the House of Culture of the city of Nazran and in the wounding of a frontier guard on August 21. There were attempts to coerce him into collaboration, he was offered to give testimony against other people. Then he had the bag put back on the head, taken away somewhere and told that he was going to be shot. An hour later Tsoloyev was taken to the municipal department of internal affairs of the town of Karabulak and later to the same department in Nazran where he had the wound on his head dressed and was allowed to wash himself. The next day the interrogation was continued by an investigator of the Prosecutor's Office. The investigator asked Tsoloyev about his whereabouts at the time when the terrorist attack near the House of Culture and the armed attack on the frontier guard were committed. Magomed declared at all the interrogations that he had not been involved in any of these crimes.

On September 13, 2007 Tsoloyev was released. The period of detention of Tsoloyev was recorded as starting from September 3, 2007.

Magomed Tsoloyev chose not to complain to the authorities.

As it turned out later, Tsoloyev was detained (indeed, abducted) by the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nazran Department of Internal Affairs and the Nazran Operational Forces of the Temporary operational group of the Ingush Ministry of Interior.[33]

On September 23 at 6:30 am in the Barsukinsky district of the city of Nazran the officers of the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs, together with the officers of the mobile detachment of the Russian Ministry of Interior detained the Estoyev brothers: Moussa Muradovich, born in 1974, and Adam Muradovich, 1987, residing at Estoyev St, 2.

Upon entering the house the officers of the security forces began to conduct a search without producing any required warrant for it. The attesting witnesses were two soldiers whom the "siloviks" brought along with them. During the search the policemen serving on a mission in Ingushetia were insulting the owners of the house. Moussa Estoyev reprimanded them several times and demanded that they behave properly. In response, a member of the mobile detachment hit Moussa on the head. Moussa hit the policeman back. After that Moussa and his younger brother Adam were taken by force out of the house and away in the direction of Nazran. Their relatives were not told where the detained were going to be delivered. Also a personal car was taken away from the Estoyevs’ house without formalization of the relevant procedure. The police officers said the car was being seized for a dactylographic examination of the passenger cabin.

The Estoyev brothers were delivered to the building of the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs. Here they were subjected to an interrogation by police officers serving in Ingushetia on a mission. During the interrogation the brothers had plastic bags put on their heads, they were subjected to attempted strangling, beatings with fists and batons, all this was accompanied by continuous humiliation of their dignity and insulting of their religious feelings. Their requests to provide them with a lawyer was denied. During the interrogation the Estoyevs were asked questions concerning various people, both known and unknown to them personally, concerning their work and general activities, etc.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the Estoyevs were trying to establish the place of detention of the two brothers. Closer towards the evening they gathered near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Ingushetia and demanded the release of the detained men, otherwise threatening with organization of mass protests with the blocking of roads and railways.

At about 10:30 pm the Estoyev brothers were released. By virtue of a decision of the local magistrate they were fined for willful disobedience to police officers.

On September 24, Moussa Estoyev took back his car from the territory of the municipal department of internal affairs. It was revealed that from the vehicle the following were stolen: a Panasonic stereo system, the Kenwood acoustic speakers. CDs coof a total cost of 900 rubles; the dash board was partially damaged and 20 liters of AI-93 gasoline were stolen from the fuel tank (AI-93).

On September 26 the Estoyev brothers submitted their written statements to the Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia Yu. N. Turygin and to the Chief of the Department of Investigations of the Prosecutor' General’s office of the Russian Federation I. L. Mogushkov. They demanded to conduct an investigation on the fact of the unlawful acts of the police officers.

In the cited cases the unlawful acts towards the civilian population of Ingushetia were committed by officers of the local law enforcement agencies. As stated above, since the second half of the summer 2007 the tendency towards "ingushization" of the anti-terrorism struggle has been making itself increasingly prominent. During the summer and fall of 2007 the special operations increasingly involved people of Ingush nationality and among the places where illegal methods are applied to the detained, more and more often appear agencies of the Ministry of Interior of RI.

Coordinated structures specializing in abductions of people, their illegal detention, extrajudicial tortures and executions - the so-called "death squads" - which are part of various law enforcement agencies in the territory of the North Caucasian republics and were until recently operating primarily in the territory of Chechnya have not become a thing of the past.

This is confirmed by the events related to the abduction in September 2007 of Magomed Osmanovich Aushev, born in 1982, and his second cousin Magomed Maksharipovich Aushev, born in 1985.

The unlawful acts of FSB officers towards Magomed Osmanovich Aushev in June 2007 were described in Section 4.4. of this report. In September 2007, the “siloviks” - apparently, the FSB officers who were earlier forcing him under torture to become their secret informer, decided to settle their scores with him.

On September 18 the brothers arrived by train from Astrakhan to Grozny, got into a taxi and went home to Ingushetia. Upon leaving the city of Grozny, in the suburban settlement of Chernorechye, the taxi was blocked by three cars carrying armed men in camouflage uniforms. Unidentified people thrust the brothers into one of their cars without giving any explanations and drove off on the thoroughfare leading to Ingushetia.

According to the story of M.O. Aushev told to the HRC Memorial staff, the abducted had their own T-shirts pulled on the heads to prevent them from seeing where the car was traveling and their hands tied. The journey did not take long. They were brought into a damp room. One of the abductors said: "We had warned you that we would find you anywhere, even if we have to get you from under the earth!", After that the brothers were beaten. Soon, as M.O.Aushev understood, the people who abducted them left, handing them over to some other people - the "owners" of the space. His relative was taken away somewhere and Magomed Osmanovich Aushev himself was tortured with electric current. They asked questions both in Russian and Chechen languages: "Why did you travel to Grozny? What was the purpose of your visit to Astrakhan? Why did you not respect the agreement?". After that, M.O.Aushev was brought into a room with a bed and a stove. There he spent the night. As for his second cousin; he was told that the latter had been released.

The next day, the beatings and the torture resumed. His hands had remained tied since the first day. During the torture with electric current his mouth was taped to silence the cries. He was shown photos of different people, including that of his cousin Ruslan killed on June 17. He was asked whether he knew those people, what he could tell about them, which of them had connections with the militants.

Once he was brought outside, again having previously had his mouth taped.. He was told that "he was walking for the last time in his life."

Late in the evening he was taken into a car, with the black plastic bag again put on his head. The car traveled for about half an hour, after which it stopped and someone said in Chechen: "I swear on the Koran if you say to anybody that you spent all this time in Chechnya, I'll find you and that will be the end of you!". Magomed was transferred into another car. He realized that his second cousin was being taken together with him. They were driving somewhere again. Then the Aushevs were ordered to get out of the car and led somewhere. They were in a room with many other people, all were talking. Suddenly everybody fell silent, they could hear how many were leaving the premises. A certain person who had just come in ordered: "Remove the bags from their heads". Magomed saw several people in police uniform standing near him, his second cousin was also there.

It turned out that the Aushevs were taken to the Shatoy municipal department of internal affairs. M.O. Aushev asked the superior officer: "Where are our documents? They were in the bag." - The reply came: "Forget about them. If you knew what you have got yourself out of, you would not be asking about documents now". Soon came the relatives to pick up the released men, they were brought to Nazran, where, as it turned out, an unlimited-term rally was taking place with a demand to release the abducted Aushev brothers.

The day after the release M.O. Aushev was for the first time interrogated by an investigator of the Prosecutor's Office. When, after the interrogation was finished, Magomed asked the investigator to show him the protocol, the latter declined to do that suggesting that Magomed signs the protocol without reading it. Nevertheless, Magomed continued to insist and saw that his testimony had been distorted: according to the protocol, he did not know in what connection he was abducted and had no idea as to who had abducted him as well as no claims against the abductors. Magomed tore the protocol to pieces and insisted on the investigator drawing up a new one.

On October 8, 2007, the investigator of the Interregional Zavodsky department of investigations of the city of Grozny initiated a criminal case on the fact of abduction of the Aushev brothers and of their subjection to violent treatment pursuant to parts A, B, C of Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abduction). [34] Usually, investigation of such cases in Chechnya and Ingushetia very soon comes to a standstill ending in nothing - the investigation is suspended due to "impossibility to identify persons to be charged with the crime". But in this case, quite unexpectedly, owing to the persistence of the relatives of the abducted men, primarily that of Maksharip Aushev, the father of M.M. Aushev, the investigation did manage to trace the abductors. Moreover, the place where the abducted brothers were kept, was also identified.

On November 15, an interview with Maksharip Aushev was published on the Ingushetiya.ru web-site. [35] In a conversation with a Memorial staff member Aushev confirmed the information that was stated in the text of that interview. Below is the text with minimal cuts:

«On September 17 Magomed Maksharipovich and Magomed Osmanovich Aushev (my son and nephew) boarded the Astrakhan-Grozny train. On September 18 at 11 am my son called his mother and said that they would be in Grozny in an hour’s time and arrive home by taxi, and that we did not need to bother coming to meet them. I made about 10 repeated attempts to reach my son on the phone about 1:30 pm, but there was no reply. I waited for about 30 minutes and dialed again. but the phone was already turned off. I immediately began to suspect that something was wrong and immediately went with my cousin to Grozny. On the way, I called my relatives and two hours later we gathered together in Grozny, about thirty people on 11 cars.

We had done a tremendous amount of work and made sure that the guys had arrived to the Grozny station. This we were told by a train attendant <…> We began to look through the entire city for the taxi in which the guys could have left the train station. It was almost a miracle that we found the right taxi driver. <…> From him we learnt that our relatives had been abducted by the special service officers. He told us in detail that on the road leading out of the city they were stopped and the Aushevs were seized and taken away by armed men in several cars.

I sent one group of relatives to the television of Chechnya. They made an announcement on the news line and declared a 500,000 rubles reward for any information about the abducted men promising to guarantee the anonymity of informants, with an oath on the Koran. Another group of relatives was sent to check all the police departments whether they had detainees called Aushev. I myself and the remaining family members left in two cars in the direction of Ingushetia, asking at all road police posts whether the cars described by Shirvani, the taxi driver, had passed by. At the "Caucasus" post the military men confirmed that at 4:30 pm two cars - a VAZ-21015 and a VAZ-21014 vehicle traveled past and the people in them introduced themselves as officers of UFSB for Ingushetia. Shirvani, the taxi driver, had given a very accurate description of those cars.

However, the officers of the UFSB department in Magas <…> answered that their cars went to Grozny for other purposes and that they did not carry any detainees.

The next day I received a phone call and was offered information about the abducted men for a reward. The caller had seen the announcement on the Chechen television. We arranged a meeting with him. I arrived at the 20th post located on the administrative border with Chechnya and met with the man. He was a staff officer of one of the law enforcement agencies. The informer told me that the Aushevs were kept in the concentration camp building in the village of Goyty of the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya where 25 people, predominantly Chechens, were employed but there were also Russians among the prison staff. He said that only this year 4 Ingush had been killed in the camp following severe torture, while Chechens were being killed there like on a conveyor. Many of those who were officially declared to have disappeared without a trace had found their death in that camp. In our conversation he named several leaders of this gang employed at the Urus-Martan district police department, the FSB and other special services. I thanked him and paid the promised 500,000 rubles but he gave me back 200,000 explaining that the Aushevs were most likely already dead and that he sympathized with us. In his words, the camp of Goyty was only for those who were intended to be "executed" and no-one has ever left it alive. At that time, there was a rally in Nazran in protest against the abduction of my relatives. I was preparing to leave the next day with my relatives for Goyty, find the prison and release my imprisoned relatives with the use of force. But during the night the Aushevs were unexpectedly released: they were taken to Dadayev, the Superintendent of the Shatoi district department of internal affairs in Chechnya. I then was phoned and asked to pick up the lads. Now I know that the lives of the guys were saved thanks to the rally held in Nazran.

The released guys told the details of where they were held and the words of the informer were confirmed. I did not make all this public at the time. We started to work together with the investigator from Grozny where a criminal case was opened on the fact of the abduction of the Aushevs.

I addressed the Minister of Interior of RI Moussa Medov and told him about this gang and that among the gang members are Chechens, Ingush, Ossetians and that the majority of the abducted were killed in the territory of Chechnya. I asked for assistance on the part of Medov in exposure of the gang's activity and achieving punishment for its participants. He listened to me and said that the investigation belonged to the competence of the Prosecutor's Office and that it did not concern him. Then I asked the Deputy of the People's Assembly Mukhtar Buzurtanov to pass on to the President of RI Murat Zyazikov the information on the gang abducting residents of Ingushetia and that we were in need of his help with bringing their crimes to light. From what Mukhtar told me I realized that the response of the President was in the negative and that he did not want to deal with this problem.

However, we, exposing ourselves and the brothers to great danger, went to Grozny and made every effort to bring the activities of this gang to light. On November 7, together with the investigation team of the Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya, we arrived to the village of Goyty taking the attesting witnesses with us intending to identify the place where my son and relative had been held and tortured. Before we left, the investigator interviewed the guys and got from them a description of the place where they were held. Th Aushevs had, in addition, drawn an outline of the prison building on paper for the investigator. Together with the investigation team we were able to locate the prison and all that the guys had described was confirmed. They identified the concentration camp. At first, we were not allowed to enter, a permission from the Superintendent of the Urus-Martan district police department was required. We went to Urus-Martan, spoke to the Superintendent, his name is Dzhamalkhanov Ramzan Vakhayevich. It turned out that he himself was a member of this gang (one of its leaders, in fact) and, being on the federal wanted list upon charges of abductions, still held his position. The Investigator explained to Dzhamalkhanov that he had no right to refuse the investigation team the permission to enter the facility and to conduct the inspection. Dzhamalkhanov finally yielded and phoned there and thus we went back to the territory of the concentration camp. All the time while the investigator was conducting the examination and identification we were surrounded by real bandits who were the population of that building. They openly threatened the Aushev brothers: "We will soon meet again, you live in Surkhakhi, don't you?" and something else to that effect. Over that short period that we spent with the Superintendent of the district police department obtaining the permission, they tried to fill up the basement in an attempt to cover up the traces of their crimes. But they did not have enough time.

On the gates of the building there was a plate with the inscription "The village police department" although the building does not have any connection to the actual police and the village of Goyty. There are no policemen among the prison personnel, they are officers of some secret special service, in the total number of 25 persons. It is impossible to either call them people or any special service. They are an organized gang enjoying solid protection and backing. They were armed, each had two Stechkin and one Makarov pistols, dressed in black uniforms, all tall, able-bodied, it was obvious that they were physically trained. On the second floor of the building there was a gym. The building itself did not have any office rooms, only cells for prisoners. Magomed Osmanovich was kept on the second floor. In the cell he had seen a small inscription on the wall: "Mutsolgov Hussein. I'm being tortured here" and small dashes - all in all 30 lines and this Mutsolgov has been declared to have disappeared without a trace[36]. The number of dashes indicates, in all probability, the number of days he had spent there before being shot dead. Magomed Maksharipovich (my son) was kept in the basement where he saw traces of blood left after tortures and killings that had taken place there.

One day was not enough for us and the investigator to complete the identification and inspection of the building. We returned the next morning to the camp and remained there until the evening together with the investigator who had drawn up detailed inspection protocols and conducted other investigative activities.

The guys' lives were saved by the rally held in Nazran. I'll tell you about one episode. When in the office of the Deputy Minister of Interior of Chechnya, Yasayev, my friend who works in Chechnya as a head of a major company, asked the Superintendent of the department of internal affairs of Shatoy, Ibragim Dadayev, to whom the abducted men were brought after their release, <…> why they were brought to him and not elsewhere, Dadayev said that the boys were taken to the mountains for execution "with Snickerses" and at the last minute the abductors received a phone call ordering them to bring the hostages to the nearest district police department. Then, after we left the office of Yasayev, I asked my friend what it meant - "executon with Snickerses". He told me that that meant tying the explosives around the victim's body and when all this explodes, all that remains from the person are kilos of flesh and these remains are eaten by birds and other predators, so that no traces of the person can ever be found. According to him, almost all the detainees of the Goyty concentration camp, well, and of other similar places too, had a similar end in the mountains. The nearest district police department in the mountains where the Aushev brothers were taken for execution was the Shatoy district department of internal affairs. Therefore, the killers brought our guys there and handed them over to Superintendent Ibragim Dadayev.

Today we know the names of almost all of the murderers, these bastards <…>. Unofficially they sell each other off for a penny. But in order to find evidence of all the criminal deeds of this gang, disclose all the crimes committed by them, help the investigator who is performing a truly heroic task, the help of the authorities is required. <…>

This gang composed of staff members of special services numbers no more than 50 persons. They often pretend that they are taking the abducted to Ossetia while in actual fact taking many of them to their place. Sometimes, jointly with the UFSB of Ingushetia, they would bring the abducted to Vladikavkaz where they have convenient torture chambers at their disposal. <…>.

I would like to report that the torture chambers belonging to this gang have seen residents of Ingushetia Mutsolgov, Gazdiev, Kartoyev[37] and another one, whose name has not been clarified yet. All were taken to the mountains and exploded "with Snickerses".

In his interview, Maksharip Aushev also accused high-ranking officials of the Republic of Ingushetia, in particular the Minister of Interior Moussa Medov, of involvement in the activities of this group of abductors consisting of security services officers. The HRC Memorial has no information confirming such direct involvement, but it is clear that the leaders of the Republic of Ingushetia are at least not taking any real steps aimed at counteracting the abductions and murders of people by the Russian ”siloviks”.

It should be noted that in the village of Goyty, the building where, according to the information given by Maksharip Aushev, the illegal secret prison was (is?) located, continues to be the base for some security services staff. Formally, this building belongs to the Urus-Martan district department of internal affairs.

The question arises - what can be the explanation for such an unexpectedly active stance taken by the investigative authorities in this case?

Before that, all similar investigation proceedings were suspended shortly after their initiation due to "failure to identify persons to be charged with the crime". But in this case both the place of detention of the abducted men and the persons involved in the abduction, and even the possible fate of the other victims were established.

It appears that there were three reasons for this.

Firstly, the unprecedented powerful protest action in Nazran resulted in somebody ”from above” giving an order to the abductors to release the Aushev brothers and the case has received much publicity.

Secondly, much activity and assistance to the investigation was offered on the part of the family of Maksharip Aushev.

Thirdly, and this was, apparently, the decisive factor - in the late September and October, the Ministry of Interior of the Chechen Republic witnessed the unfolding of an internal struggle among those who used to be called "kadyrovtsy" (Kadyrov's men) in the not too distant past. One of the parties in the conflict was led by the Deputy Minister of Interior Alambek Yassayev[38], whom M. Aushev mentions in his story. Yasayev was actively contributing to the investigation of the cases of abduction of the Aushev brothers, apparently in order to compromise his own opponents. In mid-October the struggle came out into the open[39] and Yasayev lost. Since then the investigation has been suspended.

4.6. Executions “in the course of detention attempt”.

The most scandalous practices in connection with the "anti-terrorist operations" of the security structures of Ingushetia in 2007 have by far become frequently occuring executions of people while allegedly attempting to arrest them. In most cases, after such murders "siloviks" would claim that the detained offered armed resistance. In many cases, there are eye-witnesses who claim the contrary but in the atmosphere of fear prevailing in the republic not many are ready to testify against the security services in the framework of investigation of a criminal case. If the suspect was taken away from home, the eye-witnesses of the crime committed against him are most often members of his own family whose testimonies are not accepted seriously.

The use of this tactic is possibly due to the fact that the security services engaged in the anti-terrorist operations in the North Caucasus have been instructed to put an end to the practice of forced disappearances of people, which has caused a great damage to the reputation of the Russian special services. In 2007, the number of abductions has dropped, although the practice has not disappeared completely - both in Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. However, despite this, the quality of work of the security services and investigators has not improved - this means that no-one bothers with the laborious work in collecting the evidence against suspects. Therefore, given the lack of evidence on hands, the suspect is no longer abducted, as before, nor brought before the court, as expected, but shot at the time of detention. Over the first half of 2007, this scenario happened to H. Mutaliev, A. M. Chahkiev and A.Gardanov. In the summer and autumn of 2007 - A. Dalakov, I. Belokiev and two brothers - R. and S-M.Galayev joined that sad list. Adam Malsagov who offered no resistance to the ”siloviks”, was also exposed to open fire without warning, but Malsagov managed to escape.

On June 4, at about 3:00 pm, in house No 108 on Tutayev St. of the Nasyr-Kortsky district of Nazran, officers of an unidentified security service attempted to kill Adam Magomedovich Malsagov, born in 1985. On that day, the nephews of A. Malsagov, the 12-year-old Timur Khalukhayev and the 14-year-old Ismail Khalukhayev, spotted a silver-colored VAZ-21099 vehicle with tinted windows near the house. This made them suspicious because it was seen in different locations near their house for several days and would stand there for several hours. When the teenagers tried to look into the car through a window, the people who were inside, would turn away or else bend their heads down, yet took no further action, Malsagov's nephews went home and told Adam about the suspicious car outside. He came out of the house into the yard. Together with him went Timur, Islam and his younger sister, the 15-year-old Aina Malsagova.

At that moment three armed men in camouflage trousers and black T-shirts came into the courtyard. Without any warning, they opened fire in the direction of A. Malsagov. By lucky coincidence, neither Adam nor the children who were standing next to him, were injured (one of the bullets hit the pipe a few centimetres away from Adam’s head). Malsagov rushed into the back of the courtyard and then into the neighbors’ house, then - onto the street and fled in an unknown direction. Adam's nephews, frightened, ran after him and his sister was frozen stiff with the shock caused by the sudden shooiting. Unknown people continued to shoot at the backs of the fleeing people shouting: "Down, you bitches!". When Adam and the teenagers were out of sight, the armed men contacted someone on their portable transmitter and said: "We missed them, the second group." After a few minutes, house No 108 was blocked on all sides by a group of up to 60 armed men most of whom were masked. They presented a search warrant and an arrest warrant for Adam Malsagov. In the warrant it was stated that in the territory of the household located at Tutayev St., 108 may be located a cache with large quantities of weapons and explosives. The owners asked the "siloviks" not to break the doors and locks, saying that they were ready to open themselves all that would be required. The request was ignored. The "siloviks" were breaking the locks on closed doors, the floor, turning the furniture upside down. The search was thorough yet the attesting witnesses had not been invited. Everyone who was in the house was brought out onto the street, put along the wall and photographed.

During the search nothing illegal was found. The owners were not given a copy of a search protocol. The dwellers from seven houses had their mobile phones seized. Earlier they had witnessed a conversation between two security forces officers: "Maybe, we will confiscate phones?" - "Well, if you need them, no problem."

After the "siloviks" left, the relatives went in search of Timur and Ismail. One was found in their relatives’ house in the village of Altiyevo, the second - in the neighbors’ house. Both boys were in deep shock, Timur was stammering badly and was afraid to go to sleep.

Adam Malsagov is a student at the Faculty of Law of the Ingush State University. When his family tried to find out the reason of his attempted arrest, the "siloviks" replied: "He has shot our guys."

According to the witnesses, the "siloviks" opened fire at Malsagov and the children standing beside him without preceding warning. Malsagov did not provide any resistance but he had no other choice but to run for life and try to escape from the people who were shooting at him. Neither he nor his relatives could know who the people shooting at him actually were: representatives of the state authorities or bandits.

At the time of writing, Adam Malsagov continued to be in hiding from the law enforcement authorities. His relatives were repeatedly summoned to the UFSB of RI office and asked about his whereabouts, they replied that such were unknown to them.

On August 30, at about 4:20 pm, Islam Yusupovich Belokiev, born in 1988, was killed at the car spare parts market in the Nasyr-Kortsky district of the city of Nazran. News agencies immediately reported, quoting official sources, that he was a gunman and was killed during a special operation. The Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor of RI Zinaida Tomova told RIA Novosti that Belokiev offerd armed resistance during a special operation on his detention carried out by the officers of the Centre T of the Russian Ministry of Interior and the UFSB of Ingushetia and was, therefore, destroyed by retaliation fire. According to the law enforcement officials, Belokiev was a member of a gang headed by Adam Nalgiev, who was himself killed during a special operation in June 2006, involved in subversive and terrorist acts and attacks on officers of the FSB in Ingushetia. In addition, Belokiev was sticking leaflets containing threats against members of the Ingushetia Ministry of Interior in Nazran in July 2007..

The staff of the HRC Memorial visited the scene of the murder of Belokiev and interviewed the eye-witnesses. According to the sellers at that market, over the past two years Islam, together with his parents, was selling automobile oils here, his family had been renting iron container No 12. Islam would usually leave for home after 3 pm. That day he closed the container and walked towards the market exit. He was hailed by the people sitting in a VAZ-2110 car parked under a willow outside the market. Islam turned in their direction and at that moment shots were heard. Numerous eye-witnesses claim that Islam Belokiev was still standing for a few moments, then slowly sank down to the ground. The people who were at the market at the time rushed towards the body. But the people who had shot him, among whom one man of Slavic appearance wearing a jumpsuit and jeans, surrounded Islam and did not allow anyone to approach to him. Soon, a Gazel minibus arrived and the special federal task force officers who ran out of it formed a second ring of the cordon. Unlike those who shot Islam, they were wearing bulletproof jackets, OMON masks on their heads. Later soldiers arrived in an armored personnel carrier. The young man was still living for, at least, forty minutes. Eye-witnesses say that from time to time he would turn his head. The ”siloviks” who numbered up to 70-80 people did not provide any medical aid to him. The local policemen were not allowed to approach. The eye-witnesses claim that over this time a pistol and a hand-grenade were put near the fatally wounded man. The "siloviks" did it so openly, not even attempting to hide: putting a gun into the hands of Islam Belokiev they shot from it several times into the air. They searched Belokiev, found keys from his container and went to open it. The "siloviks" ordered the people to move away claiming that there can be explosives in there. The owner, who leased the container to Belokiev, said that there can be no explosives, took the keys, opened it himself warning the "siloviks" against planting anything illegal. Together with them and a local policeman he went inside. Having Upon being satisfied that there was nothing in the container, "siloviks" went away.

Some time later officers of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Ingushetia and physicians, but Islam Belokiev was already dead. The body was taken to the city morgue and subsequently given to relatives. According to eyewitnesses, the killed has not provided any resistance. If desired, it could be easily to arrest him.

On September 27, in the village of Sagopshi during a joint special operation of the federal and the republican security structures two local residents, the Galayev brothers: Said-Magomed Hasanovich, born in 1983, and Ruslan Hasanovich, born in 1986, residing at the Oskanova St., 77, were killed.

On the same day, the press service of the Ministry of Interior of RI reported that in the course of the special operation in the village Sagopshi "… two militants offered armed resistance and were destroyed. One of those killed was Said-Magomed Galayev (alias "Abdul-Malik"), the so-called "emir" of the militants in the Malgobeksky district of Ingushetia, "and one alleged participant of IAGs was arrested, and towards him currently are being conducted operational investigative activities. "As a result of the special operation two officers by UVD on the Kurgan region were wounded with various degrees of gravity" - the press service reported. [40]

On September 28, staff members of the HRC Memorial met in the village of Sagopshi with the relatives of the killed. According to the mother of the killed men, Fasimat Galayeva, on the morning of the previous day, the family got up and had breakfast before the sunrise, as they were observing the Muslim Uraza fasting, and after that everyone went to their rooms. Said-Magomed slept in one room with his wife, Madina, two other brothers, Ruslan and Tagir (born in 1982) slept in a separate room on the opposite side of the house, and the mother and the younger son, the 11-year-old Said Akhmed, - in a room near the entrance door.

At about 6:30 am officers of the security forces (numbering in total more than 200 people) arrived near the Galayevs’ house in two armored personnel carriers, a Ural vehicle and ten armored UAZ vehicles. The house was blockaded on all the sides, about fifty people entered the courtyard. Said-Magomed's wife noticed military men in the yard and told her husband about it. Said-Magomed shouted to the brothers that there were soldiers in the yard and went to the entrance door. But even before he left the room, the ”siloviks” broke into the house and opened aimed fire. Magomed-Said and his brother Ruslan, who was also approaching the entrance door were killed. Fasimat, who was awaken by the sound of shots, saw how Ruslan staggered into her room and fell down near her bed. Her daughter-in-law was heard shouting in another room where she was held by the military men. The woman, Said-Akhmed and Tagir were taken out into the street. The soldiers three grenades into each room and only after that forced Tagir to drag out the bodies of his brothers outside. The women and the child were forced to sit next to the bodies. According to Madina, a Russian soldier came up to her and asked her for a black plastic bag. Madina said that there was no plastic bag in the house. He left the yard and soon returned with an empty blue bag, sat down near the shed and started filling the bag with cartridges from his submachine gun, later this package with the cartridges was included into the protocol as found in the house of Galayevs during the search. Also the protocol of the search claimed that two automatic and other weapons. Where and under what circumstances the firearms were found is unknown to the Galayevs - they claim that they did not have any weapons in their house. They were not present at the time when the search was conducted. Tagir, immediately after he dragged the dead bodies out into the street, was taken to the Malgobek district department of internal affairs. Shortly afterwards Fasimat Galayev and her daughter-in-law Madina were also delivered there. Said-Akhmed stayed alone in the yard. He was sitting near his brothers’ bodies for a few hours until they were taken away by the militaries. The search in the house lasted for several hours, without observation of the standard procedure.

The detainees were interrogated separately. The interrogation was led by the investigator of the Prosecutor's Office Adam Sultanovich Tsechoyev. During the interrogation Fasimat expressed her indignation at the murder of her children were murdered without any guilt being on them. She asked: "Where are the authorities?" - "What authorities?" - the investigator smiled - "they offered armed resistance, after all".

Tagir was asked where the weapons found in his house came from, where he and his brothers were on the night of September 8 during the attack on military unit No 3733 located on the outskirts of Malgobek, he was also asked about a number of acquaintances of brothers.

Meanwhile, near the Malgobek district department of internal affairs gathered up to one hundred people: all of them were Galayevs' relatives and neighbors, who were demanding an immediate release of the detained and would not disperse until their demands were fulfilled. At 7:00 pm Fasimat was released from the district department of internal affairs, at 10:00 pm Tagir and half an hour later Madina were also released.

On September 28 the Galayevs received the bodies of the brothers who were buried the same day.

According to people from the village where the Galayevs lived, the murdered brothers had never been involved in anything illegal, were living a rather open life, followers of the traditional Islam, worked as builders on private construction sites.

On November 16, the Prosecutor’s Office of RI transferred to the department of investigations of the city of Malgobek of the Investigation Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for RI the complaint of the citizen F. H. Galayeva of misconduct on the part of the law enforcement officials. Regarding this complaint a checking was conducted during which it was established that "the actions of the VOG of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation for the Malgobek district of RI and of the officers of Malgobek district department of internal affairs conducting the search in the household of Galayeva F.H. are admissible, no violations have been detected in connection with their actions. "

On November 26, the investigator of the Ministry of Interior department of invesgations for the city of Malgobek SU SK of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for RI, A.A. Kurkiev ruled on refusal to initiate criminal proceedings on the complaint of Fasimat Galayeva

Magomed Gandarov, the lawyer representing the interests of Fasimat Galayeva, intends to appeal against this decision in court.

The "siloviks" acting in this way were apparently certain of their complete impunity and permissiveness.

However, the following execution led to a significant increase in the protest activitiesI in the republic, not only among ordinary citizens but also among the police officers of RI.

4.6.1. The extrajudicial execution of Apti Dalakov

After the murder of the Draganchuk family the "siloviks" tried, following the usual scenario, to detain the first person that fell into their hands. As a result, one of the most resonancecrimes in the year - the murder of an Ingush young man Apti Dalakov, whom the FSB officers shot and killed in front of numerous witnesses, and then planted a grenade on the corpse. The murder raised a storm of outrage from residents of the country.

Apti Dalakov, who was resident of the town of Karabulak in Gradusov st., was assassinated in his home town on September 2, 2007 at about 5:40 pm.

The media, quoting official sources, reported of a killing of a bandit in the course of a special operation. "There was a special operation aimed at detaining persons involved in the recent crimes. One was killed, one was arrested"- said Moussa Medov, the Minister of the Interior of Ingushetia. "The one killed is a certain Apti Dalakov. At his age of 20, he, according to the investigation, was an active member of an armed gang. He had a defensive F-1 grenade with him". "In the town of Karabulak, in front of the building which used to be the “Ryabinka” kindergarten, Dalakov Apti, who had a grenade on him, offered armed resistance. As a result Dalakov was killed on the spot "- reported Pavel Belyakov, Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia. -"His accomplice was a young man called Ilez Dolgiev. He has already given his testimony to the police. He is accused of participation in illegal armed groups ".[41]

"According to the Public Prosecutor of Ingushetia Yuri Turygin, the arrested militant is suspected of involvement in the car bomb attack on the Zhiguli vehicle near the House of Culture in the centre of Nazran, on August 31, which resulted in four policemen being killed.<…>

According to the representative of the headquarters of the Temporary Military Forces in the republic, quoted by Interfax agency, the militant murdered as a result of a special operation in Karabulak "a certain Apti Dolgiev, born in 1986, a Wahhabism follower." "He is suspected of being a member of the terrorist group whichis responsible for the murders of the Russian-speaking families, as well as for the wounding of two Dagestani shepherds" - claimed the source. According to his information, the arrested militant was a relative of the murdered." [42]

The HRC Memorial has conducted its own enquiry and interviewed numerous eye-witnesses of the event. According to them, Apti Dalakov and his friends were leaving the computer room located next to the school-gymnasium at General Oskanov St. when two Gazel minibuses stopped near them - a white and a dark blue one, both without registration number plates and with tinted windows. Three dozen masked gunmen ran out of them, one or two of them were in civilian clothes. Seeing their firearms aimed at them, the young people, including those mentioned by the Deputy Public Prosecutor of RI Ilez Dolgiev, afraid and ran through courtyards of the blocks of flats in the direction of Dzhabagiev st. Witnesses say that following fleeing "siloviks" deliberately opened fire with automatic weapons "from knees." It was Sunday, and only by a happy accident of courtyards no one of the many women and children was hurt.

Apti Dalakov ran across Dzhabagiev St. and ran into the courtyard of the “Ryabinka” kindergarten inhabited by displaced persons from the Prigorodny district of the Republic South Ossetia-Alania. Here his persecutors caught up with him. According to the refugees, there were two of them: one in camouflage and a mask, the other - in civilian clothes and with an open face. One of them shouted at a woman looking at them: "Close the window" - and after that shots were heard. Apti fell face down. A man in civilian clothes approached him, pulled Apti’s own T-shirt on his face and shot several times from a pistol at the lying man and then made a ”proof shot” in the head. After that he put some object in the hand of Dalakov. By that time the second group of perpetrators appeared on the scene having come from the other side of the kindergarten. According to the local police officers conducting further investigations, it turned out that this "object" was a hand-grenade.

Having heard the sound of shots the police officers and the officers of the republican OMON, whose base is located on the outskirts of Karabulak, also arrived to the kindergarten. They demanded the unidentified armed men to introduce themselves and tried to approach the body. In response they heard threats. Aiming weapons at the Ingush policemen, the unknown men shouted: "Do not approach, you fags… or we shoot!". The confrontation did not last long: the unidentified men demanded additional forces on their portable radio and the man in civilian clothes ordered someone on the portable radio: "Hide away the bag, otherwise the local policemen will soon arrive and there will be problems". An officer of the local police, who overheard this, believed that he was talking about the bag with the firearms, which they were going to plant on the murdered Apti.

An angry crowd of locals had gathered near the kindergarten, calls to lynch the murderers were heard. Only the decisive actions of the Ingush policemen have to be thanked for the fact that the crowd was contained, even though with great difficulty. Despite the speedy arrival of the federal security service officers at the scene of the crime in "Ural" and UAZ vehicles and later in armored personnel carriers, the local policemen managed to disarm and take to the municipal department of internal affairs the direct perpetrators of the murder of Apti Dalakov. According to the Karabulak police officers, the arrested refused to introduce themselves or explain the reasons for their actions. They were searched in the course of which FSB officers identity cards issued in other people's names were found on them: the four Russians had some Ingush names and the only Ingush had an Azeri name stated in their identity cards. Soon the senior officers of the UFSB for Ingushetia arrived to the municipal police department. They demanded release of the detained, the return of their firearms and the cartridge cases picked up at the scene of the murder, their demands were satisfied. Thus, it became impossible to check the firearms belonging to this group of FSB officers as to its possible use in other killings committed. Despite the resistance on the part of the officers of the Karabulak police, in the evening of the same day an order came from the Minister of Interior of Ingushetia to release the murderers.

The incident had its continuation during the Ingushetia visit of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, on September 13. At a meeting in the capital of RI Magas Dmitry Kozak came down with harsh criticism against the Ministry of Interior of Ingushetia, which, in his opinion, was operating inefficiently, failing to coordinate its activities with the federal "siloviks", was unable to conduct proper work with the population and had supporters of militants, corruptionists and traitors among its ranks. The Plenipotentiary Representative particularly focused on the September 2 events in Karabulak. The cause of Kozak's outrage were not the unlawful acts of the FSB officers, but the fact that the ordinary policemen had the cheek to bring them to the municipal police department. The Plenipotentiary Representative demanded punishment for the policemen for basically just performing their professional duties, forbidding them to take any action against the arbitrariness of the unidentified people in civilian clothes. It remains unclear how then the policemen should have distinguished FSB officers from the militants. And could this be the reason for the recent successful acts of the latter on the streets of Ingushetia's settlements?

Among other indicative aspects is the reaction to the September 2 events demonstrated on the part of the Public Prosecutor's office in Karabulak. It would only seem natural for them to pay most urgent attention to checking the reports on the shooting occuring on the town streets which was started by a group of unidentified persons without any apparent reason, on extrajudicial execution perpetrated by persons in civilian clothes. Indeed, it is clear that these actions have contributed to the destabilization of the situation in the republic. But this is by far not the case!

At a meeting with the staff members of the HRC Memorial the Prosecutor of RI Yu.N.Turygin[43] reported that the Public Prosecutor's office reacted to these events by opening two criminal cases: one - on the fact of alleged armed resistance offered by Apti Dalakov, the second - against the municipal department of internal affairs (police) of Karabulak who detained the killers.

From other sources it became known that the criminal case against the policemen was opened by the Directorate of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office for the Southern Federal District pursuant to Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official powers). Twenty OMON officers went to Nalchik for interrogations by the investigators.-Twenty six staff members of the municipal police department, headed by Superintendent A. Murzabekov, were also ordered to come and offer their testimonies in Kabardino-Balkaria. The Ingush policemen refused to travel there claiming that they could not leave the town of Karabulak "exposed" and suggested that the investigator of the Prosecutor's Office himself comes to interrogate them.

The republican authorities were not ready to offer support to the Ingush policemen who tried to carry out their duty properly and with due integrity.

The relatives of Apti Dalakov appealed to the Prosecutor's Office with a statement requesting opening of a criminal case on the fact of killing of an unarmed person. In this statement, they refer to the statements of the eye-witnesses who saw that Apti did not even attempt to offer any resistance, that he was unarmed, that the murderers fnished him off when he was already injured and that the firearms were planted when he was already dead. The interests of Dalakov's relatives are represented by a staff lawyer of the Memorial. The criminal case on the killing of Apti Dalakov by FSB officers has not been opened. Moreover, no checking of the relevant statements has been conducted.

In response to the question from the staff members of the HRC Memorial, whether the Prosecutor's Office are going to check the allegations concerning the crime committed against Dalakov, the Prosecutor Yu. N. Turygin answered[44] that the qualification of any actions of FSB officers can only be given by the Military Prosecutor's Office. But is it not the duty of the Public Prosecutor's Office of RI to appeal to their colleagues from the Military Prosecutor's Office for such a qualification because there are substantial grounds to require such a procedure? The Prosecutor replied that now it is up to the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office. It appeared impossible to obtain an answer from him as to whether he, as an official in charge of supervising the investigation of criminal cases, intends to do something in this connection.

In contradiction with the words of the Prosecutor of RI, his subordinate, the acting Prosecutor of the town of Karabulak gives his own qualification of these actions of FSB officers claiming that they had not committed anything illegal against Dalakov. He writes: "… I report that the Prosecutor's Office of the Town of Karabulak has examined criminal case No 27520028 and found that Dalakov A.O. was killed by officers of the UFSB for RI while offering armed resistance <…>. On the same day the Prosecutor's Office of the Town of Karabulak opened a criminal case on this fact pursuant to Article 317 and Part 1 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. [45] The investigation does not have any evidence on the fact of murder of Dalakov A. O ." [46]

The staff of the HRC Memorial attempted to find out from the Prosecutor of RI why his subordinate is nevertheless giving a qualification of the actions of FSB officers? "You can address a complaint to me concerning this response, I will examine it and sort out the situation", - this was all that the Prosecutor has found necessary to say in reply.

The Public Prosecutor's Office and the Prosecutor of RI Yu.N. Turygin himself are unwilling to even approach the question of the legality of the actions of the FSB officers, however, the same stance is taken by the members of all the other law-enforcement agencies in the territory of the republic who are thus contributing to further destabilization of the situation.

As was mentioned above, another person running away together with Apti Dalakov was Ilez Dolgiev. He was detained immediately after the murder of Dalakov, declared "member of illegal armed groups" and brought to the municipal department of internal affairs of Karabulak. The attempt was to charge him together with Apti Dalakov with committing the murder of the Draganchuk family.

"The detained is suspected of involvement in the killing of the family of the teacher in Karabulak <…> on the basis of a court decision a resident of the town of Karabulak of the Republic of Ingushetia Dolgiev Ilez, born in 1984, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Anatoly Draganchuk and his sons Mikhail and Denis <…>. This was told REGNUM news agency at the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia.

According to the investigation, another local resident Apti Dalakov, born in 1986, who was killed by the officers of UFSB for the Republic of Ingushetia in Karabulak on September 2, 2007, was also involved in the murder. Being armed with a hand-grenade, he offered resistance to FSB officers conducting operational and search activities and was shot".[47]

The next day, on September 3, again on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the Draganchuk family, two more people were detained: Magomed Girikhanovich Ozdoyev, born in 1986, resident of Karabulak, Ryumakov st., 50, and Kazbek Maksharipovich Matiev, born in 1978, resident of Nazran, Kazbegi st., 15, whom the media also mentioned as suspects in the criminal case.

"The Prosecutor's Office of the Ingush town of Karabulak appeals to the court requesting an arrest of two more suspects in the murder of the family of a Russian teacher, the Prosecutor of Ingushetia Yuri Turygin told RIA Novosti in a telephone interview.

According to him, the suspects "were arrested as a result of the special operation in Karabulak on Sunday. During the special operation the law enforcement officers killed one militant and detained the other.

The investigators believed that the two gunmen were also involved in the killing of the family of the Russian teacher in Karabulak on August 31.

The Prosecutor of Ingushetia also did not exclude the possibility that they could have been involved in the preparation of the explosion that happened in Nazran on the eve of September 1 near the Town House of Culture, killing four policemen".[48]

Magomed Ozdoyev and Kazbek Matiev drew the attention of the law enforcement agencies when the former attended the funeral of their friend Apti Dalakov. They met their friends near secondary school No 1 and started asking about the details concerning the murder. During the conversation the young people were pointing toward the place where the murder had occured. Across the street from the group of young men stood a police officer who had been looking at them for a while and then contacted someone on his mobile phone. Five minutes later, several passenger cars arrived. Matiev and Ozdoyev were detained and taken to the municipal police department of Karabulak where they were interrogated for two days on the subject of their possible involvement in the illegal armed groups and the murder of the Draganchuk family. They were then transferred to the temporary detention facility of the Sunzhensky district department of internal affairs. On September 13, at about 6:00 pm, Matiyev and Ozdoyev were released. Ilez Dolgiev was also released shortly afterwards.

In the late September, Kazbek Matiev appealed to the Memorial with a statement where he described the details of his detention and asked to protect him from further prosecution. "In the building of the municipal police department I was interrogated, as it turned out, in connection with suspicion of involvement in the murder of the Draganchuk family. I was called a Wahhabi, a terrorist.. <…> told me that the days of my life were numbered and that they would soon "deal" with me like they did with Apti". A criminal case on the facts of murder and terrorism was opened against me. Upon expiration of 10 days I was released due to lack of evidence without being charged with anything. All the TV channels reported that I was a murderer and terrorist. They refused to give any retractions.

I fear for my life and for the lives of my relatives. I have noticed that I am being watched… My relatives who are serving in the law enforcement angencies of RI advised me to leave Russia for the sake of safety. I am asking you to take the facts of persecution, threats, violation of my rights and interests as a citizen of the Russian Federation under your control and to provide me with legal assistance in resolving my trouble. "

It is highly probable that without the publicity that has been given to the extrajudicial execution of Apti Dalakov, the law enforcement agencies would have tried to concoct criminal charges of involvement in the killing of the Draganchuk family.

4.7. The Murder of Murat Bogatyryov at the district Department of Internal Affairs of the Malgobek district.

Dmitry Kozak, who discharged his anger upon the Ingush policemen[49], merely expressed the prevailing point of view among the federal "siloviks" - that the local policemen are too lenient to detainees and that, because of the family connections they are not able to continue the struggle with the armed underground[50]. That view does not reflect the true situation, which was proven by the events that happened in Karabulak on September 8, 2007.

On September 8, at about 5 a.m. officers of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia detained Murad Abdul-Kadyrovich Bogatyryov, born in 1970, living in a small ready-made house on Beckov St.in the village of Verkhniye Achaluki. The "siloviks" broke into the house and took Murad away delivering him to the district Department of Internal Affairs of the Malgobeksky district. The premises and the adjacent territory were searched in the presence of Bogatyryov’s father and the attesting witnesses, nothing illegal was found - the protocol of search states that only the mobile phone and the SIM card were seized.

At 8 a.m. the relatives who were standing outside the police building, saw the naked dead body of Bogatyryov being taken out. The wife of the murdered was told that Murad died of a heart attack. The body was not returned to the family, the officers stated that it would be taken to the Bureau of Forensic Expertise of the Russian Ministry of Health.

A few hours later the wife of Bogatyryov returned home and saw that the "siloviks" were again conducting a search in the house. One of them became agitated asking why she came. The wife of Bogatyryov offered them a key from the trailer. The key was not accepted as they refused to go into the trailer saying that they wanted to search the yard instead. According to the operational summary report of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia, during the repeated search PK cartridges 7.62 mm - 1,092 pieces, AK cartridges 7.62 mm - 37 pcs. To AK, 5.45 mm - 85 pcs, to PM - 9 mm - 38 pcs, grenade RPG-5 - 1 pc., magazine case of AK with 30 cartridge of 5.45 mm. A criminal case was opened pursuant to Article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Encroachment on the Life of an Officer of a Law-enforcement Agency), Para.2 of Article 222 of the Criminal Code of th Russian Federation (Illegal Acquisition, Transfer, Sale, Storage, Transportation, or Bearing of Firearms, Its Basic Parts, Ammunition, Explosives, and Explosive Devices). The relatives did not received a copy of the protocol of the search, they have not seen the attesting witnesses either.

On September 9, 2007 on the Televison Channel 5, the “Now” news block reported that Bogatyryov who was arrested on suspicion of attacking a military baze in Malgobek on September 5, died in detention of a heart failure. It was claimed that he had been an active participant of the illegal armed formations and that he was in charge of the financial support of the militants.

According to the wife of the murdered Bogatyryov, numerous witnesses - relatives and neighbors - can confirm that at the time of the attack on the military base Murat was not in Malgobek at all but visiting his parents in Nazran. The body of Bogatyryov, taken away from the morgue by his relatives, bore numerous traces of beatings, which was certified on a video and photo tape.

With regard to the death of Bogatyryov inside the police building in the city of Malgobek the Department of Investigation initiated criminal case No 07540061 pursuant to Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official powers). The forensic expertise confirms that the body of Bogatyryov bore signs of injuries of moderate severity. Bogatyryov never suffered from any heart-related diseases and never took any related medication, no complaints were heard from him in this regard on the eve of his detention either.

By virtue of a decree dated December 31, 2007, the special investigator, Junior Counselor of Justice, M.T. Dzeytov, suspended the investigation of the criminal case No 07540061 due to not-establishment of the person to be charged with committing this crime.

In mid-January 2008, the Prosecutor's Office of the city of Malgobek resumed its investigation of this criminal case.

The interests of the widow of Bogatyryov are represented by a lawyer invited by the Memorial.

4.8. The special operation in Chemulga, the murder of the six-year-old boy Rakhim Amriev.

On November 9, 2007 during a regular "special operation" in the village of Chemulga a six-year-old child was killed. The killing of the child was the last straw that sparked off mass protests in Ingushetia on November 24.

On November 9, at about 6:50 am a group of armed and masked men in camouflage uniform broke into the house of Ramzan Abubakarovich Amriev in the village of Chemulga of the Sunzhensky district of Ingushetia located at: Chinarskaya St., 3. Subsequently it turned out that the "special operation" in Chemulga was carried out by the officers of the UFSB for RI[51]. A group of "siloviks" numbering more than 80 people arrived in three armoured personnel carriers, several "Gazel" and UAZ vehicles, a "Kamaz" vehicle and a white VAZ-2107. Almost all the cars were without number plates.

The "siloviks" blockaded the house and, as Ramzan Amriev learned later from their neighbors, broke a window, threw inside a smoke bomb, thus creating a dense smoke screen. The Amrievs were asleep in a distant room on the other side of the house and did not feel the smell. They woke up only when they heard the command from the loudspeaker: "Women and children, come out!".

Inside the house at that moment were Ramzan and Raissa Amrievs and their four children, Louisa, 17, Orshtho, 15, Laliska, 11, Rakhim, 6. The shooting from submachine guns broke out at the entrance door and three armed men entered the house shouting "Down, you bitches!" while firing randomly. Amriev fell down onto the floor together with Rakhim, whom he tried to cover with his arm. After the first submachine-gun burst he saw the arm of his wife, all in blood -- a bullet had hit her finger. Raissa cried out in Russian "They killed him!". Ramzan turned Rakhim round and saw a bullet hole in the head of the child from which blood was pouring.

The Amrievs were taken out of their beds and brought out into the street, put against the back wall of the house. They were not allowed to take Rakhim’s body with them. Then, half-dressed, barefoot, they were led to a neighboring hill, where armored personnel carriers and other vehicles were parked. After that, the "siloviks" unfolded an imitation of a real battle, they opened fire, pelted the house with grenades. All this lasted for about 20-30 minutes. The house was empty, except for the murdered boy’s body. Later, women and children from the neighboring houses were also brought to the place where the Amrievs were kept while the men were forced to crawl the 100-150 meters separating them from that spot in mud.

After a while, Ramzan Amriev was separated from the rest and taken to his house. On the floor the body of the murdered child was lying - this time it also bore traces of missile wounds. One of the ”siloviks” said: "Take him out, you bitch, I am giving you a few seconds." Amriev quickly grabbed the child’s blanket and wrapped the body of Rakhim, all covered with blood, in it after which he took it back to the people standing on the hill. Then the soldiers crashed the house with the armored personnel carrier, again exposed it to direct fire and threw grenades at it.

All this was only over after 11 am. All this time - for three and a half hours - the people, 13 children, women, in total 20-25 persons, were standing on the hill, half-undressed, many were barefoot. Finally, when the people had already begun turning blue with cold, the soldiers brought a "Gazel" vehicle and took them to the house of the head of the village administration Aslan Amriev. The "siloviks" ordered him to confirm that somebody had opened fire from submachine guns from the house of Ramzan Amriev, threatening him with forced "disappearance" if he disobeys, but Amriev refused to commit perjury.

At 11:30 am officers of the Military Prosecutor's office arrived to Chemulga. Only then to the scene of the events were admitted the local police officers, including the precinct superintendent, who had unsuccessfully been trying to enter the village from 9 o'clock in the morning.

Amriev was brought to the ruins of his house and an official from the Military Prosecutor's office asked him pointing at the machine lying among the ruins: "Is this yours?". Amriev smiled and said that he did not even keep a gun in his house.

Witnesses claimed later that the same official from the Military Prosecutor's office had said to his colleagues: "So where is the gunman, disappeared into the blue or what?!". Taking that submachine gun, he smelled the barrel and said that it had not been used for ten years.

Officially Amriev was told that his house was the centre of a special operation aimed at detention of R.R. Makhauri who was allegedly hiding in there. Makhauri is a distant relative of Amriev’s but the latter argues that he last saw him six years ago and that since then he had not heard anything from him[52].

The day after the murder of Rakhim criminal case No 34/91/0139-07 D "on the fact of killing of a child during a special operation" was opened.

The reaction of the authorities of the Republic of Ingushetia to this tragedy followed three days later.

On November 12, the Press Service of the President of Ingushetia reported:

"Today in Magas the President of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov held a meeting with the Prosecutor of the Republic Yuri Turygin and the Minister of Interior Moussa Medov. The Head of the Republic was hearing the reports from the Prosecutor and the Minister of the Interior on the incident in the village of Chemulga.

The Prosecutor of RI Yuri Turygin reported to the President of Ingushetia that a criminal case on the incident had been opened, the investigation was conducted by the Military Prosecutor's office.

The President pointed out to the heads of the law enforcement agencies the need to take a most active part in a thorough investigation of the incident and declared that he would take the investigation under his personal control. The president also noted that the Government of the Republic granted a material assistance to the family of the murdered child. "

On November 13, Rakhim's father, Ramzan, was recognized as victim in this criminal case.

The authorities did not neglect the efforts of those who tried to publicize the events in Chemulga or resisted the "concoction” of the version of the events, which would be more favoured by the ”siloviks".

On the night from 23 to 24 November in the city of Nazran several journalists of the REN-TV television channel who were covering the murder of a child in the village of Chemulga were abducted from the "Assa" hotel by officers of the security forces and subsequently severely beaten. All the materials filmed were stolen.

On December 15, following a call "from the above" Aslan Amriev was dismissed from his job[53]. For several years he had served as the head of administration of the village of Chemulga. Ramzan Amriev is positive that Aslan was dismissed because of his refusal to perjure in court on the murder of his son.

4.9. Protest actions in Ingushetia

The arbitrariness of the "siloviks" compelled the civilian population of Ingushetia to organize mass protests and sometimes provoked them to direct confrontation with representatives of state power. This is a dangerous symptom of complete loss of trust in public institutions on the part of the population of the country.

On June 25, at about 10 am, in the village of Surkhakhi, about 150 local residents gathered near the central mosque for an unauthorized rally. The reason for that gathering were the unlawful actions of the law enforcement agencies in the territory of RI, including certain events that had taken place in that particular village. The immediate occasion for the rally was became a special operation held here on June 17 (see Section 4.4 of this report).

Close to 9 am, the protesters changed the place of the action and moved to the building of the secondary school No 1. Several members of the National Assembly of RI had also arrived there. One of the members of the National Assembly, Bamatgiri Mankiev, spoke before the gathering. He accused the Ingushetian authorities of criminal non-feasance that, in his opinion, was the main reason behind the widespread human rights violations in the territory of the republic. After 2:00 pm the rally finished. The participants in the protest action adopted an appeal to the President of RI M.M Zyazikov, in which they demanded from him to put an end to the practice of abductions of people in the territory of Ingushetia and of exporting them to the neighbouring republics.

On June 27 the inhabitant of the village of Surkhakhi prevented an abduction of their fellow villager.

At about 4:30 am a group of masked armed men broke into house No 40 on Ovrazhnaya st., in the village of Surkhakhi and grabbed Khalit Bamatgirievich Aushev, born in 1980, who lived there. He was thrown into a car and intended to be taken away. For all that, the armed men did not produce any documents and did not explain anything. However, they were not able to leave the village - the local residents, armed with axes and pitchforks, barricaded the road. The police officers who arrived shortly afterwards demanded from the unidentified "siloviks" to show their documents. It turned out that those were officers of the UFSB for the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, however, they did not have any warrant for the arrest of Khalit Aushev. They were forced to release him and leave. On that day the relatives of Kh.Aushev themselves brought him to the building of the Ministry of Interior of RI and handed him over to the police officers. Before that, they secured a promise from the Minister of Interior of RI Moussa Medov that he would personally find out, what Khalit Aushev was accused of and that the latter would not be taken out of Ingushetia.

On June 29 at 9:30 am in the city of Nazran the relatives of the abducted, "disappeared" and disappeared without a trace people blocked the Rostov-Baku thoroughfare in the vicinity of the Ekazhevsky crossroads. The protesters were holding slogans "Hands off our children!", "Zyazikov, don't let them kill our sons!". The action was against the arbitrariness of the security forces who are in the habit of breaking into houses by night, abducting and extrajudicially executing people, conducting illegal searches accompanied by looting, taking the detained to North Ossetia where the latter are subjected to brutal tortures.

On both sides of the "Kavkaz"-thoroughfare passing through the intersection, a considerable traffic jam had formed. A bus with trafic police officers arrived at the scene of protest. The participants in the protest action started a squabble with the officer who ordered them to clear the intersection.

"Our demands are: respect for our constitutional rights. If a person is guilty, then detain him and let him face the trial. The republic has the Police Forces, the Federal Security Service, the President. Why are our lads being killed then? Why are they taken away and mutilated, and then released - does tha mean that they have been found innocent? Why are they taken out to North Ossetia where they disappear? This is provoking further aggravation of the complicated inter-ethnic relations compelling our young men to join the militants" - these were some of the indignant slogans.

At noon Moussa Medov, who had just acceded to his office as the Minister of Interior of RI, arrived at the place of the rally. He promised to do his best to protect residents of Ingushetia from the unlawful actions of the "siloviks" and find the abducted persons. As a result, the protesters believed the promises of the new minister and unblocked the intersection.

On September 19, news of the abduction of two residents of RI led to mass riots in Nazran. Two residents of the village of Surkhakhi, M.O. Aushev and M.M. Aushev, were abducted on September 18 on their way back home from Grozny. Armed men in camouflage uniforms thrusted the men into a car without any explanations and took them away to an unknown destination (see Section 4.5 of this report).

The next day several hundred people, among whom were residents of Surkhakhi, relatives of many abducted persons, the victims of arbitrariness and people sympathizing with them, blocked one of the crossroads in Nazran with concrete blocks. They demanded to find and return the Aushevs, to investigate the abductions and murders of other residents of Ingushetia and punish those responsible. In the afternoon, officers of the republican OMON, following an order from the above, tried to disperse a rally and unlock the intersection. Clashes broke out accompanied by beatings of the protesters, throwing stones at the policemen, fire from automatic guns and guns of armoured machines over the heads of people. OMON has been forced to retreat.

At about 2 a.m. the protesters learned that the two abducted men had been released. The people unblocked the intersection and went to their homes.

As a result, the authorities had made it clear to the residents of Ingushetia that law and justice had no loger any significance. And the residents of Ingushetia had shown to the authorities that their patience was coming to an end.

Protest actions were held not only by the relatives and fellow villagers of the abducted.

On June 21 at 11 am in front an unauthorized picket was held in front of the building of the RI Presidential Administration in Magas by the parents and children who had become victims of the mass poisonings that took place on February 28, 2007 at the Nazran vocational school No 1, a similar mass poisoning had occurred in stanitsa Shelkovskaya in the Chechen Republic in 2006, the victims thta time were schoolchildren. All the children poisoned in Ingushetia continued to suffer from attacks of an unknown illness, sometimes the emergency ambulance had to be called several times a day. To date the doctors have not been able to declare a clear diagnosis. The participants in the picket demanded from the authorities to provide qualified assistance to the victims. The protesters wanted to see the President of RI. They were received by the deputy head of the presidential administration Askhab Myakiev. He accepted a statement from the parents and promised to convey it to the President. Inside the premises of the presidential administration the children again began to suffer attacks, an emergency ambulance was called and the kids were taken to the republican hospital.

It should be noted that all the protests that have taken place were unauthorized. Official rallies and pickets are practically banned in Ingushetia, as the Head of the Republic has repeatedly said to the press.

On November 9, in the village of Chemulga during a special operation carried out by FSB officers, a six-year-old boy Rakhim Amriev was killed. On the same day, the opposition web-site Ingushetiya.Ru published an "Appeal to the people of Ingushetia" from an anonymous "Organizing Committee" calling everybody to come to an all-national rally on November 24 " to discuss altogether the current situation in the republic and in the name of the people of Ingushetia appeal to the President of Russia". The message mentioned the lawless killings happening all over the republic and the indifference and the passivity on the part of the republican authorities.

Over the following days the same web-site would regularly publish updated information on the upcoming rally. Meanwhile, starting from November 12, the access to this web-site for users from Ingushetia was blocked. Those wishing to access the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site users were automatically redirected to a pornographic site.

According to what a correspondent of "Gazeta.Ru" was told by the owner of the Ingushetiy.Ru web-site Magomed Yevloyev, the access to the resource had been blocked upon a personal order of the President of Ingushetia. According to him, on November 12, the owners of the Internet provider companies of Ingushetia were summoned to the Minister of Interior of RI Moussa Medov. They were ordered to block the access to the web-site for users in the territory of the republic. The owners of the companies were forced to obey and change the DNS server settings, said Yevloyev[54].

The press service of the President of Ingushetia categorically denied any involvement in the closing down of the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site yet did not exclude the posibility of that "many people were tired of seeing to how this web-site was denigrating the regional and federal authorities aggravating the situation in the republic"[55].

The Internet providers of Ingushetia JSC ITT and Telecom Ltd refuted the information about restrictions for the residents of the republic on access to the Internet, and in particular, to the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site[56].

On November 14, redirection of visitors of the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site to a pornographic site stopped while all attempts to access the web-site would meet with the "Unable to display the page" result. Thus it has remained ever since, despite all the promises of the provider companies "to investigate the reasons" and "resolve the problem".

On November 14, an anonymous "organizing committee" made a statement which indicated that it did not intend to announce to the residents of Ingushetia, who exactly was encouraging them to come to the rally as well as act in conformity with the law governing mass events:

"The organizing committee for the rally said that due to the opposition on the part of the authorities, as well as the attempts of the law enforcement agencies to establish the identities of the members of the organising committee, a decision has been made to hold the rally on November 24 without submitting the required application to the administration of the municipality, in the territorial jurisdiction of which the rally is going to take place"[57]. The precise place of the rally in the city of Nazran was also kept secret, the intention of the organizers was to announce it only a few hours before the actual event. Meanwhile, the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site reported that 10,000 participants were expected to turn up. This course of actions gave the authorities the full right to declare the illegality of the "Organizing Committee" as well as warn the population of the administrative responsibility for participation in an unauthorized rally.

Only on November 16 in a special statement of the Organizing Committee two of its co-chairmen were named: Mukhammed Gazdiev and Minkail Yandiev. In total, according to the statement, "20 Co-Chairmen of the Organizing Committee were in charge of the preparation for the rally". In that statement, the responsibility for all lawlessness that was happening in the republic was entirely attributed to the republican government. The next day, the deputy of the National Assembly of RI Bamatgirey Mankiev called upon his voters to take part in the rally.

On November19 almost simultaneously three documents directly relevant to the rally were made public.

The office of HRC Memorial in Nazran appealed to the leaders of the Republic of Ingushetia and to the Organizing Committee to refrain from breaking the law. Copies of the appeal were sent to the administration of the President of Ingushetia and the Ministry for National Policy of RI.

"During the last few months numerous extrajudicial executions of people - young Ingush men, representatives of the Russian-speaking population, policemen, soldiers and even a child - have been committed. We have repeatedly stated that we condemn violence, whoever chooses it to be their instrumentt, and we call upon all the citizens, regardless of their social status and political position to respect the Law.

We believe that the residents of Ingushetia have the right to express their attitude to what is happening in their republic, including expression by means of gathering for rallies, pickets and marches. For all that, it is not possible to fight lawlessness by means of violating the law. When calling peoplepeople out onto the streets you are thus expected to assume the responsibility for their safety. Many residents of the country may, by virtue of ignorance, find themselves in a situation threatening their health and lives"- claimed the statement. The human rights activists called upon the organizers of the rally to immediately submit an application for it to be held in accordance with the adopted procedure. The appeal was concluded as follows:

"We appeal to the leaders of Ingushetia not to obstruct the legitimate right of citizens to assemble for protest. Today, the people of Ingushetia must declare that they condemn violence into which the republic has been immersed and the authorities must show the people that they respect the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of assembly. "

On the same day appeared "The Appeal of the Organizing Committee for the nationwide rally to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin". This appeal reported that the decision had been made to change the date of the rally from November 24 to some later date in December. The appeal claimed that only requests of some distinguished people from Moscow and of a representative of the President of the Russian Federation not to conduct this event before the elections into the State Duma of Russian Federation had become the decisive factor for postponing the rally.

Immediately after this Message appeared the Ingushetiya.Ru web-site published the "Declaration of the Web-site Team":

"In connection with the decision of the Organizing Committee for the nationwide rally on 24 November to change the date of the rally we declare our disagreement with this decision. Our web-site is ready to provide information support to other initiative groups and other movements who are going to hold the rally on November 24 ."

Thus, the team and the owner of the web-site were assuming the responsibility for holding the rally on November 24. Since then, the site has repeatedly issued statements and appeals of certain "residents of Ingushetia" concerning the upcoming rally without mentioning any specific names.

It was obvious that the Organizing Committee had suffered a split in its ranks and on November 22 "The Appeal of the co-chairman of the national rally Mukhammed Gazdiev" appeared[58]:

"Dear people of Ingushetia!

Everyone who is going to come to this rally is coming with his own reason, his own pain. This is the call and the need of the heart and conscience of each and everyone of us. I, at my old age, no longer need all this but this lawlessness has left me and the other victims no other choice. We have been driven into the corner by this brazen, cynical terror and genocide. I have appealed to 32 different instances in the hope of receiving some help with tracing my abducted son[59], starting from the local authorities, Zyazikov, Turygin, Bondarev, and finally reaching the administration of the President of Russia.

They have all given me a formal “kick-offs”. Thousands of people from our Republic have gone through this impenetrable wall of indifference, lawlessness and all imaginable and unimaginable violations of human rights and freedoms.

Today, with zeal worthy of better application the officials from the Prosecutor's office, of the municipal department of internal affairs are pelting me with "warnings" of the inadmissibility of violation of the law. Where were they all when we repeatedly appealed to them regarding the abduction of my son?! When a "special operation" was conducted in the town of Karabulak, during which a young man was killed[60], these "special forces" were arrested and beaten. A paper was confiscated from their "Gazel" vehicle containing a list of names of a dozen Ingush guys and the "state car numbers" and the itinerary of my son. My son was not on the wanted list, he had never had any problems with the law. He was always easy to find either at work or at home. He could at any time be detained on legal grounds, if such were available.

There are currently lots of rumours about this rally, but I think everything is much easier in fact, everybody who will come either has his own reason to do it or his own protest against the current situation in the Republic of Ingushetia, more precisely, in our common home.

I am asking all of you to come to this rally! "

A day before, on November 21, the Prosecutors of RI sent to several alleged organizers of the rally warnings on the inadmissibility of such a rally and of the possible administrative and criminal liability that the organizers might face. On the same day and in the following days the Public Prosecutor's Office of RI appealed to the population of Ingushetia through the media with the same warning. Since the organizers had not informed the authorities about the place of the meeting, its purpose, time and number of participants, the Prosecutor's Office considered that as "the rally may host appeals of extremist nature, including those calling for forcible change of the foundations of the constitutional order and violation of the integrity of the Russian Federation. This event may be aimed at public justification of terrorism, incitement of national, religious or social discord. <…> In accordance with Part 1 of Article 15 of the Federal Law On Countering Extremist Activity citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and stateless persons are subjected to criminal, administrative and civil liability for engaging in extremist activities, in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation".

"In order to avoid violations of the Federal Law On Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations, Processions and Pickets the prosecutor's office sent warnings on the inadmissibility of violation of the law.

We believe that the people of the republic who have for centuries respected the law and been law-abiding, will not be led astray and will refrain from taking part in campaigns conducted in violation of the current law", - stated the message of the Prosecutor's Office's of RI.

On November 23, Mukhammed Gazdiev, Maksharip Aushev and a number of other people were taken to the Ministry of Interior of RI where "explanatory work" was conducted with them and they were warned of possible criminal liability which they may face in the event in case of their participation in the rally on the following day.

On November 24 information appeared that the rally was scheduled for 10:00 am at the Soglasiya sq in the city of Nazran. Those who wished to participate went to the square but were not able to reach it. The square was blocked by a large amount of security forces. On the perimeter of the square "mini-checkpoints" had been built, where armed "siloviks" were standing on duty.

A second attempt to hold a rally was made at about 11:45 am at the central bus station in Nazran. According to different estimates, from 150 to 300 people had gathered here. Most of them were young people, teenagers. They gathered near the motorway. At the square, surrounded by young men appeared.Mukhammed Gazdiev.

By that time inside the bus station there were no more than a dozen of "siloviks", of both the local and federal forces. They tried to disperse the protesters but realized that their forces were not sufficient for that and requested reinforcements, which started to arrive after ten minutes. About two hundred people arrived on three armored "Ural" vehicles, a few buses, two or three "Gazel" minibuses, several UAZ vehicles. There was also an armored personnel carrier with a banner of the "United Russia" political party on the top. The majority of those arrived were law enforcement officers of RI, nevertheless, among them were a notable number of "siloviks" sent to the republic on a mission from other regions of Russia. Blocking the crowd, they opened fire into the air. However, the majority of the protesters did not move.

The police officers approached Mukhammed Gazdiev and attempted to pull him out of the crowd but the people around stood up for Gazdiev while Mukhammed himseld was loudly expressing his indignation and was trying to explain to the policemen that he came to the rally because this summer the special services had abducted his son the whereabouts of whom are unknown to this day. Gazdiev was brutally seized by the security forces and thrown into the bus.

The people were kicked, beaten with batons, many were thrown into the arriving buses. According to eye-witnesses, several participants in the rally were taken away in an Emergency Ambulance car. Finally the police officers managed to disperse the crowd of protesters.

Then the people began to gather in small groups at different locations adjacent to the bus station square. They were immediately approached by large group of "siloviks". The gatherings would be dispersed, but immediately appear again at another location.

At the scene of the rally, other than those directly involved, it was a lot of random witnesses, onlookers who watched from the side. The policemen who were dispersing the protesters, were also chasing occasional observers, paying particular attention to those who had mobile phones with cameras and to people with photo-cameras: they were trying to catch such people and to confiscate telephones and photographic equipment.

The "siloviks" were mainly hunting teenagers of 14-16 years old, such were also beaten with batons and detained for a while. Teenagers would attempt to escape, the policemen would chase them, one boy of twelve was followed by five OMON officers. He was hit several times and attempted to be detained. The child was defended by a number of people who were near, and the officers were forced to let the boy go. At about 2:00 pm the activity of protesters began to decrease, the people began to disperse. The "siloviks", meanwhile, continued to block the bus station and control the situation.

At about 3:00 pm 70 people from among the protesters gathered at the petrol station near the bus terminal. They were immediately surrounded by the police and beaten with truncheons, a woman was hit. Several protesters were detained, thrusted into the bus and taken to the municipal department of internal affair.

This attempt to hold a protest rally was thus suppressed.

However, this rally was later followed by other protest actions.

In January 2008, the attempt to hold the next rally in Nazran and its dispersal turned into mass riots.

Particular attention should be paid to the obstacles, which the Ministry of Interior has been putting on the way of journalists. The journalists that had arrived to Ingushetia to give coverage to the events taking place there, were detained and brought to the municipal department of internal affairs. For all that the journalists were usually treated politely yet not released to the town until the evening. In doing so, the policemen claimed they were forced to carry out an order of the republican authorities.

Prosecutor of RI Yuri N. Turygin gave the following comments on the 24 November events in Nazran:

"There are no mass actions, riots or outrage happening in Ingushetia <…> the situation in the republic is calm and stable."

The prosecutor said that an attempt to hold an unsanctioned rally in Nazran with 10-15 people participated had taken place. The slogans were frankly provocative[61].

The words of the Prosecutor were virtually word for word repeated by the Ingushetian First Deputy Minister of Interior, Sergey Seliverstov. He said that "in Nazran a police duty team has today detained seven young people[62] who had violated the public order[63]".

4.10. Acts of intimidation - the abduction of journalists and of a human rights activist

On the night from 23 to 24 November, 2007 armed masked men abducted four people from the hotel Assa in the city of Nazran: three reporters of the TV-channel REN-TV - Artyom Vysotsky, Karen Sakhinov, Stanislav Goryachikh, and the Chairman of the Council of the Human Rights Centre Memorial Oleg Orlov. They were taken to a deserted area, threatened with murder, severely beaten and thrown out of the car in a field. This was an act of intimidation aimed at making Ingushetia as "closed" for any outside observers as possible.

In the evening of November 23, 2007 the security guard team of the hotel Assa was, as usual, consisted of four armed officers of the patrol and traffic police of the Ingushetian Ministry of Interior. According to the hotel staff, at about 9:00 pm, after receiving a certain phone call, the Ministry of Interior officers guarding the hotel left for somewhere in a car that was specially sent after them. After that, the only remaining security forces were represented by several unarmed staff members of the hotel.

At that time among the hotel guests were two Deputy Ministers of Interior of RI who were sent there shortly before to Ingushetia from other regions of Russia. It is hard to imagine that these officials could have been allowed to spend a night in an unguarded hotel. At least one of the deputy ministers, Sergey Seliverstov, was at the hotel at the moment when the guards were being removed and the hotel staff had notified him about it. The only explanation for what has happened could be preparation of a special operation at the hotel by some state security service.

Shortly after 11 p.m. a "Gazel" minibus with armed men inside stopped by the hotel entrance. There was in all probability a second car because the group of men in camouflage and masks numbered about 15 people. They entered the hotel hall and, holding the people at gunpoint, ordered all the men of the hotel staff, including the unarmed guards, to lie down on the floor. The women were forced to stand near a wall with their hands raised. The armed men identified themselves as officers of the Directorate for Combating Terrorism and proceeded to examination of the guests' register. They then separated into two teams and went to two rooms located on different floors.

Room 215 on the first floor was occupied by Oleg Orlov. At around 11:30 pm he heard a quiet knock on the door, in response to the question "Who is there?" a quiet female voice gave an indistinct reply. Believing that it was someone of the hotel staff, he opened the door, the next moment the door was flung open by a sharp blow from the outside. Three people jumped into the room pointing their assault rifles at Orlov. The intruders were wearing black masks with slits for the eyes and the mouth. They ordered him in a loud voice: "Face down on the floor!", after which Orlov was thrown down on the floor. His hands were wrung behind his back. Someone started asking questions: "What is the purpose of your visit to Ingushetia?" - "It is a work-related trip", "The purpose of your trip?" - "Check it in the documents. My purpose is monitoring of the human rights situation. You are taking me for someone else, you are being completely mistaken",-"Where are your documents?"-- " In the pocket of my jacket, in the wardrobe."

He heard the door of the cabinet being broken. Orlov saw, with a corner of his eye, that his jacket and coats were being thrown on the bed. His attempts to explain the intruders that their behaviour was inappropriate were met with a slack blow to his leg.

Then the order came: "Get all the stuff into the sack". Orlov was raised to his feet, had a black plastic bag put on his head and was dragged out, his arms twisted behind his back. Orlov was wearing jeans, a light shirt and slippers put on bare feet. His request to allow him to put on something more substantial or, at least, socks was ignored. He was dragged out of the hotel and pushed into a vehicle, which was, apparently, a minibus.

At that moment he heard how some other arrested people were being taken out of the hotel and put into the same minibus. Someone sitting inside the car, apparently, one of the armed group, asked them a strange question: "And who, the bloody hell, are you?" -"We are REN-TV correspondents. Why are we being detained?", "There was information that the hotel had been mined. Which of you brought in the explosives?" - "We are correspondents, we do not have any explosives", "We will take you to the police department, the Superintendent will interrogate you and then you will be released."

Someone outside yelled: "The hotel is clean, we can go". Several people jumped into the car and it took off.

As it turned out later, the abduction of the REN-TV correspondents unfolded according to the same scenario. Thw three correspondents of the Ren-TV channel who came to Nazran to give coverage of the social and political situation in Ingushetia on the eve of the elections gathered in Room 311, where the cameraman Karen Sakhinov was staying. They had spent the entire day filming, in particular, they went to the village of Chemulga, where on November 9, during "a special operation" carried out by FSB officers a child of six was killed. On November 24, an unauthorized rally against the arbitrariness of the "siloviks" was expected to take place and the reporters had intended to cover it in their report about it. Somebody knocked on the door of their room. The events after that were pretty similar to what had happened in Room 215 differing in two minor details only. First, Stanislav Goryachikh attempted disobedience and was beaten. Secondly, the armed masked men were purposefully searching for something among the journalists' belongings. Several times someone asked: "Got it?" Until, finally, the answer was heard: "Here! We've got it". Then all the three correspondents were dragged downstairs with bags on their heads.

The car with the abducted men was travelling for more than an hour. All attempts of the abducted to express their indignation or, at least, to ask questions were suppressed wuith the rude command: "Silence!". After some time, an order came: "Duck your heads! Bend down! Remain this way! "This was accompanied by a mighty blow from behind. It seems that at that point the car was approaching a police post. However, no-one at the post stopped it. It shall be noted, however, that in the evening, on the eve of the expected rally, there were many police posts on the roads of Ingushetia, especially on the roads leading in and out of Nazran - the law enforcement forces were transferred to a heightened security regime. Unhindered journey of the car with many armed men inside was only possible in the event that it belonged to some security service. Meanwhile, the car was no longer travelling on the outskirts and countryside roads but on a decent motorway: Orlov, who was sitting near the window, could distinguish the headlights of other cars and the street lights on the roadside through the black plastic bag on his head.

Then the lights along the highway disappeared and the car turned and slowly moved on on a bad road. It became quite clear that they were not going to the police department. The car stopped, the door opened, and the order followed: "Take them out one by one. Do away with them, don't forget the silencer".

The journalists were pushed out of the car first, Orlov was thrown out after them. The abducted men fell down on the ground. The abductors began to beat them on their heads, legs, their hands if the were trying to cover their heads with them, on the kidneys, in the groin. However, the degrees of cruelty with which the four were beaten varied. Orlov and Sakhinov got away with minor injuries and bruises. Vysotsky and Goryachikh received a more harsh lot - they had bad wounds on their faces, sharp pain in the sides and back and Vysotski even passed out for a brief period of time.

Then another order came: "Lay, don't move, whoever raises his head before we leave, will be shot. **** off from here so that we see no more of you! ". The car started off. The black bag on Orlov's head had already partly come off, he raised his head and saw a light-coloured (white or beige) "Gazel" vehicle moving away from them on a muddy and bumpy countryside road.

All the four got to their feet. The staff members of REN-TV asked Orlov who he was, he explained. They were in an empty field covered with scarce snow, lights were seen in the distance. Following the countryside road by which the abductors had left appeared not quite sensible. They decided to walk through the field toward the lights. All the four were dressed lightly, two members of the REN-TV crew were barefoot.

The lights turned out to be several bulbs illuminating a large area of houses under construction, no people were to be seen. Several times Vysotsky had lapses of memory and would start asking where he was, what had happened, who were the people walking along with him.

Finally, all the four reached a petrol station. It turned out that they were in the territory of RI in stanitsa Nesterovskaya, the journalists and the human rights activist came to the nearest village police department. The police officers went out to identify the place where the four men were thrown out of the car taking Orlov with them.

Then the victims were interviewed in stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya, at the Sunzhensky district department of internal affairs, and later at the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs, and after that by the Department of Investigations of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office.

The policemen, on the one hand, had shown sympathy and understanding but at the same time the officers of the municipal department of internal affairs, obeying the orders from above, kept the journalists at the police station until the evening under various pretexts. The authorities were apparently trying to prevent the media from covering the rally, which was expected on that day.

In the evening, the President of the Republic of Ingushetia invited the REN-TV journalists to a meeting with him. The Chairman of the Council of the HRC Memorial Oleg Orlov, who had been abducted together with them, was not invited. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of the Interior and the Public Prosecutor of RI. The President criticized the Minister, ordered him "to trace the criminals without any delay and return the stolen equipment", to provide the correspondents with armed protection and immediately issue to them new documents substituting the stolen identity cards.

Back at the hotel it turned out that the belongings from Rooms 215 and 311 had been stolen. Among them were computers, all the equipment of the journalist crew including the filmed material, personal documents, money, documents collected in the course of their trip to Ingushetia, mobile phones as well as the journalists' jackets, coats and suitcases. It appears that the abductors took away the clothes because the pockets could have possibly contained documents. Two other rooms in which the abducted journalists were staying had not undergone the same search procedure, nothing had been stolen from them.

The Department of Investigations of the city of Nazran of the Investigative Division of the Investigative Committee of the Public Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on November 24 pursuant to Part 2 of Article 139 (violation of the inviolability of home), Part 1 of Article 144 (Obstruction of the Lawful Professional Activity of Journalists ) and Paragraphs 2 "a", "d" of Part 2 of Article 161 (robbery committed by a group of persons in a preliminary conspiracy, with the use of coercion that is not dangerous to human life or health, or with the threat of use of such coercion) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. On the same day, all the four men were recognized as victims in this criminal case.

Obviously, the Articles of the Criminal Code pursuant to which criminal proceedings were initiated, do not adequately describe what has happened. The investigators have "overlooked" the fact that an "abduction" (Article 126), "Threat of Murder or Infliction of Grave Injury Health" (Article 119), "battery" (Article 116) and "Intentional Infliction of Injury of Average Gravity Health" (Article 112) had taken place. It is hard to imagine that firearms aimed at a person could be considered as non- life-threatening violence. Meanwhile, assault with the purpose of robbery committed with the threat of life-threatening violence is not classified as "robbery" but as "robbery with violence" (Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

But the main inadequacy in the evaluation of the crime lies in the denial of the obvious on the part of the investigators: of the fact the crime was committed by representatives of the state power. The investigators did not qualify these criminal acts as "committed with the abuse of the official powers". The request of the lawyer representing the victims on re-qualification of the criminal case, in particular, on supplementing the articles of the Criminal Code incriminated to the abductors with Article 286 (exceeding of official powers) was rejected by the investigator.

The question arises: what did all this mean?

There is no definite answer to this question so far.

The events of the night to November 24 were very similar to a public demonstration.

Who exactly were the people who abducted the journalists and the human rights activist and what were their goals?

There are several theories.

The explanation offered by the President of Ingushetia claims that this was an action of "certain destructive forces" aimed at destabilizing the situation in the republic. The President is trying to vaguely allude at someone.

But if there is no clear answer, this means that the leaders of the republic are not in control of the situation. If the answer is in fact known, this may only mean that the leaders of the republic do not want to take upon themselves the risk of publicly announcing it, thus themselves contributing to further destabilization of the situation.

The authors of this report believe that the case is quite clear: the journalists and the human rights activist were abducted by representatives of some state security structure. All the circumstances of the crime point to this explanation. Obviously, the abductors were professionals, using the pattern of operation which was usual for them and had been used on many occasions. This crime once again showed how brazenly, demonstrably and flagrantly the "siloviks" can make lawlessness reign in Ingushetia.

It may be that the crime was directly linked to the upcoming rally and to the material filmed by the reporters in Chemulga. Perhaps that crime was committed by those who were in charge of the "special operation" in the village of Chemulga, which led to the death of a child - those who were breeding lawlessness, compelling people to hold an unsanctioned rally. After all, firstly, the "siloviks" seized the tapes which were "untoward" for them, and, secondly, they did everything to ensure that the journalists and human rights activist are unable to cover the events surrounding the rally in Nazran.

However, it is possible that the criminals had a longer-term goal - to try to thus "isolate" the republic not only for a particular day, but for long. Those who are behind the lawless violence in Ingushetia, want to make the region as closed as possible for outsider observers - journalists, human rights activists and international organizations. In such a situation they will be able to safely proceed with their current practices defying the law and the human rights norms. That is why they have shown: no-one and nowhere in Ingushetia could be protected from their violence. That is why they have chosen the period in time when special attention was focused on Ingushetia and the victims of those crimes were people, whose abduction would be widely covered by the media. According to the same logic the site of abduction was chosen the usually guarded hotel "Assa" - a safe place hsoting most journalists, human rights activists, members of international organizations. As a result, quite in accordance with the criminals' plan, visiting Ingushetia will become difficult for any outside observers.

In connection with the above-described it is also worth remembering the threats received by the head of the Ingushetian human rights organization "MASHR", Magomed Mutsolgov.

On May 2, 2007, the web-site "Ingushetiya.Ru" published a letter of an unidentified officer of the security structures[64] in which he warned the head of the Ingush human rights organization "MASHR" Magomed Mutsolgov of the provocation which was being prepared against him.

According to the author of the letter, he had become a casual witness of two unidentified officers of the security services saying that "there is a special decision approved by the leaders of the republic to do all that is possible in order to close down the organisation "MASHR". Moreover, the task of pinning by all possible means any criminal responsibility on Mutsolgov, no matter for which crime: he may be accused of hooliganism, planting firearms or drug-dealing. As I understand, recently Mutsolgov's organization and he personally had repeatedly been checked by various agencies and departments, who were duplicating each other's actions. Despite a large number of check-ups it was not possible to detect any violations with regard to its activities. All this is so serious that I am sure: they are prepared to go at any lenghts including actual elimination of Magomed Mutsolgov".

This information was, in turn, widely distributed by the HRC Memorial.

The social organization "MASHR" has been operating for less than two years. Over this perood, the Prosecutor's Office, the FSB and the Registration Chamber have checked this organization over 10 times, on both formal and informal level. These checks did not reveal any violations. In addition, during this time, Magomed Mutsolgov has repeatedly received threats from unidentified persons and advices from "well-wishers" to give up on his human rights activities and engage in "something else".

The keen interest of the authorities and law enforcement agencies in Magomed Mutsolgov is due to his activities. The organization headed by him collects information concerning the abductions, torture and killings in Ingushetia. In 2007 they issued a report on this subject.

In the spring unidentified persons were noticed keeping the office of the organization under close surveillance. According to Magomed Mutsolgov, near the premises in the town of Karabulak where the office of "MARSH" is located, cars with tinted glasses the passengers of which were unidentidied individuals wearing camouflage uniforms were regularly observed.

Of course, the anonymous letter and the cars cannot on their own be considered a proof of the fact that a provocation is being prepared. But the realities of today's Ingushetia compel us to take such information into most serious consideration. We cannot exclude the possibility of that the publication of such information on possible "provocation" against the head of "MARSH" has forced the people, who had been preparing it, to abandon their intentions.

4.11. Appeals to the Memorial with requests for protection

During 2007 a number of people had appealed to the Memorial with statements in which they claimed that they had found themselves to be under close surveillance of the security services, feared possible illegal arrests, disappearances and torture. These people or their relatives requested from the Memorial to act as a mediator between them and the security services side claiming that they were ready to come to interrogations and answer all the questions that law enforcement officers may have to them but that they wanted to ensure that they would not be subjected to unlawful and violent treatment. Most of them were practising, devout Muslims who had for some reason or other been included on the "Wahhabi" lists. Such lists exist for every district and new names are constantly added. According to these lists are often used in "investigation" of criminal cases. Some of the applicants fell within the scope of attention of the "siloviks" for other reasons, often because of kinship or old friendship with members of the illegal armed groups. Their homes have been subjected to searches with grave violations of the law and now they are afraid of staying with their families because they are thus exposing to danger their loved ones.

The Memorial has all the reasons to treat such statements in all seriousness. As was mentioned above, Husen Mutaliev who had addressed the Human Rights Center with a similar statement was shot by the security forces forty days later.

In the summer 2007, staff members of the HRC Memorial talked with the Prosecutor of RI about the need to give these people an opportunity to clarify their situation with the security services with the participation of our lawyers. Otherwise, it is possible that they will be forced to go underground. However, we have not received any positive response.

Nevertheless, the statements of this kind continued to be addressed to the office of the HRC Memorial in Nazran.

The statement of Kazbek Matiev who was detained on the suspicion of murdering the Draganchuk family was mentioned in Section 4.6.1.

A similar statement was received by the Memorial on October 25 from a friend of Kazbek Matiev, Zaurbek Mukharbekovich Albogachiev, born in 1978, resident of the Gamurzievsky municipal district of Nazran, Pushkin St, 8. He explained that the arrest on September 3, 2007 of his friend Kazbek Matiev was also the beginnning of his own problems with the law enforcement agencies.

Zaurbek has two jobs - he works as a toxicologist at the Republican psycho-neurological and narcological dispensary and also at a workshop repairing computers. On September 7, Zaurbek Albogachiev was arrested at about 7:00 am at his workplace at the dispensary by the officers of the UBOP of the republican Ministry of Interior. On the same day an authorized search was conducted at his home and in the computer shop in the presence of the police and attesting witnesses. From his house were seized a computer and a mobile phone, during the search in the workshop all the computers kept there were seized. Upon the completion of the search a protocol was drawn up.

Zaurbek was interrogated by two officers of the UBOP and the investigator who was working with the case of Matiev and Ozdoyev who were detained on September 3 in Karabulak. First he was asked about his connection to a certain Magomed Albogachiev. Zaurbek said that he knew this person as the latter was a distant relative of his but had nothing to do with him personally and did not know anything about his affairs. He was asked questions relating to the bombing of the UAZ car in the city of Nazran on August 31, 2007. Then the investigator working on the case of Kazbek Matiev took over. He claimed that Zaurbek Albogachiev, Kazbek Matiev and Magomed Ozdoyev belonged to one armed group (jammaat). Zaurbek declared that he was not a member of any group and had not committed any illegal acts. Zaurbek knew Kazbek Matiev because Matiev also worked at the same computer shop. Albogachiev did not have any relations with Matiev outside work. At 2:00 am of the same day Albogachiev was taken to the republican Prosecutor's Office. The interrogation there lasted for only half an hour. The investigator of the Prosecutor's Office showed Zaurbek a paper received from the UBOP, alleging that he and two other men were directly related to the bombing of the vehicles killing four officers of the municipal department of internal affairs. Then the investigator said that they had no claims to Albogachiev and the latter was released. All the belongings seized during the search were returned a week later. For about a month Zaurbek had not heard from the authorities. However, he paid attention to the fact that his mobile phone was tapped: during conversations he could constantly hear outside noises on the line.

On October 19, at about 7:30 am, officers of the mobile detachment of the Ministry of Interior of RF came to Albogachiev's home and said that they must conduct a search of the house and bring Zaurbek to the municipal police department of Nazran. The "siloviks" were polite, introduced themselves and showed the search warrant. The search was conducted in the presence of attesting witnesses. During the search nothing illegal was found. Then Albogachiev and two other residents of the Gamurzievsky residential neighbourhood were taken to the municipal department of internal affairs. Here, the Ingush policemen interrogated Zaurbek about the shooting attack on the servicemen of the Ministry of Interior from Astrakhan, on 18 October in the village of Ekazhevo. The fingerprints of Albogachiev were taken and he was photographed. From the way the police officers behaved Zaurbek realized that they themselves did not quite understand the reasons for his detention. After the interrogation, at about 2:00 am, he was released without any charges.

Zaurbek Albogachiev appealed to the HRC Memorial because he now fears unlawful acts against himself since the security forces had not been able to charge him legally. He has heard of cases when people in whom the "siloviks" had special interest would disappear without a trace or be shot.

He writes:

"… I officially declare that I had never committed any illegal acts, I'm not a member of any illegal groups, have never before been accused of any unlawful acts, has never been detained by the law enforcement agencies either as a suspect or as a witness. I am ready to answer any questions of any law enforcement and security agencies who may be interested in me in the presence of my lawyer Batyr Akhilgov. I have no reason to hide from the law enforcement authorities as I am a law-abiding citizen of the Russian Federation, live an open life and have not violated any laws of Russia".

4.12. Autumn 2007 - the outcome of the special integrated preventive operation?

July 25 marked the beginning of the "special integrated preventive operation" in the Republic of Ingushetia. Additional troops were deployed in the republic, however, little tangible result has been achieved. On the contrary, murders of representatives of ethnic minorities continued: over the autumn period the terrorists had shot dead another fifteen civilians (see Section 4.2 of this report).

The attacks of militants on police officers, military staff and those whom the militants accused of collaboration with the authorities have also continued.

On the night of September 1, in the village of Zyazikov-Yurt, Akhmed Osmanovich Dzagiev, brother of the recently retired former Deputy President of Ingushetia, was shot dead from an automatic rifle at his own home.

At about 2:00 am on September 5 the deployment base of the mobile detachment of the Russian Ministry of Interior in the Malgobek district came under fire from grenade launchers located somewhere in the territory of an "agricultural enterprise". Three police officers were injured.

On September 7, at 7:15 pm a police officer was shot in the city of Nazran. Almost simultaneously, at 7:20 pm, in the town of Karabulak, officer of the patrol and traffic police of the Ministry of Interior of RI Marziev was seriously wounded by gunfire opened from a car driving past.

On the night of September 9, in the town of Malgobek a base of the Ministry of Interior Internal Troops unit was exposed to fire. As a result, one soldier was killed and one officer was seriously injured. In the course of the special operation aimed at tracing the attackers two militants were killed, the others managed to escape. Two Ingushetian civilians were killed: a Malgobek resident Magomed Velkhiev and a resident of the village of Novy Redant Alek Azhigov.

On the same night in the village of Surkhakhi a police post where the staff of the Integrated Detachment of the Nizhny Novgorod region police force served came under fire from automatic guns. As a result, one policeman was injured.

On September 10, an FSB officer was killed in Ingushetia.

On September 11, at about 11:30 am in the village of Kantyshevo police officer Dugiev Alikhan was shot dead.

On the same night in the city of Nazran at about 1:15 am fire from a grenade launcher damaged the "Matrix" cinema building.

On the night of September 14, the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs came under militant fire. No-one was killed or injured.

On September 14, the Ekazhevsky traffic police post on the outskirts of the city of Nazran was exposed to militant fire. The policemen opened retaliation fire. Two civilians: a girl and a boy, were injured by the militants' fire.

On September 14, at 9:00 pm an explosion occurred on the road between the villages of Ekazhevo and Surkhakhi at the moment when a military convoy was passing by, no-one was injured.

On September 15, on the outskirts of the village of Ekazhevo a UAZ car carrying four soldiers of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior came under the militants' fire, one officer of the Headquarters of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior in the North Caucasus district received minor wounds.

On the same day at 12:20 on the outskirts of Surkhakhi a checking point came under fire from a sniper rifle, one soldier was wounded.

On September 16, in the city of Nazran the building of the Ministry of Interior again came under fire.

On the same day in the vicinity of stanitsa Troitskaya a military convoy came under fire. No-one was injured.

On September 17, at about 6:15 pm in the vicinity of the village of Gazi-Yurt Alikhan Kalimatov, FSB lieutenant colonel was shot dead and his fellow Beslan Ozdoyev was wounded at the moment when the two were leaving the Kavkaz cafe. Kalimatov was sent to the North Caucasus as part of an investigation team in charge of investigating the cases of abduction of Chechens and Ingush in North Ossetia.

On September 18, at about 10:10 pm the Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sunzhensky district department of internal affairs, police major Abdurakhman Meyriev was assassinated in stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya. He was shot dead when coming out of the mosque after the evening prayer and getting into his car.

On September 19, at about 11:50 am in Nazran a minibus carrying OMON officers sent on a mission to Ingushetia from the Rostov region came under attack, four of the officers were injured as a result. Later, two of them, Sergey Moshchenko and Sergey Frolikov, died in hospital.

On September 20, in the Nasyr Kortovsky district of the city of Nazran a car carrying the officers of the Ministry of Interior sent on a mission to Ingushetia from the Ryazan region, came under fire. As a result of the attack, police captain Alexander Kuzmin and a field officer of the UBOP lieutenant Andrei Firsov were killed, two policemen were wounded.

On the same day near the village of Ali-Yurt a "Gazel" vehicle carrying operational staff members of the UFSB for RI came under fire.

On September 21, at 12:40 on the outskirts of Nazran militants travelling in a car without licence plates, opened fire at a car carrying soldiers, one soldier was wounded. The special police of the UFSB for RI, using armored vehicles and with the help of the internal troops, caught the militants on the outskirts of Ali-Yurt. Fighting broke out, one militant was killed, the others escaped into the forested area. According to unverified reports, the other militants were also killed.

On the night of September 22, in the town of Karabulak a refinery was exposed to open fire from grenade launchers, a conflagration burst out.

On September 23, at about 11:00 pm in the town of Malgobek a post of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior and of the staff of Malgobek district department of internal affairs came under fire from rifle grenade launcher. One or two soldiers received minor wounds.

On September 24, at about 5:30 pm in the center of Nazran on the Tutayev st., several policemen were exposed to open fire from submachine guns and opened retaliation fire. As a result, a woman passing by in the vicinity received a minor injury.

On September 26, on the road between the villages of Galashki and Alkhasty militants opened fire at an armored personnel carrier belonging to the internal troops. Eye-witnesses reported about soldiers having been injured as a result of the attack.

***

In the late September, the newly appointed Minister for Regional Development D.N. Kozak, giving his evaluation of what is happening in Ingushetia, said that "the deterioration is linked to the escalation of the guerilla activity and, certainly, judging by the manner in which it is developing, caused by the pre-election political struggle. [65]" The Minister did not specify which political fraction that would run for the elections, may be behind the actions of the militants. To date, despite numerous accusations of extremism against the political opponents of the President Putin's policies, officials still refrain from accusing them of backing the armed underground in the North Caucasus. Maybe it is all yet coming in the future?

Most likely, this suggestive allusion means nothing. This combination of words is just the same ritual as are the numerous comments of the President Zyazikov about certain "destructive forces" that are engaged in misrepresentation of the true situation in the republic.

In the early October, realizing that the "special integrated preventive operation" in Ingushetia had failed, the authorities apparently decided (we do not know at which level the decision was made) to pursue the familiar way, previously employed in Chechnya - block the channels permitting the outflow of information about what is happening in the republic. As a correspondent of the Kavkaz-Uzel web-site[66] was told by an officer of the security services, the law enforcement agencies of Ingushetia had received an implied order to refrain from reporting to the media about events related to terrorist activities occurring in the territory of RI.

A month later, in the late November, this line of conduct led the "siloviks" to the abduction and beating of three REN TV reporters and of a human rights activist, to the illegal detention of journalists before and on the day of the rally. And in January 2008, they went a step further, trying to cast the blame for the arson of the building where the "Serdalo" newspaper office was located on the correspondents who were collecting information at the scene of the event.

***

On October 3 in the town of Karabulak at about 10:00 pm a police trainee Timur Yandiev received a phone call from unidentified people asking him to come out into the street. Later Yandiyev's body with multiple gunshot wounds was found in the yard of his house.

On October 8 in the town of Malgobek, at around 7:30 pm, militants driving a passenger car seriously wounded the captain of police Yunus Merzhoyev who later died of his wounds in hospital.

On October 9, at about 6:00 pm the police checkpoint in the village of Surkhakhi came under fire. No-one was injured.

In the same evening, at about 11:00 pm, according to the sources of the Ingushetian Ministry of Interior, a gunfire attack took place on the outskirts of Malgobek. During the checking of a car by policemen, three people jumped out of it and opened fire. One of them was killed by retaliation fire, the other two escaped. In the car a home-made explosive device was found. According to other sources, the passengers of the car did not offer any armed resistance. However, as soon as they came out of the car upon an order from the policemen, they were exposed to direct fire. Albert Gorbakov, resident of the city of Malgobek, a fifth-year-student of the Faculty of Law of the Ingush State University was killed.

***

On October 10, amidst this situation, the Chief Commander of the Internal troops of Russian Ministry of Interior, the army general Nikolay Rogozhkin, declared the withdrawal of the 2,500-strong additional contingent of the Internal troops introduced into the republic in the early August 2007. According to the General, the additional troops were no longer necessary, as the situation in Ingushetia was under sufficient control of the staff forces. The withdrawal of the troops, said the General, began in the late September and by the end of the first decade of October all the units had already arrived to the places of their permanent deployment[67].

In Ingushetia, the news of the withdrawal of troops came as a surprise. Nothing similar had been observed, on the contrary, the presence of soldiers on the streets of the cities had visibly increased. However, in the late October, in an interview with journalist correspondents in Rostov-on-Don, the Deputy Minister of Interior of the Russian Federation Arkady Yedelev practically contradicted the report of the Chief Commander of the Internal Troops. He said that the "special integrated preventive operation" in Ingushetia had been extended in term and the reinforced group of the Internal troops will remain in Ingushetia until December 2 - the day of the federal elections into the State Duma: "Prior to that, I believe, the withdrawal of the troops and termination of the special operation would be premature. <…> now we have first results of the integrated special preventive operation in Ingushetia. I feel sure that the vast majority of grave crimes, murders, attacks on law enforcement officers will be solved"- said the Deputy Minister[68].

In the first half of October, the Minister of Interior of Russia appointed four new vice-ministers of Interior in the Republic of Ingushetia. Of those four three had previous experience of working in the federal structures and had no connections with the local staff. Colonel V. Selivanov was appointed Chief of the Headquarters of the Ministry of Interior, Colonel S. Seliverstov was appointed Chief of the Criminal Police, Colonel S. Shumilin was appointed Chief of the Personnel Department. Only the public security police was headed by the local resident Magomed Gudiev.

***

Meanwhile, the militants' bullets continued to kill policemen.

On October 10 at the market in the center of Nazran two officers of the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs, A.Muzhekhoyev and M.Yandiev, were killed. They were shot by a group of people jumping out of a car which they were chasing.

On October 11, the abductors released the uncle of the President of Ingushetia Uruskhan Zyazikov. The details of this release are unknown (see Section 3 of this report).

On October 18, at about 12:00 am in the village of Ekazhevo, near the building of the military commissariat, unidentified people opened fire from submachine guns at a UAZ car carrying the mobile police squad of the Ministry of Interior of Russia, sent to RI on a mission from the Arkhangelsk region. As a result of the attack senior police officer Igor Nechayev and police major Ivan Vashukov were killed on the spot. Later Police Lieutenant Colonel Yury Baturin and police colonel Vladimir Shnyukov died in hospital of the wounds received. The Police Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Rumyantsev was wounded. The assailants were driving a "Zhiguli" car. A helicopter of the Internal troops was raised in the air in search of the attackers, but the latter had managed to escape.

At about the same time in the village of Sagopshi a group of militants, also driving a "Zhiguli" car, opened fire at the car carrying the local police officer Shamal Gandaloyev. The policeman who was leaving his home, managed to escape without injuries, he drove off at a high speed and away in the direction of the town of Malgobek. The bandits set off in pursuit of him with incessant fire. Only near a police post did the persecutors turn back. Despite the search organized the police were unable to trace the attackers.

On October 21 in Nazran, the police post at the Ekazhevsky crossroads came under fire.

On October 31 at about 3:20 pm on the Oskanov St. in Nazran the official car of the chief of the special task combat police detachment office of the Ministry of Interior of RI Police Lieutenant Colonel Magomed Khalukhayev came under fire. The officer was wounded. The attackers fled from the scene in a "Zhiguli" car.

At night unidentified persons attacked the people relaxing in a sauna in Nazran. Having entered the baths, several armed men in masks made all the people present, including the staff, lie down on the floor and opened fire from submachine guns demanding that the people live according to the laws of Islam and keep away from booze and entertainment.

On November 4, in Malgobek, unidentified people driving a car opened fire from a rifle at a student of a religious school, a Meskhetin Turk, gravely wounding him in the head.

On November 5 in the village of Ekazhevo unidentified people opened fire from a grenade launcher at the house of the former chief of the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs Amirkhan Kostoyev. No-one was injured.

On November 8, at about 8:00 pm in Karabulak, as a result of the fire opened from a car driving past, two soldiers of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior of the RF serving under a contract were seriously wounded.

One hour after the shooting attack on the military, at about 9:00 pm, in stanitsa Orzhonikidzevskaya the militants attempted to kill the Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sunzhensky district department of internal affairs Magomed Yevloyev. His driver was wounded as a result of the attack.

On November 14 at about 10:00 pm the Head of the Nazran line police department of the transit police lieutenant colonel Salman Arapkhanov was exposed to direct fire in the courtyard of his own house in stanitsa Orzhonikidzevskaya. The officer died of his wounds in hospital.

On November 15 in Nazran the "Matritsa" cinema house came under fire. No-one was injured.

On November 18 in the village of Ekazhevo the house belonging to the local precinct police superintendent came under fire. No-one was injured.

On November 19 in the center of Nazran an explosive device was found in a car parked near the Border Service Department for RI.

On November 22 in the village of Surkhakhi, a home-made explosive device went off near the house of the local precinct superintendent. As a result, a police lieutenant received minor injuries.

***

During the autumn, as well as before, the law enforcement structures and the Prosecutor’s Office have regularly reported that “the integrated preventive special operation” achieved its results, militants have being destroyed or detained and their crimes disclosed. Unfortunately, the public opinion has no serious grounds to trust these declarations. It is clear that some of those killed and detained were indeed militants or their supporters. But it is also clear that many of those whom the officials of the state services publicly announce to be "terrorists", "bandits", "supporters of terrorists" are, in fact, innocent. The security services accuse the killed of many drastic crimes of militants. Crimes declared as “practically disclosed” remain not investigated for many years, if not forever.

As a result, two incongruent and incompatible pictures of the events have appeared. One, presented in the reports and statements of the "siloviks" and the Prosecutor's Office, claimed that the armed underground was being annihilated, the militants were being detained or destroyed after each new attack. The other picture presented by the reports of attacks and clashes, shows that during the most part of 2007 the militants carried on their activities.

***

In the early September the UFSB for RI, the Ingushetian Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor’s Office declared that a number of suspects involved in a whole series of grave crimes, had been detained.

The Republican Prosecutor Yu. N. Turygin reported to RIA-Novosti on the detention of a person suspected of involvement in the explosion of the House of Culture in Nazran on August 31, killing four policemen. "The urgent investigatory actions are being conducted. In the interests of the investigation the name of the detained is withheld", - added the Prosecutor[69].

.Nevertheless, the names of a number of other suspects had been repeatedly announced.

On September 3, news came of another successful special operation:

"The officers of the Ingushetia Directorate of FSB have carried out a combat operation in detention of the members of the so-called "Karabulak armed group". One militant was destroyed, another one was detained as a result"[70].

The reference here is to the events of September 2 in Karabulak when the unarmed Apti Dalakov was shot dead and Ilez Dolgiev was detained (see Section 4.6.1 of this report).

The UFSB for RI told the journalists that Apti Dalakov and Ilez Dolgiev were Wahhabi militants and active participants of the "Karabulak bandit underground", that they were involved not only in the killing of the family of the teacher Vera Draganchuk, but also in many others grave crimes: the shooting attack on the night from 5 to 6 July on the officers of the Ingushetia Ministry of Interior, the armed attack on the traffic police team on August 13, the shooting attack on the convoy of armored combat vehicles on August 22, the murder of two Dagestanis on August 24, assault with robbery on the officers of the line police post at the railway station "Nazran" on September 1[71].

After that a representative of the press-service of the Ingushetian Ministry of Interior reported about another four people detained on suspicion of involvement in the killing of the teacher’s family. The first and the last names of the detained were announced publicly: Yusup Dzangiev, Kazbek Matiev, Magomed Ozdoyev, Magomed Tsoloyev[72].

But on September 13-15 I.Dolgiev, K.Matiev, M.Ozdoyev and M.Tsoloyev were released as acquitted of the suspicion of involvement in the above-mentioned crimes (see Sections 4.5 and 4.6.1. of this report).

As of the end of October 2007, the investigators could not boast of having any detained suspects in the case of the murder of members of the Draganchuk family[73]..

The question is: how can reports from the "siloviks" and the Prosecutor's office now be trusted?

On September 7, "a source in the headquarters of the United Force Group in the North Caucasus told the media correspondents that Ibragim Bekbulatov, "suspected of involvement in a whole series of terrorism-related crimes, including the June 22, 2004 attacks in Ingushetia as well as killings of law enforcement officers"[74], had been detained in the town of Malgobek.

On September 8, the "siloviks" reported that a militant suspected of involvement in several grave crimes had been detained in the village of Verkhniye Achaluki. According to the operational data, the detained person may have been involved in the car bombing that took place in Nazran on August 31[75]. The person in question was Murat Bogatyryov (see Section 4.7 of this report), who was later killed by police staff members in the building of the Malgobek district department of internal affairs. Earlier (see Section 4.7. of this report) we have described the violations of the Russian law with which the ammunition allegedly hidden by Bogatyryov were discovered.

On September 27 the press service reported that in the course of a special operation in the village of Sagopshi two militants, including the "emir" of the Malgobek district, had been killed. Another suspect of participation in the illegal armed groups was detained.

The people in question were the two brothers, Said-Magomed and Ruslan Galayev who were shot dead at their own home. There are serious reasons to suspect that the murdered brothers did not in fact offer any resistance. Several relatives of the killed brothers were detained, yet released on the same day.

On October 1 "a source in the security structures of the Republic" reported that in the course of a joint special operation in Nazran officers of the Ministry of Interior and the FSB of Russia had detained two participants of the illegal armed groups who are suspected of involvement in the fire attack on the car which was carrying officers of the FSB division for RI on September 20.

On October 22 the press service of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia reported that in the Pliyevsky municipal district of the city of Nazran the officers of the UFSB for RI had detained a man who offered resistance at the time of his arrest. The local resident Almurziyev was searched and as a result of that search a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a sporting gun, a home-made hand-grenade, 19 cartridges of various bore and a camouflage uniform were found[76]..

On October 31 the press service of the Public Prosecutor's office for the Republic of Ingushetia reported that "in the course of the operational and search activities conducted as part of the criminal investigation on the fact of an attempt on the lives of the officers of the Malgobek district department of internal affairs on October 25, the police forces detained a man. During the search on him were found a Makarov pistol equipped with a silencer, ammunition for it and other objects"[77].

On November 4, a source in the law enforcement agencies of RI told a media correspondent that in the course of the operational and search activities in the city of Malgobek two suspected militants had been detained. "The detained persons are suspected of having participated in the shooting attack on the temporary deployment base of the Internal Troops of the Russian Ministry of Interior on September 8 this year being members of the militant group led by a certain Bogatyryov. As a result of that attack one army officer was killed, two others were wounded", the source was quoted as saying[78].

On November 16 the law enforcement agencies of Ingushetia reported that in stanitsa Troitskaya a resident of the village of Ekazhevo, Adam Chechoyev, was detained on suspicion of involvement in the attacks on law enforcement officers[79].

On November 23, a spokesman for the press service of the the UFSB for RI reported that in Nazran a certain Uruskhan Inalov had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the November 8 attack on the law enforcement officers in Karabulak[80].

Such were the results of the "complex preventive special operations" as of the end of the autumn 2007.

5. December 2007. The Elections

Contrary to the expectations, the elections into the State Duma of the Russian Federation were not accompanied by any major disturbances.

*****

As for the elections as such, according to the official data they were attended by 98,35% of the registered voters with 98,72% of them giving their votes in support of the United Russia party.

Some experts take (or pretend to take) such phenomenal results in all seriousness. Thus, Alexander Oslon, the President of the “Public opinion” Foundation, argued that the “clan culture” of the North Caucasus, where a relatively narrow group of people forms collective public opinion.

However, majority of independent experts find quite simple reasoning for such impressive voting results. For any unbiased person that has stayed in Ingushetia at least for a short time it is absolutely clear that:

- as things go in the republic, such unanimous voting cannot happen;

- as things go in the republic, such voter turnout cannot happen.

Several weeks after the elections, the web-site “Ingushetiya.ru” announced the “I did not vote” campaign in the republic. The campaign helped collect first several thousand, and then several dozen thousand signatures from Ingush residents under the statement that they had not taken part in the voting. As reported, a total 87 thousand statements were collected, i.e. 54 % of all registered voters in Ingushetia. The organizers announced they intended to take the statements to Moscow - to the Central Election Commission and to the RF Prosecutor-General. However, this did not happen.

One should note that such a mass scale campaign covering over half of voters in the republic could not remain unnoticed. Still, the staff of “Memorial” Human Rights Center that conducted constant monitoring of events in Ingushetia, failed to notice this nearly universal visitation of voters.

*****

The elections were over, but violence in Ingushetia continued.

As before, the soldiers deployed in the republic “for security reasons” frequently fell victims to violence. On December 5 at about 22:00 in Nazran a fougasse (or a grenade) exploded at the crossroad of the Mutaliyev and Yuzhnaya Streets, near the stadium “Dinamo”, on the way followed by the foot military patrol of the Interior Troops (the militatary unit № 3718). Artem Mikhaylovich Vozhakov, born in 1988, was injured in the leg with a piece of shrapnel.Still, the primary targets were local “siloviks” and officials.

On December 7 after 21:00 in the center of Nazran near the house № 31 in Moskovskaya St. Some unidentified persons fired from machine guns the car VAZ-2109, carrying the UFSB RF for RI Issa Umarovich Archakov, the MVD RI officer Ruslan Khamitovich Beshtoyev, born in 1970 and the inspector of the UGIBDD (Directorate of the Traffic Police) of the MVD RI Timur Mussayevich Solsanov, born in 1979 г.р. All the three were injured and taken to the hospital in Nazran. The attackers escaped. On the same day the suspected in commission of this crime, resident of the Nasyr-Kortovsky municipality of the Nazran’s district, Khozh-Akhmed Tutayev, born in1968, residing at the address: 12, Pochtovaya St.

On December 9 at about 3:45 in Nazran unidentified persons fired the house located at the address: 35, Mira St., belonging to the mayor of the city Magomed Umatgiriyevich Tsechoyev, born in 1949. The house was fired twice, allegedly with a grenade launcher. One of the shell got the room I which there were nobody at that moment. The second shell damaged the roof. There were no victims or injuries. The house was severely damaged.

On December 11 at about 15:00 in Nazran on the federal road “Kavkaz”, Magomed Tutayev, officer of MVD RI was shot at close range, allegedly with a Stechkin pistol. The plans “Volcano-5” and “Interception” were brought in action but unsuccesfully.

The “big” “counter-terrorist” operation was still under way in Ingushetia similar to the one launched eight years ago as the “second Chechen war”. As before, the warfare techniques did not strictly comply with the law. Local “counter-terrorist” operations also continued.

On December 12 in the stanitsa Nesterovskaya officers of the security agencies abducted Ruslan Saydaminovich Arsanukayev (Barayev), born in 1972, native of Chechnya but temporarily residing in stanitsa at the address: 152, Proletarskaya St.

According to the neighbors, at about noon four persons (one dressed in civilian cloths, others in police’s uniform, all specking Chechen) arrived to the Ruslan’s house with a car VAZ-2107 (that had the registration number of the 95^th Russia’ administrative region). They took Ruslan away to an unknown destination. One of the neighbors was said that Ruslan had been detained because he was in hiding under the false last name. But they did not specified, which exactly security agency detained him and were he would be delivered[81]. For several days, the relatives did not have managed to know anything about the fate of Ruslan Arsunkayev.

Meanwhile, on December 14, RIA Novosti with reference to the law enforcement agencies reported[82] about the detention conducted on November 13 in the Sunzhensky district of Ingushetia “ a resident of Grozny which, according to the operational information, was part of the band of the odious militant Arbi BArayev” from January to November 2001; the detention was made by “the officers of the criminal investigation department of the MVD of the Russian Federation and the Republic [of Ingushetia, according to the context], and it was linked with a checking “of the involvement in the grave crimes”.

After known the abduction of Ruslan, his mother, Zoya Barayeva, adresse herself to the local police department of the village of Chernorechye of the Zavodsky district, but there she was redirected to the law enforcement agency of the jurisdiction of the crime – in Ingushetia.

Indeed, Arsunkayev was detained by the officers of the structure deployed on the territory of Chechnya – Criminal Investigation Office, № 2 (the Russian abbreviation is ORB-2). He was taken away to Chechnya and delivered to the ORB-2 in Urus-Martan and then transferred to the detention facility in Grozny [83].

It is evident that the detainee had not have any process status for at least 24 hours, and his relatives had not have any information on his whereabouts for several days. As a result, he could not receive any qualified legal help.

On December 13, just before the midnight in Malgobek militants have shot an outpost of the federal law enforcement forces from automatic weapons and for fifteen minutes with rifle grenade launchers. After the shelling a local resident Jamal Fargiyev, born in 1986, was detained. During the searches in his apartment a hand made grenade and 41 cartridges were discovered.

On December 14 at about 20:15 in the village of Surhahi a local resident, officer of MVD for RI, junior lieutenant Ruslan (Amir) Yusupovich Medov, residing at the address: 22, Nagornaya St. was killed by unidentified criminals. According to the information of MVD RI, the attackers, carried by a car without any registration’s number, fired the car belonging to the Directorate of the Traffic Police (UGIBDD MV for RI), driven by Ruslan Medov. The killed was one of the bodyguards of the Minister of the Interior of the Republic Mussa Medov.

In mid-December 2007, two killings separated by four days took place in the village of Surkhakhi; they help understand the acute confrontation and the rule of horror that has engulfed Ingushetia.

On December 14, around 8:15 p.m., unidentified persons killed Ruslan (Amir) Yusupovich Medov, DOB 1977, sub-lieutenant of the Ingush Interior Ministry, the local of Surkhakhi, who lived in Nagornaya Street, #22. According to the republican Interior Ministry, the attackers from inside the car ВАЗ-21114, dark color, without registration plates, shelled the vehicle ВАЗ-21110 belonging to the Road Police (under the Ingush Interior Ministry) driven by Ruslan Medov. The slain person served in the guard of Musa Medov, Ingush Minister of the Interior.

On the night of December 18, around 2:30 a.m. a certain Magomed Medov on his way from the funeral repast over his nephew, Ruslan (Amir) Yusupovich Medov, was killed in Surkhakhi. According to the Chechen National Salvation Committee (ChNSC), Magomed Medov has fallen victim to an absurd mistake. On his way home, he noticed a suspicious car on the roadside. Magomed called his cousin Mikail Medov and said he would come to his place, then, they would drive together to the car and check why it was standing near their house. When Magomed drove his car into his cousin’s yard, Mikail took Magomed’s car for the above-mentioned suspicious car and machine-gunned it. Magomed Medov was fatally wounded. Mikail gave himself up to the Ingush law enforcement.

What else rather than fear was driving the hand of the person who killed his relative?

*****

Meanwhile, on December 18, the President of Ingushetia at a press conference in Moscow summarized the recent election outcomes and shared his opinion about the problems faced by the republic, which, in his view, were explained exclusively by external factors. However, the authorities of Ingushetia will not allow the republic to turn into “testing ground” for external forces’ experiments. "There are ill-wishers», because the republic "firmly, without dashing aside conducts the policy of the federal center and of the RF President". Until recently, Chechnya has been such a testing ground for external forces, but "this stage is coming to an end", and “we in Ingushetia are not a testing ground". The republic follows its own path, "a path of creation within the multiethnic family of Russia, and we do not need advice from Scandinavian countries, mother Europe or from over the ocean (sic!)".

The most evident addressee of these statements was not the West, but the local law enforcement agencies that see the reasons of Ingushetia events outside the republic.

On the same day, November 18, in Nazran near the former building of “Bin-Bank” on Tutayev St.two residents of Ingushetia were abducted: Salambek Dzagiyev, resided in Malgobek, und Basir Kotiyev, resided in Nazran. Abductors, carried by two passenger cars, tried to take them away to North Ossetia. The cars were stopped on an outpost of the Traffic Police (GIBDD) while leaving Ingushetia. The police officers asked armed persons carried by cars to let him check the vehicles, but they refused. Then the police officers blocked the cars and called the reinforcement. A a result, both abductors and abductees were delivered to the Nazran’s GOVD. One again it is turned out that the residents of Ingushetia were tried to be abducted by security agencies representatives – they were more than a dozen of the officers of MVD of North Ossetia and two officers of UFSB for Northe Ossetia (RSO-A). They were not disarmed, many of them kept their masks. The detained “siloviks” were kept on the territory of GOVD for a certain time and then released. They leaved the building of GOVD accompanied by the officers of a mobile detachment of MVD RF. The abductees Dzagiyev and Kotiyev were delivered to the temporary detention facilities of MVD RI. According to eyewitnesses, during the abduction Dzagiyev was severely beaten.

On the next day Kotiyev was released and Dzagiyev transmitted to the temporary detention facilities of MVD of North Ossetia (RSO-A) and soon afterwards - to Moscow. According to the official information, he is suspected in have exploded of the train “Nevsky Express”[84].

*****

On December 27, the President of Ingushetia met representatives of the public and informed them about the key achievements of 2007 - the fulfillment of tasks outlined in the appeal of the President of Russia and the implementation of the priority national projects in education, health care, agriculture and housing: “the work continued towards development of the necessary social, communal and engineering infrastructure as well as the economic base with the aim of improving the well-being of the residents of the republic”. The level of life has risen, industrial enterprises have been put into operation, and a variety of social institutions have been opened. The birth rate has increased, and the infant mortality has gone down. Budget revenue has increased threefold. An industrial cluster is under construction, made of six enterprises, some investments are coming from Germany. The number of industrial enterprises has grown six times. New high technology companies have emerged.

The President also provided an overview of cultural events highlighting performances of the “Ingushetia” state dance company and the “Dawn of Ingushetia” children’s dance company in Cannes at the opening of the Russian culture festival and in Greece at the annual “Silver Dolphin” festival.

This year was also rich with bright events in the social and political life, most significant of them being elections to the State Duma. The residents of Ingushetia have made a choice in favor of sustaining and consolidating the Russian state.

The President of Ingushetia emphasized, “we should … do our best in order to ensure that relations among people from different cities and different regions and belonging to different ethnic groups and religions grow even more cordial and strong”.

6. Early 2008. What is coming next?

In early 2008, the situation in Ingushetia repeated the scenario of the last year. Attacks against the “siloviks” continued, while operations of law enforcement agencies entailed gross violations of human rights.

Achievement reports submitted by the “siloviks” are contradictory. The Ingush authorities are still helpless against the underground terror, and do nothing to counter another threat - mass and gross violations of human rights under the guise of “fighting terrorism”; moreover, they resort to “counter-terror” as a tool of ruling the republic (see below).

Meanwhile, the situation in the republic evolves in a convoluted way - each new crime is followed by mass rallies that the authorities try to suppress.

A mass rally was planned for 10:00 a.m., January 26, at the Concord Square in Nazran. Though the organizers called it “In support of President Putin’s course, against corruption and terrorism”, the key message was a protest against actions and inactions of the local authorities.

Rally organizers took account of previous protest actions, and in line with the law, submitted a timely notification about their intention to hold a rally to the authorities[85].

The authorities did not allow the rally. On January 21, the Ingush Prosecutor issued a warning to Maksharip Aushev, a rally organizer, about the inadmissibility of breaking the law during the rally but failed to provide explanations about expected violations, - though the authorities are not entitled to ban a public event.

On the other hand, in some cases conscientious citizens, much as they respect the law, just cannot stay away from a public activity banned by the authorities. In this case, the organizers take upon themselves the responsibility for the consequences and should do everything possible to minimize the number of provocations.

On January 25, part of the Republic of Ingushetia was declared a “zone of the counter-terrorist operation” - allegedly, acts of terror were expected at places of mass gatherings.

Still, the rally did take place on January 26. Cruelly dispersed, it entailed clashes with law enforcers trying to prevent the rally.

Teenagers were the first to enter the square and face OMON[86], while an adult man with a loudspeaker persuaded them not to be scared and promised that everything would be OK. When OMON crushed the first row of the thin column, sacks with stones and Molotov cocktails prepared beforehand started coming in from the fringe of the crowd. After the square emptied, fire was set on several public buildings in Nazran.

Acts of vandalism - arson and pogroms - may discredit any idea. They are impermissible as a protest tool, no matter how justified. The intifada-like event we witnessed on January 26 is as inadmissible as the use of force by the authorities attempting to prevent citizens from realizing their constitutional right to assembly and meetings.

There are some questions related to the “charitable” (in reality - free) lottery that the organizers used to attract people to the rally[87]; it does not combine well with the rallying point, i.e. promotion of fair elections and protests against abductions.

Over 40 people were detained, among them 12 journalists and human right activists. Eight of them, as militia put it, were “deported” from Ingushetia - as if it has already seceded from the Russian Federation, while the two journalists that filmed the burning building were accused of arson (sic!) [88].

The Ingush authorities should have allowed the rally, and, in line with the law[89], provided for order and security of both participants and the rest of the population. It would have been much easier than fighting with the crowd especially when one cannot tell apart peaceful participants and provocateurs, thugs and hooligans. We consider the use of electric shockers, tear gas and rude arrests as disproportionate and inadmissible.

***

Evidently, the situation in the republic has reached a dead end. However, the problems and the outlines of this dead end are not exclusively Ingush, but rather all-Russian.

A major problem is that the authorities perceive practical problems not as challenges requiring feedback, but as threats to their power. Consequently, they look not for ways of solving problems or ways out, but for opponents willing to gain political capital by raising these issues.

***

Future developments in Ingushetia are hard to predict.

The “Kabardino-Balkarian” scenario is quite possible, although in Ingushetia Muslims have never been persecuted as openly as in Kabardino-Balkaria; more often “non-traditional Muslims” fall victims to extrajudicial killings and violations of human rights. In every region, there are lists of the so-called "Wahhabis" who are under close surveillance of the law enforcement agencies, are subject to regular detentions and often to tortures. If the anti-terrorist operation stretches beyond the legal framework, as likely as not this part of the Muslim community will choose extreme and violent protest tools. Only terrorists will benefit from such developments.

The “Chechen scenario” is also possible: extrajudicial killings, tortures and falsified criminal cases will result in such public “cleansing” that society will be under 100% control due to the climate of fear that has permeated the republic.

Amid unemployment, low educational level and economic backwardness, violations of human rights will lead to stronger radicalization of the youth. Ingushetia, similarly to the best part of the Muslim Caucasus, will turn into a third world country with strong Jihad-supporting trends instead of moving towards the European democratic values.

7. Recommendations

Effective measures are necessary to improve the situation in Ingushetia (as well as in other regions of the North Caucasus) and to stop massive and systematic human rights violations, particularly by members of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service. Such measures must include but not be limited to the following:

l Carrying out adequate investigation into cases of human rights violations and bringing the perpetrators to accountability.

l Having the Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation conduct a comprehensive revision of the activities of law enforcement agencies and the Prosecutor's Office in the region. In particular, it is essential to examine all cases related to illegal armed formations that have been investigated in these republics; in case of verified evidence of torture and forced confessions, to send the cases for re-investigation and re-trial.

l Putting an end to common practices of “temporary disappearances” of detainees. In order to decrease the risk of torture and other illegal retaliation regarding detainees and to guarantee legal rights of their family members, it is essential to ensure expedient provision of information to relatives on the whereabouts of the detainees.

l Instructing members of federal and local law enforcement agencies by their superiors about the absolute necessity of observing human rights in fulfilling their functions and about their accountability for performing criminal orders of higher authorities and officials.

l Providing adequate legal and judicial protection and due compensations to victims of human rights violations.

l Guaranteeing international humanitarian organizations, including the ICRC, access to places of temporary and pre-trial detention for visitation of prisoners on conditions agreeable for these organizations.

l Cooperating with human rights protection mechanisms of the Council of Europe and the United Nations including special procedures of the UN Human Rights Commission and treaty bodies of the Council of Europe and the UN.

l Effectively cooperating with the Anti-torture Committee of the Council of Europe.

l Extending necessary assistance to Russian and international human rights organizations in their monitoring activities in the North Caucasus. Cooperating with such organizations towards eradicating the atmosphere of impunity and improving the human rights situation in the region.

Authors of the report consider the following recommendations addressed to the authorities of the Republic of Ingushetia essential for normalizing the situation in Ingushetia:

l Republican leadership should stop the policy of non-interference in cases related to violations of human rights on the territory of Ingushetia. Ingush officials should provide a tough response to all cases of violation of norms of the Russian legislation during special operations.

l Republican leadership should boost the efforts of local law enforcement agencies and to reduce to the minimum the involvement of law enforcement agencies from other regions commissioned to the republic.

l Republican leadership should provide permission to conduct rallies, processions, etc. within the law and to lift unjustified restrictions on the freedom of speech and opinion.

[1] Reported by the Public Prosecutor Yu.N.Turygin at a meeting with the staff of the HRC Memorial on October 30, 2007 in the city of Nazran on the premises of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

[2] The report was presented in October 2007 to the Russian and EU delegations on the eve of yet another round of the Russia-EU human rights consultations.

[3] On July 20, 2005, at a meeting in the Kremlin, the Civil Society and Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation submitted this report to the President of the Russian Federation.

[4] These figures were given in the verdict of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia of August 3, 2005 in the case of 13 people accused of involvement in militant operations.

[5] A wide range of issues: from ensuring the return of temporarily displaced persons in the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia up to protect national monuments of architecture in unnecessarily expanded border zone with Georgia

[6] According to official information, the 2 December in the elections to the State Duma of Russia in the Republic of Ingushetia won party United Russia, which was voted by 98, 72% of voters. In total, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of RI, 98.35% of the electorate took part in the elections. There were no irregularities recorded in the vote, no complaints from observers and allegations registered in CEC.

[8] After Abu Haws was killed on the 26^th of November 2006 in Hasavyurt, the Russian special services have given access to his archive, which reflects the cash flow to the armed underground. In particular, according to the " accounting "of Abu Havsa, a major cash flow of the dollar was in May 2006. Five million dollars in ransom for the rich hostage received Doku Umarov "(Lenta.Ru," FSB unscrambles Abu Havs' archive ": http://www.lenta.ru/news/2006/12/08/archive/). Despite the source, his information is to pay attention - if only because it does not illustrate the FSB constantly repeated argument that the armed resistance in the Caucasus is funded exclusively from abroad: thus, in particular, in 2005 the foreign funding amounted only to 340 thousand dollars

[9] During the last years in Chechnya before Eid-Bajram the belligerent parts also released hostages

[11] Vadim Tokhsyrov. Policemen of two republics did not share one detainee // newspaper “Kommersant”, 30.03.2007.

[13] The first scale of violence against Russian-speacking population took place in the republic in winter and early spring of the last year. Then several person were killed and injured (see the open letter of HRC “Memorial” to the President Zyazikov about a series of attacks on Russian residents of Ingushetia on 15.03.2006 г. http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2006/03/m53387.htm). And in june 2006 deputy head of Administration of the Sunzhensky district Galina Gubina, working on problems of repatriation and accommodation of Russian-speaking population, was killed.

[16] The appeal by Hazhbiker Merzhoyev in the HRC “Memorial” Office in Nazran.

[17] The letter of Yu. A. Yevseyev, military Prosecutor of the military unit 04062, Colonnel of Justice, to the Prosecutor of RI Yu. N. Turygin and the Ombudsman on human rights in Russian Federation V. P. Lukin № Zh-164/3620 of September 15, 2007

[18] In cases where it was possible to define, to what structure officers belonged.

[20] From the answer of I. M. Torshkov, acting Chief of the criminal police of the Ministry of Interior of RI on the inquiry of HRC “Memorial” №2/382 of 04.09.2007 :. «During checking it is established that the relevant agencies of MVD RI did not participated in the special operation. Currently the activities to establish person conducting the special operation are undertaken».

[23]At the meeting with activists of HRC ”Memorial” on October 30 in Nazran in the Prosecutor’s Office of RI.

[24]The answer of M.M. Gagtiyev, investigator of the OVD of Nazran’s interregional Ivestigative Directorate by the Prosecution of RF for RI of the inquiry № 32p-07/07600032 of 31.10.2007 of the HRC “Memorial”..

[25] In the meeting with the HRC “Memorial”’s activists on October 30 in the Prosecutor’s Office of RI.

[26] The newspaper «Kommersant», 18.06.2007..

[28] Islam Oligov, resided at Malgobek city, in 40, Bauman St, On November 27, 2006 he was shot aend killed by officers of the mobile detachment of MVD RF in the yard of his own house. 27 ноября 2006 г. According to eyewitnesses, when «siloviks» broke into the Oligov's house, Islam was gathering autumn leaves Seeing the armed men, Oligovhe tried to escape throughout the fencing. MVD officers opende fire on him.According to allegations of the officers, Oligov put up armed resistance threatening them with a grenade. Before these events, on September 21, 2006, Oligov was detained by the security structures' officers and was contained in the temporary detention facility of the Malgobek's ROVD and after that – in the temporary detention facility of MVD RI of Nazran.. In 9 days later he was released as innocent.

[29] Hussein Uvayssowich Mutaliyev resided at the adress: Kiyevskaya St., 61. On March 15, 2007, he was shot in the yard of his own house by officers of an unidentified security agency arrived from North Ossetia (see the section 3 of this report). Before that, on September 21, 2006, Mutaliyev was detained by officers of the securuty servces and kept in the temporary detention facility of Malgobek's ROVD, then in the temporary detention facility of MVD RI in Nazran.There he was beaten and forced to give false evidence against himself. Nine days later he was released as innocent.

[30]Hussein Magomedovich Mutsolgov, born in 1986. resided at the adress: Ingushetia, village of Surhahi, 16, Kazansky street-side, Was abducted on May 5, 2007 in Nazran. (see the section 3 of this report). There is information allowing to suppose that he was detained in the secret illegal prison in the village of Goyty of Urus-Martan region of Chechnya (see the section 4.5 of this report).

[31]The answer № 20p07/07500020 of 10.08.2007 of A.M. Uzhakhov, deputy Prosecutor of Nazran’s district.

[32] The answer № 113 ок-щ7 of 30.12.2007 by M. N. Mogushkov, investigator of the Nazran’s interregional Investigation Department of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigation Committee by the Prosecution of the Russian Federation for RI, Resolution of the investigator M. N. Mogushkov about the transfer of the message (material) according to its jurisdiction of 30.12.2007.

[33] In the Temporary operative group of the MVD RF for RI serve the officers of MVD, sent to Ingushetia from different regions of Russia. Practically this structure act independently from MVD RI.

[34]The answer № 113 оk-sch7 of 30.12.2007 by M. N. Mogushkov, investigator of the Nazran’s interregional Investigation Department Investigative Directorate of the Investigation Committee by the Prosecution of the Russian Federation for RI, Resolution of the investigator M. N. Mogushkov about the transfer of the message (material) according to its jurisdiction of 30.12.2007.

[36]Hussein Magomedovich Mutsolgov, born in 1986, residing at the address: republic of Ingushetia, village of Surhahi, 16, Kazansky street-side , was abducted on May 5, 2007 in the city of Nazran. (see the section 3 of this report). (note by HRC “Memorial”.

[37]Ahkmed Muhammedovich Kartoyev, resided in Nazran was abducted on May 22, 2007 (see the section 3 of this report) (tnote by the HRC “Memorial”).

[38] Alambek Yassayev, former field commander of the separatists, then the commander of one of detachments of the Akhmad Kadyrov’s security service then the commander of a regiment of the patrol service №2 of MVDof Chechnya, then the deputy Minister of the Interior of Chechnya of public security. In October 2007 he led an attempt of a rebellion againt a part of Kadyrov’s closest environment. (so called “people from Tsentoroy”). He was dismissed, beaten, he leaved Chechnya, renouncing his property and business. (See “Rebellion on knees”. http://www.memo.ru/2007/12/27/2712071.htm). Yassayev, according to the information of HRC “Yassayev” was directly involved in abduction and torture of the residents of Checnya.

[39]See the bulletin of HRC “Memorial”. The situation in the zone of conflict in North Caucasus in the autumn of 2007: judgment of human rights activists». (http://www.memo.ru/2007/12/27/2712071.htm).

[43]The meeting took place on October 30 in Nazran in the Prosecutor’s Office

[45]Art. 317 – the attempt at life of a law enforcer. Art. 222 – the illegal carrying of an arm. .

[46] From the answer of the deputy Prosecutor of Karabulak A. M. Uzhakhov to the head of the filial of the HRC “Memorial” Sh.A. Akbulatov № 28 p -07/28 of 10.10.2007.

[49] In particular, he said against the head of the Karabulak’s ROVD : “Why is he still not dismissed?” He should be in prison together with bandits, It’s more than ten days ago that the investigation began. But if there are something to investigate?» – it was said with regard to the murder of Apti Dalakov. ( RIA Novosti, 13.09.2007 г.)

[50] The similar statements have been heard with regard to the local jury trials. Thus, on March 20,, 2006 the Deputy Prosecutor General for the Southern Federal District Nikolay Shepel said that «the institute of the jury trial in the South of Russia, especially in national republics is needed to be reorganized”, because “the clan’s interests in the Russia’s subjects of Federation, where the overwhelming majority of population are relatives, impede to obtain the justice and as a result the evident criminals and terrorists are being released». (Sergey Kissin. The jury trial has to do with the blood feud. // The newspaper «Kommersant», 21.03. 2006).

http://www.kommersant.ru/region/rostov/page.htm?year=2006&issue=48&id=153948&section=5347

[51]In the resolution acknowledging Ramzan Amriyev as a wictim of the 13.11.2007, ruled by the senior Investigator of the military Investigation’s Department of the military unit № 68799, major I. V. Tupov it is indicated: «On November, 2007 at about 6 o’clock 55 minutes on the basis of the battle order № 5/5630С of the 9.11.2007by officers of USFSB on the republic of Ingushetia. <…> the special measures to detain Mr. Makhauri R. R., accused by the Investigation agencies of RI in commission of a number o the grave crimes”.

[52] R. Makhauri was detained on November, 16, 2007 on the territory of the Chechen Republic in the stanitsa Assinovskya.

[53]The statement of Ramzan Ababukarovich Amriyev (father of the murdered Rakhim Amriyev) in the HRC «Memorial» of December 18, 2007.

[59]Mohammed Gazdiyev – a disabled person, he is lacking for both arms. His son, Ibrahim Mohammedovich Gazdiyev, born in 1978., was abducted by the armed people on August 8, 2007 in Karabulak. According to the information of Maksharip Aushev, he was detained in the illegal prison in the village of Goyty in (see the section 4.5 of this report).

[60]It meant the murder of Apti Dalakov on September 2, 2007. (see the section 4.6.1 of this report).

[62]It is interesting that all the official sources reported only about seven detainees. Indeed, many detained participants of the rally were released soon after their detention. Thus, for example, was released even one of the organizers of the rally M. Gazdiyev. It could be supposed, that here the main role is plaid the evident desire of the Republic’s officials to underestimate the scale of what is happened. At that, it is not to exclude the sympathy of some law enforcers to the participants of the rally.

[64] http://www.ingushetiya.ru/news/10154.html

[65]Igor Burundukov. An act of terrorism before elections. // Newspaper «Vzglyad», 28.09.2007

[67] Tatyana Gritsenko. The conclusion of a commander. The absence of the Interior Troops was not noted. // the newspaper “Vremya Novostey”, 11.10.2007 Ivan Sukhov. Stranger people. The federal staff will establish order in Ingushetia. // The newspaper «Vremya Navostey», 12.10.2007

[71] NEWSru.com, 4.09.2007; IA Kavkaz-uzel, 4.09.2007

[72] RIA Novosti 4.09.2007; IA Kavkaz-uzel,, 4.09.2007

[73] On October 30 at the meeting with the activists of the HRC “Memorial” the Prosecutor Yu. N. Turygin said, that the circle of persons involved in the murders of ethnic minorities representatives on the territory of RI, was established. The suspected persons were declared wanted.

[74] The agency INTERFAX, 7.09.2007 ; REGIONS.RU, 7.09,2007

[81] The neighbors contacted by phone Ruslan’s mother, Zoya Alaudinovna Barayeva and reported that her son was detained. The mother of Ruslan lives in the district Zavodkoy of the city of Grozny (33, Novosibirskya St., ap. 198). According to Zoya Barayeva, this abduction of Ruslan was not the first one. He had been persecuted for a long time because of his family connections with Arbi Barayev (the last name of Ruslan was that of his father - Barayev ).In February 2000 he was detained in the village of Rochni-Chu of the Chechen Republic, were he lived at his relatives’ home. From 10 to 12 April of 2000 Ruslan was detained in the Urus-Martan’s commandant's office, were he was beaten and tortured with the electric current. According to “siloviks”, Ruslan was released on the amnesty. Any official documents acknowledging the fact of the amnesty were not given to Ruslan. Fearing, he failed to go back to the commandant’s office and to obtain the delivery of a document on the amnesty. After being released, he changed his father’s last name to his mother’s maiden name – Arsanukayev. Ruslan himself argues that ‘he has only changed his family name legally”. In 2003, not feeling in safety in his motherland, he leaved the Russian Federation. Together with his wife he leaved for Czech Republic, obtained the refugee’s status. There he has lived for 3 years, which the first six month spent in a hospital – there was the consequences of the torture in the commandant’s office. In June 2006 he was deported from the Czech Republic because of a common quarrel with his wife. In the night to the September 2, 2006 Arsunkayev-Barayev was abducted by officers of a security agency of the Shalinsk’s district of the Chechen Republic. One day later, after being “treated” and attempted to be convinced to “cooperate”, he was released.

[82] «The alleged militant from the band of Barayev was detained in Ingushetia» (RIA Novosti, the information of 13:29 on December 14, 2007, with the reference to “a source in the law enforcement agencies of the Republic”, - of Ingushetia, from the context followed that it was told about Ingushetia).

[83] The hand-written statement of Ruslan Arsanukayev to the HRC “Memorial” of March 3, 2008 sent by him from the detention facility of Grozny (FGU-IZ-20/1), outg. № 354.

[84] The train № 166 Moscow-Saint-Petersburg blown up on August 13, 2007 , подорванного on the span Burga – Malaya Vishera of the Oktyabrsky railway. Then an electric locomotive and 12 wagons were derailed, and, according to the official information, 60 of 217 passengers were injured, more than 30 of them taken into near located hospitals in Mlaya Vishera, There were no victims. The criminal case was instituted on the fact of the train crash on the article “terrorism”.In the investigation of the case of “Nevsky Express” the “Ingush deviation” becomes more and more evident. Firstly two anarchists from St-Petersburg Andrey Kalenov and Denis Zelenyuk and one person originally from Chechnya -Khassan Didigov were detained. In September Kalenov and Zelenyuk were released but documents proving the end of the criminal persecution were delivered them only in late January 2008. Didigov was also released against the statement not to leave, but shortly afterwards detained again as suspected in roberry. On October 23 the new suspected were detained in Ingushetia: brothers Amirkhan and Maksharip Khidriyev, residents of the village Yekazhevo of the RI. They were transferred in Moscow and than in Novgorod’s region. The lawyer of Maksharip Khidriyev stated that his client provided to te investigators a list of witnesses which could confirm that on the day of the terrorist act he had not been to Malovishera’s region, but the investigation refuse to check his alibi. A lawyer, hired by relatives of Khidriyev, was not allowed to see his client.

[85] To the administration of the Central municipal district of Nazran and in the administration of Nazran.

[86] According to eyewitnesses, the people carrying the banner in front of the column were younger than 12 years.

[87] Fifteen cars, a hundred of personal computers and laptops, a thousand of mobile phones, three hundred of Hadji-trips are an incredible richness for Ingushetia.

[88] Only the next day a photo correspondent of the news agency “RIA Novosti” Said-Hussien Tsarnayev and the correspondent of the newspaper “Zizn za nadelyu” and “Tvoy den” Mustafa Kurskiyev were released thanks to the prostests of journalists and human rights activists. The absurd charges of ransom were dismissed of them. It is turned out that both were beaten by police officers at the detention.

[89] According to this law, the main duty of the authorities is to provide the order and the security of citizens, incl. the participants of the rally – the Art. 12, part.1,.5 of the federal law № 54.