| Chechen Rights Activist On Hunger
Strike Weakens Prague, 4 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A Chechen human rights activist who has been on hunger strike for 26 days is now in a life-threatening condition, says the Society for Threatened Peoples, a German-based human rights watchdog that is monitoring his protest. Speaking today from his home in Strasbourg, France, Said-Emin Ibragimov, a former Soviet boxing champion, told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service that the international community must do more to solve the Chechen crisis. "Today I ask everybody to understand this move correctly," he said. "We are asking for [attention] from the European Parliament, the PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe], the United Nations…We are asking for recognition that the rights of the Chechen people have been violated. We are asking that to be stated in legal form and to restore these rights. If these demands are met, the hunger strike will end." (RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service) http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/01/65F5737E-3B2A-4A65-A248-3AC259AC2CCA.html Invaders in concentration camp "Chernokozovo" have beaten [almost] to death a citizen of the Chechen Republic CHECHENPRESS, 04.01.06 After heavy beatings and tortures, an inmate of city clinical hospital #9, a citizen of CHRI who being in captivity of invaders in the concentration camp "Chernokozovo" (his surname is being kept secret) was delivered, agency SNO, referring to one of employees of hospital, has reported. Doctors estimate the condition of the patient as the heaviest. On the body of the victim, there are numerous traces from beatings and tortures. His backbone is broken and presently he is completely paralysed. IHF open letter regarding the unlawful detention and torture of four Ingush citizens on 30 November 2005, and the fabrication of a criminal case against one of them To: Aleksandr Bigulov, Prosecutor of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania, Vladikavkaz, Via facsimile + 7 (8672) 53 37 94 Head of the North Caucasus Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yessentuki, Via facsimile + 7(8793) 460 700 Copy: Vladimir Ustinov, Prosecutor General of the RF, Via facsimile +7(095) 921-41-86 Vladimir Lukin, Ombudsman of the RF, Via facsimile +7(095) 207-76-30 Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Human Rights Council under the President of the RF, Via facsimile +7 (095) 206-48-55 Vienna, 3 January 2006 Re. Unlawful detention and torture of Ingush citizens Muslim Tsechoev, Ruslan Tsechoev, Magomed Tsechoev and Yusup Khashiev; strong circumstantial evidence for the fabrication of a criminal case against Ruslan Tsechoev Dear Prosecutor Bigulov, I am writing to you on behalf of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) regarding the unlawful detention of four men from the Muslim court house (“Kadyat”) in Nazran, Ingushetia, on 30 November 2005. All four men reportedly were tortured, and while three of the four were sent home the same night, a criminal case was opened against the fourth one, Ruslan Tsechoev. There is circumstantial evidence that this criminal case is based on fabricated evidence, and if there is no other evidence against him, we ask you to drop the charges and release Tsechoev. Furthermore, we ask you to investigate the apparently illegal circumstances of the detention of the four men, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of any torture applied to them. ********************* On 30 November 2005, at about 11 am, four persons were unlawfully detained from the Muslim court house (“Kadyat”) in Nazran, Republic of Ingushetia: Muslim Tsechoev (born 1980), Ruslan Tsechoev (born 1982) and Magomed Tsechoev (born 1991), inhabitants of the village Alhasty, Sovietskaya Street 21, and Yusup Khashiev (born 1969), inhabitant of the village Đžrdzonikidzevskaya, Michurin Street. A group of armed people in masks, presumably representatives of the Russian security structures, arrived in several cars without license plates and with tinted windows. They surrounded the Muslim Court House, in which around 25 persons were present (to deal with a dispute between two local inhabitants), including the deputy of the Ingush parliament, Magomet-Sali Aushev. They forced everyone in the building to come out to the street, and, directing their weapons on them, demanded that they put their hands behind their heads and spread their legs. In this position all of them were carefully searched, and their documents were checked. Then, the young men were separated from the rest, handcuffed and made to stand facing a wall. Two cars that were standing outside the building, a VAZ-2109 and a VAZ-2110, belonging to Yusup Khashiev and Muslim Tsechoev, were subjected to a careful check. In Tsechoev’s car they found a hunting rifle, together with documents - a sanction and registration from the Ingush Ministry of Internal Affairs RI for this weapon. In spite of the fact that they could not find anything that was not in order, the unknown armed men forced Muslim, Ruslan and Magomet Tsechoev, and Yusup Khashiev into their cars and brought them away, without giving any explanations but the announcement that they would be brought to Magas. Relatives interpreted the words “Magas” as the main department of the Ingush FSB, which is located in Magas. Also the two searched cars were taken away. Relatives of the kidnapped men tried all day to find out about their destiny. They made an application to the police station, and addressed the Office of the Public Prosecutor. After midnight three of the four kidnapped men came back home. They said that they had been brought to the RUBOP – the Interior Ministry’s Department for the Fight Against Organised Crime -in Vladikavkaz. Each of them was led into a separate room where things likeflat-nose pliers, saws and hammers lay on a table. The young men were asked “Well, it is for you to choose how to be tortured.” Then, during several hours, they were severely beaten and tortured. The RUBOP staff used the hammers to beat on their legs, struck their renal regions with truncheons and tortured them with electroshocks. From time to time photos of persons were shown to them with the demand to recognize them, and questions about well-known armed rebels were asked. At some point around midnight, the RUBOP inspectors decided to again “search” one of the two cars stolen by them, the “VAZ-2109”, and despite the fact that the car had already been carefully searched near the Muslim Court House without any results, they declared that this time they found a pistol and to a grenade. After that, Muslim and Magomed Tsechoev together with Yusup Khashiev, were released, while Ruslan Tsechoev was kept. The released had to sign papers that they would not bring forward any claims against those who had detained them, as well as interrogation reports without the possibility to read them. However, the day after they were released, the two Tsechoev brothers and Khashiev wrote applications to the Office of the Public Prosecutor, because of their unlawful arrest and the physical violence used against them. They also addressed the republican hospital with the request to certify the torture traces. The doctors, in turn, asked for directions from medical experts, which was hard but nevertheless possible to receive. Therefore, their medical check could confirm the torture and beatings. Only the urologist and the neuropathologist refused to inspect the three young men, referring to their heavy workloads. On 1 November, the relatives of Ruslan Tsechoev, employed a lawyer, Ruslan Evloev, who met his client. In this meeting he was told by Ruslan that during the interrogation torture was applied against him, and based on this Evloev wrote a complaint about this. As of 12 December 2005, Ruslan Tsechoev, was held in the pre-trial establishment (SIZO) in Vladikavkaz, whereby the investigatory group of the State Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Northern Caucasus, headed by inspector Krivorotov, is responsible for the case. The decision of the court was a 30-days pre-trial detention of Tsechoev based on a charge under article 208 (gangsterism). From the copy of Ruslan Tsechoev’s application to the public prosecutor of North Ossetia / Alanya, A Bigulov, dated 30 November 2005: I was detained on 30 November on the suspicion of having committed a crime under article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and since 2 December, I am held in the SIZO in Vladikavkaz. Since 30 November, I was regularly beaten and tortured by the UBOP staff members, who demanded from me to admit a crime which I did not commit. My kidneys, and all other internal organs were beaten. From the beating I became deaf. I received no medical help. On 8 December, at about 11:00, I was taken out from the SIZO again, and brought to the UBOP, where I was regularly beaten till 19:00, interrupted by demands to tell them, where I have put a land mine, and with whom and where I was in the wood. Additionally, in the presence of a lawyer, they demanded from me to admit, that I had transported a pistol and a grenade in my car, telling me that they had found a pistol and a pomegranate there. Not being able to sustain the torture, I told them, that indeed I transported a pistol and a pomegranate. They put clips on my ears and tortured me with electricity, beat me with a truncheon and a book against my head. They threatened, that if I would tell anyone about this torture they would kill me. I ask you to protect me from the beating and the torture. The present application I send through the lawyer as I do not know how else to send it. I am afraid, that if I send it through the SIZO, it will not be accepted. 9.12.2005, Tsechoev R.B.” ********************************************** Therefore, as mentioned at the beginning of the letter, we want to ask you to reconsider the charges against Ruslan Tsechoev and release him. Furthermore, we ask you to investigate the apparently illegal circumstances of the detention of Muslim, Ruslan and Magomed Tsechoev and Yusup Khashiev on 30 November 2005, and to bring to justice the perpetrators of any torture applied to them. Thank you for your attention to our concerns. Yours sincerely, Aaron Rhodes cc Council of Europe, Mr. Rudolf Bindig, Chechnya-Rapporteur for the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights; Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, Commissioner for Human Rights Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr. Manfred Nowak European Union, Personal Representative for Human Rights in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Mr Michael Matthiessen European Parliament, EU-Russia Parliamentary Co-operation Committee; Subcommittee on Human Rights ICRC sub-delegation in Nalchik OSCE Delegations National Helsinki Committees __________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________ eng.kavkaz.memo.ru Caucasian Knot 5/1/2006 Police abuse may be serving as cover Three local residents were abducted by armed people from their own homes in Achkhoi-Martan, Chechnya, at about 6:20 a.m. this morning. The district prosecutor's office and the District Division of Internal Affairs have refused to accept statements from the abducted people's relatives, however, according to a press release of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society received by Caucasian Knot. The abductions were carried out by a group of 16 people in camouflage uniforms, armed with automatic weapons and driving four vehicles. All the abductions were committed in houses in Polezhayev Lane. Ahmed Khaitayev, b. 1972, and Mamed Khaitayev, b. 1978, were abducted from house No 3. The former serves with the district military commandant's office and the latter is a builder. Alvi Takhayev, b. 1972, a builder too, was abducted from house No 16. On the same day, the abducted men's relatives filed statements to the Achkhoi-Martan District Division of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office of the Achkhoi-Martan district and Sunzhenskaya district in which they set out the circumstances of the abductions and gave a description of the abductors. However, both law enforcement agencies refused to accept the statements. The relatives assume that the police and prosecutor's office know the names of the abductors and the whereabouts of the abducted men. They also think that the disappearings were enforced by representatives of Chechnya's law enforcement agencies. RCIA: various reports Vedeno district. Chechen Republic Report # 942 The chief executive of the International Red Cross branch in the North Caucasus visited Vedeno district On 27 December 2005 Arnold Marcel, the chief executive of the International Red Cross branch in the North Caucasus, visited the Chechen Vedeno district center. In his trip to the district center Marcel promised the residents of the district to provide them with humanitarian assistance. He also had a meeting with the administration of the district and promised to support the water supply of the district and the repair works of the local hospital and school. (From our correspondent) Grozny. Chechen Republic Report # 941 Human Rights advocates met with relatives of people who have fallen victims to an unknown decease On 27 December 2005 representatives of several human rights organizations met with parents of children who have fallen ill with unknown disease in the Chechen Shelkovskoy district. The meeting was held in Grozny in the republican department on human rights. The relatives of the diseased children expressed their concern with the continuing increase in number of the victims. We remind that more than fifty residents of the village of Starogladovskaya of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district have been taken to hospital on suspicion of being poisoned with an unidentifiable poisonous substance since the middle of September. The majority of the diseased children go to the local school. All of them have the same symptoms: asphyxia, faints and hysteria. On 20 December 2005, all the schools in the district were closed as quarantine had been put. There were cases of the same illness in the villages of Shelkozavodskaya and Koby (see our releases No1652 from 20.12.2005, No1657 from 22.12.2005 and No1662 from 27.12.2005). Sixty eight people are still undergoing medical treatment in hospital No 9 of Grozny. Moreover, a week ago three people from the village of Kulary of the Chechen Urus-Martan district were taken to hospital with the same symptoms. (From our correspondent) Grozny. Chechen Republic Report # 940 People in Grozny demonstrated their sorrow over the victims of the act of terror On 27 December 2005, a mourning demonstration was held in Grozny in front of the building of the former State Council of the Chechen Republic. It was dedicated to the 3rd anniversary of the act of terror perpetrated on 27 December 2002 when two explosives-laden trucks driven by suicide bombers burst their way through into the territory of governmental premises in Grozny. According to the official data, 82 people were killed in the act of terror and 680 more were wounded. (From our correspondent) Grozny. Chechen Republic Report # 939 The chief sanitary inspector of Russia visited Chechnya On 26 December 2005 the chief sanitary inspector of the Russian Federation Gennady Onischenko visited the Chechen Republic. His visit was caused by numerous cases of unidentified decease in the Chechen Shelkovskoy district. Onischenko met with the Chechen president Alu Alkhanov. He assured him that the Russian government would do their utmost to localize the disease. We remind that more than fifty residents of the village of Starogladovskaya of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district have been taken to hospital on suspicion of being poisoned with an unidentifiable poisonous substance since the middle of September. The majority of the diseased children go to the local school. All of them have the same symptoms: asphyxia, faints and hysteria. On 20 December 2005, all the schools in the district were closed as quarantine had been put. There were cases of the same illness in the villages of Shelkozavodskaya and Koby (see our releases No1652 from 20.12.2005, No1657 from 22.12.2005 and No1662 from 27.12.2005). Sixty eight people are still undergoing medical treatment in hospital No 9 of Grozny. Moreover, a week ago three people from the village of Kulary of the Chechen Urus-Martan district were taken to hospital with the same symptoms. (From our correspondent) Shalinskiy district. Chechen Republic Report # 938 A sport complex is opened in the village of Duba-Yurt On 26 December 2005, a new sport complex “Ramzan” was opened in the village of Duba-Yurt of the Chechen Sahli district. The minister of information Movsar Ibraghimov, the minister of housing and communal services Aby Sugaipov and other high-ranking officials attended the opening ceremony. All of them didn't fail to express their deep gratitude to the first vice premier of the Chechen government Ramzan Kadyrov for support in the construction of the sport complex. The Akhmad-Khadji Kadyrov Foundation allocated the funds to support the construction works of the sport complex. (From our correspondent) Grozny. Chechen Republic Report # 937 A new branch of Vneshtorgbank started its work in Chechnya On 26 December 2005, a new branch of the “Vneshtorgbank” started its work in Grozny. It is located in the premises of 46th brigade stationed in the territory of the former “Severny” airport. It is the second branch bank opened in the republic. The first one was opened in the end of last year (see our release No1068 from 30.12.2004). The vice president of the OAO “Vneshtorgbank” Alexander Gogolev attended the opening ceremony. He stated in his speech that the bank board was going to extend the network of the bank branches in the republic in future. In Gogolev's words, the bank aims at establishing more its branches in the republic because of the “economic boom” that is connected with the beginning of the reconstruction process of the destroyed economy of Chechnya. (From our correspondent) Grozny. Chechen Republic Report # 936 A detention of a Chechen combatant in Grozny On 17 December 2005 the police servicemen detained Sultanov Khalid Akhmedovich (born 1982) in Grozny. Sultanov is a resident of Grozny where he lives at the address 8a Pobeda St., ap. 4. A source within the Ministry of the Interior of the republic states that since July 2005 the detained man “has been a member of the criminal group headed by Musa Madaev. Madaev was killed in an armed clash on 31 August 2005 in the village of Novoterskoye of the Chechen Naur district”. (From our correspondent) Shelkovskoy district. Chechen Republic Report # 935 A girl living in the village of Staroschedrinskaya has gone missing On 22 December 2005 Amirova Zaira Samedovna (born 1983), a resident of the village of Staroschedrinskaya of the Chechen Shelkovskoy district where she lives at the address 17 Nilolaev Street, disappeared with no traces left. The whereabouts of the missing girl still remain unknown in spite of all the attempts of law-enforcement agents. (From our correspondent) Ingushetia Report # 934 Seminar on international systems of human rights defense was carried out in Nasran On 24-25 December 2005, the human rights organization “The Chechen Committee of National Salvation” organized and carried out a seminar on international systems of human rights defense in Nasran attended the seminar. (From our correspondent) Grozny rural district. Chechen Republic Report # 933 New details of the Chechen girls' murder have been established 23.12.2005. Today the RCIA editorial office established biographical particulars and some new details of the murder of the Bakaevs sisters in Moscow that was committed on December 20 this year. According to the information disseminated before, on 20 December 2005 unidentified people murdered two Chechen girls in Moscow. The full picture of the murder of Bakaevs sisters has not been established (see O.R. from 22.12.2005). The elder sister was a second-year student of one of the Moscow Universities. She died on the spot. The younger sister was a schoolgirl. She received bad wounds and was taken to hospital where she died from bleeding on the following day. Their father Umar (Musa) Bakaev was visiting their relatives living in the Chechen village of Starye Atagi at the time when the girls were killed. He had arrived at the village a few days before the murder had been committed. On 20 December his wife left Moscow for Chechnya to join her husband there. In Umar Bakaev's words, the girls must have been killed after they had seen their mother off to the Vnukovo airport and were going back home. Today a correspondent of the RCIA managed to establish the biographical particulars of the murdered Chechen girls. They were sisters, Yakhita Musaevna Arsemikova (born 22 June, 1988) and Aminat Musaevna Bakaeva (born 11 January, 1990). Yakhita was an adopted daughter in the family. The Bakaevs had had children for quite a long period of time and they adored Yakhita. The girl finished a secondary school in Moscow and entered one of the universities there. She simultaneously studied at the Oil Institute in Grozny. Aminat Bakaeva was a ten-grade pupil. In the morning of 20 December they went to Paveletsky railway station to see their mother off. The woman took a train to Vnukovo airport as she was going to Chechnya by air. When their mother had gone to the airport, the girls went home. In the father's words, they must have been shot down at a bus stop located not far from the station. As of the present moment, Umar Bakaev is under a deep stress and he is not aware of the details of the investigation that is being conducted. At present the Bakaevs are awaiting the corpses of the murdered girls to be given out. (From our correspondent) Ingushetia Report # 932 The killed man's brother has been detained On 23 December 2005 relatives of Mimbulat Amirkhanov (aged 21) turned to a correspondent of the RCIA with the request to reveal information about arbitrary and unlawful actions against the young man. Amirkhanov is being kept in custody in investigatory prison in Vladikavkaz town. In Amirkhanov's relatives' words, the service personnel of the prison are being mistreating him. Amirkhanov was detained in Moscow on 21 December 2005. He had been living in Moscow for the last few years. After detention, he was immediately taken to Vladikavkaz where the authorities charged him officially with being involved into attempting the lives of the Ingush president Murat Zyazikov and the chairperson of the Ingush government Ibragim Malsagov. The detainee's relatives are sure that Amirkhanov is being pressured to confess to all these crimes. The RCIA correspondent reports Amirkhanov's lawyer as stating that the man is being subjected to constant beating and torture. We remind that on 14 December the police killed Jambulat Amirkhanov (aged 25), Mimbulat's elder brother, in the village of Plievo of Ingushetia's Nasran district (see O.R. from 20.12.2005). (From our correspondent) http://www.ria.hrnnov.ru/eng/index.php |