| Worse Than a War “Disappearances” in Chechnya—a Crime Against Humanity A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper March 2005 Executive Summary Enforced disappearances in Chechnya are so widespread and systematic that they constitute crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch urges the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to take urgent measures commensurate with the extreme gravity of the phenomenon. It should adopt a resolution condemning enforced disappearances in Chechnya, urging the Russian government to immediately adopt measures to stop the practice and requiring the government to issue an urgent invitation to the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. The conflict in Chechnya, now in its sixth year, is a dire human rights crisis. The Russian government has gone to great lengths to persuade the international community that the situation is steadily “normalizing,” even as in the past year the conflict has shown no sign of abating. Rather, it has increasingly spread to other areas of the Northern Caucasus. Russia contends that its operations in Chechnya are its contribution to the global campaign against terrorism. But the human rights violations Russian forces have committed there, reinforced by the climate of impunity the government has created, have not only brought untold suffering to hundreds of thousands of civilians but also undermined the goal of fighting terrorism. Chechen fighters have committed unspeakable acts of terrorism in Chechnya and other parts of Russia. Russia’s federal forces, together with pro-Moscow Chechen forces, have also committed numerous crimes against civilians, including extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary detention and looting. But it is their involvement in enforced disappearances that is an enduring feature of the six-year conflict. With between 3,000 and 5,000 “disappeared” since 1999, Russia has the inglorious distinction of being a world leader in enforced disappearances.[1] This briefing paper argues that the pattern of enforced disappearances in Chechnya has reached the level of a crime against humanity. It shows that, as part of Russia’s policy of “Chechenization” of the conflict, pro-Moscow Chechen forces have begun to play an increasingly active role in the conflict, gradually replacing federal troops as the main perpetrators of “disappearances” and other human rights violations.[2] It reflects forty-three cases of enforced disappearances that occurred in 2004, which Human Rights Watch documented during a two-week research trip to Chechnya in January-February 2005.[3] Human Rights Watch has submitted thirty-six of these cases to the Russian government, requesting that it disclose information on the whereabouts or fate of the “disappeared” individuals and hold the perpetrators responsible.[4] We have also submitted the cases to the U.N. Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, asking that they raise these cases with the Russian government. These cases are appended to this briefing paper. [Continues... http://hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/chechnya0305/] [1] Estimate by the Memorial human rights center, “Chechnya, 2004: Abductions and ‘Disappearances’ of People,” February 7, 2005 [online], http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/index.htm (retrieved February 25, 2005). [2] Most of these forces are led by Vice Prime Minister of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who is responsible for the republic’s law enforcement structures. [3] In the course of its research, Human Rights Watch conducted more than sixty interviews with witnesses and victims of abuses in Grozny, Gudermes, Urus-Martan, Argun, Samashki, Sernovodsk, Starye Atagi and many other towns and villages in Chechnya [4] In the remaining cases, witnesses asked Human Rights Watch not to release any information, since the families are still trying to find their “disappeared” relatives though private channels. In addition to the forty-three cases that occurred in Chechnya in 2004, Human Rights Watch documented one “disappearance” that occurred in December 2003, and two 2004 “disappearances” that took place in Ingushetia. These are not included in the appendix. eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 22/3/2005 Authorities put pressure on Ingushetia.Ru website The Internet portal Ingushetia.Ru has reported about the pressure put on the editors on the part of the republican authorities. Below is the text of the statement. "Dear friends and visitors of our website! Out portal has faced inexorable pressure from the republican authorities of Ingushetia recently! President of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov and functionaries implementing his will do their best to close this website, and deal with its staff and founder. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and other law enforcement agencies have received hundreds of letters, including anonymous ones, and other papers from the republican presidential administration, "well-wishers", and "indignant residents of Ingushetia" arranged by our enemies. The Prosecutor General's Office, the Saratov Regional Prosecutor's Office, the Kuntsevo Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office of Moscow, the FSB Department in Saratov Region, the Russian Interior Ministry's R Department, and the Moscow Main Interior Department (GUVD) have thoroughly examined the website and all information it contains several times. These checks have revealed no violations of the law in the activity of the website. They accuse us of performing somebody's orders. We can swear on the Koran we do not work for anybody and do not perform anybody's orders. Our website works due to personal enthusiasm of certain persons anxious about our people and unselfishly serving their Motherland. We sincerely strive to make the Ingushetians' life better, more beautiful and saturated. We want you to believe in us so that we work together in the interests of the people and our republic. Ingushetia.Ru founder and staff" Former Russian Minister Faces Danish Lawsuit for Chechnya War Crimes Created: 22.03.2005 17:04 MSK (GMT +3), MosNews Denmark's prosecutors in charge of foreign affairs received a lawsuit on Tuesday against Russia's former Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov. Two members of the Danish Support Committee for Chechnya have accused him of war crimes in the republic. Kulikov is currently in Copenhagen at the invitation of the Danish Institute for International Studies. He plans to give a lecture on Russia's fight against terrorism on Tuesday. The plaintiffs have demanded the ex-minister be detained and questioned to investigate his activities in Chechnya. In the 1990s Kulikov was commander of the Unified Military Group in Chechnya, later heading the Interior Ministry. Currently, Kulikov is a member of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. Denmark's PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Foreign Minister Per Stig Meller declined to elaborate on the report when speaking to journalists. They said the issue concerns the Justice Ministry, Interfax news agency reported 3/21 -2005 Danish Support Committee for Chechnya Press release A Russian general, accused of war crimes in Chechnya, is going to deliver a paper in Denmark on 3/22. The Support Committee files a civilian indictment. We have learnt that the Russian general Anatoliy Kulikov is planning to deliver a paper in Denmark on 3/22 with the title "Countering Terrorism". The paper will be delivered at DIIS, Danish Institute for International Studies. General Kulikov was commander-in-chief of the Russian interior troops (MVD) during a period of the first Chechnya War, 1995-96; he has thus the supreme responsibility for the massive attacks on the Chechen civilian population at that time, and as a part of this, especially the attack on the Chechen provincial town of Samashki in April 1995. The town was totally smashed and a great number of civilians was killed without having any chance of leaving the battle zone. The Russian troops committed several massacres by throwing hand grenades into basements with civilians and by burning other people to death with flame throwers. The International Committee of the Red Cross was denied access to Samashki during the attack. Several human rights organizations documented these atrocities already in 1995, among them Russian "Memorial", led by Sergei Kovalyov. At that time, General Kulikov wiped away all these reports and witness accounts and declared in several statements to the press that "Kovalyov is a political prostitute". Furthermore, Kulikov made the following central comment with regard to the many Chechen victims: "In a war where the enemy hides among civilians, there will be civilian casualties. In wars like this, civilian casualties outnumber military ones." A short time ago, the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg passed a principal verdict against the Russian state for its "warfare" in Chechnya. Russia was found guilty of violating the "right to life" through massive military attacks on densely populated areas full of civilians. Therefore General Kulikov as the supreme commanding general bears the supreme responsibility for such and similar Russian attacks in 1995. The first Chechen war demanded the lives of 100,000 Chechen civilians. At the Hague Tribunal on Ex-Yugoslavia, great legal stress is laid upon the responsibility of the supreme commanding generals for the individual "operations" and also upon the responsibility of those who were ministers at the time. After the new verdicts in Strasbourg and according to previous practice in the legal dealing with war criminals, General Kulikov's responsibility for possible crimes must thus be examined by a court. Therefore, on Tuesday, 22/3, the Support Committee for Chechnya will file a civilian indictment against General Kulikov at "The Special International Crimes Office", in order to achieve a legal evaluation of his actions. Besides this, we are very surprised how an institution like the DIIS can arrive at the idea to invite a guest like General Kulikov, and in this context we recall Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller's interview in Jyllandsposten (11/8-2001): (...) "Those responsible to court In spite of the improved situation in the question of Chechnya, he (Per Stig Møller) explains that Denmark must continue to demand that the responsible Russian generals are brought to court because of their murder sprees against the civilian population in the area. "The Russians said themselves that they would prosecute them. There is nothing else to do than to stand firm with them that this is the price of being part of civilized society. You prosecute war criminals. We must make them outlaws, so they cannot leave their country", Per Stig Møller said. Denmark will continue to demand legal prosecution, no matter what Russia says, he stresses: "They cannot become angry about the fact that we take them by their word. This is exactly what we are going to do". And this is what the Support Committee for Chechnya is going to do. Therefore a civilian indictment will be filed against Kulikov while he is visiting Denmark. DANISH SUPPORT COMMITTEE FOR CHECHNYA, 3/21, 2005 Additional contact and information: Thomas Bindesbøll Larsen, Chairman Phone +45 26 64 24 00, +45 45 80 04 35 2005-03-23 20:34 Former Interior Minister can go to Denmark HELSINKI, March 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Danish Prosecutor's Office for Special International Crimes refused to consider charges against former Russian interior minister, State Duma deputy Anatoly Kulikov, the office's press service said. Yesterday two members of the committee on Chechnya's support filed a lawsuit against Kulikov accusing him of committing military crimes in the 1990s when he had been commanding the Join Group of Forces in Chechnya. The committee's activists suspect servicemen under Kulikov's command of committing military crimes. They demanded the arrest of Anatoly Kulikov who was invited deliver a lecture on counter-terrorism in Russia at Denmark's institute for international research. Danish special prosecutor Birgitte Vestberg told the activists that Denmark had no authority to interfere in domestic affairs of other countries and could not consider the charges against Anatoly Kulikov. "The authorities of Danish prosecutors spread only on those who commit crimes in Denmark or on Danish citizens committing crimes abroad," Vestberg said. The Chechen Times 21.03.2005 Human rights catastrophe Russian human rights activists will present a report on the situation in Chechnya at a sitting of the so called “roundtable,” which is scheduled to take place in Strasbourg on March 21. The session, which will be held under the aegis of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, is expected to involve chairperson of the Civil Support committee and board member of the Memorial human rights center Svetlana Gannushkina and International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights expert Tatiana Lokshina. «My assessment is that the situation with human rights in Chechnya is catastrophic now," Gannushkina told Interfax on Sunday. Gannushkina announced plans to speak about the need to put an end to the conflict in Chechnya through talks at the session. «We have to specify the terms — terrorists and separatists are different people. On the whole, the task of restoring peace in Chechnya calls on the conflicting parties to meet each other half-way and search for a compromise," she said. Asked about what hopes human rights activists are pinning on the forum, Gannushkina said: «No problem can be settled if it is not a matter of discussions. We have no weapons other than words," she said. Meanwhile, International Helsinki Federation expert Lokshina told Interfax that Russia’s human rights activists may bring up the issue of releasing the body of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who was eliminated on March 8, to his family. Russia’s human rights campaigners will attend the roundtable not as participants, but as rapporteurs to "unveil their point of view on the situation in Chechnya and provide a foundation for further discussions," she said. «Council of Europe representatives have informed that among other issues, the session will address steps that need to be taken to make a Chechen political process possible in principle. We have no doubts that settling the problem of human rights in Chechnya is vital to a solution to this issue," Lokshina said. The Chechen Times http://www.chechentimes.org/en/comments/?id=27369 The Chechen Times 21.03.2005 Accepting genocide A lot has been said about the tourist show «Round table on Chechnya in Strasbourg," and it seems only the author of the project – PACE rapporteur on Chechnya Andreas Gross - is likely to overestimate its significance. All that is due to his office duties the main point of which is not so much trying to change the situation in Chechnya, as highlighting a vague vector «of Europe’s concerns» over the problem. A large «table» team from Russia is going to discuss «a wide range of questions," the major of which is the question of rendering economic assistance to the puppet Chechnya. Gross expects something similar: «The issue of economic aid to Chechnya is related to the observance of human rights there," Gross stated in an interview with RIA «Novosti." Now, what we need is a trifle: Alkhanov must try to persuade Gross that everything is ok with human rights in Chechnya. Or at least that «an active work in this direction is underway." Alkhanov, supported by "an assault group" of 60, can easily deal with it. Besides, Gross has found it more and more difficult expressing «concerns» over the problem of human rights. Judge yourself. The respected human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, calling everything what is going on in Chechnya as crimes against humanity, openly charge the Kremlin and the puppet regime with these crimes. Besides, the position of European leaders on the Chechen problem is described as "unconscionable." But can criticism from the side of human rights activists worry PACE in the person of Gross? The level of hypocrisy of European politicians has already reached the point when a number of words from Moscow seems suffice to give a sigh of relief and state that everything is ok in Chechnya. As for HRW and similar organizations… Strange enough, their reports can be used at one’s discretion, in cases of acute political necessity. All reports of human rights activists on Yugoslavia or Iraq – are useful. Of course, it is necessary to protect democracy there, to demand sending international troops there, to play an active role in settlement of the conflict… As for Chechnya… Chechnya is a special case, Europe is unwilling to interfere in it, regardless of 250,000 of killed civilians and the ongoing genocide. After that no even the «Round Table on Chechnya," but even the international tribunal in The Hague seems a hypocritical action. What does Andreas Gross want to achieve with this action? To put an end to the conflict or to calm down «European conscience." To begin with we shall say that only one side will be represented at "the Round Table," – Russia. That means this «Round Table» looks more like a bar, where the barman – in the given case Andreas Gross – will patiently listen to a drunken customer, obediently nodding to his bla-bla-bla. Finally, «the customer» will get a drink «at the bar’s expenses," and that’s it. We believe this comparison precisely describes what is going on: in turn, PACE is pursuing its own interests – and these interests are economic. Easily believing the Kremlin that «everything is ok in Chechnya," and – as promised – rendering a symbolic financial assistance to the puppet government, thereby PACE admits the legitimacy of all the referenda, presidential elections, as well as the upcoming «parliamentary elections» in Chechnya. The friendship between the East and the West is becoming stronger, providing the latter with energy resources. In other words, if floods of Chechen bloods must ensure the flow of oil and gas from Russia to Europe, then why not accepting the reasoning of the Russian side and not ignoring reports of human rights groups? The initial stupidity of the idea of "the Round Table" is obvious because in its special resolution PACE noted that «acknowledging the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation is a necessary condition for participation in the event." In other words, the Chechen Resistance can hardly take part in it, while Europe accepts Moscow’s definition of the nature of the conflict. Today’s «Round table» rejects the Chechens’ right to independence and accepts the genocide. The Chechen Times http://www.chechentimes.org/en/comments/?id=27371 eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 18/3/2005 New victim of extrajudicial execution The body of an unknown man bearing marks of violent death was found on 16 March in the Shali district of Chechnya on the road between the villages of Mesker-Yurt and Germenchug, the Council of Non-governmental Organizations reports referring to local people. A Germenchug resident witnesses the man's body was found in the boot of a car standing on the roadside. The cause of the extrajudicial execution has not been established. Some sources say the victim worked in a district police department in Argun. PRESS-RELEASE #1215 FROM MARCH 21, 2005 Report from THE CHECHEN REPUBLIK Urus-Martan district. The administrative head in the village Tangi-Chu abducted March 18, 2005. The administrative head Shamsutdin Dzhambulatov in the village Tangi-Chu in the Urus-Martan district of the Chechen Republic was abducted by unknown individuals wearing camouflage uniforms and masks. According to preliminary information, the abductors were ethnic Chechens. (From our correspondent) |