| Amnesty International: Urgent action on
disappearance of Chechen lawyer AI Index: EUR 46/002/2005 21 January 2005 UA 18/05 Fear for safety/torture/"disappearance" RUSSIAN FEDERATION Makhmud Magomadov (m), born 1954, human rights lawyer (Chechen Republic) Chechen human rights lawyer Makhmud Magomadov was reportedly seized by armed men in camouflage on 20 January, in the Chechen capital, Grozny. He has not been seen since, and Amnesty International believes he is in real danger of being tortured or killed. According to reliable sources, Makhmud Magomadov had gone with his family to visit a friend who lives in the Staropromyslovskii district of Grozny near the "Elektropribor" electronics factory (a local landmark). They were followed the whole way by a metallic grey car. At 6.30pm Makhmud Magomadov had left his wife and six-month-old son in the car, and gone into the block of flats with his four-year-old daughter, Iman. At that moment several cars drove up to the building (Amnesty International has details of their colours and registration numbers), and at least 15 armed men in camouflage got out. They surrounded the building and brought Makhmud Magomadov out and took him away in a white Niva, registration number GAZ-31029, in the direction of the centre of Grozny. They would not say anything about what was going on. Witnesses say the men were speaking in Chechen, and assume that they were from the armed group known as the Kadyrovtsi, which is under the command of Chechnya's First Deputy Prime Minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. Ramzan Kadyrov is the son of the Russian-installed Chechen President Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, who was assassinated in May 2004. Ramzan Kadyrov is in charge of a security service that is allegedly responsible for serious human rights violations such as "disappearances" in Chechnya. Makhmud Magomadov works for the human rights organization Chechen Committee for National Salvation, researching and drafting cases of serious human rights violations in the course of the armed conflict in Chechnya, including torture, "disappearances", extrajudicial executions and the indiscriminate killing of civilians, for submission to the European Court of Human Rights. He has been working together with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, and the Russian NGOs International Protection Centre and the Movement for Human Rights. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Fighting in Chechnya began in 1994, when Russian federal forces moved to crush an independence movement that had arisen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This first conflict ended in 1996, but in late 1999 Russian federal forces attacked the region again after a series of bomb explosions in Moscow and two other Russian cities, which the Russian authorities blamed on Islamic separatist groups in Chechnya. In spite of repeated claims from Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen officials that the situation is "normalizing", there seems to be no end in sight either to the conflict itself or to the accompanying human rights abuses. Throughout the armed conflict, the Russian Federation authorities have attempted to restrict the gathering and dissemination of information about the human rights situation in the North Caucasus. Human rights defenders and activists speaking out about the situation in the region, those investigating such abuses and those who have sought redress with the European Court of Human Rights have themselves increasingly become victims of serious human rights violations. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Russian or your own language: - expressing concern for the safety of human rights lawyer Makhmud Magomadov, who was abducted by armed men in camouflage on 20 January, in the Staropromyslovskii district of Grozny; - calling for a full, thorough and independent inquiry into allegations that the men who abducted him were members of the security forces under the command of First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov; - if he is in the custody of the security forces, urging the authorities to ensure that he is released immediately and unconditionally; - calling on the authorities to end the persecution of human rights defenders and activists working in the North Caucasus. APPEALS TO: (Fax machines may be switched off outside office hours - GMT+3) President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN g. Moskva, Kreml Russian Federation Fax: + 7 095 206 85 10 / + 7 095 206 51 73 / + 7 095 230 24 08 e-mail: president@gov.ru Salutation: Dear President Putin Procurator General of the Russian Federation Vladimir USTINOV General Procuracy of the Russian Federation Ul. B. Dimitrovka 15a 103793 Moscow K-31 Russian Federation Fax: + 7 095 292 8848 (if someone answers say "fax please") Salutation: Dear Procurator General Procurator of the Chechen Republic Vladimir Pavlovich Kravchenko Procuracy of the Chechen Republic Ul. Garazhnaya 9 b Grozny, Chechen Republic Russian Federation Fax: + 7 8712 22 31 43 (if someone answers say "fax please") + 7 095 777 92 26 Salutation: Dear Procurator COPIES TO: Vladimir Lukin, Ombudsman of the Russian Federation Fax: +7 095 207 76 30 Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Human Rights Commission of the Russian Federation Fax: +7 095 206 48 55 Chechen Committee of National Salvation Email: chkns@mail.ru and to diplomatic representatives of the Russian Federation accredited to your country. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 4 March 2005. Internet communications are not secure and therefore Amnesty International Ltd does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose or rely on the information in this e-mail. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Amnesty International Ltd unless specifically stated. Electronic communications including email might be monitored by Amnesty International Ltd. for operational or business reasons. Chechnya: Human Rights Defender Abducted - Russian Government Targeting Rights Activists Working on Chechnya (New York, January 22, 2004)-Alleged pro-Russian forces in Chechnya have abducted a Chechen human rights defender, Makhmut Magomadov, Human Rights Watch said today. The abduction follows raids in recent weeks by Russian law enforcement on two human rights groups that work on Chechnya. At about 6:30 p.m. on January 20, a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms seized Magomadov, a 49-year-old lawyer, at the home of a friend in Grozny and drove him away toward the center of town. According to a witness, the armed men spoke Chechen and refused to identify themselves. Witnesses believe the armed men who abducted Magomadov belong to the pro-Russian Chechen armed forces, known as the "kadyrovtsy" after their commander, Chechnya's deputy prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov. Witnesses could not positively identify the armed men because their uniforms had no identifying insignia, but it is unlikely that they were rebel fighters, since the rebels cannot operate openly and in large numbers in Grozny without attracting fire from Russian troops. Magomadov's whereabouts remain unknown. In the past few years, thousands of other Chechens have been abducted by Russian and pro-Russian Chechen forces under similar circumstances. Many of them have since "disappeared" and, in some cases, relatives have recovered their corpses from unmarked graves. Earlier this month, Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin announced that a total of 1,700 people had "disappeared" in Chechnya in 2004. "Magomadov is at great risk of torture, execution and 'disappearance,'" said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of the Europe and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch. "The Russian government must act immediately to find and protect him." Since 2000, Magomadov has worked as a legal expert for several human rights organizations including the International Helsinki Federation, the International Protection Center and the Chechnya Committee of National Salvation. He helped several victims of human rights abuses bring their cases before the European Court on Human Rights. In the mid-1990s, Magomadov headed a special, official task force to fight kidnappings in Chechnya. Human Rights Watch researchers have met with Magomadov on numerous occasions and highly value his work. Recently, Magomadov worked on cases of enforced disappearances that were believed to have been committed by the "kadyrovtsy." "Magomadov had been tracking abuse by a group of armed forces in Chechnya that can operate with total impunity," said Denber. "Tragically, he may now have become a victim of these same armed forces." The abduction of Mahmut Magomadov takes place in the context of increasing governmental pressure on local human rights organizations working on Chechnya. On January 12, a group of Russian special police armed with machine guns raided the Nazran office of the Information Center in Ingushetia, a nongovernmental organization that gathers and distributes information about human rights violations in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Under the pretext that a group of rebels were hiding in its office, police ransacked the premises and confiscated two computers. On January 20, Federal Security Service officers questioned Stanislav Dmitrievskii of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society about a newspaper on human rights in Chechnya that his organization publishes. They subsequently searched the organization's offices and confiscated some documents. The officers suggested the organization had violated Russian law by publishing interviews with rebel leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakayev. For more information, please contact: In New York, Rachel Denber (Russian, French): +1-212-216-1266 In Moscow, Alexander Petrov (Russian): +7-916-692-2911 In London, Urmi Shah: +44-20-7713-2788 In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +32-2-732-2009 Helsingin Sanomat Saturday 22.1.2005 Fearing extradition, Chechen leader declines invitation to seminar in Finland Ahmed Zakayev, special representative of deposed Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov, has decided not to take part in a seminar on Chechnya organised by Finland's Green League party. He said that he was worried that Finnish officials might hand him over to Russia. Zakayev is a wanted man in Russia, where he faces charges of terrorism. Denmark has judged him innocent of terrorism, and Britain has granted him political asylum, even though he has an Interpol arrest warrant on him. Heidi Hautala, chairwoman of the Greens' Parliamentary group, said that organisers of the seminar had been in touch with Finnish officials, who were unable, or unwilling to guarantee Zakayev's safe entry and departure. The organisers were in touch with Minister of Justice Johannes Koskinen (SDP), who said that he could not guarantee Zakayev's safe return to Britain. "If he were to come, and if Russia were to make an extradition request, it would be completely impossible to say in advance how we would respond, considering that we do not know the reasons for such a request", Koskinen said on Thursday. Koskinen also noted that Russia has presented extradition requests concerning Zakayev to various countries, and that each time they have contained more information. Therefore, Koskinen emphasises that Finland's cautious stance does not mean that Finland would be more deferential toward Russia than, say, Norway, where Zakayev visited recently. Ahmed Zakayev made headlines over two years ago when he took part in a Chechnya seminar in Copenhagen. Danish police arrested him on the basis of the Russian Interpol warrant. After more than a month of investigation, Denmark released him over Russia's strenuous objections. Next, he went to Britain, where he was released while awaiting trial, with the help of bail posted by actress Vanessa Redgrave. Russia claims that Zakayev has taken part in terrorist activities in 1996 - 1999 and was involved in the planning of taking hostages. A court in Britain declared that the claims were without foundation, and ruled that he would probably be tortured if he were sent back to Russia. Zakayev moved around the EU quite freely on a British travel document. However, maters became more complicated in November when he was to have taken part in a meeting of the Russian organisation of soldiers' mothers, and the pro-independence Chechen government in exile in Brussels. According to Belgian news reports, Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht advised Zakayev to stay in London, because his presence in Belgium might have endangered the Foreign Minister's planned visit to Moscow. Zakayev visited Norway late last year without incident. Afterwards, Russia demanded an official explanation. The gist of the response was reportedly that the issue was a Norwegian matter, and of no concern to Russia. In practice, the Norwegians decided to look the other way when the wanted man entered the country, because the warrant was seen as groundless. Interpol as an organisation does not evaluate the merit of arrest warrants submitted by its member countries. Former Green MEP, renowned civil liberties lawyer Matti Wuori says that the Finnish organisers of the seminar were in touch with both Koskinen, as well as various officials of the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Ministry reportedly would not have had anything against Zakayev's visit, although it is the body that would later have had to respond to the likely Russian complaint over the visit. http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101978324092 Participants in Beslan protest act agree to unblock highway 22.01.2005, 16.04 MOSCOW, January 21 (Itar-Tass) - Russian president's envoy to the Southern Federal District, Dmitry Kozak, held a telephone conversation on Saturday with participants in a protest action in Beslan, in which an agreement was reached that they would immediately unblock the Rostov-Baku federal highway, Kozak's spokesman Fedor Shcherbakov told Itar-Tass. The highway was blocked several days ago as part of a protest action, in which the population of Beslan, who lost their relatives in the school hostage drama of September 1-3, demand an open investigation and punishment of officials on local and federal levels who were responsible for the tragedy. Shchherbakov stressed that in a conversation with Dmitry Kozak, participants in the action had promised to consider the resignation of North Ossetian president in conformity with the Russian legislation. |