Maly Karetny pereulok, 12
ò. (495) 225-31-18
Web-site: http://www.memo.ru/
Bulletin by
The situation in
Winter 2007-2008 – early March 2008
1. Armed confrontations in North
Caucasus
2. Abductions and shootings
continue.
4. Politics in Ingushetia: No-Rules
Fighting
5. Progress and Problems with
Reconstruction in Chechnya
7.
Nalchik: the death of one defendant, lawlessness pressure on the family of
another defendant
9. Recent decisions of the European
Court of Human Rights.
10. Human rights organizations and
the authorities.
The armed confrontations continue in
Insurgents have firm control only
over a small piece of territory in the
At that it is possible to note that
armed militants against the
It is still impossible to give any substantial estimation of number of people and
resources of militants, if we base on different statements given by “siloviks”
of diverse departments and diverse levels. The difference in the estimations of
number and of the level of organization of militants is too large. Like all
previous years, the officials are speculating with number of militants doing so
in the interests of one or another security agency. The federal militaries
counted up to 440 militants people on the
The scale of operational activities of the
bodies of the Ministry of the Interior over the past year is still serious.
According to the Major-General Vyacheslav
Kuzmin, representative of the Ministry of the Interior, over the past year
only in Chechnya 28 chiefs of band-groups and 164 militants, including the
"commanders of the fronts" Batayev,
Mutiyev, Khalilov had been “neutralized" (that means, physically
destroyed). Another 735 militants were detained. In doing so, 329 bases of
militants and 676 caches of weapons and ammunition were eliminated, 867 pieces
of small arms, 409 grenade launchers and 7656 cartridges for them, 31
flame-thrower, 15 anti-tank guided missiles, about 2000 hand grenades, more
than 11500 shells and mines,
Meanwhile, the virtual proclaimed last autumn
Islamic state "Imarat Caucasus" is still existing.
His head, Dokku Umarov, now called
with a religious name Abu Usman,
made a long inspection trip throughout "vilayyets" of Ichkeria and
Ingushetia, during which he visited the cities of Dzhohar (
The separatists’ websites are still full of
sharp disputes between supporters and opponents of the new course of Dokku Umarov to establish a
During the winter of 2007/2008 the intensity of the military clashes between federal and local “siloviks” from the
one hand and militants from the other hand was considerably high, though
it was significantly lower than last autumn. Officially it was announced that
only in Chechnya and only in January 2008 18 militants were
killed and 51 people suspected of involvement in illegal armed groups were
arrested (IA Rosbalt, 2.2.2008). The
losses of Russian “siloviks” can be estimated on announcements of the news
agencies, collected on the website "Voinenet.ru".
According to its information, in the winter of 2006/2007 in the North Caucasus 42 representatives of security agencies
were killed and 85 injured, including
18 killed and 40 injured people in Chechnya, 11 killed and 24 injured in
Ingushetia, 7 killed and 18 injured in Dagestan, 3 killed and 3 injured in
Kabardino-Balkaria, 2 killed in Karachevo-Cherkessia and 1 killed in North
Ossetia.
Compared with autumn season in 2007, when 61
people were killed and 132 injured, the number of victims of terrorist attacks
and militant clashes dropped by one and a half times, but it is considerably
higher than the same number for the last winter 2006/2007: 25 killed and 70
injured people (see the relevant
bulletins by Memorial": www.memo.ru/2007/12/27/2712071.html
, www.memo.ru/2007/03/14/1403072.html).
Thus, it is impossible to talk about a sharp reduction in number of
militant clashes and attacks on soldiers.
There are a few typical episodes.
On January 15, during a special operation carried out in
On January
near the
On January
On January
The fact of presence of the Interim Operational
Grouping of MVD in Shatoy’s district proved its unstable environment. For
example, this kind of institution were abolished "on
the plane" about three years ago, and all of the powers were transferred
to permanent police offices, staffed by officers of Ministry of the Interior
from among local residents. It is even more surprising that they, as it was
reported, were going to the plains, to the base of federal forces in Khankala
in order to take provisions and firewood (!). The latter indicates the degree
of control on the territory taken by federal forces: if it is true, they do not
dare to go to the mountainous villages to bring firewood.
On January 29, the situated on the plain the
The Acting Commander of the Joint Grouping,
Lieutenant-General Vinogradov
reported at the meeting with Ramzan
Kadyrov that in the evening of 28 January in the outskirts of Bamut a military clash occurred: the
intelligence group of federal forces from the 10th detached brigade of the special police
of the General Intelligence Agency was involved into clashes with "an
avant-garde of an unidentified band group of 8-10 people. " One officer
was killed, three were seriously injured. The gunners – the howitzer battery –
should "cut off the path of alleged retreat of militants to the woodland
in direction of Ingushetia." A
spotter committed an error and shells flew in directly opposite side. The
criminal case was not initiated because no one of the inhabitants of Gekhi was
killed, and officers promised to repair the damage.
In Ingushetia, the attacks of militants
occurred regularly.
Thus, on
December
In the morning of December
27 on the road between the
villages of Surhahi and Ekazhevo of
Nazran’s district unidentified persons fired the car "UAZ" with
automatic weapons, carrying the following officers: Colonel Sergei Ivashchenko, Maj. Oleg Stukalov, soldiers Edward Kozhmutdinov and Konstantin Piminov. Stukalov and Piminov died at the scene, Ivashenko
was taken to a military hospital
in Vladikavkaz. According to the Ministry of the Interior of Ingushetia, the
officers served in the military unit 3724 deployed in the
Militants attacked also the civilian
authorities. It happened the most frequently in Ingushetia. Thus, on December
In winter and early spring the
"siloviks" of high level had been subjected to attacks in another two republics.
In the evening of January
On March 7,
also late in the evening, in Vladikavkaz Mark
Metsayev, head of the UBOP of the Ministry of the Interior of North Ossetia
was shot. His car was fired after unidentified people organized a car accident
with the car of Metsaev in the
centre of the city. One suspect, whose name is not to be disclosed, was
arrested at the scene (RIA Novosti, 9.3.2008).
The "Siloviks", in their
turn, keep using the chosen long time ago tactic - the blockade of the
households and apartment houses, in which militants were trying to hide, with
their subsequent destruction by massive use of all possible firing means,
including tanks. The main purpose of such actions is to minimize the own losses
of law enforcers. Often they don’t consider as necessary to take care of the
inhabitants of neighboring apartments and houses. According to the
The special attention should be paid to the
lasting for several months the special operation in Untsukulsk’s district of Dagestan, its epicentre is the
Since December
15, 2007 by the decision of the National Anti-Terrorist Committee of the
The village was blocked from all sides by
officers of security agencies. They visited each house to check the passport
regime and conducted operational-search activities to identify and detain members
of illegal armed groups, to seize any weapons, ammunition and explosives
illegally held by the population.
In mid-January
Curiously, from the beginning the operation was
planned as a long-term siege: already on the first day of the operation,
December 15, it was announced that the operation would last until the situation
stabilizes and "currently the deployment of military camp was carried
out" (RIA "
The major party of his group (8 people) was
destroyed already on November 12,
In February 2008 the residents of the village
were traveling without any restrictions within the limits of their own village,
including by car, but the entry and exit of the village was limited and carried
out according to the lists, daily submitted by the administration of the
countryside and agreed with the head of the special operation at the scene. In
the case of any urgent need, such as an urgent need of hospitalization, the
residents of the village could leave on a simplified procedure.
The blockade of the village of Gimry that
lasted for several months, as well as blocking of the located near the village
five-km long Gimy’s tunnel, one of the main strategic arteries of Dagestan
linking the mountainous regions of the republic with its capital has a negative
impact on socio-economic situation in the region: people have to travel in the
market in order to buy agricultural products and other necessary things making
a big detour of one hundred kilometers more.
According to the official agencies, the
relationship between local residents and policemen normalized, the latter have
even established the provision of water tanks to each house (according to the
website “The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Dagestan",
9.2.2008). At the same time, nobody knows when the operation will end and what
results officers are expecting.
Abductions and special
operations with the use of inappropriate violence, due to the targeted
destruction of suspected militants by members of various law enforcement
agencies in the North Caucasus, although it has significantly decreased in the
past 2007 year (especially in Chechnya), but they are not completely stopped.
There were abductions and special operations with the use of inappropriate
violence in winter of 2007 – 2008 not only in
Kabardino-Balkariya.
On
December
10,
On December 12, 2007 approximately at 11.00 the police
officers came to the uncle of Shavayev and reported that Beslan was being in the UBOP of the Ministry of the Interior of
Kabardino-Balkaria and that he would be released soon. However, it was stated
in the UBOP to the relatives of Shavayev that Beslan was not there and he had
never been there. As for March 2008, the whereabouts of young man were unknown.
(www.memo.ru/2007/12/19/1912072.html).
Another case was recorded in the town of
The guest was released
on the street, and Hutiyev was taken
in a car and driven away to an unknown destination. As of March 2008, the
Daoud’s whereabouts were also unknown. According to the mother, her son
committed nothing illegal and his unique hobby in the life was sports. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/02/m119701.htm).
Ingushetia.
Here, the abductions and
extrajudicial executions of young people by officers of security agencies are
one of the most serious destabilizing factors. Every new case causes protests
actions of local residents. The most frequent are the so-called "special
operations", during which the young people are aiming shot in the street
and then declared militants. Then it is no longer possible to prove the
contrary. Usually the officers make no attempts to detain them.
Thus, in the evening of January
According to their
relatives, Mutsolgov and Nalgiyev were not wanted, they had peaceful
occupations. Mutsolgov was officer of the Pension Fund. Relatives do not
exclude that their deaths could be due to a car VAZ-21012, which Dzhabrail Mutsolgov bought only a few
days before death. Shortly before, a post office in Nazran was fired from a
similar car. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/01/m119986.htm
).
A few days later, on
February 1 at about 13 hours Yusup Chapanov was shot in Bazorkin avenue in Nazran. He was
returning from the mosque after Friday prayers. According to the
On February 2, Piotr Pronko, press secretary of UFSB of Ingushetia said in an
interview to the radio "Echo of Moscow" that all operations in
Ingushetia had been carried out on the personal instructions of the President
of Russia Vladimir Putin. Literally
he said: "Due to the fact that we should stop, let's say, the existence of
militants in the Republic of Ingushetia, we have already rubbed three of them
out in the outhouse, in the words of President Vladimir Vladimirovich (
"rubbed out” were Mutsolgov,
Nalgiev and Chapanov – HRC "Memorial").
Such cynicism of the State
representative in the actual tense atmosphere in Ingushetia can be described
only as provocative.
On
December
According to the neighbors, at
about noon the car VAZ-2107 (registration number 95, the first administrative
region) arrived to the Ruslan’s house carrying four people (one was dressed in
civilian clothes, others in police uniform, they spoke Chechen). They took
Ruslan away to an unknown destination. Siloviks said to one of the neighbors
that they detained Ruslan because he hided under a different name. Where he
would be delivered, what of security agencies detained him, they did not say.
Within several days, the relatives could not know anything about the fate of
Ruslan Arsanukaev.
Meanwhile, on December 14, RIA Novosti
reported with reference to the law enforcement agencies that on
December
After learning about the abduction
of Ruslan, his mother, Zoya Baraeva,
appealed to the territorial police department of the
In fact, Arsanukayev was detained
by officers of the deployed on the territory of the
In winter, the news of
the mass violence against defendants in temporary detention facilities (IVS) in
Nazran were added to the facts of abductions and
extrajudicial shootings in Ingushetia. On February 19, the office of
"Memorial" has received at once 17 complaints of defendants about the
fact of their mass beatings occurred on February
15. "Masked men visit us in IVS, provoke us, humiliate and insult,
call as bandits and vahabists. They apply physical force to us. Because of our
powerlessness we have to divulgate it. There is no defendant or person under
investigation, who would not be subjected to physical beating or insulting
"- writes the defendant Murat
Esmurziyev. He said beatings occurred regularly. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/02/m120621.htm
).
In Ingushetia, many people believe that
a certain degree of tension is maintained deliberately by traveling on mission
officers of the security forces, because their business mission is relatively
well paid. The massive hours-long attacks of households give even more revenue
to the officers of the security services. (Vlast, 4.2.2008).
Despite a significant decrease of
the number of abductions in
On February
On January 28, at
Perhaps the abduction is due to the
fact that already in 2003, the
police seized his passport for verification when he traveled. Heard about the
detention and torture of Chechens, Beslan was frightened and
escaped. He returned home and his passport remained at police officers’. Since
then, the law enforcers have shown no interest to him. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/01/m116415.htm).
As of April 2008, the whereabouts of Elmurzaev
is unknown.
On January
13,
The problem of abductions in the
In winter 2007/2008 the Human Rights Organizations monitored the
abduction of two young men and an attempt of abduction of another one.
On the night of January 31,
On the night of February 7 abductors released the young men near their
home, throwing them to ground. Both had black bags put on their heads. Kamalutdinov
and Omarov do not know nor who had abducted them neither where they were
detained. According to their words, they had been detained for about two days
in a certain building at the seaboard, constantly having bags on the heads.
After that, Kamalutdinov and Omarov had been brought to
another place. Many
typical details pointed that it was located somewhere in
“As we pray and respect the religious ceremonies, they tried to
clarify, what connections did we have in the religious
sphere. During the questioning they applied illegal methods of conduction of
investigative actions. They beat me on kidneys, head,
in groin with a flask filled with water so that no traces of beating appear.
They tried to pull out my nails with pliers. Tthey put a gas-mask on my head. In
addition, they threatened to put a gun in my hands and to conduct a special
operation with the typical end, that means, to destroy me”, - D. Kamalutdinov said after being
released (Kavkaz-uzel,
23.2.2008).
Over the past six months the problem of
abductions in Daghestan has become publicly known thanks the activity of the
relatives of abductees and the public committee "Mother of Dagestan for
human rights". Thus, "Mother
of Dagestan" tried to attract the maximum public attention to the case of
the disappearance of Kamaludinov and Omarov. They brought the situation
to the notice of the President of
The representative of the committee
"Mother of
The Prosecutor's Office
of the
According to the
information received by a correspondent of "Kavkaz-uzel" in the
Prosecutor's office of the
In the last issue of our
newsletter, we reported (http://www.memo.ru/2007/12/27/2712071.htm#_11._Ïîëîæåíèå_â) that Iliyas Dibirov, arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Illegal
armed groups (www.memo.ru/2007/12/18/1812071.html) had been
subjected to severe torture for more than a month in November and the first half December 2007. Dibirov had been
regularly transported from one place to another, detained in many different
temporary detention facilities and detention centers (in the towns of Izberbash,
At that time Dibirov had
been detained in the detention center of
It will be recalled that
that Iliyas Dibirov’s brother Ramaz was abducted in April 2007 (see: www.memo.ru/2007/09/09/0909071.htm), and his whereabouts is unknown
so far.
Amidst these circumstances of the
ongoing armed confrontation for the leaders of the North Caucasian republics is
was especially important to show to Moscow that they took control over the
situation. The election campaign is a traditional way for local elites to
demonstrate loyalty and the control over the population. At the same time, the
fact that each agency pursues its own ends leads to the absurd results of election.
These results let doubt any independent analyst or just a reasonable man.
In December 2007, at the elections
to the State Duma of the
Such a crushing victory of "United
Russia" has a big practical importance for the North Caucasian republics.
The number of deputies that will represent the republic in the State Duma
depends directly on the numbers of votes received by a Party. For example,
almost 100% - victory of "United Russia" in
These truly fantastic turnout and victory of
"United Russia" do not discomfort neither local nor central
authorities. All the presidents, vying with each other, thanked the republican
electoral commissions for their "professional work". The president of
the election commission of
The federal officials attributed this
hyperactivity of the population of the North Caucasian republics and the
incredible success of "United Russia" to the rising optimism among
the local population, thankful to this party and the Government for the life
that started going right. Vladimir Putin, during his press conference on February 14, commenting to a French
newspaper "Figaro" on the outcome of elections in
The head of the CEC V. Churov found
his original explanation of the phenomenal turnout of voters in
Only occasionally, attacked by
Russian and Western liberal press, officials made any revealing slip of the tongue. "Do you know at least one
region where elections were fair?", - asked the press secretary of the
National Assembly of Ingushetia Mussa Kostoev. After receiving a negative
answer from a correspondent of the website Sobkor.ru, he continued: "Neither am I. Therefore, I think that
it is not necessary to pay attention to this". (Sobkor ® ru, 4.2.2008).
The Human rights activist Kovalev S.A commented the outcome of
Duma elections in the
In the
Just after that, in January, Timur
Aliyev became an advisor of the President of Chechnya and already in
Assessing the outcome of the current
elections, the comparison with the presidential elections in virtually
independent Ichkeriya ten years ago can be mentioned. Then the elections were
far from the democratic rules: several powerful candidates were suspended from
participating in the elections, hundreds of thousands of Russian-speaking
refugees did not vote. At the same time, then, in 1997, the activists of
"Memorial" - S. Kovalev and A.
Cherkasov, and many others had personally witnessed the people's genuine
enthusiasm, reinforced with the feeling of the recent victory. But Aslan
Maskhadov’s victory was not unconditional – he got 59.3% of votes at the
turnout of 79%.
The Churov’s prophecy about the
calming down of the electorate came true. The elections of the president of
Ingushetia was perhaps the
only region in
The polling for the elections to the
State Duma took place shortly after the rally on November 24 was dispersed
by force. The atmosphere in the Republic was very tense.
On December 3, an expected result was declared:
voter turnout had been 98,32%, from which 98,72% voted
for the “United Russia” party. According to the Election Commission of
Ingushetia, 161,470 voters of the total 164,275 voted for “United Russia”
(official website of the Central Election Commission of Russia). According to
this statistic, then, only 2805 of voters had not voted. Neither the number of
residents of Ingushetia who were outside of the Republic on December 2, nor the
number of those people who could not come to vote because of sickness and other
objective reasons, were taken into account. The opposition could not remain indifferent to
such blatantly scandalous matters. Just after the announcement of the election
result, Magomed Yevloyev, owner of
the website “Ingushetiya.ru” and one of the leaders of the Ingush opposition,
initiated an operation called “I did not vote.” According to Yevloyev, about
700 volunteers participated in it. They visited houses in cities and villages
and collected 88 000 signatures (up to 54% of voters), stating that they
did not vote. According to Magomed
Yevloyev, all the collected signatures were notarized.
Journalists tried to attract the
attention of the highest Russian officials from the Central Elections Committee
and the State Duma to this initiative. But the officials demonstrated
intentional negligence: the legal procedures for the protest of electoral
results do not include such actions, so this initiative can not elicit any
legal consequences.
It should be also noted that this
action was considerably discredited: for some reason, its initiators did not
transmit their results any further. They did not send the collected signatures
to the General Prosecution or to the Central Elections Committee.The longer the
signed application forms remain “kept in a safe place,” the more doubts arise,
held even by persons sympathizing with the Ingush opposition. Such a
large-scale collection of signatures, as was claimed by the initiators of the
operation, cannot be carried out in secret and without being noticed by casual
observers. But the human rights activists from “Memorial” working in Ingushetia
met neither the volunteers collecting signatures nor the people contacted by
them. Later, in March 2008, the organizer of the operation, Magomed Yevloyev explained its unclear
end saying that the opposition was satisfied by the deputy elected to the State
Duma from Ingushetia, Belan Khamchiyev (“he is a quite worthy man. If we fight for
the cancellation of the results of the elections, we will risk loosing him as a
deputy”) (“Kavkaz-uzel”, 4.3.2008)
The opposition forces in Ingushetia,
headed by businessmen Maksharip Aushev and Magomed Yevloyev, try to use various
possible tactics for their political struggle.. This
effort became particularly apparent during the organization and forced
dispersion of the rally on January
The rally was far from the ideals of
peaceful political activity. Dubious methods were used to attract people. A
“charitable” (indeed, free) lottery was announced, advertising the raffling off
of a great number of gifts at the rally: 15 cars, one hundred computers and the
same number of laptops, a thousand mobile phones, three hundred hajj
pilgrimages – an unprecedented richness for
Ingushetia ((www.memo.ru/2008/01/29/2901082.htm). All these advertised material goods fit poorly
with other appeals to go to the rally in order to struggle for transparent
elections and against abductions of people.
The organizers of the rally took
into account the experiences of previous protests. In accordance with legal requirements,
they submitted a notification on time regarding their intention to take the
rally to the authorized government body. In response, the authorities did
everything in their power to prevent the event: they did not accept the
notification about the rally, and they stated that the square “Soglasiya” in Nazran, the planned location for the rally,
was too small for it. The authorities also issued a warning on an allegedly
prepared terrorist act and held preventative talks with the organizers. Nothing
helped. In connection with the alleged violations of the law during the popular
agitation, as found by the Prosecution, the administrative case regarding Maksharip Aushev was instituted on part
1 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation
(“Violation of the established organizational order or the assembly of a
meeting, rally, manifestation, procession or vigil”).
Finally, on the morning on January 25 the
UFSB for Ingushetia declared a part of the
On the morning of January 26 the square “Soglasiya” and the streets leading to it were
blocked by security officers and armored vehicles. At 10:30 a big column of
demonstrators approached the square – up to 200 people, most of whom were young
people and teenagers. “Siloviki” stopped the column and began to press the
crowd back using batons. When OMON (the riot police) forced out the front line
of demonstrators, other people started to pull out prepared bags of stones and
petrol bombs. Policemen opened fire into the air, also using tear-gas and tasers. Several persons were detained. Some teenagers,
dispersed near adjacent buildings, tried again to approach the square. They
threw stones and petrol bombs at the policemen. In response, the policemen
continued firing into the air and beat the detainees.
Soon two buildings near the square
Soglasiya came under fire: the office of the newspaper “Serdalo’ and the hotel
“Assa.” The first was burnt down, and the second did not suffer too serious
damage. Journalists covering the event and human rights activists present for
the action were forcibly isolated, a tactic previously used during the November
rally. Attempts to take photos or videos were prevented. In particular, the
employees of the Nazran office of the HRC “Memorial,” Tamerlan Akiyev and Yekaterina
Sokiryanskaya, were detained. They were detained in GOVD until late at the
evening together with many journalists of radio and TV-channels (Danil Galperovich (radio “Liberty”), Vladimir Varfolomeyev and Roman Plyussov (radio “Echo of
Moscow”), Olga Bobrova (newspaper
“Novaya gazeta”), Mustafa Kurkiyev (newspapers
“Tvoy den” and “Zhizn za nedelyu”), Said-Hussein
Tsarnayev (news agency “RIA Novosti”) and others). Policemen interrogated
the detainees in the GOVD, took fingerprints and tested hands for traces of
kerosene and explosives. During the questioning the FSB officers and the
officers of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigation Committee by the
Prosecution of the Russian Federation on Ingushetia asked not only for details
of the rally but also about the professional activity of the human rights
activists, their wages etc. Only after many phone calls by Svetlanga Gannushkina, a member of Memorial’s Directorate, to the Prosecution of Ingushetia, were lawyers of
“Memorial” allowed to see the detained human rights activists, who were
subsequently released. However, eight detained journalists were forcibly taken
to
In total, 48 people were detained on
that day in Nazran on suspicion of involvement in the mass riots.
Administrative case statements were drawn up regarding 39 of them. 7 of the
detainees turned out to be minors, so administrative cases were instituted
against their parents (neglect of their parental duty
to support and to bring up their children). 19 detainees were brought to the
administrative responsibility according to Part 2 of Art. 20.2 of the Administrative Code of the
The pursuit of the organizers
of the rally, Magomed Yevloyev and Maksharip Aushev, very popular in
Ingushetia, began immediately after the break-up of the rally. Yevloyev is
currently living in
The arrest of Maksharip Aushev, who
is, for many people, a symbol of the opposition to the power of the Ingush
authorities and the arbitrariness of the siloviki,
will only lead to a new escalation of confrontation in the republic. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/02/m120109.htm). Earlier, on February 13, the
brother of Maksharip Aushev's wife, Magomed Yevloyev, full namesake of
the owner of the website "Ingushetiya.Ru" was abducted in similar
way. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/02/m120108.htm).
On February 15, the court granted a request for
their arrest. Both are contained in the temporary detention facility of
Already on the
night of 13 to 14 February, immediately after the arrest of
Magomed Yevloyev, a spontaneous action of occured in Nazran. The demonstrators, believing that
the abducted was the owner of the website "Ingushetia.Ru," went to
Magas but were stopped and met by the Minister of the Interior, Moussa Medov.
He promised that Yevloyev would be released the next morning, which never
happened.
Shortly after the detention of
Maksharip Aushev a new protest action was announced in Ingushetia. It was
scheduled for early March, after the elections. However, when organizers
brought a notice about the upcoming rally to the authorities, they refused
point-blank to accept it for receipt (i.e., they refused to be notified) (Ingushetiya.Ru,
18.2.2008)
On March 2, at the same time as the elections
of the Russian President, the elections to the People's Assembly, the
Republican legislative body in Ingushetia, had been appointed. The election
campaign was conducted with the absolute rule of the "United Russia",
the "party of power", while the remaining parties followed its lead.
On occasion, they sharply criticized the organizers of the street actions. The
local branch of the party "Yabloko" was withdrawn from the election
campaign, though, granted, it was virtually unnoticed by voters to begin with,
and, secondly, it is difficult to name it opposition, because it has never made
any attempt to interact with the protest movement. The real opposition in
Ingushetia has been marginalized - it exists outside the parties and the
elections. The opposition is convinced that the election results in the
People's Assembly had been approved by "up to ten percent" and the
deputy seats were distributed in advance.
Some observers talk about the obvious
teip nature of the current confrontation in Ingushetia: the authorities are
from one teip, while other teips are without power and privileges in business,
and as result the struggle between different teips overrides the political
struggle. Journalists are naturally looking for the usual simple explanations -
especially since the pre-election struggle between the parties turned into a
farce, and the idea of the Vainakh people is being reduced to the cliché : "there they have teips and
family clans that decide everything".
On
the other hand, the local opposition activists, in their search for new forms
of struggle, have not
only implemented modern methods (rallies, monitoring of elections) but also
local traditions. The claims against the electoral process were often
formulated in traditional terms and concepts. Thus, it was argued that the
representatives of the teip of the Yevloyevs held the 24th and 25th seats (of a
total 27 seats in parliament) and the representatives of many other teips had
not been included to the list of "United Russia" at all. "In Ingushetia there have
always been dominating teips and people employing authority over their fellow
citizens. None of them are elected to the new People's Assembly. But, to make
up for this, those who are elected do not have any influence and end up,
representing the interests of one or two people in the republic ", -
stated the outraged Magomed Hazbiyev, one of the opposition leaders
belonging to the teip of the Nalgievs,
excluded from the lists of the " United Russia "(expert,
25.2 .2008). .
Traditional notions have been used
not only to describe the situation, but also in the activities of the
opposition. Lacking practically any legitimate methods of political struggle,
the oppositionists started a legally dubious action - the elections of "an
alternative People's Assembly" at a teips meeting. During February, the
meetings of the Aushevs, Evloevs, Kartoevs, Haluhaevs, Sultygovs, Ozdoevs,
Nalgievs, Kotievs, Kodzoevs etc teips took place. According to the website
"Ingushetiya.Ru", hundreds of people participated in each meeting,
publicly expressing their mistrust towards the President Zyazikov. They elected
their own Delegate (once called "a deputy of the National Assembly").
However, some residents of Ingushetia, belonging to the listed teips, were not
aware of the meetings - they said, "maybe
those gathered at the meetings were people belonging to one teip not from all
over the republic, but from one or a few villages." All the elected
"deputies" were proposed to the government for incorporation into the
future People's Assembly, - otherwise the organizers of these actions
threatened to proclaim their own "alternative People's Assembly" and
"work independently, as councils of elders worked in the past " (Ingushetiya.Ru, 9.2.2008 ; Sobkor ® ru,
4.2.2008, expert, 25.2.2008).
The opposition appealed also to
other Vainakh traditions. Thus, after the arrest of Maksharip
Aushev. the delegation of the teip of the
Aushevs visited the families Zyazikov and Medovs, asking them to release their
relatives. In response, the home of Magomed Aushev, father of Maksharip Aushev,
was visited by about fifty policemen, trying to detain the head of the family,
but they were pushed out by numerous representatives of the Aushevs
(Ingushetiya.Ru, 15.2.2008; www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/02/m120107.htm).
Naturally, the growth of socio-political tensions in the republic did not
remain unnoticed in the Kremlin. Officials at the federal level became regular
visitors of Ingushetia, and the results of visits, in a public statement, have
been favorable to the leadership of Ingushetia. Thus, Sergei Stepashin, chairman of the Accounting Chamber, described to
Vladimir Putin the results of the visit to Ingushetia on 21-22 January, and he
also noted the effectiveness of development programs operating there (site of
RF Audit Chamber, 22 and 25.1.2008).
Thus, the federal center has clearly
identified its attitude towards the situation in the republic – they will not
yield to the pressure from below.
Feeling strong support, the
president of Ingushetia, as before, has regularly expressed optimism for
Ingushetia’s economic achievements and the construction of buildings for social
institutions and industrial facilities. On February 26, the decree of the
President of RF Murat Zyazikov was awarded with a decoration
"For Services to the Motherland" of the IIIth degree - with the
wording "for his outstanding
contribution to the socio-economic development of the republic and many years
of fruitful work".
The Ingush authorities did not meet
the requirements of the opposition and elections to the People's Assembly were
held on
March
The oppositionists reiterated that they
carefully counted all voters, arrived at the polling stations, and they counted
a bit over 5700 people. (3.5%).
The staff members of the office of HRC
"Memorial" in Nazran watching the recent developments in the Republic
believe that both the authorities and the opposition allow clear exaggerations
in their propaganda war. On March 2, the turnout of voters
has hardly reached 90%, but it was obviously more than 3.5%: the authorities
have taken into account the extremely low turnout at the December elections to
the State Duma and this time voting by students, public sector workers and
state officials was assured.
On March 8 “The 5th first emergency
Congress of the Ingush people" was appointed. The authorities strongly
opposed the assembly, - so, two active organizers of the congress, Gilani Imagozhev and Magomed Hazbiev were arrested and
obliged to pay a fine. According to the Republican prosecutor's office,
"the Congress should be convened by the President of the Republic".
The human rights activists had to talk with a person who tried to take part in
the congress of the Ingush people, announced on March 8. All exits of the
original venue (Nazran, Tangieva st., 45)
were blocked by security forces. At another address on Chechenskaya st. in
Nazran, he met only 5 - 6 people. Meanwhile, the website "Ingushetiya.Ru" announced
that the congress was in fact held on that day, not in Nazran, but in the city of
On March 12,
the unexpected dismissal of all Republican government and heads of the
administration of cities and villages by the President of RI Murat Zyazikov was initially perceived
as a result of the confrontation in the winter. Initially a vague statement
about the need to accelerate the regional economic development was announced.
Allegedly, the preceeding government was not able to assume this task. However,
it soon became clear that the dismissal was caused by a rather formal occasion
- the transfer of Mutsolgov,
President of the Government, to work to the Southern Federal District (YUFO).
After that, most officials were reassigned to their former positions.
Assembly production of cars VAZ
2105, VAZ 2107 and VAZ 2109, popular in the
The costs of construction are paid
both from the federal budget and also from extra-budgetary sources, on credit.
Over 11 billion rubles were
allocated to
Thus, the reconstruction
work’s furious pace and wide scale are achieved mainly due to other programs -
for loan borrowing, for investment by businessmen and officials. As one of the
representatives of the society “Spetsstroy of Russia” said to the correspondent
of "Kavkaz-Uzel", "all the
work now carried on restoration is ouside of the law,
it is made not under Labour, but under the Penal Code. The republic is being
built thanks to loans and borrowing from outside of the program. This is, one can say, a diversion of public funds "(ibid.)
Under such a structure,
in addition to the possibilities for abuse, problems with the financing of
construction projects arise regularly. Thus, the restoration of Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny,
suspended in the early summer of 2007 because of the
non-payment of salaries to the workers, had been restarted only in February
2008 (Kavakaz-uzel, 14.2.2008). The problem of arrears of wages for
builders is still grave. According to the "Kavkaz-uzel",
quite a large number of workers have not been paid their wages for 2007
("Kavkaz-uzel", 24.12.2007). According to official statistics, the
arrears of wages in
At the same time as the
accelerated construction of houses, the fight against TACs (temporary
accommodation centers) has entered its final phase. The TACs are considered by
the leadership of the Republic as a breeding-ground of crime and drug
addiction. The premises of the TACs are in poor operational condition. In
winter, several inhabitants of TACs located in the Poyarkov and Malgobeksky
streets were resettled (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/01/m119990.htm).
The fate of the
inhabitants of the TACs, perhaps the most miserable citizens of
In March, a few more TACs, located on Dudayev Prospect, 15 / 4, as well as on
On February 23, at a meeting with the
mayor of
In 2008, the subject of
monetary compensation for housing lost during the hostilities is planned to be
virtually closed. The payment of compensations in the amount of 350 thousand
rubles started in 2003, but it was suspended several times in connection with
the massive abuse and extortion by officials, so for those years about 800
criminal cases were brought forward. Currently, there are some 18 thousand
people waiting for compensation, 16 thousand of whom should receive money this
year.
On February 2, it was announced that 318
families living in TACs would receive social housing. Before this, a severe
inspection was carried out, aimed to suppress all sorts of fraud by citizens,
such as pro forma divorce or concealment of existing housing. A special
laboratory to find housing documents has even been purchased, and, just since
early 2008, more than 300 applications have already been rejected.
However, in practice,
the transformation and resettlement of TACs are not only facing difficulties,
but also create new problems. People are tired of moving from place to place,
and they often insist on being granted a permanent residence rather than a temporary
arrangement.
Some families belong to vulnerable categories in need of special care and
attention. Families that have grown during the war and can not live together
are expected to be satisfied with a little compensation to the entire family, or with rebuilt housing where it is no longer
possible to live together. Families that rented houses or lived in dormitories,
who looked forward to being granted an apartment by
their workplace, remain without any support.
Often, families,
resettled from TACs, who were fortunate enough to get apartments, can not
actually live in them, because other tenants claim them. Construction on some
buildings, which are still being worked on, was begun during the
The same problem arises
for those who receive apartments from the so-called "Refused Fund".
Despite the fact that they may even have a physical warrant in their hands,
they often have to go through a lengthy judicial process to protect their right
to housing. Yet, the other party in the process is the owner of the housing,
who acquired it from Russian residents who had escaped from
As a result of the
emergency solution to the problem of resettling the residents of dormitories,
another group of victims has appeared: the owners of the apartments, evicted
from housing they bought. The massive seizure of the "refused"
apartments creates an acute conflict situation around the resettlement of
residents of dormitories and has led to the increased social tensions.
The Human Rights Center
"Memorial" has received, from the UNHCR, a list of 62 families to
whom the authorities have allocated flats. According to this list, there are
problems with 31 flats from this list - people live in them. Another four
families have contacted "Memorial" directly. The staff members of HRC
"Memorial" visited 35 addresses. 15 apartments are questionable. That
means, two or more families have claims to them, or the apartments already have
legitimate owners. 8 apartments were unfit for habitation without major
repairs. Some of the apartments are currently being repaired, so people can not
move into them in the near future. It is possible that, after the repair of
these apartments, other legitimate hosts will also appear. Two families are
still living in dormitories and waiting for their promised apartments. At 9
addresses, the activists of the HRC “Memorial” were unable to
find people nor find out anything about their allocated housing. Only
one family is now living in a repaired allocated apartment.
Thus, indeed, for all
the rapid reconstruction of housing estate and revival of
Recently, an increasingly active
intervention of State power in all aspects of society, including even citizen’s private
lives, has become a notable trend in the
This trend of societal Islamization
has already been noted in our last bulletin for autumn 2007. Now this trend is
only expanding and developing. The teaching of Islam, sharia and Adat is being
introduced in the schools and universities without any prior arrangement.
Headscarves for girls and women are mandatory for all the women working in
official agencies or visiting them. Even
a Russian employee of "Memorial" was asked to put on a headscarf at
the entrance to one of the universities. In response to a request to present a
written order about this policy, the rector for academic work announced: "
A meeting of Ramzan Kadyrov with the leaders of local TV stations of the
The next day, the Russian and
foreign media expanded these statements, particularly noting the connection
between the possible closure of a channel and the lack of religious propaganda on
it. Then the press service of the President disavowed the former press release,
saying that the words of President were incorrectly cited, that perhaps he
mentioned the closure of some channels, but these might be caused by violating
the law on licensing of demonstrating broadcasts.
In doing so, the authorities of the
CR do not realize that the revival of the moral and ethical state of society
can hardly be combined with the cult of personality of the President of
Chechnya on the same television. At least 80% of news stories on all Republic
television channels either directly show the President
of the ChR, or they show stories about his activities. Also, even during pieces
on other subjects, the majority of speakers appearing on
television necessarily insert words of thanks or praise about him.
Journalists and editors seem to compete over who will mention the name of R. Kadyrov more frequently. Television
stations describe, in detail, folk festivals in honor of events from the
private life of the President of ChR. There is also virtually no criticism of,
or even problematic stories about, life in the Republic.
However, it should be noted that in
January 2008, Republic authorities have, once again, launched a campaign
against the domination of portraits of Ramzan
Kadyrov on the streets and roads of
This time, some of the portraits,
have actually been withdrawn from the streets. However, a large number of
portraits of various sizes are hanging anyway.
On March
The court has been postponed many
times, and the hearings on the merits of the case have not begun yet. The
suspension of many months is due to the request of the defense to verify the
facts that during the investigation the confessions of the accused people were
received using illegal methods. The lawyers of the defendants have said that
all their complaints of torture applied during the investigation were rejected by
prosecutors.
Meanwhile, the long delay in the
trial was marked by two events allowing the suggestion that the complaints
about the use of illegal methods against the defendants have a basis and are
still important now.
One of the defendants, Bolov Valery Ruslanovich, died from a
severe, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis. There is reason to believe that the
deadly disease of the defendant has evolved during the investigation and became
incurable because of a lack of necessary medical assistance to him. According
to the information of the Human Rights Center "Memorial", Bolov, accused of involvement in the
attack on a regiment of the Patrol Service of the Ministry of the Interior of
the city of Nalchik of Kabardino-Balkaria on October 13, 2005, had, before his
detention been sick with a non-dangerous form of hepatitis, which, while in
detention degenerated into Hepatitis C. Bolov
was not provided any medical assistance, despite his repeated requests.
Consequently, this disease has caused liver cirrhosis. The diagnosis of
hepatitis C and liver cirrhosis was established for Bolov, already arrested, during the investigation activities only a
month before his death, when it was already impossible to provide any effective
medical care. His measure of preventive punishment was changed on the written
undertaking to remain in detention, but on 16 February Bolov died. It should be noted that beatings, of which many other
defendants complained, can contribute to the development of cirrhosis from
hepatitis C.
The Valery Bolov’s lawyer plans to continue to participate in the
process and achieve his full rehabilitation as an innocent defendant.
Meanwhile, according to the lawyers of the defendants, several more people
suffer from the same disease that Bolov did: Kasiyev, Kudayev, Sasikov and others, but no help is being provided
to them.
There is information about
unprecedented severe pressure on the family of another defendant, Rasul Kudayev. On February 14, 2007 at about 12 p.m. in the suburb of
Fatima Tekayeva was taken to the premises of the Centre "T" (the structure in
the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the
At the same time, the employees of
security agencies entered Tekayeva’s house. Her son Arsen Mokaev was also
illegally detained, taken to the center "T" and beaten.
The following objects were seized from their home: a computer, religious books,
documents, including medical ones, letters and even 524 volumes of the
indictment in the case of Rasul Kudayev.
Search and seizure were conducted in violation of procedural rules.
The collected evidence allows for the suggestion, with a high degree of
certainty, that the law enforcement officials were preparing a provocation
towards the illegally detained mother and son. Perhaps the law enforcement
officials should have "found" ammunition in the courtyard of the
house. But, thanks to the neighbors of Fatima
Tekayeva and Arsen Mokayev, this
provocation against them failed.
Defending her son, Fatima Tekayeva has communicated with
many Russian and foreign journalists, human rights organizations. She is
constantly drawing attention to the facts of the violations of human rights
that have occurred during the investigation of the attacks on public
institutions in the city of
It should be remembered that Rasul Kudayev is a former prisoner of
the U.S. Guantanamo base. He was transferred to
Since the beginning of the legal
process itself is constantly delayed, the media mainly cover events related to
the case. Notably, most of these relate to human rights issues. The last of
them was a complaint on March 5 by one of the defendants, Zaur Tohov, stating that officers of
PTDC tried to strangle him (the names of the officers are mentioned). The
result is typical: On March 19
On February 8, 2008 the
garrison military court of Grozny passed its sentence on the case of Alexey Korgun, the Lieutenant of the
Internal Troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. On
March 24, 2007, the intelligence group of the Internal
troops under the command of Korgun bombarded three local residents in woodland
near the
The court passed an accusatory sentence
but inflicted only conditional punishment on Korgun - 3 years of imprisonment,
which outraged many residents of
On December 27, 2007 the trial on Arakcheyev and Hudyakov, officers of Internal Troops
of RF accused in the shootings on January
15, 2003 of three residents of
The investigation into the
case of the undermining of the train "Nevsky Express" has continued. On December 13, it became known that Amirkhan and Maksharip Hidriyev, the main suspects in this case (see our
previous Bulletin), refused the services of lawyers hired by their brother Ayup Hidriev. The latter doubted the
voluntariness of such a refusal, and Yunusov
Murad, Maksharip Hidriyev’s
lawyer, also said that he has not seen any handwritten statement by his client
proving that he renounced his services. It should be remembered that, earlier,
the colleagues and lawyers of the brothers Hidriyev presented the investigation
with a list of witnesses who could confirm that the suspect had been inside the
There are now new persons involved
in the case whose names have not been disclosed by the police. It was just
announced that on December 18, FSB
officers detained two suspects in Nazran
(RIA Novosti, 18.12.2007). According to the website "Ingushetiya.Ru",
the names of the detained were Salambek
Zagiyev (Dzagiev) and Bashir Kotiyev (Ingushetiya.Ru, 18.12.2007). According to the version on the
website, the detention took place according to the usual scenario: a group of
siloviks from
Meanwhile, on February 28, 2008,
another person accused of terrorism was acquitted, whose guilt the prosecution
failed to prove in the court, because the system was built not on carefully
collected evidence but on the personal confessions of the accused, given, as it
turned out, under torture. 21 year-old Sultan
Arslangereyev was accused by the Supreme Court of Dagestan of murder
motivated by "religious hatred" of Dagir Kachayev, imam of one of the mosques of
Khatsiyeva and others
v.
On January 17, 2008, the ECHR ruled, for the first time,
on a case of human rights violation in the
The court found that on August 6,
In its decision, the Court unanimously found that Khatsiyev and Akiyev were
killed by representatives of the government, and state authorities failed to
prove a need for the use of force resulting in death. Consequently, the Russian
authorities are responsible for their deaths (a violation of article 2 of the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms); Russian
authorities have not conducted a proper investigation of the murder (Article
2), and the claimants did not have access to effective remedies of protection
against the above mentioned violations (Article 13). The court awarded 100 000
euros as compensation for moral damage to the relatives. (www.srji.org/news/2008/01/39)
Zubayrayev against
The complainant, Adam Zubayrayev, is a citizen of
The complaint concerns the killing of his father, Salaudi Zubayrayev, commited on September 17, 2000 by armed men. Malika
Zubayrayeva, the mother of the applicant, said that on that day the family
was woken up by a loud shouting early in the morning. A large group of men
dressed in camouflage entered the house, all of whom spoke in Russian without
any accent. Malika decided that these people must belong to the Russian security
agencies. All the inhabitants of the house were brought out onto the street.
The complainant said that the men lined them
all up in the courtyard with their faces to the wall and seized their
passports. His father was taken away. Later, his body was discovered near his
home, with his head shot through. On September 18,
The criminal case on the killing was
instituted. After two months of investigation, it was suspended because of an
inability to find suspects. On March 9,
On September 28, 2006, the complaint was recognized as
partly admissible.
The
On 12 and 13 February, first in Moscow and then in Nazran, the Human Rights Center
"Memorial" presented to the public and journalists the 80-page report
"Ingushetia 2007: what next?" (Www.memo.ru/2008/02/12/1202081.htm).
The report was an attempt to systematize all available information about
violations of human rights in Ingushetia in the year 2007 and to show the
mechanisms of escalating violence. The press conference took place in the
office of "Memorial" in Nazran; it was attended not only by employees
of "Memorial" (Oleg Orlov,
Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Tamerlan Akiyev, Isa Gandarov), but also by the
invited guests - Deputy Prosecutor of RI Pavel
Anatolievich Belyakov, deputy Minister of the Iterior of RI Vadim Nikolayevich Selivanov, the
Commissioner for Human Rights under the President of RI Kerim-Sultan Kokurkhayev, deputy head of the Investigation
Committee of the Investigation Department of the Prosecutor's office in the
Russian Federation for RI Usman
Belkharoev, the staff members of the Ministry for Nationalities of RI, as
well as representatives of non-governmental organizations, relatives of
abducted and killed residents of Ingushetia, and the local and federal media. (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2008/02/m120000.htm).
The report notes, in particular, an unprecedented escalation of violence
in the Republic this year, a large number of grave, massive human rights
violations taking place under the aegis of combating terrorism. In the summer
and autumn of 2007, as is noted in the report, there was a grave
destabilization of the situation. Cleansings, kidnappings, and extra judicial
executions have become systematic, which increasingly undermines public
confidence towards the authorities. The report not only gives an estimation of
the current situation, but it also warns about Ingushetia’s bleak prospects and
the systemic crisis of social relations in the region in the case of further
escalation of violence. At that, Tamerlan
Akiyev, the Memorial employee presenting the reports in Nazran, said: "we are not questioning the need to
combat terrorism, but this struggle must be carried out in keeping with Russian
law and
There was no official reaction from the Ingush authorities to the
report, although we can not say that there was no reaction at all. On one hand,
on
February 20, the official website of the parliament of Ingushetia
placed a text by Sergey Spiridonov which stated, "Human rights activists
justified jihad," with the subtitle "Provocation of the Center
"Memorial"" (http://www.parlamentri.ru/index.php?news_id=304&start
= 0 & category_id = & parent_id = & arcyear = & arcmonth =),
previously published on the website "Segodnya.Ru". The content was in
accordance with the title of the article: "Memorial" was accused of "scavenging like jackals for funds from foreign embassies" together with other “enemies of
On the other hand, on 21 February the report "On the outcome of the work of the
Temporary Commission of the National Assembly of the
In late winter, the relationship between the Human Rights Center
"Memorial" and Chechen authorities, which had been very reserved
until recently, has considerably changed.
On February 22, on the initiative of
the President of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, a meeting between him and activists
from the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” took place in the House of Government.
The meeting was attended by the deputy of the State Duma Adam Delimkhanov, speaker of the lower
house of the Parliament of Chechnya Dukuvakha
Abdurakhmanov, head of the Presidential Administration and the Government
of the Chechen Republic Abdulkahir
Izrailov, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Chechen Republic Nurdi Nukhazhyiev, Minister of the
Interior of CR Ruslan Alkhanov,
Minister for External Relations, National Policy, Press and Information of CR Shamsail Saraliyev, and the head of the
administration of Grozny of Muslim
Huchiyev.
From “Memorial’s” side, the meeting was attended by the chairman of the
Directorate of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" Oleg Orlov, a member of the Council of
the Human Rights Center "Memorial" Svetlana Gannushkina, as well as leaders of the offices of
"Memorial" in Chechnya and Ingushetia: Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Dokka Itslayev, Lilya Yusupova, Sultan
Irbaiyev, Shahman Akbulatov, Natalya Estemirova.
. The range of the issues to be
discussed had been agreed the evening before, on February 21, at a preliminary
meeting of the Chechen President R.
Kadyrov with O. Orlov, S.Gannushkina
and
Specifically, the following issues
were discussed:
- the
principles of human rights organizations;
- the possibility of retrials for
criminal cases fabricated against the inhabitants of the Chechen Republic;
- the cruel treatment of detainees from the Chechen Republic in places of
detention outside the Republic;
- impunity for serious crimes committed in the Chechen Republic, and the
non-investigations of crimes perpetrated by officers of security agencies towards
the inhabitants of the Chechen Republic;
- the problem of disappeared persons
(the lack of investigation of abductions, identification of corpses);
- Torture and falsification of criminal cases;
- Illegal places of detention in the
- Internally displaced persons in
the
- The return of residents in the
mountain villages;
- The situation of Chechens outside
the
Speaking about the human rights
situation in the
Some similar points of view held by
both Chechen authorities and human rights activists on some issues, and some
similar possible approaches for resolving these issues, were revealed as a
result of this discussion. The main outcome of the meetings was, in the opinion
of the Human Rights Center "Memorial," the declared readiness of both
parties to cooperate in order to improve the human rights situation in the
Closing the meeting on 22 February,
the president of the
According to the results of the meeting, Ramzan Kadyrov gave a number of orders
to his subordinates, some of which were executed immediately. Thus, on that
same day, the mayor of Grozny, Muslim
Khuchiyev, went with members of the Human Rights Center
"Memorial" to verify information on cases of violations of the rights
of internally displaced persons and returned refugees (including regarding
their resettlement from TACs), with the task of solving the problem if the
information was true. The checkers visited a number of families that were
evicted from TACs and detected two cases requiring immediate intervention. By February 26, one family had already been allocated an apartment.
On the same day, complaints were
investigated from a resident of the village called "
www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2007/04/m89699.htm;
www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2007
/ 04/m75580.htm ;
www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2007/04/m78470.htm)
The complaint alleged that the
villagers were evicted into the street. However, when checking, it turned out
that this was not true: the administration of
Some serious organizational matters
were decided. In particular, an employee of the office of the Human Rights
Center "Memorial" in Grozny, Natalya
Estemirova was included to the Public Council to assist in the provision of
human and civil rights, established by the decree of the President of the
Chechen Republic of December 7,
It was also proposed to establish a joint
commission of representatives from government bodies and NGOs in order to
supervise the investigation of crimes committed by officers of the security
agencies of the
The meeting ended with a decision to
maintain close cooperation in further activities. How this will actually occur
- time will tell. So far - as of March 2008 – no significant progress occurred
in this area: the Public Council exists only formally and has not distinguished
itself with anything useful; As it turned out, the apartments allocated to two
Grozny families (Gaurgashvili and Maskiyev), immediately after the
meeting of the President of Chechnya with human rights activists, were already
occupied by other families and the struggle for their possession is still to
come. Even the complainant from the village of "Shanghai," shown on
all Chechen official media, as it turned out, had to rebuild her very modest
housing mostly at her own expense, and the flat allocated to her was also
already occupied..