"Disappearances"
of People. Arbitrary Executions
People in Chechnya “disappeared” and continue
“disappearing”. In most cases, they are kidnapped not by gangsters or terrorists
but by those who perform “CTO”.
From the first days of the military
operation in Chechnya, the relatives of the persons detained by soldiers or
employees of the Ministry of Interior or of the RF FSB [Federal Security Service]
for a long time could find out nothing as to the reason for the detention, the
place where they were held or whether had been charged, etc. The same practice
is nowadays used by different pro-Moscow Chechen formations created in the
process of conflict “chechenization”.
On the website of the Legal Rights
Center of “Memorial”, one can
find information about approximately 1250 civilians missing after detention by
the employees of the federal security structures during “the second Chechen
war”, i.e. since autumn of 1999. This overall number includes the corpses of
more than 100 persons having been found and identified, while the rest continue
being registered as "missing".
The Legal Rights
Center of
"Memorial" has data on about 1650 cases in relation to the people
having “disappeared” throughout the whole period of “the second Chechen war”.[1]
The “Memorial" has entered into correspondence with the organs of the
Prosecutor’s Office in relation to the majority of these cases. Criminal cases
have been initiated; however, according to the available data, in the majority
of cases the proceedings have been suspended “due to the non-identification of the persons liable to be accused”.
Only for the period of 2002 through
September 2006, i.e. the period when the federal forces switched from
large-scale “zachistkas” to the “targeted operations” and to the conflict
“chechenization” the Legal
Center of “Memorial” has
collected information on 1976 kidnapped ChR citizens (see the table). There are
more or less detailed data on all to these facts including the last, first and
middle names of the kidnapped persons, permanent address, kidnapping
circumstances, etc. It should be noted that these data are obviously incomplete
and to obtain general picture these figures should be, probably, multiplied by
two-four times.[2]
Based on the extrapolation of these data
and analysis of the communiqués, the Center of “Memorial” insists that
throughout the whole period of the holding of “CTO”, the number of the persons
“having disappeared” through kidnapping, illegal detentions, and apprehensions
is, for sure, within three to five
thousand. Unfortunately, it is meanwhile impossible to get a more exact
figure.
At the same time, we can state the
decreasing dynamics in the number of kidnappings fixed by the Center of
“Memorial”: 539 – in 2002; 497 – in 2003; 448 – in 2004; 320 – in 2005 and 172
– in 2006.[3]
Kidnappings in the ChR
territory according to the data of the Legal Rights
Center of
"Memorial"
|
Year
|
Kidnapped
|
Including those released or ransomed
|
Including those
found
killed
|
Including those who disappeared
|
Including those under examination
|
|
2002
|
539
|
90
|
81
|
368
|
|
|
2003
|
497
|
157
|
52
|
288
|
|
|
2004
|
448
|
213
|
24
|
203
|
8
|
|
2005
|
320
|
154
|
24
|
127
|
15
|
|
2006
|
172
|
86
|
9
|
60
|
17
|
|
Total:
|
1976
|
700
|
190
|
1046
|
40
|
Decrease in the number of
kidnappings fixed by human rights advocates is due, to a great extent, to the “chechenization” of the military conflict
and “latent violence” prevailing in
the ChR, which is not fixed either by human rights advocates or, particularly, by
law enforcement bodies. One cannot state for sure how much the total number of
kidnappings has changed. However, one thing is clear – the methods of carrying
out the “CTO” have definitely changed: The majority of kidnappings are
undertaken by the local security agencies that do not necessarily need to kill
people in order to achieve their goals. Quite often, the kidnapped persons
spend some time, from one to several days, in illegal detention facilities,
where they are beaten and tortured in order to force data. On the other hand,
relatives of the kidnapped persons independently undertake efforts, oftentimes
through ransom, in order to have their kidnapped relatives released. After the
ransom of the kidnapped person, usually neither this person nor the family
complain anywhere or provide information in relation to kidnapping, being
afraid of retribution of the kidnappers who, unlike federal soldiers, are well
informed about kinship and weak points of their victims.
During the last few years, the share
of the “disappeared” or killed from the overall number of those kidnapped has
decreased. Throughout the period of 2001-2002, their number made about 85% of
those kidnapped during mass-scale “zachistkas”. It is obvious that the major
responsibility for these crimes is with the soldiers, militiamen and employees
of special security agencies. Throughout the process of “chichenization” one
could note gradual decrease in the percentage of those “disappeared” or killed
versus the overall number of the kidnapped making about 50% in 2004-2005 and
about 40% at present.
During the last few years there were
registered cases when the kidnapped “were found” after a while in SIZO or
temporary isolators. They are accused of the crimes related to “terrorism” as
provided in art. 205), of the RF Criminal Code, of “participation in illegal
armed formations” (art. 208) and of “illegal keeping of weapon” (art. 222).
This is probably the way the employees of security agencies try to fulfill the
plan on capturing insurgents and disclosing crimes.
People are kidnapped not only in the
ChR territory, but also in the territories of adjoining regions.
As opposed to Chechnya, in the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia
the number of kidnappings has considerably grown versus 2002 (2002 – 28 kidnappings,
2003 – 52, 2004 – 48, 2005 - 47). At the same time, the circumstances of these
crimes make it possible to draw a conclusion regarding participation in them of
the representatives of governmental bodies. In the overwhelming majority of
cases, the traces of the kidnappers and the kidnapped led to Chechnya.
The events having taken place in the
village of Novy-Atagi,
Shalinsky district, can serve as a typical example of kidnapping by the
security forces in Chechnya.[4] On
the night of September 13, and the night
of September 14, the employees of security structures kidnapped local
residents, and namely: Ruslan Salaudinovich Khalayev, born in 1984, Sharaudin
Badrudinovich Khalayev, 1978, Magomed Isayevich Elikhanov, 1985, Apti Edilov,
18 years old; Magomed-Zmi Aguyev, born in 1987, and Islam Khusainovich Bakalov,
1987. According to the relatives of the kidnapped persons, when detaining them,
the security officers behaved roughly, did not introduce themselves and did not
explain the reason for taking away the people. Local residents picketed the
highway going via the village and demanded release of the kidnapped. The
district Prosecutor’s Office initiated a criminal case under art. 127 (illegal
deprivation of freedom) of the RF Criminal Code. On the night of September 18,
the employees of an unknown security agency kidnapped the head of the village
administration Abdulla Datsayev. He was taken away to the district center in
Shali and released at daybreak, severely beaten. Datsayev invited the parents
of Elikhanov and insistently asked them not to picket the road. The next few
days, the majority of the kidnapped villagers were released after fiendish
tortures, while four of them - Elikhanov, Aguyev and the Khalayevs were
transferred by the kidnappers to the Shalinsky District Department of the
Ministry of Interior. The fact of illegal depravation of freedom was obvious,
but militia did not take any measures against the kidnappers. Moreover, in the
District Department of the Ministry of Interior the officers officially
registered the fact of arrest of the "transferred" people as the
latter, under tortures, had already confessed their crimes. Several days later,
a big group of armed people came to the mosque in the village of Novy-Atagi
during the Friday prayer. Aslambek Yasayev, PPSM-2 regiment commander,[5]
who headed the group, declared to the crowd of villagers that he and his
employees would continue holding similar operations and threatened with
punishment to those picketing the road as response to the detention of their
fellow-villagers. The criminal case on illegal deprivation of freedom “has been
under investigation” for more than one year, but nobody has been held liable.
It should be noted that besides
kidnappings that are carried out by “Kadyrovists”, “Yamadayevists” and other
security structures of the Republic, there still take place the facts of
kidnappings by federal security officers.
Throughout the period of holding of
“CTO”, local residents repeatedly found secret burial dumps of the people
kidnapped earlier by the state security structures.
Here is just one example.
In February 2001, in the ruins of the
garden suburb of “Zdorovye”, in the immediate proximity from the main Russian
military base of Khankala, there was found a dump of corpses (it cannot be
defined otherwise). On February 24, Public Prosecutor’s Office began
investigation. According to the official data, there were found corpses of 51
persons (according to the informal sources there were even more of them but
they remained there, in the dump).
All people, whose corpses were found
in the garden suburb of "Zdorovye" became victims of extra-judicial
executions: The majority of them had their throats cut, hands tied, control
shots made in the heads.
24 corpses were identified by the
relatives. All of them had been earlier detained by the representatives of
federal forces on the block-posts during “zachistkas” and so on.
Among those killed, for example,
there was found the body of Nara Luluyeva and her two cousin sisters. According
to the relatives, they had been detained on June 3, 2000 at the market in
Groznyy by the Russian soldiers who had taken them away in the armored troop
carrier and then “disappeared”.
The complaint of Nura Luluyeva’s
relatives (“Luluyev and others versus
Russia”)
was allowed in the ECHR on November 9, 2006. Under the decision of the Court,
the Russian Federation
was recognized guilty of violation of the right to life and inefficient
investigation of the murder of Nura Luluyeva (art. 2 ECPHRF. Here and below can
be found the articles of the Convention), inhuman treatment (art. 3), violation
of the right to freedom and inviolability of the person (art. 5) and the right
to effective legal protection (art. 13).
In the burial dumping at the
military base of Khankala,[6]
there were corpses of the people who had been detained at different periods of
times and in different places of the ChR, which proves a regular and organized
nature of the actions undertaken by the murderers and kidnappers. We can
positively insist that there were and are “death squads” in the ChR – criminal
communities existing inside the state security agencies that are protected in
their operation by the highest rank military, militia and political officials.
The ECHR has examined another two
complaints with regard to the “disappearances” of the persons detained by the
Russian state representatives. In both of these cases, Russia was
found guilty of human rights violations.
The decision on the case of
“Bazorkin versus Russia” was
passed on July 27, 2006. The Court examined the situation with the
“disappearance” of Khadji-Murat Yandiyev, 25, resident of the Chechen Republic,
detained on February 1, 2000, after he had left Groznyy together with the group
of insurgents. After his detention in the village of Alkhan-Kala,
Yandiyev was interrogated by general-colonel Aleksandr Baranov who later
ordered to “liquidate” Yandiyev. The CNN correspondent filmed the interrogation
and the order on the execution; this record was presented to the Court as
evidence. From the moment of Yandiyev’s interrogation, the latter was
registered missing. Despite of numerous attempts by his mother Fatima Bazorkina
to find her son and to apply to the Russian law-enforcement structures, the
criminal case on the fact of “disappearance” was initiated only in July 2001,
almost eighteen months after the events. The video record that the Legal Rights
Center of “Memorial”
transferred to the organs of the Prosecutor’s Office “disappeared” when being
sent to the military procuracy in Khankala. Despite of the clear evidence, the
case investigation was suspended six times throughout six years with the
explanation that it was “impossible to identify the suspects”. General-colonel
Baranov was first time interrogated in June 2004. Russia’s court brought no charges
against him. In its decision, the Court established the following: Yandiyev’s
detention was unlawful (art.5); Russia’s authorities are responsible for
Yandiyev’s death (art.2); investigation of the fact of Yandiyev’s
“disappearance” was inadequate (art.2); Yandiyev’s mother’s sufferings due to
her son’s “disappearance” and Russia’s authorities failure to take adequate
measures in order to establish his fate testify to the exceeding of the minimum
threshold of inhuman and degrading treatment (art.3). The Court specified the
violation of art.13 providing for the access to the means of legal defense.
The case of
“Imakayeva versus Russia” is no
less indicative. On December 17, 2000, Said-Khuseyn Imakayev “disappeared” from
the block-post between the villages of Stary and Novy-Atagi. Some witnesses had
seen soldiers making him get into the military vehicle, which immediately drove
away. The parents’ searches and their application to the official instances
regarding the “disappearance” of their son yielded no results. At the beginning
of 2002, they submitted an application
to the Strasbourg Court,
after which Said-Magomed, father of S.-Kh. Imakayev was taken away by the
Russian soldiers on the armored troop carrier in unknown direction and also
“disappeared” without any traces. In its decision on Imakayev’s case, the Court
made a number of most important conclusions: Said-Khuseyn Imakayev and
Said-Magomed Imakayev had been unlawfully detained by the Russian security
structures (art. 5 of the ECPHRFF); Said-Khuseyn and Said-Magomed Imakayevs
should be considered dead and Russian authorities bear responsibility for their
deaths (art. 2); investigation of the unlawful detention and “disappearance” is
inadequate due to a whole number of reasons (the Court specifically noted lack
of attempts by the investigation to establish what armored troop-carriers and
military subdivisions participated in the detentions); the “disappearance” of
the Imakayevs and lack of adequate measures that should have been undertaken by
the Russian government to establish their afterlife is an example of inhuman
treatment (art. 3); the lack of sanctions and guarantees in the process of
search is a violation of the right to respect for private and family life, home
and correspondence, while the reference by the authorities to the special
powers stipulated by the Law on Struggle against Terrorism appears to be
insufficient (art. 8). The decision specifies that the Court was amazed with
the irresponsibility or failure to assume direct responsibility by the
officials who participated in events. The Court also criticized the Russian
authorities for the failure to cooperate with it, and namely, for the failure
to provide requested documents (art. 38).