Impunity of Perpetrators
In all the ECHR decisions in
relation to the complaints of the ChR citizens, it is specified that no
effective investigation was undertaken on the national level in relation to the
applicants’ complaints.
The situation with investigation of
crimes against civilian population in the conflict zone can be called
“selective impunity”. The crimes committed by insurgents are investigated with
severe sentences passed upon the accused, whereas regarding the crimes
committed by the state representatives everything is much more complicated.
In the majority of the crimes
against innocent civilians known to the Legal Rights Center of “Memorial”, the
organs of the Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated criminal cases although,
quite often, such criminal cases were closed despite of the fact that all the
constituent elements of the crime were evident.
From the end of 1999, the overall
number of criminal cases initiated against the security structures
representatives who had supposedly (based on the available facts) committed
crimes against civilians was over two thousand. However, only a minor part of
these cases were transferred to the military procuracy, while the investigation
of their absolute majority has been suspended in the territorial Office of the
ChR Public Prosecutor “due to the
non-identification of the persons to be
held liable as the accused.”
The official statistics is
inconsistent and obviously falsified. In February 2003, the RF Deputy
Prosecutor General S.N. Fridinsky reported[1] that “throughout the period of the holding of CTO, the organs of the ChR Prosecutor’s
Office had investigated 417 criminal cases on the crimes supposedly committed
against local population by the representatives of federal forces”. This
number included 341 cases (82%), the investigation of which had been suspended
by that moment “due to the
non-identification of the persons to be held liable…”. In August 2004, the
same Fredinsky answered the identically formulated question,[2] “Throughout the whole period of the holding
of the CTO in the ChR territory, the organs of the Public Prosecutor’s Office
had initiated 132 criminal cases based on the facts of crimes committed against
local population by the representatives of federal forces,” including ten
criminal cases the investigation of which had been suspended. Finally, in May
2005, the RF Deputy Prosecutor General N.I. Shepel said[3] that “throughout the whole period of the holding
of the CTO in the ChR territory, there have been initiated by the organs of
ChR Prosecutor's Office 143 criminal
cases that were committed, according to
the available information by representatives of federal forces”.
Proceeding from the data collected
by the
The response by Shepel quoted
earlier mentioned that throughout the period of 2000 – April of 2005, “the organs of the ChR Prosecutor’s Office
initiated 2197 criminal cases on the facts of crimes committed by the members
of illegal armed formation against civilians, local authorities and
administrations, as well as representatives of federal forces”.
Lately, when responding to the
inquiries in relation to kidnappings made by the
However, even in case of initiated
criminal cases, no specific military officials or representatives of other
security agencies are held criminally liable, while the cases, as it has been
specified above, are discontinued. For example, investigation of not less than
three forth (¾) of all
criminal cases initiated in relation to the crimes that became known to the
Center of “Memorial” have already been suspended.
The cases regarding the
“disappearances” of apprehended or arrested persons remain practically always
uninvestigated.
We have some data in relation to the
total number of federal forces’ representatives having been convicted on the
charges of crimes against civilians in
Only 27 military men, the majority
of them having killed innocent civilians during their off-hours have been
convicted by courts to different terms of imprisonment (from one year of labor
settlement to eighteen years of maximum-security imprisonment).
The absolute majority of the
convicted got “symbolic” punishments: conditional sentences (including for
rapes, robberies, extortion, torture of the illegally detained persons, thefts,
deliberate destruction of property, etc.), fines (for beating, unlawful
apprehension of Prosecutor’s Office representatives, etc.), restrictions on the
army service.
By the middle of 2005, 34 militiamen
were convicted for the crimes against civilians. Due to their being military
men, their conviction is of a “symbolic” nature. Only 7 militiamen were
convicted to real terms of imprisonment. The others received conditional
imprisonment (including for shooting in the state of intoxication with civilians
killed or wounded, for extortion, taking bribes, threats to kill, hooliganism,
etc.).
Not a single of the known episodes
of mass killings of civilian persons by the federal forces in Staropromyslovsky
district of Groznyy, Alkhan-Yurt and Novye Aldy has been fully investigated.
None of the criminal cases on the
facts of revealed mass graves has been investigated.
Paragraph 94 of the RF Fourth Periodic Report on the implementation of
the Convention against Tortures presented for consideration at the session of
the UN Committee against Tortures in November 2006, provides data on the number
of investigated and submitted to the courts criminal cases related to
kidnappings. It is reported that, “51
criminal case on 78 episodes have been taken to court throughout the period of
holding of the CTO, 84 persons have been convicted”. These figures are
insignificant even against the background of the official and very much
understated statistics of “disappearances”. Secondly, only two representatives
of the federal security structures have been convicted for kidnapping
throughout the whole period of the second Chechen war: colonel Yuri Budanov and
militiaman from Hunty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Sergey Lapin. At the same time,
art. 126 of the RF Criminal Code (“kidnapping”) was referred to in the verdict
to Budanov having kidnapped and cruelly killed Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva in
March 2000. Lapin’s verdict contains no reference to art. 126, although he was
actually convicted for kidnapping in January 2001. Zelimkhan Murdalov was
tortured in the Oktyabrsky VOVD and then “disappeared”. There are no other
cases related to kidnapping with any names of security structures’ employees
mentioned. On the other hand, the figures provided in the report refer to the
cases with the accused being the participants of armed formations offering
resistance to federal forces and criminal elements.
Impunity is
no less obvious in the cases of investigations related to tortures and excess
of power. Even in the rare cases when the victim of tortures is ready to openly
give evidence and the tortures’ names are known, the investigation may be
suspended, for example, due to “the impossibility to establish the location of
the suspect", although in most cases they do not even try to abscond.[5]
[1]
Response to the inquiry by the RF Duma Deputy S.A. Kovalev
[2]
Response to the inquiry by the RF Human Rights Commissioner V.P. Lukin
[3]
Response to the inquiry by E.A. Pamfilova, Chair of the Civil Society
Institutions and Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian
Federation
[4]
As of now, Ulman’s case has been transferred for a new (third) examination by
the court
[5]
The issue of impunity is more closely addressed in the Report by the Legal
Rights Center of “Memorial” and the International Federation for Human Rights
“Torture in Chechnya: Normalization of a Nightmare, Report by the Legal Rights
Center of “Memorial” “DECEPTIVE JUSTICE: Situation on the Investigation of
Crimes against Civilians Committed by Members of the Federal Forces in the
Chechen Republic During Military Operations of 1999-2003, as well as the
chapter prepared by the Legal Rights Center of “Memorial” and the Center of
“Demos” “Issues of Tortures and Inhuman Treatment in Chechnya and Northern
Caucuses” prepared by the Legal Rights Center of “Memorial” and Center of
“Demos” to be found in the Russia’s NGOs’ Alternative Report on the RF
Compliance with the UN Convention against Torture presented at the 37 session
of the UN Committee against Torture in autumn 2006