The four young men's heads were covered in plastic bags and their hands
tied behind their backs with barbed wire
GROZNY, February 7 (Islam Online & News Agencies) - Construction workers unearthed
mutilated bodies of four Chechen men on Friday, February 7, as they dug
through the wreckage of the republic's war- ravaged capital Grozny, Chechen Interior
Ministry officials said.
The four young men's heads were covered in plastic bags and their hands
tied behind their backs with barbed wire, the Chechen officials confirmed.
They said the four bore signs of having been tortured before being executed
by machinegun fire, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The bodies were discovered in the central Oktyabrsky region of Grozny, which
was the site of a strong Chechen resistance when Russian troops stormed
the capital in the early weeks of the current 40-month conflict.
It was not immediately clear when the four Chechens were killed. Russian authorities
refused to comment on the discovery when contacted by AFP, saying they had
no direct contact with the Chechen Interior Ministry and were thus unable
to confirm the report.
The independence-seeking leadership of Chechnya and human rights groups
accuse Russian troops of torturing civilians as well as captured independence-seeking
fighters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Chechnya in October
1999, when still serving as prime minister.
In a reported published Tuesday, October 29, the international human rights
watch-dog Amnesty International charged that torture, rapes and "disappearances"
are common in Russia's legal "climate of impunity."
The report's publication coincides with a major campaign by Amnesty to highlight
the discrepancy between the human rights protection enshrined under international
and Russian law and the reality of widespread abuse.
The 125-page report, entitled "Russian Federation: denial of justice," focuses
on "specific and serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian
law by Russian law enforcement and security forces," especially in Chechnya.
Ethnic minorities, particularly Chechens, "have been stereotyped by Russian
law enforcement officials as terrorists, drug dealers or other types of
criminal," said the report, which contained a long section on human rights
violations in Chechnya.
"Amnesty International has actively researched numerous, consistent and
credible reports that Russian forces (in Chechnya) have been responsible
for widespread human rights violations such as `disappearances', extra-judicial
executions and torture, including rape," the report said.