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HR news |
Chechnya: Who Is Behind Human Abductions?
14.01.2005
On January 12, 2005, the Human Rights Center “Memorial” reported that in December 2004, in the Chechen Republic, servicemen of enforcement agencies kidnapped eight relatives of Aslan Maskhadov.
In response to that information, several Chechen officials stated that “those reports do not reflect the actual state of things,” that “the information was thoroughly checked, and it was established that no relatives of the given persons addressed the police or other enforcement agencies with complaints about respective disappearances,” that “not a single law-enforcement agency of Chechnya was involved” in the said abductions. High-placed official of the Chechen Republic also stress that “law-enforcement bodies of the Chechen Republic have never resorted to such methods as kidnappings.”
In this connection, we would like emphasize that the HRC “Memorial” has factual data evidencing involvement of Chechen law-enforcers in human abductions (a very illustrative example be found at http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2004/07/m21834.htm).
In Chechnya, bandits have been kidnapping people and continue to do so. But as a Russian human rights organization, we are particularly disturbed by the lawless actions of those who act on behalf of the State, i.e. staff-members of federal and local enforcement agencies.
For the past year, we have been noting time and again that in their fight with the rebels official structures practice taking their relative hostage. In particular, in March 2004, the HRC “Memorial” reported that the so-called “volunteer surrender” of the field commander Magomed Khambiev was achieved by means of having taken hostages approximately 40 of his relatives, including women (see: ” http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2004/03/m13451.htm). We by no means sympathize with this former rebel fighter, who is responsible, according to our data, for a number of crimes against civilians. However, in our opinion, the State has no right to use bandits' own methods in fighting the bandits.
Also, in the “Chronicle of Violence” available at the website of the HRC “Memorial,” there are reports relevant to hostage-taking of relatives of other, less famous rebel fighters.
Turning back to the issue of the kidnapping of Aslan Maskhadov's relatives, we believe it important to draw public attention to the remark made by Rudnik Dudaev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic, on January 11 this year, in his interview to a correspondent of “The Chechen Republic” informational channel (www.kavkaz.strana.ru), titled “I think that human abduction is intolerable, even with regard to relatives of terrorists”:
We do have some information about the disappearance of Aslan Maskhadov's relatives in the republic. <…> However, according to our data, this disappearance occurred over a month ago. I still do not have precise information regarding those relatives of Aslan Maskhadov. Our possibilities are limited, and this has to be taken into account. But getting back to the case in question, I would like to say that this kidnapping did not succeed in making any significant influence on the over-all situation. See for yourself – Maskhadov's relatives disappeared over a month ago, but neither Maskhadov nor his closest consorts have put down their weapons and surrendered. So, if someone thinks that one can insluence the situation by such means, this person is mistaken.
No additional comment seems to be necessary.
