Cleansing operation in the village of Chernorechye

(The Zavodskoj district of Grozny) 29 June, 2001

“In the evening of June 28, the village was surrounded by soldiers on all sides, and as soon as dawn came, they started their “cleansing operation”.

They detained all males citizens starting from 14 years old, then rounded them up and took them in vehicles on to the compounds of the health clinic located next to the Grozny reservoir. A lot of the men were transported in vehicles of the “ Ural” model, they were loaded in the back one over another and the taupalins were tied down. More than 200 people detained this way. All were told to lay down on the ground face down. Then each one was beaten and interrogated. Those who dared protest against the beatings were tortured by electric shock. The men were released late in the evening.

While this was occurring, the soldiers plundered the homes of the village residents – they carried out everything that was to their liking in the presence of the owners. They took away not only T.V. sets, video and audio equipment, but also foodstuffs. They even used their bayonets to tear up bags of flour. They took away a gasoline-fueled electric generator from a professor of the Chechen State University, Askhab Yakubov, residing at 7, Zaporozhskij St. with the pretext that it was a necessity item for the army. This was done despite the fact that he showed them a permit for the generator and a receipt from the store where he bought it.

While this was all going on, the soldiers made insulting racial remarks at the villagers, calling them “Chechmeki”, “Churki”, “Bydlo”, “niggers”. They said: “You won’t be living here for long. We’ll erase you from the face of the earth”.

The soldiers caused serious damage to the home of Avalu Ajdamirov, the Principal of school No.39, breaking everthing made from glass, including the windows, destroying dishes and furniture. They detained his 17 year old son, Ramzan Ajdamirov, a first year medical student, took him away with his head wound up in his own shirt. They kept him until 9 o’clock in the evening, then released him in a severely beaten state.

No less than ten people were lead away, probably to the commandant’s office. On the next day, the village women gathered near the commandant’s office of the Zavodskoj district to find out about the fate of their relatives”.

Interview with Magomed, resident of the village of Chernorechye
Recorded on 6 July, 2001

“They got me and my cousin Ruslan out of bed at 7:30 in the morning. (Rodnikovaya St.) They turned everything upside down in the house. Me and my cousin were seated in an armoured vehicle and immeadiately they started beating us in there, especially Ruslan, they hit him with the butt of their machine guns. One of them jabbed me in the leg with a sharp knife of the type “finka” and demanded that I move over further, even though it was obvious to them that there was no more extra space in the crowded vehicle. It was just a pretext to bully me. We were taken to the health clinic next to the reservoir.

There were vehicles there, and single cells and cells for 12 people were set up inside. They bound our heads with the vests we were wearing and placed us in one cell which was called a glass. This is a cell which barely accommodates one person. Then they took my cousin away. They beat him very severely. When he was returned, his face was black from the beating, a tooth was broken from being punched with a fist. They brought him back and then lead me away. They asked me why I have a surname like one of the fighters, demanded that I tell them where the bunkers were located, whether I stole from people, they asked me if I knew about drugs and about those who brought them, and most importantly, where the fighters were located. Each one of us was taken away like that three times. They kicked at my kidneys, spine, face, burned my shoulders and arms with lit cigarettes. They took me away a third time, placed me on the ground, attached two wires with steel rings to both hands, one on the little finger of my right hand, the other on the thumb of my left hand, and turned on the current. The current came from an electric generator which a soldier switched on rapidly-rapidly. This was a very painful torture. They did the same to my cousin. This torture continued for 15-20 minutes, they repeatedly turned on the current with intervals. They demanded information about the fighters and that I agree to collaborate with them, to cooperate with them. At first, I refused, but it was impossible to endure the electric torture. I would have died if this went on further, so I gave my consent. Then they started to record everything I said on a dictaphone, photographed me, wrote down my personal data, gave me a code name - “zelyenyi” [green]. They said “If you try to evade us, we’ll find you anyway. Then your parents will never be able to find you”. They recruited my brother inlaw in the same way. They said to him that he should come to them himself. I spent that night in the “glass”, and my brother inlaw in the communal cell which was crowded with up to twelve people. The next day we were taken to the commandant’s office (Temporary Department of Internal Affairs) of the Zavodskoj district. They treated us there more decently, took our finger prints, interrogated and released us.

Some of the detained were sent to Khankala and Urus-Martan. One of them didn’t get released. It was a guy from outside Chernorechye.

The soldiers on that day took away a lot of people’s things, we saw an “Ural” parked in the yard of the health clinic loaded with carpets and even furniture.

The people who were released in the daytime were beaten less, those who were held until the evening were beaten very severely. One guy who tried to resist while he was beaten, was shot in the leg. He was in the large cell which was very stuffy, and he lost conscience, and the soldiers dragged him out of there. I don’t know what happened to him afterwards. More than ten people who I saw from close by, were beaten very severely.

There were two young women about 25, 26 years old among the detained, one of them was pregnant. They were released in the evening, however, the pregnant woman had a miscarriage as a result of the stress she endured. They arrested her because she had a stamp in her passport that said that she was a citizen of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeriya.

On those days, a lot of women gathered at the health clinic, worried about the fate of their detained relatives, more than 150 of them. But the soldiers didn’t allow them to come close, insulted them with words that can not be published here and shot at above their heads.