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15.9.2003
10:34 MSK PRIMA News Agency
UNHCR indifference to fate of the Chechens On 14 May, 2001, a so-called "Zachistka" operation took place in the village of Chiri-Yurt in Chechnya. Russian "Special Services" arrested, amongst others, Ismail and Ibrahim Elzhurkaev, Khamzat Ilyasov, and Bauddi Davletdiev. For eight days the Russian forces tried to obtain confessions from the Chechens of participating in the armed forces opposing Russia in the republic. On leaving their place of interrogation, the people were given some kind of documentation asserting their non-involvement in "illegal armed formations". The physical condition of the Chechens after their "cleansing" was such as to require serious medical attention, and the relatives sent Ilyasov and the brothers Elzhurkaev to Azerbaijan. In the Azeri capital, Baku, Ismail Elzhurkaev received refugee status having appealed to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). This protected him from being deported, but did not enable him to receive any medical or financial assistance. In the spring of this year, having been unable to build any kind of existence in Azerbaijan, the two Elzhurkaev brothers and Khamzat Ilyasov decided to return to Chechnya, as the war there had, according to the Russian authorities' frequent assurances, long been concluded. In the republic's capital Grozny the three were joined by Bauddi Davletdiev, who came from the neighbouring republic Ingushetia, and early on 2 April they took a taxi, heading towards the village of Chiri-Yurt. At around 11 a.m. on that day the taxi was stopped by Russian soldiers at a control post named "Melnitsa" close to the settlement of Stariye Atagi. The Chechens were ordered out of the taxi, were handcuffed and blindfolded, and led to the control post. The taxi driver, held with the others, later said that the Federal forces acted on an order of arrest received from general Umar Khanaliev, based at Russia's Khankala military base (formerly Grozny airport) northwest of the capital. During detention the Chechens' documents were not checked. Relatives of the arrested received written confirmation of their arrest. None of their relatives have ever seen the men since. "Although the relatives held out slim hopes that the missing could still be rescued, it appears to us that the Elzhurkaev brothers, Khamzat Ilyasov and Bauddi Davletbiev have disappeared for good", the head of the Baku Chechen Human Rights centre, Maibrek Taramov, said in the Azeri capital. He added that such disappearances were typical of Russian special forces. The bodies of the dead and sometimes those still alive were blown up leaving virtually nothing left. Thousands of young Chechens had disappeared in such a manner, the human rights representative continued in his disposition to the UNHCR in Baku. In Azerbaijan there are more than 800,000 refugees and displaced persons. The overwhelming majority of these have fled from Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. Azerbaijan in addition accepts and recognizes as refugees people from Algeria, Sudan, and Yemen. Not that many Chechens have fled to Azerbaijan – some 7,603 – according to human rights activists. However, only 60 of these have received refugee status. Why do the Chechens seem to do so badly in qualifying for refugee status compared to other nationalities? According to Chechen human rights activists, the recognition of Chechens as refugees requires recognising Russia's so-called "Operation against terrorism" (i.e. in Chechnya) as a war. And neither the UNHCR nor the Azeri government wishes to sour its relations with the Kremlin. It is necessary to note that the "disappearance" of brothers Elzhurkaev and their fellow travellers is far from being the first such case of people returning to build a "peaceful life" in Chechnya disappearing. Last year, Zelimkhan Demelkhanov, Shamil Shaipov, Ruslan Edilov, Dokka Makaev and Musa Dikaev returned from Baku after not having been able to obtain refugee status there. Several days after returning, they were arrested and taken away by Russian federal forces. Some days later members of their families found their disfigured bodies with broken ribs, hands and feet; eyes gouged out, and ears cut off. "We once again ask you to intervene with the authorities of Azerbaijan with regard to the catastrophic situation of the Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan, clearly discriminatory in nature", Maibrek Taramov wrote to the head of the UNHCR. "We ask you to explain in simple and intelligible language why Chechen refugees are refused refugee status, the denial of which has resulted in awful tragedies. Your indifference to the suffering and misfortune of the Chechen people leads to the conclusion of your participation in the crimes of Russian soldiery…What size does the tragedy in the Chechen Republic have to reach for you to respond and stop this evil deed?" Azgar ISHKILDIN translated by Michael Garrood |