GfbV: Warning from human
rights activists: Chechnya war threatens to spread to Ingushetia
Society for Threatened Peoples
Press Release
Göttingen, 18.06.2003
Warning from human rights activists: Chechnya war threatening to spread to Ingushetia
According to observations made by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV), the
Russian army is now extending its persecution and killing activities from Chechnya
to neighbouring Ingushetia. The consultant for Eastern Europe of the human rights
organization resident in Göttingen, Sarah Reinke, reported on Thursday that
Russian cleansing operations against the 90,000 refugees in Ingushetia have been
increasing since the beginning of June 2003. "The Russian rabble of soldiers has
pillaged Chechnya, and now it is going for the villages of Ingushetia. Most recently,
disquieting news have reached us from the village of Chemulga, which was totally
blocked from the rest of the world on 17 June. We fear that there will be massive
looting and destruction, like it happened in the neighbouring village of Arshty."
Besides that, the life-saving work of aid organizations for refugees, displaced
persons and suffering people in Chechnya is seriously endangered, because it is
carried out from Ingushetia, Reinke said. The workers of these organizations are
also doing an important job as human rights observers. They are often the only
people who record eyewitness accounts and document serious human rights violations,
according to Reinke.
The GfbV has published a chronicle of the latest infringements on refugees and
Ingushi civilians: http://www.gfbv.de/presse/ingusch.pdf
Sarah Reinke can also be reached at the phone nr. +49 (0)551 499 06 28