Human Rights Center "Memorial"

"Cleansing Operation" in the Village of Goiskoye, Urus-Martan Region

On the morning of August 24, the inhabitants of the village of Goiskoye were awoken by the approaching sound of automatic weapons fire from the direction of Urus-Martan. Now and again shots would ring out from either the guns of armoured vehicles or from grenade throwers. People were frightened since the shooting was drawing ever nearer to their place of residence. Then suddenly it became quiet. Now the rumbling of engines could be heard distinctly. It became clear that a division of the federal forces had arrived in the village. After a short time the first cars of local residents passed by in the direction of the regional center. But they were stopped by the approaching soldiers on the northwest outskirts of Goiskoye. Then the soldiers took up positions along the whole perimeter of the inhabited area and on its streets. A "cleansing operation" began in the town, led by the deputy commander of the Urus-Martan region, Colonel Kuznetsov.

Accompanied by armoured carriers and URAL vehicles, the servicemen of the federal forces began their rounds of households. Homes were blocked off one by one and a group of approximately 5-6 soldiers entered into the courtyard. After determining the head of the household, the group leader collected the passports of all the men living in the building and copied them down. A search began simultaneously. The "feds" did not present decrees for the searches to a single resident of the village, did not invite any witnesses to observe the searches, and at the end of the searches did not write out a protocol. Thus the employees of the military departments of the Russian Federation violated the requirements of articles 168, 169, 170, 171, 176 and 177 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

Soldiers detained a few men without explanation; their passports were taken away from them and they were sent off to the northwest outskirts of the town where the temporary headquarters of the "cleansing operation" were located. An UAZ vehicle with fingerprinting equipment was standing here. They sat the detained individuals on the ground in a single row, prohibited them from speaking loudly or leaving their places. They were not permitted to step away to "answer nature's call"; neither could they drink any water. The soldiers detained most of the people until 14.00, but a few were only released in the evening. One woman was detained – Satsita Eskieva, the mother of four children – the reason for her detention was not explained. The soldiers also detained the 59-year old G. A. Khazhmuradov. A doctor examined each individual for signs of wounds on the body, then the employees of the Urus-Martan VOVD (Temporary Department for Internal Affairs) took their fingerprints. After being fingerprinted, the residents were given documents called "sketches". By mid-day the number of detainees had exceeded 50 individuals.

The worried relatives of those people who had been arrested approached the headquarters. A large number of local residents gathered on the outskirts of the village, but the soldiers did not allow them in to see the leadership and did not explain the reasons for the detentions.

In addition, a second round of searches began in the village – for the most part in those homes whose men had been detained. This time the soldiers entered the residences in big groups and spread out. The homeowners were not able to monitor them: the men had been detained and the women were standing on the outskirts of town, waiting for the release of the people who had been arrested. During these searches things began to disappear: thus, soldiers stole an old pocket watch from the Itslaevs, cigarettes and other items disappeared from the Visarigovs' and Dakhtaevs' kiosks, and a tape recorder disappeared from the Dakashevs'.

There were also cases of theft. Soldiers carried away foundation stones belonging to Shaman Bakhaev in three KAMAZ vehicles. These stones had been given to him in 1997 in order to rebuild his home that had been destroyed in the course of military action in 1996 during the period of the first Chechen war. The soldiers paid no attention to Bakhaev's requests not to take away the stones. When he was sick of hearing Bakhaev's pleas, a soldier said: "Old man, if you don't stop it, I'll find a landmine in your house." Afraid that the soldiers would plant ammunition, Bakhaev had to submit with the theft. The soldiers took a tent from another local resident, which had been given to him by the authorities after his house was destroyed in the course of military actions in the town in 1996. Not one single act of seizure was written out for these removals of property.

There were also incidents of destruction of resident's property. The soldiers discovered three tons of fuel in Khasan Khagaev's container; they poured it all out and part of it seeped into the Goitinka River, which flows through the village. In Nurda Khadisov's yard soldiers blew up a heating oil container used for heating his home. Later soldiers said that they did not know what the container was for and thought that Khadisov was running a mini-factory for refining oil.

The soldiers blew up one home. Khusein Isabaev, the brigadier general of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, had been a resident in Goiskoye. Soldiers pulled up to his house, which had not suffered during the previous military actions, in two armoured carriers. After searching his home, they began to prepare it for destruction. The neighbor asked not to blow up the home, fearing that it would be dangerous for them, but the soldiers did not respond to their requests. After laying down the explosives, the soldiers informed the Isabaevs' neighbor, U. Idigov, that he had two minutes to shelter his family; after that the Isabaevs' house was blown up.

After 14.00, the administrative head of Goiskoye was allowed into the temporary headquarters. At that time, the detainees had undergone fingerprinting and continued to sit on the ground, although now they were allowed to stand up and were not required to sit single file. Soldiers even returned passports to some of them. After a request by the head of the town administration to release those residents who had been examined, Colonel Kuznetsov allowed them to return to the village. Fifteen people remained in the field, waiting their turn.

The "cleansing operation" in Goiskoye ended by evening and the soldiers lifted the blockade on the village.

Five local residents – including Satsita Eskieva – were taken away to the city of Urus-Martan to the VOVD where they were once again interrogated. During the course of the interrogationVakha Eskiev was beaten – a representative of VOVD hit him on the forearms and back at least two times with a stick; Vakha was also hit on the head a few times with a plastic bottle of water.

A representative of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" interviewed the victim on the morning of August 25 and saw a distinct bruise on his left arm. Eskiev also had been threatened during the interogation: the investigator asked if he knew that people disappear from the VOVD – in doing so hinting that the same thing could happen to him. Then the investigator said that soldiers could shoot him down "for an attempt to escape." The actions of the investigator are criminally punishable – they correspond to articles 116 ("Beating") and 119 ("Threats of murder or serious bodily harm") of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Since March 2001, the VOVD in Goiskoye has been reinforced by staff of the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) from Bashkortostan; since their arrival complaints about beatings in the temporary departments had ceased. The incident with Eskiev was the first one in six months.

When it became dark, the detained individuals were released from the Urus-Martan VOVD. They had to spend the night with relatives in the regional center since the curfew had already begun.