| 1800 people disappear in Chechnya over 5
years 25.02.2005, 15.41 MOSCOW, February 25 (Itar-Tass) - More than 1,800 people have disappeared in Chechnya during five years since the beginning of the counter-terrorist operation in the region, Chechen State Council chairman Taus Dzhabrailov said. He told a news conference in Moscow on Friday that the prosecutor's office had opened 1,814 criminal cases on kidnaps of 2,540 people in the period from 1999 to 2005. "Five hundred twenty of them were later freed, some returned home on their own and some escaped," Dzhabrailov said. Chechen President Alu Alkhanov earlier told Itar-Tass that a "tendency of reduction of this type of crimes has begun to show in the republic last year as compared to 2003, there have been one-third less of them this year". However, law-enforcers have "no reasons for placidity until there is even a single fact of the disappearance of a person". "We must take effective measures on each of such cases and, the main thing, root out such crimes," Alkhanov said. Chechen human rights commissioner Lema Khasuyev in turn said that 11,000 various crimes, including 2,000 abductions, had been reported to his bureau since 2000. According to Chechen Interior Ministry, 168 kidnaps were registered in 2003 and 213 people were missing last year. Fifteen of these crimes were solved and criminal cases were sent to courts. In 2003, 404 kidnaps were registered in Chechnya. Young Chechen Woman Unfairly Sentenced to Jail Term IHF Calls for Fair Appeal Proceedings Vienna, 25 February 2005. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) has written an Open Letter to leading Russian judicial, law-enforcement and human rights authorities about the case of Zara Murtazaliyeva (born 1983), who has been convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to a 9-year prison term. Independent observers have recorded that her trial in the Moscow City Court violated international standards of due process and Russian law and that the charges were fabricated. A copy of the Open Letter is attached. For more information: Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director, +43-676-635 66 12 (mobile) Eliza Moussaeva, IHF Consultant, +43-1-408 88 22-21 (work) Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the ‘Civil Assistance’ Committee; member of the council of the Human Rights Center ‘Memorial’; member of the Human Rights Commission of the President of the Russian Federation; +7-095-251 53 10 (work) or +7-095-105 91 45 (mobile) ______________________________________________ Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Lebedev Via facsimile +7-095-290 19 94 Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Ustinov Via facsimile +7-095-921 41 86 Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Lukin Via facsimile +7-095-207 76 30 O P E N L E T T E R Vienna, 25 February 2005 Dear Sirs, We kindly ask for your attention to the case of the young Chechen woman Zara Murtazaliyeva (born 1983), who was sentenced on 17 January 2005 to nine years in prison by the Moscow City Court after having been found guilty of charges of preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in Moscow; involving other people in the commitment of a terrorist act; and illegal acquisition and storage of explosive substances. Murtazaliyeva`s defense lawyers as well as human rights defenders who monitored the trial are convinced that the charges against her have been fabricated. During the trial before the Moscow City Court, the prosecution was unable to give any evidence that would have substantiated any of the charges brought against her. Background In September 2003, Zara Murtazaliyeva, a part-time student of the Linguistic University of Pyatigorsk and resident of the Naurskiy district of the Chechen Republic, arrived in Moscow in order to find a job and help her family. In December 2003, she was stopped on a Moscow street for a routine document check. In the police department where she was brought, the young woman met Said Akhmaev, an ethnic Chechen officer of the Moscow Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (UBOP). A few days later, Akhmaev visited her at her working place and offered her a room in a hostel for free. Shortly after that, Murtazaliyeva moved into this room together with her Russian friends Anna Kulikova and Darya Voronova, both of whom had converted to Islam. Later it was revealed that they were video- and audio-taped during the entire time they lived there, as the room offered by Akhmaev had been bugged with eavesdropping devices. On 4 March 2003, Murtazaliyeva was stopped by the police again, this time near the metro station ‘Kitai-gorod’, not far from the place where she worked (for an insurance company). She was brought to a Department of Internal Affaires (OVD) office on the other side of the city, at Prospekt Vernadskogo, allegedly to verify her identity. There they checked her documents and took her fingerprints. Then she was asked to wash her hands, which she did, leaving her bag behind her. When she returned into the room, the officers took a briquette with plastic explosives out of her bag. On this basis, the girl was put under arrest and criminal proceedings were instituted against her under Article 222 (storage and transportation of explosives). But no fingerprints were taken from the briquette and the explosives were destroyed during an ‘investigatory experiment’. When the room where the three young women had lived was searched, nothing was found except some photographs made by Murtazaliyeva and her girlfriends. Some of them were intended by the young women to show funny scenes on an escalator in the shopping mall ‘Okhotny Ryad’. These photos were used as “evidence†that they had planned to bomb the underground shopping mall. On 25 October 2004, the mother of Anna Kulikova, V.M. Kulikova, addressed human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina and told her about the pressure exerted on her daughter by the investigators. When Kulikova and Voronova were summoned for interrogation, the investigators exerted strong pressure on the two women to testify that Murtazaliyeva had recruited them, involved them in terrorist activities and prepared for a terrorist act. They were warned that if they did not give the necessary testimonies they would be regarded as collaborators, although the information recorded on the cassettes contained only general discussions among the girls about Chechnya, war and Islam. On 22 December 2004, the hearings started. The case was considered by Judge M.A.Komarova. At the first court session, Kulikova and Voronova retracted the testimonies against Murtazaliyeva given during the pretrial investigation. Independent court monitors and journalists who attended the trial observed that Judge Komarova was biased against the girl from the beginning and was not interested in supporting the impartiality of the proceedings. She prohibited Murtazaliyeva`s defense lawyers to conduct an audio recording of the trial, thus depriving them of the possibility to make remarks to the contents of the protocols, for example on some missing or incorrectly recorded words or facts. This was done in violation of the criminal procedural code, which states that the agreement of the judge is not required for audio recordings. In addition, the judge denied all petitions of the defense to call additional witnesses to the trial, including Said Akhmaev, officer of the Moscow Directorate for Combating Organized Crime who had offered the free hostel to the three young women. A Fabricated Case? The text of the verdict read by Jdge Komarova is in fact a slightly modified indictment, thus entirely based on the prosecutor’s version. At all times, Murtazaliyeva maintained her innocence. At the trial she said, “My only fault is that I have been born in this country-- that I have been born Chechenâ€. Initially, Murtazaliyeva was additionally charged with receiving training as a suicide bomber in a terrorist camp near Baku. However, after the Azerbaijan Embassy sent a protest against such statements to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this charge was dismissed. Another charge - that the then 11-year-old Zara Murtazaliyeva took part in the 1994-1996 war, was also dropped. After the guilty verdict Murtazaliyeva`s lawyer launched an appeal of the decision by the first instance court within the regulatory 10 days, asking the Supreme Court to cancel the sentence and to send the case to be reviewed. On 10 March 2005 the appeal court (the second chamber) will examine the case in a hearing. ******** The IHF is concerned about all elements showing to the fact justice was not rendered in this case, and that the conviction to a 9-year prison term of a young Chechen woman is apparently based entirely on fabricated charges. We appeal to you to ensure that Murtazaliyeva receives a fair trial in the appeal proceedings. Sincerely, Dr. Aaron Rhodes (Executive Director) Cc Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles Via facsimile +33-3-90 21 50 53 __________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________ Court ruling against Russia could be first of many 25 Feb 2005 13:28:15 GMT Source: Reuters By Oliver Bullough MOSCOW, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A European Court ruling that found Russia guilty of rights abuses in Chechnya could be the first of many once Chechens see they can get justice in Strasbourg, activists behind the case said on Friday. Russia has lost Chechnya-linked extradition cases in Western courts before, but Thursday's ruling by the European Court of Human Rights was the first to condemn it for state-sponsored abuses of Chechens' rights, including torture and killing. And activists from respected Russian rights group Memorial said the decision could spur Chechens to seek justice for mass kidnappings and murder committed by pro-Russia forces, and might even lead to judicial and legal reform in Russia itself. "People in Chechnya are intimidated, and anyone who has information is intimidated, so people lose faith in being protected," said Tatyana Kasatkina of Memorial, the rights group which brought the case to the European Court. "For five years people have come to us and told us we do nothing ... But now people will understand that there is a mechanism that can protect them. I hope this will be published in Chechnya so people realise they are not without rights." Yelena Yezhova, director of the "Chechnya Justice Initiative", said about 120 cases brought by Chechens against Russia were being processed in the European Court, most linked to disappearances, murders and torture. Many more could come after this ruling, although Russia has said it could appeal. "Every decision will add a drop to the bucket, and we may reach a critical mass which will finally change the situation," she said. Memorial is one of the few rights groups to work in Chechnya. Rebels and Russian forces have both committed atrocities since the 1994 start of a war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians and 20,000 Russian troops. The rights group chronicles dozens of kidnappings and disappearances every month in the Muslim region, and Chechens say they have no recourse to the law for recompense. "People in Chechnya are at a dead-end. I live in Moscow and my rights are not defended, I can get stopped by the police anywhere. Imagine what it is like in Chechnya," said Roza Akayeva, whose brother's 2000 murder by Russian troops was one of the cases closed on Thursday. Pleased with winning compensation for the six Chechens, the activists also hoped Russia might now have to reform its legal system, which the European Court ruled denied the plaintiffs the right to a full hearing. "This is the first time we have had an incontestable legal document about the serious and terrifying abuses in the course of the military operation in the Chechen Republic," said Memorial's Oleg Orlov. "You cannot go back on this now." Feb 25 2005 Strasbourg court considering over 120 Chechnya cases MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) - The European Court of Human Rights is considering more than 120 cases of alleged human rights abuse in Chechnya, Russian rights groups said on Friday. Disappearances, the killings of civilians and torture are the most common reasons for complaints the Strasbourg court receives from Chechnya, the groups said. "Thirty-five cases on Chechnya have been handed to the Strasbourg court by the Memorial center. They are at various stages of consideration," Dina Vedernikova, a lawyer for Memorial, told a news conference in Moscow. "The Law Initiative organization, which specializes in legal assistance to the Chechen population, is representing 75 cases on Chechnya at the European Court," said the group's Yelena Yezhova. Caucasus Reporting Service Chechens Fight for Compensation Lack of documents and witnesses prevents victims of Stalin deportation claiming their rights. By Aminat Abumuslimova in Grozny (CRS No. 275, 24-Feb-05) Sixty-one years after the entire Chechen and Ingush population was deported to Central Asia by Stalin, almost a third of Chechens who apply for compensation are not receiving what they are entitled to because they do not have the right papers. Said-Magomed Batalov, now 93, was one of almost half a million people exiled in cattle trucks on February 23, 1944. For three months, he has been visiting the regional interior ministry headquarters in the town of Argun every morning to ask if there has been an answer to his official request. It is hard for the officials inside to explain to Batalov, who as well as his advanced age has poor hearing, that a review of his case could take several months or even years. And he is impatient at the explanations he is given. “I am already old,” Batalov said. “Today or tomorrow I won’t be here anymore. I don’t understand why they can’t give me [the papers required for payments] without any extra bother. Isn’t it obvious that I was deported?” Along with nearly 30 per cent of his fellow applicants in Chechnya, Batalov was refused compensation money because he could not officially prove that he had been deported – even though every single Chechen in Chechnya was deported in 1944. The Chechens are in a worse position in this regard than four other peoples in the region punished by Stalin - the Ingush, the Balkars, the Karachais and the Kalmyks - all of whom received payouts in 1993-4. A total of 387,000 Chechens and 91,000 Ingush - including men, women, children, soldiers at the front and party officials - were deported in 1944. Tens of thousands of them died of cold and disease. All traces of their culture were erased and the republic of Chechen-Ingushetia was abolished. In 1957, Nikita Khrushchev reversed the decision and restored the rights of the punished peoples, allowing them to go home. But it was only in April 1991 that a law rehabilitating the victims of political repression was passed. In 1994, the level of compensation was set as being worth 100 times the minimum wage in Russia. The four other repressed North Caucasian peoples each received a modest sum per person. But the Chechen government of then-president Jokhar Dudayev, which was at the time in a state of self-declared independence from Russia, rejected the sum as being too low. Later in 1997-8, when Chechnya was again de facto independent from Russia, Moscow offered substantially more, 800 US dollars for every Chechen, but the authorities in Grozny again rejected the offer as being insufficient for what the deportees had lost. After that inflation and amendments to Russian federal legislation whittled down the sum still further. At the moment, Chechens are entitled to claim up to just 4,000 roubles (140 dollars) for property they lost excluding housing or up to 10,000 roubles for all their property including housing. At the beginning of this year, Chechnya’s new pro-Moscow president Alu Alkhanov reopened the debate and in the draft document on a new treaty with the Kremlin proposed a new compensation sum worth 150,000 roubles. “There is a general belief that 10,000 roubles as compensation for material loss suffered during the years of deportation is virtually nothing in comparison with the material losses which every deported family suffered,” Social Welfare Minister Bilkis Baidayeva said on Chechen television. However, around a third of those putting in applications are being turned down because their date of birth is wrong in their passport, their name is misspelled or they do not have birth certificates at all. The most common reason is that people have lost all their documentation to a decade of war in Chechnya. Formerly, the Chechen State Archive in Grozny had an enormous quantity of supporting information on Chechen families, their possessions and households, as well as 260,000 personal files on deportees. “Inside them were separate documents on every member of the family, on changes in their lives (their reaching adulthood, marriage, death) and changes in the family,” recalled Magomed Muzayev, head of the archive for more than a decade. “And I remember huge crowds of people from neighbouring republics came to us. We managed to give almost all the Akkin Chechens [from Dagestan] confirmation documents. “Unfortunately very few of our citizens applied to us. Because of the political events sweeping through the republic our people were in a kind of depression and they didn’t trust rumours about possible compensation for material loss. So only a few hundred people came to us.” Since then, the archive was badly damaged by artillery and bombing in the 1994-6 war. Almost two centuries of Chechen history was burned and less than half of the 260,000 personal files survived. They are now being restored in the archive in the city of Samara, meaning that ordinary Chechens must apply to the information centre of the interior ministry for their confirmation documents. Thousands of individual cases are now being contested in court. But those fighting for compensation without supporting documents generally need witnesses to confirm that they were indeed deported - and these are also becoming harder to find. “Most of my neighbours either died a natural death or perished in the war or have left for somewhere else,” said Malika Didayeva, now in her seventies. “It’s no surprise that we are dying off. I am in complete despair, I don’t know where I can find witnesses.” “I believe I am still being repressed,” complained another elderly Chechen, Said Abdul-Hamid Muslim from the village of Michurino outside Grozny. “I wasn’t a bandit of any kind. I am just a repressed person. We weren’t deported selectively, everyone was deported – on ethnic grounds. “So why can’t they just restore our rights on the most obvious grounds – by nationality and date of birth? At the end of the day what is stopping a state which punished a whole people because of its own whim from lifting the blame for us after we have endured our punishment?” Animat Abumuslimova is a correspondent for Groznensky Rabochy newspaper in Grozny. http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/cau/cau_200502_275_4_eng.txt |