September 17th 2003 · Prague Watchdog

Refugees in Ingushetia to sue migration service


Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus, September 16 – Chechen refugees in Ingushetia have begun collecting signatures for a lawsuit against local and federal migration authorities.

So far this has only started in the Bella camp, located near the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, where refugees have written two complaints. One adressed to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and the other to a court in Moscow.

Members of the camp’s Public Council signed the first complaint asking for an investigation of the situation, which is deliberately being worsened by the migration officials.

According to the migration officials, the decision to close the camp was made by the fire department, health authorities and the head of the Sunzhensky district administration. “The camp is being closed in order to prevent fires, deaths and injuries, and the spread of infectious diseases.”

Officially this camp has not existed as of September 1. All dustbins were removed from the camp, and water, gas and electricity are unavailable in some areas. According to the camp’s occupants, these officials come by daily and ask them to move to neighbouring camps; in return they are promised that humanitarian aid, water, gas and electricity will resume. And they also insist that no force will be used
against them. “Stay here if you want, but no services will be provided; so you’ll eventually have to ask us to move you to another camp anyway.”

The complaint states: “Numerous threats have been made that the camp will be shelled from the nearby Sunzha ridge. For us, there is no difference between threats and forced resettlement. In Chechnya, authorities can’t even protect their own buildings, so what sort of protection can we expect?”

Another complaint is also being prepared for the Moscow court, and its aim is the same - the migration service. So far, about two hundred signed statements have been collected citing that “people are being forced to leave Ingushetia for Chechnya, which is in direct contradiction with the principle of voluntary return of Chechen refugees, officially proclaimed by Russian and Ingush authorities.” Therefore, the court is being asked to negate the decision of the Russian Ministry of Interior and Federal Migration Service to dismantle the camp.

Meanwhile, the camp is under permanent control of human rights activists. So a group of camp locals have equipped themselves with a mobile phone, camera, dictaphone and video camera, and will record all meetings with the authorities. If the situation worsens, they will inform the human rights organizations located in the Ingush town of Nazran.

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