International Helsinki Federation
No Human Rights Improvements in Post-Referendum Chechnya
Moscow, 18 July 2003.
As part of its on-going monitoring of human rights problems in Chechnya, the
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) dispatched a five-member
mission to Ingushetiya and Chechnya from 13 – 17 July. On 15 July a team
visited Grozny. The delegation consisted of Aage Borchgrevink of the Norwegian
Helsinki Committee, Krassimir Kanev of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Jan
ter Laak of the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Aleksandr Lyuboslavski of the
Moscow Helsinki Group and Vladimir Weissman of the IHF.
The aim of the mission was to assess the human rights situation in the area
after the Constitutional Referendum in the Chechen Republic of 22 March this
year, which was heavily criticized by independent domestic and international
human rights monitors including the IHF. Taken at face value, the Referendum
and the Presidential Elections of the Chechen Republic scheduled for 5 October
are claimed to be steps in a ‘political process and political dialogue’
aimed at stabilizing the region. However, unless the ‘political process’
is accompanied by the tangible improvements in key areas such as security and
human rights, the term is meaningless and will not achieve a lasting settlement
of the conflict.
Based on the findings of the mission, it is the conclusion of the IHF that the
security situation remains grave and that there is no end in sight to the human
rights abuses in Chechnya. The efforts of the Russian authorities to stem violence
and end impunity are either not working or not serious. This assessment is corroborated
by reports from Human Rights Watch, by the reports of a number of domestic monitors
such as MEMORIAL, and by the rare public statement on Chechnya issued by the
Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture earlier this
month. Chechnya remains a lawless zone where violence and human rights abuses
are perpetrated by a wide range of state and non-state actors. Indeed, recent
developments indicate a further deterioration in some areas: violence and abductions
are spreading to Ingushetiya, as noted by the IHF in a 18 June statement, and
there appears to be a growing number of disappearances targeted at women.
A main human rights issue is the widespread problem of forced disappearances.
A woman from a village in the Urus Martan district told us of the disappearance
of her 23-year-old brother on 12 April this year. On 11 April two Russian soldiers
were killed in the village by an explosive device hid by a well. Her brother
was tending cows nearby when the explosion occurred. The next morning, between
5 and 6 AM, a group of armed and masked men who spoke in unaccented Russian
came to their house and forcibly detained the brother. He was taken out of the
house without shoes and placed in a car. He has not been seen since. After three
months neither the procuracy, nor the local department of the Ministry of the
Interior, nor the local military commander have any news about the case, even
though the car used a road where there are at least two check points. The family
was also interviewed by one of the national TV channels, but the interview was
never aired. The sister is worried because, according to her, it is an established
fact in Chechnya that when the men are taken without shoes, it means they will
disappear without a trace and that there are small chances of finding the body.
Moreover the family suspects that his name and address were given to the federal
soldiers by local informers. After four years of the second war, the atmosphere
of fear and distrust is growing ever more prevalent in the Chechen communities.
The Urus Martan-story is fairly typical of the dirty war currently waged in
Chechnya, and it is not only representative of the mountain villages. The images
of a peaceful, sunny Grozny aired on Russian television do not correspond to
the reality of continued disappearances, often with female victims, and overcrowded
and insufficient facilities for the IDPs of which there currently are around
140 000 in Chechnya. One of the TACs in Grozny is home to more than 600 IDPS,
but its capacity is only 318 people. In addition to numerous cases of disappearance,
the mission investigated cases of killings, torture, illegal detention, persecution
of human rights defenders and arbitrary shelling of populated areas. Seen in
the light of the extensive documentation of the local human rights monitors,
the findings indicate a continued high level of grave abuses--as high as at
the end of last year, and higher than in the months preceding the Referendum.
The citizens of Grozny, like those of the rest of Chechnya, live in a continual
state of terror.
Impunity is the pillar of the lawless society currently in place in Chechnya.
Despite numerous appeals from domestic and international organizations and institutions,
it appears that the Russian authorities refuse to confront the problem. In certain
cases, the authorities appear rather to be the problem. An example is the detention
of nine people on 12 June outside the ‘Tanzila’ IDP-settelement
in Nazran, Ingushetiya. Among the detained men, were two inhabitants of the
camp who, according to witnesses, happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong
time. The detainees were taken to a detention facility in Vladikavkaz, North-Ossetia.
According to the Russian procedural code, the detained should have been taken
to the local court in Nazran, where a decision on pre-trial detention should
be issued. Instead the FSB brought the judge to the detention center in Vladikavkaz,
and the decision was made there. It seems the courts are in the service of the
FSB, rather than independent actors.
This impression appears to be widespread among the local population and is reinforced
by what is perceived as revenge killings and disappearances that often target
people who complain about the authorities. Since there is no trust in the authorities,
initiatives like the newly announced amnesty for certain Chechen fighters have
little effect. Among the last appeals received by the Moscow Helsinki Group
from Chechen civilians, was a letter dated 4 July from a woman in the Shali-region
of Chechnya who wrote that her husband received the official amnesty on 2 June,
after handing in a gun and the required application documents. On his way home,
the bus he was sitting in was overtaken and a group of masked men entered. The
passengers were forced to lie down, and the men detained the amnestied man.
He has not been seen since.
The IHF is strongly recommending that the Russian authorities issue an invitation
to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Disappearances to investigate the
huge number of forced disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya.
A new mission of the OSCE in Chechnya must focus on the protection of human
rights.
The IHF seeks dialogue with representatives of the Russian Ministries of Interior,
Defense, and Justice, to discuss the above concerns.
For more information:
Aage Borchgrevink, Norwegian Helsinki Committee: 0047 907 51150
Jan Ter Laak, Netherlands Helsinki Committee: 0031 622 975 179
Aaron Rhodes, IHF: 0043 676 635 6612
http://www.ihf-hr.org/viewbinary/viewhtml.php?doc_id=4758