Human Rights Center "Memorial"

M. Karetniy pereulok 12, 103051, Moscow, Russia, tel:(095) 200-6506, fax:(095) 209-5779, email: memhrc@memo.ru

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ПРАВОЗАЩИТНЫЙ ЦЕНТР "МЕМОРИАЛ"
HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER "MEMORIAL"
Россия, Москва, 103051, М. Каретный переулок 12, ком. 17,
тел.: (095) 200-6506, факс: (095) 209-5779,
E-mail: memhrc@memo.ru

"ГРАЖДАНСКОЕ СОДЕЙСТВИЕ"
CIVIC ASSISTANCE
Помощь беженцам и вынужденным переселенцам
Россия, Москва, Долгоруковская 33, стр.6, тел. 973-54-74, факс 917-89-61
E-mail: sgannush@mtu-net.ru

МОСКОВСКАЯ ХЕЛЬСИНКСКАЯ ГРУППА
MOSCOW HELSINKI GROUP
Россия, Москва, 103 045, тел\факс. +7 (095) 207-6069\3913\1295,
E-mail: mhg@online.ru

СОЮЗ КОМИТЕТОВ СОЛДАТСКИХ МАТЕРЕЙ РОССИИ
THE UNION OF THE COMMITTEES OF SOLDIERS' MOTHERS OF RUSSIA
Россия, Москва, 101 000, Лучников пер. 4, под. 3, ком 5., тел (095) 928-2506,
E-mail: usm@online.ru

ИНСТИТУТ ПРАВ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE
а\я №765 101000, Россия, Москва, Россия, тел. (095) 923-3466; факс (095) 923-4778,
E-mail: hright@online.ru

March 16, 2000 № 31\35

Mr. (Ms.) , Minister for Foreign Affairs

Dear Mr. (Ms.) Minister,

This letter is caused by our deep concern for the life, security, health, human dignity of hundreds of thousands of people, located at the zone of a military conflict in Chechnya and adjacent regions, for the future of the whole of the region of the northern Caucasus, for the future of the democracy in Russia.

We became aware of the addressing of a coalition of the international non-government human rights organisations to the governments of the European Council member countries with the appeal to immediately apply to the European court on human rights for starting the procedure of consideration of violations of European Convention on Human Rights protection provisions and main freedoms in the course of the present military conflict in Chechnya (article 33 of this Convention envisages such a procedure).

We, Russian non-government human rights organisations, in our turn apply to you with the same appeal.

As it is know, in 1996, in spite of the fact that in Russian mass violations of human rights in different spheres (in particular, the war in Chechnya continued) were going on, we appealed to the members of the European Council to accept our country into this inter-government organisation - for the sake of future and Russia, and Europe.

We hoped that will give our country additional chances to become a legal state, grant additional possibilities of influence upon the authorities of Russia with the aim of improving the situation with the observation of human rights here - it is one of the tasks of the European Council to exert such influence upon its members using in case of necessity international mechanisms in the interests of the citizens of these states.

Now Russia is a full member of the European Council and bears the whole burden of responsibility for the execution of voluntarily taken obligations to respect the rights and freedoms, guaranteed by the Charter of the Council and European Convention on the protection of human rights and basic freedoms. However the actions of the Russian Federal Forces in the Northern Caucasus violate the norms of the European Convention in the roughest way, contradict to the Constitution and the legislation of Russia. A practice of limiting rights and freedoms of citizens assumed a mass character - the introduction of commandant's hour, limitation of the freedom of movement, non-sanctioned arrests and searches, etc., which is permissible only in the conditions of the declared extraordinary situation. However federal authorities do not declare such a situation, taking by this the actions of force structures in Chechnya out of any control. As our country did not apply the right of retreat stipulated in article 15 of the Convention, allowing to partially limit the rights during the war or other extraordinary situation, then all provisions of the Convention should be applied in full volume to the present military operation.

It goes without saying that sometimes the state not only cannot, by should resort to force for the protection of its citizens. After the invasion of Dagestan from the territory of Chechnya in August and September by military formations, the leaders of Russia should have take serious measures for providing for life, safety, civil rights of the population of Dagestan, Chechnya and territories, adjacent to Chechnya. Force measures could have been used, naturally in the framework of the law, for the achievement of these goals, but under conditions of their selectivity and adequacy to the threat.

In practice there is no selectivity whatsoever. It is a peaceful civil population that first of all suffers from military activities.

The rudest violations of human rights and of the norms of humanitarian law are made by both of the parties to the conflict. Nevertheless the amount of victims among civil population and the value of the material loss, caused by the activities of federal forces are incomparably greater. But the main thing is that the actions of the federal forces are the actions of legitimate federal power of the Russian Federation, which, signing a whole number of international legal documents, took an obligation to observe the rights of a man. It is this circumstance that makes the violations of human rights on behalf of the federal forces of the Russian Federation so disastrous.

By the efforts of the Russian and international human rights organisations, Russian and foreign journalists received were irrefutable proofs of serious violations by Russian military forces of the European Convention on the protection of human rights and basic freedoms and of the international humanitarian law.

Many cases were fixed of:

non - proportional and non-selective use of force, from which civil population and objects suffered, and in a number of cases it can be supposed, that the blows were made intentionally onto the civil objects;
blows from air and artillery shooting of the columns of refugees, leaving Chechnya;
application of weapons of principally non-selective action (vacuum bombs, rocket systems of volley firing, etc.) in the cities and villages, in which there were many peaceful residents;
not giving a chance for a civil population to leave the residential areas which were under fire;
robberies, murders and violence under peaceful population from the side of military men;
violent treatment of the detained.

Forced migrants from Chechnya live in the territory of Ingushetia in disastrous conditions, missing the most essential for survival things.

The Russian authorities demonstrate non-respect towards the right to receive and disseminate information, strictly limiting the access of journalists and representatives of non-government human rights and humanitarian organisations to Chechnya.

Such way of authorities actions cannot but affect in the most negative way all spheres of the life of our country, it obviously makes more difficult the advancement of Russia towards the building of lawful state.

The Russian non-government organisations many times applied to the Russian authorities, indicating to numerous violations of human rights and demanding investigation of crimes, made in Chechnya. All this applications, in spite of the fact that they were confirmed by testimonies of witnesses, were left unanswered. The chief military procurator of the Russian Federation, heading the military procurator's office, who is in charge of investigating crimes, committed by military men, publicly negates not only the facts of such crimes, committed in Chechnya against the peaceful population, but also the facts of human rights advocates applying to the procurator's office. At the same time the Russian legislation does not give a possibility to an organisation or a private person to initiate court trials of such crimes, bypassing a military procurator's office.

Numerous attempts of human rights organisations and citizens that suffered to achieve the investigation of military crimes, committed in the course of the preceding war in Chechnya, were ended up in nothing because of the wish of the bodies of military procurator's offices to investigate such crimes.

Under this conditions the European court for human rights is, probably, for today the only instance, capable of providing objective and independent investigation of facts fixed of the violation of human rights in the course of this conflict, not limiting by the responsibility of one of its parties, and to take a decision, which would have an actual and resultative character with the aim of the cessation of lawlessness. The decision of the European court would bear for the government of the Russian Federation, if it wishes to remain a member of the European Council, a binding character. This decision, in difference from the resolutions of other bodies of the European Council, would be difficult to interpret as the revealing of political interests of West European politicians.

The procedure of separate citizens applying to the European court on human rights, after passing all judicial instances within the country, is extremely long, and because of this in this situation possible and correct is the international procedure.

We consider that European Council member countries should be principle and use all available possibilities for the real contribution to the cessation of the rudest trampling of human rights in our country, in order to influence the political authorities of our country with the aim of stimulating them to treat more seriously their obligations to preserve human rights in Russia. We are sure that consideration of violations in Chechnya by the European court on human rights would have a favourable influence upon the Russian public opinion, rejecting a false thesis that the actions of Russian forces in Chechnya are fully legitimate from the legal point of view, and the world community approves them.

We consider that it is such actions that would show the efficiency of the European Council in the struggle for the preservation of human rights, no matter where they are violated.