IHF condemns Moscow concert
attack, appeals to authorities against acts of reprisal
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) condemns in the strongest
terms the suicide- bomb attack on young concert goers at Tushino aerodrome, Moscow
on 5 July.
The attackers, reportedly two ethnic Chechen women, were stopped by police in
two separate locations as they attempted to gain entrance to the rock concert
on the outskirts of Moscow, attended by 40,000 young people. The first woman detonated
explosives strapped to her body, killing herself and injuring three others. The
second woman detonated her explosives fifteen minutes later, killing herself,
eleven civilians and injuring at least fifty others. Two of these persons later
died in hospital, bring the death toll to fifteen, including the attackers.
"The deliberate targeting of civilians is morally repugnant and can never be justified",
stated Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF.
However, the reaction of the Russian authorities to the bombing must be proportionate
and in accordance with international human rights law.
"There must be no repeat of the indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests of ethnic
Chechens, and other ethnicities from the North Caucasus, that followed the Dubrovka
theatre crisis in Moscow in October 2002", Rhodes appealed on behalf of the IHF.
In cases known to the IHF, in the aftermath of that crisis, police subjected detained
ethnic Chechens to torture and ill-treatment and planted narcotics or bullets
on them in an attempt to secure a conviction. Some of these persons remain in
pre-trial detention, despite corroborating medical reports attesting to their
injuries and the lack of objective evidence of their involvement in the theatre
siege.
Moreover, in Chechnya and Ingushetia, Russian forces continue to raid populated
areas, including refugee camps, and subject the inhabitants to "disappearance".
Some of these persons have later been found, their bodies bearing the mark of
torture and violent death. However, the fate and whereabouts of dozens of others
remains unknown.
The IHF considers that the brutal conflict in Chechnya generates violence such
as that witnessed in Tushino aerodrome.