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Russia covering tracks of crimes against humanity Some Chechen media published a statement by Chechen public organizations supporting the adoption of a PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) resolution on the need to establish an international tribunal for crimes against humanity committed in Chechnya. (Passage omitted: the assembly recalls that Human Rights Watch has accused Russia of crimes against humanity in Chechnya) The Assembly (for the Protection of the Sovereignty of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) has sufficient materials to illustrate the role the Russian secret services and its puppet regime are playing in mass terror in Chechnya, sanctioned by Russia's political administration on the pretext of an "antiterror" operation. Repression in Chechnya has been carried out on orders and instructions of the FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service), which, in turn, is implementing the decisions of Russia's political administration. Repression carried out by punitive bodies assumed mass proportions from the outset of the occupation. Today, we have documentary proof that the FSB and Russia's political administration are fully responsible for mass terror in Chechnya which is qualified as nothing but crime against humanity. In this connection, the assembly is drawing the public's attention to the attempts of the occupiers and their henchmen to cover the tracks of their crimes. This is how the assembly interprets the Russian administration's order to the puppet regime in Chechnya to get rid of all mass graves in Chechnya as soon as possible. The assembly cautions that the process of covering the tracks of crimes against humanity will be labelled as a "repeated burial of the remains of servicemen and civilians killed in two military conflicts in Chechnya". Responsibility for the implementation of this decision rests with the ringleader of the gang of Chechen national traitors, Ramzan Kadyrov, who put forward this initiative himself, apparently to cover the tracks of his own crimes. The assembly has evidence that the remains of tens of thousands of Chechen citizens and Russian occupiers will be exhumed from common burial sites, taken to different parts of Russia and destroyed. The assembly is calling on Human Rights Watch, the Russian committee of soldiers' mothers and the governments of UN member countries to foil the Kremlin's and its local collaborators' attempts to sweep evidence of their crimes under the rug, and to send observers to monitor the planned "repeated burial". (Signed) Sardali Akhmad, head of the Assembly for the Protection of the Sovereignty of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Dzhokhar (Groznyy) Kavkaz Center BBC Monitoring 2005-06-09 Continuing Persecution of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and its Partner Organisation Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Societyâ closed Down by Authorities Vienna, 10 June 2005. The campaign of harassment and prosecution against Russian human rights NGOs dealing with Chechnya-issues continues. While the legal harassment against the Nizhny Novgorod-based Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) is still ongoing, the Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Society (NNHRS), with whom the RCFS jointly publishes the Pravozaschita newspaper, was ordered to halt its activities by the Ministry of Justice on 3 June 2005. In 2005, a criminal investigation into some articles published in the Pravozaschita newspaper took and continues to take place, as well as checks by the tax authorities and moves by the Ministry of Justice to close down the organizations. This has been accompanied by a negative media coverage of the organizations’ activities in Nizhny Novgorod. Additionally: · In March 2005, the co-editor of Pravozaschita, Oksana Chelysheva, faced numerous threatening leaflets in her own neighborhood. The flyers contained slander, insult, and direct threats to Oksana Chelysheva in connection with her work at RCFS. · In the night of 4 April 2005, unknown individuals robbed and also tried to set fire to a newspaper kiosk in Argun (Chechnya) belonging to RCSF correspondent Petimat Tokaeva. · Since 22 April 2005, the “Volgatelecom” telephone company has been refusing to install telephone line in the new office of the Information Center at the RCFS that it rents together with NNHRS under far-fetched pretexts. · On 3 June 2005, the accountant of the RCFS, Natalia Chernelevskaya, was called to the chief manager of the tax inspection of Nizhegorodsky district of Nizhny Novgorod who threatened her with imprisonment, making hints about the Khodorkovsky-case and reminding her about her little child. Then he made an attempt to persuade her to quit the job at the RCFS offering a better-paid job at their office. Since 2000, there have been a number of cases of “disappearances,” extrajudicial executions, and torture and ill-treatment of members and activists of the RCFS in the North Caucasus. The most recent was the killing of Aslan Davletukaev in January 2004. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights condemns the targeting of human rights organizations’ activities as well as the individuals employed by them. We believe that the legal and bureaucratic pressure to which the Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights, the Russian Chechen Friendship Society, and their joint newspaper Pravozaschita are intentionally implemented by the authorities of the Russian Federation to obstruct and hamper the activities of these organizations. The employees of both organizations are in serious danger. The legal harassment of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society On 11 January 2005, a criminal investigation was opened against the RCFS. On 20 January 2005, a group of officers from the Federal Security Service (FSB) burst into the organization’s office, seized documents and computers, and then “invited” the chair of the RCFS, Stas Dimitrievsky, to come to the local FSB office for questioning him. Although at that time the charges had not been formally brought against the RCFS, Dimitrievsky chose to abide the FSB request in order to avoid potential complications. Since then, board and staff members of the RCFS and the NNHRS, both in Nizhny Novgorod and Chechnya have been called in for questioning as witnesses by FSB officials, which was particularly intimidating to the correspondents in Chechnya, and some of them quit their affiliation with the RCFS. The materials under investigation include an appeal by the late Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov to the European Parliament, published in the April-May 2004 edition of the Pravozaschita newspaper, calling for help in finding a peaceful settlement to the Chechen conflict, and an appeal in the March 2004 edition by Aslan Maskhadov's London-based envoy Akhmed Zakaev to the Russian people not to re-elect President Putin. Later, the criminal case was reclassified. Instead of referring to article 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public calls to extremist activities) it now refers to article 282 (incitement of ethnic, racial or religious hatred or enmity). Due to that the case was transferred from the FSB to the prosecutor’s office as investigations under this article are under their jurisdiction. According to the investigator, a linguistic expert of the Ministry of Justice came to the conclusion that the texts in the newspaper contain statements that can be charged under article 282. However, he refused to acquaint Dimitrievsky with this conclusion, because “Dimitrievsky has not been charged yet” and thus according to the Code of Criminal Procedure has no right to get access to the statements of another “witness” in the case. Additionally, the tax authorities conducted off-scheduled controls of the organization throughout 2005. Parallel to that, on 8 April 2005, a civil court suit to close down the organization was initiated by the Federal Registration Service of the Ministry of Justice. The first hearing took place on 25 April 2005. The suit is based on an audit of the RCFS, where documents were demanded that are not enlisted in the Law on Public Associations, as well as other documents that the Tax Police had taken with them on their visit. The acting head of the department in Nizhny Novgorod, E.V. Istomina, considered this to be a gross violation of the law, and brought a suit to close down the organization referring to article 63 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and article 25 of the Law on the State Registration of Juridical Persons and Individual Entrepeneurs. The recent refusal of the telephone company to install a cable line for a new office of RCFS because of “unfavorable climate conditions” seriously impedes the activities of the RCFS. The bank accounts of the RCFS were temporarily frozen by the authorities, and registered letters to the attention of official bodies were lost in the post office. Closure of the “Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights” On 3 June 2005, the respected partner-organisation of the RCFS, the Nizhniy Novgorod Human Rights Society (NNHRS) learnt of an official decision to terminate its work. The decision of the Ministry of Justice to suspend the work of the NNHRS is allegedly based on the fact that it did not comply with the requirements to submit documentation of its work within the established deadline for inspection. However, the NNSHR leadership persist that they have observed all their legal obligations in this respect. A few weeks prior to the decision, on 19 April 2005, a court had found that the organization had not violated the administrative code in its correspondence with the registration chamber of the Ministry of Justice. International Standards. Recommendations With the persecution of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and the Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Society the Russian government is in breach of its obligations under Article 12.2 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (1) , which holds that: The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration. Russian authorities have not only failed to “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection” of human rights defenders, but state officials themselves are the perpetrators. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights recommends to the government of the Russian Federation: · Stop persecution of human rights defenders involved with the crisis in Chechnya · Investigate abuses against defenders and prosecute the perpetrators, as demanded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s Resolution 1323 (2003) · Guarantee the security of witnesses and applicants to the European Court of Human Rights · Grant unrestricted access to Chechnya to independent media and human rights monitors · Start a meaningful cooperation with the Council of Europe, UN treaty bodies and special mechanisms, including the immediate issuing of an invitation to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani · Renew the mandate of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Assistance Group to Chechnya, with an added emphasis on the monitoring human rights and protection of defenders. See also: IHF statement, “FSB Raids the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society” , 20 January 2005 IHF statement, “”We Fear for the Safety of our Colleagues in the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society … Russian Human Rights Organization Threatened”, 19 March 2005 IHF/NHC Report, The Silencing of Human Rights Defenders in Chechnya and Ingushetia, September 2004 For further information: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights In Vienna: Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director, +43-1-408 88 22 or +43 -676-635 66 12; Henriette Schroeder, IHF Press Officer, +43-676-725 48 29 In Moscow: Tanya Lokshina, +7 -916-624 19 06 Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, Stas Dimitrievsky, Oksana Chelysheva, +7-8312-171 666 Endnotes: (1) The Declaration’s full name is the “Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” See: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N99/770/89/PDF/N9977089.pdf?OpenEleme nt __________________________________________ Joachim Frank, Project Coordinator International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Wickenburggasse 14/7 A-1080 Vienna Tel. +43-1-408 88 22 ext. 22 Fax: +43-1-408 88 22 ext. 50 Web: http://www.ihf-hr.org ______________________________________ June 10th 2005 · Prague Watchdog Disappearances of people continue in Chechnya By Ruslan Isayev CHECHNYA – Members of the so-called Chechen President's Security Service, known as "Kadyrovites", arrested 22-year-old Muslim Kutsayev in his home in the Kurchaloysky district on June 5, reported the human rights organization Memorial. The soldiers told him they were policemen of the Kurchaloysky district police station (ROVD), but when his relatives later arrived at the police station, Kutsayev was not there. After an intensive search by his family, it became clear that he was being held by the "Kadyrovites" in the village of Mayrtup. Last year Kutsayev secretly left home to join the fighters in the mountains; after more than a month his parents managed to get him out of there and took him to the police. At the beginning of this year he was sentenced to 4 years probation, which required his being under constant surveillance by the law-enforcement agencies. In the adjacent Shalinsky district, Khanpasha Batayev, a resident of the Avtury village, was also kidnapped, but by unknown assailants and his whereabouts are still unknown. However his relatives think he was abducted by "Kadyrovites" as they had already taken him away several times during the past two years. His latest abductions took place in August 2003 and in August 2004. In the latter case his two teenage sons were also taken away. All of them were beaten, but luckily were released soon after. Translated by Mindaugas Kojelis. www.watchdog.cz eng.kavkaz.memo.ru 9/6/2005 Utter abuse causes protest About 150 residents of Borozdinovskaia, Shelkovskaia district, Chechnya, blocked the federal motorway Kavkaz ("Caucasus") on Wednesday, 8 June, at the crossing with the road from Kizlyar, Dagestan, to Grozny, Chechnya, not far from a police checkpoint, the press service of the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax. The people demanded that the eleven residents of the village detained last Sunday in a special operation conducted by servicemen of the Chechen special battalion Vostok ("East") under Sulim Yamadayev's command should be released. Besides, they demanded that those servicemen of the battalion who are guilty of the death of one village resident should be held accountable. The road was blocked for several hours. Representatives of the Kizlyar District Division of Internal Affairs, Dagestan's Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the republican government came to meet the protesters. The road was unblocked after the negotiations, says the Internal Affairs Ministry. At the same time, the picketers did not go away staying in the immediate proximity of the motorway. Residents of Borozdinovskaia, mostly ethnic Dagestanis, say a special operation was conducted in the village by servicemen of the Vostok battalion on 5 June. As a result, eleven village residents were detained and brought away without the destination indicated; besides, four houses were burnt down and the body of a 77-year-old village resident was later found in one of them, says NEWSru.com. The Application of the APS of the ChRI to legal organizations In April, 2003, the application of the Chechen public organizations, which supported approving by the PACE of the resolution on necessity of founding of the International Tribunal on the crimes, committed against humanity in the Chechen Republic, was published in the Chechen mass-media. It was specified in the application, that necessity of founding of such a body was dictated by the time and was an objective reality, as military criminals sooner or later should be responsible for theirs acts, irrespective of ranks and posts. The Assembly also reminds that the international organization “Human Rights Watch” (HRW) has accused Russia of crimes against humanity. Acting executive director of this organization Rachel Denber, has specified, that the quantity of murders and disappearances of people in the Chechen Republic has reached the level at which it is already a question of a crime against humanity. It is emphasized in a press release of the HRW that behind either occupational forces or forces of the puppet regime of the Chechen Republic are involved in the majority of such disappearances. We have enough materials to illustrate the role of the Russian special services and forces of the puppet regime in realization of the mass terror in the Chechen Republic, authorized by the political management of Russia under the pretext of carrying out of an "antiterrorist" operation. In the Chechen Republic reprisals were and are carried out till now according to the orders and circulars of the FSB, which put into practice decisions of the political management of Russia. Since the first days of the occupation of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria the reprisals, carried out by retaliatory bodies, have got a mass character. Today we can documentary approve, that the FSB and the political management of Russia are completely responsible for the mass terror in the Chechen Republic , which is qualified precisely as a crime against humanity. In this connection, the Assembly pays attention on the undertaken by invaders and their henchmen attempts for concealment of the traces of their crimes. This is how the Assembly perceives the order, given by the management of Russia to the forces of the puppet regime in the Chechen Republic, to liquidate all mass burial places in the territory of the Chechen Republic in the shortest terms. The Assembly warns that a concealment of traces of crimes against humanity will take place under the plausible covering of “re-burying of the remains of military men and civilians, who were lost during two military conflicts in the territory of the Chechen Republic ”. The responsibility for realization of the given decision is assigned to the leader of the gangs of the Chechen national-traitors Ramzan Kadyrov, who came out with the given initiative, obviously, with the purpose to hide the traces of his own crimes. The Assembly has data, that remains of tens thousand citizens of the ChRI and Russian invaders will be subjected exhumation from the common graves with the purpose of their export and destruction in different regions in the territory of Russia. The Assembly calls representatives of the international "Human Rights Watch", the Russian organization "Committee of soldiers' mothers" and the governments of the countries-members of the United Nations to prevent the concealment of proofs of crimes of the Kremlin and local collaborators and to send observers for monitoring of the forthcoming "re-burying". The Head of the Assembly of Protection of Sovereignty of the ChRI Sardali Ahmad, Johar. Chechenpress, the Department of letters 10.06.05 http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/english/news/2005/06/10/04.shtml