Human Rights Center "Memorial"

To the Head of the Special Presidential
Representative for the protection of human
rights on the territory of the Chechen Republic
Iu.P.Puzanov

Copy: to assistant to the President of the Russion
Federation S.Yastrzhembsky

Dear Iurii Petrovich,

As you know, last year in November at the Civic Forum an agreement was reached about the organisation of regular working meetings of representatives of the authorities and non-governmental organisations both in Chechnya and in Moscow regarding the problem of the observance of human rights in the Chechen Republic.

The meetings in the Chechen Republic, having received the title Working Group, took place on 12^th January, 28^th February and 25^th April of this year. The only meeting in Moscow took place on 22^nd March of this year.

During the intervals between these meetings constant contact was sustained between non-governmental organisations, the Prosecutor's office, the Special Presidential Representative for the protection of human rights in the Chechen Republic and military commandants.

Now after half a year of meetings, consultations, working contacts, we are forced to lodge our disappointment of the results of this Group, we express alarm for the future, it would seem the beginning of the process of co-operation between civic organisations and the authorities according to the extremely burning question about the observance of human rights in the conflict zone in the North Caucaus.

In the first stage of this co-operation we believed that we could achieve concrete, constructive results.

So, already during the preparation for the first meeting in Chechnya, a tighter co-operation was outlined between non-governmental organisations and the Prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic. An agreement appeared that 'Memorial' would direct by fax to the Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic, V.G.Chernov, inquiries with a summary of facts about human rights violations, which demanded an urgent response from the Prosecutor. As a result, at the beginning of December 2001 because of being 'hot on the trail', the release of twenty arrested people from the residents of the village Avtura by internal troops was successfully achieved, but according to the facts a criminal case was brought against the illegally arrested. However this example of quick help to real people as a result of the co-operation between non-governmental organisations and the Prosecutor's office turned out to be the only one.

At the first meeting on 12^th January fundamental differences appeared in the evaluation of the human rights situation in the Chechen Republic between departments. However, we were satisfied only with one packet of concrete measures, which were proposed at the Working Group at the first meeting in the Chechen Republic and was approved by all representatives of the authorities present, including the Commanding OGV General V.I.Molentskoi.

In the end, after only one more meeting of the Working Group in Chechnya and the meeting in Moscow on 27^th March order number 80 Commanding OGV in the North Caucaus, in which the same minimal demands were fixed, finally, which the command of the Groups agreed to on 12^th January of this year. 'Memorial' and Moscow Helsinki Group in an announcement from 29^th March signatures were present on this order.

The appearance of order number 80 Commanding OGV became the only real result from six months of meetings and consultations between representatives of non –governmental organisations and the authorities. But this was the only result that was made by the whole process of the talks of understanding. The order, if it would be fulfilled in essence, can become a noticeable step at the beginning of the road for the improvement of the human rights situation in the Chechen Republic.

This order has indeed become 'noticeable'. On the radio and television (especially in the Chechen Republic) at many levels representatives of the authorities many times has given information about what a significant breakthrough it is in the matter of the defence of human rights in Chechnya.

However the two months which have passed since its publication, show that the norms of the order in all parts are being grossly unfulfilled. Not one of the many 'mopping-ups' was carried out in accordance to the conditions of the order. As before officials of federal forces do not identify themselves to owners and burst into homes in masks, insult and beat up the residents, robbing places and taking away people to unknown whereabouts. On the armoured vehicles there are no identification numbers, the local administration are not involved in the carrying out of the 'mopping-ups'. The arrested are beaten and tortured. No kind of lists of the arrested are given to the heads of administrations. Only one of the points of the order is being fulfilled: now soldiers demand the heads of administration to sign an act about the absence of any claims at the end of a 'mopping-up'. Some of the heads of administration have enough bravery to refuse to sign it. It is evident that everything can occur either by direct comand, or with the connivance of the chiefs of the special operations, which were realised in Chechnya in April and May. One of these chiefs is known to us. He is General Igor' Bronitskii, who led the 'mopping-ups' in the village Alkhan-Kala.

During the 'targeted special operations', "people in camouflage arrived in armoured vehicles", as before they kidnapped local residents from their homes. Corpses of some of the kidnapped were in derelict homes on the edge of a grove with traces of torture etc. An especially intolerant situation occurred in the Urus-Martan region.

The above mentioned is confirmed by many facts which were stated in inquiries, which were given on behalf of the Commanding OGV, the Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic and commandants of the Chechen Republic at the meeting with representatives of these departments on 25^th April. It is important to note that at the meeting on 25^th April not one of the representatives of the authorities present (deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic, acting commander of the Chechen Republic, military Prosecutor, deputy Special Presidential representative of the Russian Federation of the protection of human rights) did not refute the information presented by human rights organisations. Later 'Memorial' directed the analogously written inquiries according to the events of May.

However, it was unsuccessful in obtaining answers to the question of what is concretely being undertaken so the order is fulfilled and who is punishable for its violation. Up until now we have not received written answers from a single department.

In general, the majority of our inquiries, directed at the Prosecutor remain in essence without answers. Time after time at the meetings in Chechnya we have given information about concrete cases of disappeared people, about serious crimes committed during the 'mopping-ups' etc. It has created the impression that this information has disappeared into a 'black box'. Representatives of the Prosecutor do not answer of failure, "they, definitely, want to work together," but every time they promise to aim concrete answers according to summaries of the facts later. So, for example, up until now we have not been able to receive information: whether anybody has been called to account for crimes for the illegal detention of twenty residents of the village Avtura in December of last year.

Up until now a full public list has not been given (only one without indicating names and surnames of the convicted) of criminal cases of the crimes of the representatives of federal forces against peaceful citizens. It is known that these criminal cases were decided by courts. At the meeting in Moscow all of the participants came to the conclusion that the publication of such a list would be extraordinarily useful: both the population of the Chechen Republic and the troops would see concrete examples of the crimes being punished. However the Prosecutor continues to publish only the 'bare' statistics, not indicating how actual crimes have been punished.

We emphasise again that the issue of order number 80 has become the only concrete result of the talks process, but this order is not being fulfilled.

The question is about the complete loss of trust in the authorities on the side of the residents of Chechnya, whose conviction strengthens that order number 80 was issued only for the creation of the appearance of the fight against human rights violations. If decisive measures for the complete and strict fulfillment of order number 80 Commanding OGV is not taken, then these feelings will strengthen among the population of the Chechen Republic.

A similar development of events completely discredits the whole idea of 'an arena for talks' regarding the problem of human rights in the Chechen Republic.

We do not want and will not take part in the creation of a 'facade'. We do not want the "joint activity of the authorities and non-governmental organisations for the protection of human rights in Chechnya" to be only a screen, behind which the previous arbitrariness and unlawful violence hide.

With regret we must place under doubt the meaning and justification of the continuation of the work of the Working Group in the Chechen Republic. Either the exchange of two-sided information is given finally and non-governmental organisations can start to receive answers in essence (concerning measures of the carrying out of order number 80, concerning the punishment of officials who are guilty of its violation etc) or we will be forced to curtail our participation in such meetings.

We consciously refused to hold such a meeting at the end of May because of the rotation of the post of Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic occurred exactly in this period. We expect that the style of co-operation with the Prosecutor's office will change.

Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic A.V.Nikitin expressed agreement with our proposed algorithm.

1. Inquiry of Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' No. 42/02 from 12.01.2002 on the subject of disappeared people in the Urus-Martan region:

1.Shavanov Mairbek Movsarovich, born 1976, resident of the village Alkhazurovo, Urus-Martan region, Chechen Republic

2.Shavanov Aslambek Movsarovich, born 1977, resident of the village Alkhazurovo, Urus-Martan region

3.Merluev Musa Iakubovich, born 1959, resident of the village Goity, Urus-Martan region

4.Anzov Sultanovich Ismailov, born 1980, resident at the address: village Goity, Urus-Martan region, Chechen Republic

5.Alaudinov Bekkhan Vakhaevich, born 1976, resident at the address: Chechen Republic, town Urus-Martan, Proletarskaia street number 30

6.Kahdzhiev Khasan Sultanovich, born 1969, residential address Urus-Martan region, village of Goity, Lenin Street, house number 39a.

7.Makaev Rustam Abdul-Kerimovich, born 1973, resident at the address: Chechen Republic, town Urus-Martan, Bol'nichnaia Street, Number 71

2. Inquiry of Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' no. 40/02 from 12.01.2002 on the subject of gross human rights violations during the carrying out of a special operation in the village of Tsotsin-Iurt carried out 30.12.2001-03.01.2002

3. Inquiry of Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' No. 41/02 from 12.01.2002 concerning the disappearance of the Cherukhanovs, residents of the village Oiskhar (Novogroznenskii) in the Gudermes region.

4. Inquiry of Human Rights Centre 'Memorial' No. 242/01 from 06.12.2001 concerning gross human rights violations and of the kidnapping of 18 local residents during a special operation which was carried out 1^st-3^rd December 2002 in the village of Avtura.

5. Materials which were given to representatives of the Chechen Committee of National Salvation (ChKSN), concerning the gross human rights violations during a special operation which was carried out in January 2002 in the village Bachi-Iurt.

6. Apart from this we discussed at the second meeting and received oral explanations from representatives of the Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic and military Prosecutor on the question of a criminal case, which arose according to the fact of a murder by servicemen in the region of Shatoiskii on 11^th January 2002 of six peaceful residents. Letter no. 98/02 from 30.01.2002 was given to the Prosecutor.

We did not receive a single written response to one of these inquiries. On the eve of the last meeting of the Working Group we gave, through the apparatus of the Special Presidential representative of the Russian Federation to the Prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic a persistent request to give us written answers to these inquiries on the meeting on 25^th April. However this was not done and the Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic A.V.Nikitin promised to send us the written answers. Up until now there have been no kind of answers.

We would finally want to receive both these written answers at the next meeting and to have the possibility to ask questions about the course of investigation of these cases.

Apart from this, on 25^th April at the meeting in Groznii, representatives of human rights organisations gave to the Deputy Commander of the Chechen Republic, Deputy Commander of the United Group Forces in the North Caucaus region General-Major A.D.Pavlenko, Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic A.V.Nikitin and to the military Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic S.A.Kolomiets two letters:

In the letter examples were given of gross breaches of the unfulfillment of order number 80 during the mass scale special operations:

In the letter concrete examples were given of the unfulfillment of order number 80 during so-called 'targeted identity checks.'

We have not received any answers to these letters in the last one and a half months.

In connection with the above-mentioned, we propose the following agenda:

We ask the representatives of the Prosecutor's office, both territorial and military to give information about the results of checks made by the Prosecutor according to facts which were summarised in the inquiries no. 42/02 from 12.01.02, no. 40/02 from 12.01.02, no.41/02 from 12.01.02, no.242/01 from 06.12.2001, no.98/02 from 30.01.2002 and about the gross human rights violations during a special operation in the village of Bachi-Iurt which took place in January 2002.

We would like to receive information from the representatives of the Prosecution office, both territorial and military, from the Commanders OGV, commandants of the Chechen Republic, what kind of results there were from the checks according to each of those carried out in letters no.240/02 and 242/02.

If they confirm, if only partially, what was taken by the Prosecutor, Commanders OGV, Commandant of CR, FSB in order to punish the guilty, to protect the rights of the victims and to exclude a similar repeat in the future.

Apart from this, human rights organisations have facts about the unfulfillment of order number 80 in May 2002. We propose a discussion of this information.

We ask to provide the presence of the authorities at the June meeting of the Working Group:

1. The Deputy Special Presidential Representative of the Russian Federation for the protection of human rights and citizens in the Chechen Republic, L. Khasuev

2. The Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic, N.P.Kostiuchenko

3. The Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic A.V.Nikitin

4. The military Prosecutor

5. The commandant of the Chechen Republic

6. The Deputy of the Head Administration of FSB in the Chechen Republic

7. The Deputy Commanding OGV of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

We will pay attention to the proposition to invite to the next meeting of the Working Group, the Deputy Commanding OGV for the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who entered the meeting of this group on 25^th April of this year from the Deputy Commandant of the Chechen Republic.

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of: