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HR news |
"Mopping-up" Operation in Argun, 3 to 7 January 2002
On 3 January 2002, a "mopping-up" operation began in Argun. Only women registered as living in Argun were allowed in and out of the town. Moving around in the town itself was prohibited and the streets were blocked off. The soldiers, who had arrived from the direction of Tsotsin-Yurt (see "The Myths and Truth of Tsotsin-Yurt. 30 December 2001 to 3 January 2002"), set up camp on the edge of the town near a sand quarry. The soldiers spent the night in their camp and after 8.00am began a "passport check".
The soldiers entered houses and took away food, carpets and audio and video equipment. They threw grenades into the cellars of many of the buildings. None of those who were robbed had any opportunity to lodge a complaint with the leaders of the special operation. They were not even allowed beyond the gates of their houses. Employees of the town administration arrived for work at 8.00am but by 8.30am they were blockaded in their building and were not even allowed to leave their offices and were threatened with grenade launchers.
Not only local people were subjected to the robbery, but also local businesses. The soldiers took away equipment inluding machine tools from the "Pisheprom" factory. The soldiers took away seed wheat from warehouses at the Shalinsky and Argun state collective farms. They took away sugar from the sugar factory that had been meant to be used instead of pay for the workers. The sugar was later sold in Meker-Yurt for 100-150 roubles for a 50 kilogramme sack (market value 650-670 roubles).
On 4 January, workers from the administration drove out to Grozny in several buses to collect children who were coming back from a sanatorium in Pyatigorsk. To get through the various checkpoints unhindered, they again asked the Argun commandant, Smirnov, to provide an escort. Smirnov went himself. However, at the first checkpoint, at the bridge over the river Argun, the soldiers refused to let them through, saying that the town commandant was not their commander and they were not obliged to let him through. It took a long time to resolve the dispute. Getting through the next three checkpoints to Grozny was also difficult. The children failed to arrive that day. Officers from the education ministry advised the Argun residents not to drive out to collect the children the next day. Instead they promised to accompany them themselves. On the return journey, Smirnov decided to stop at Khankala, apparently thinking that the checkpoint guards now knew who the administration workers were and would not hold them up. However, things almost ended in tragedy. At the first checkpoint, the soldiers started asking the adminstration workers what they had done with the commandant. They told them to contact Khankala to confirm that he was there. However, they tormented them for over 30 minutes, threatening to get even with them. At each subsequent checkpoint, they had to explain at length and confirm that they had not kidnapped the commandant.
It was at this time that all over Argun, young men were being rounded up and taken to the quarry for "filtration". At least 125 men were "checked". They were held outdoors for around 24 hours (the air temperature during the night from 6 to7 January dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius). They were stripped in the cold and checked for signs that they had used weapons or been wounded. They were savagely beaten and tortured with electric current. On 6 January, the head of the administration, Temirbaev, and the elders, came to look for them. Seeing the savagery with which the soldiers were treating the detainees, the elders decided to stay and spent the night with the detainees.
During the searches the soldiers treated women disgustingly. They searched many of them, groping all over them and making vulgar remarks. In one house they tried to rape a young woman who had just got married the week before the "clean-up". Her husband threw himself at the rapists and the woman was able to escape. However, her husband was beaten so savagely that he had to be taken to the Makhachkala hospital.
At first it was thought that six people had disappeared. However, it later transpired that four of them had been "bought" back from the soldiers. The whereabouts of the remaining two is still unknown. They are:
Alik (Alikhan) Khasanovich Abdurakhmanov (born 1978, living on Polevaya street 26) who was taken from his home on 4 January 2002;
Vakhid Abdullaev (born 1980, living on Pervomaiskaya street 40) who was taken from his home on 7 January 2002.
The bodies of two men arrested earlier during a "clean-up" were found.
Vakharsolta Khataev (born 1972, from the village Serzhen-Yurt) was a father of two children and had been living with his family in temporary accomodation at hostel number 30. He was killed following his arrest on 5 January during a passport check operation.
At around midday, soldiers burst into his room. Without asking for his passport or other documents, they seized Khataev and led him out of the building. That evening, relatives heard from a man who had been released from the "filtration point" that the body of Vakharsolta Khataev was at the quarry. He had been shot. Chechen police helped to bring the body from the quarry to the commandant's office where it was handed over to relatives. There were lacerated wounds on the body and the face was black from being beaten. There was a large gunshot wound to the chest.
Magomed Guluyev (born 1977 and living in Argun at 25 Tel'man street) was arrested during a "clean-up" and was taken from his home with his passport. He was told that he would be checked and then released. His body was also found near the "filtration point" at the quarry bearing the marks of torture. His face and body were black from beatings and there was a large gunshot wound.
