The Situation in the Chechen Republic: January 2005

This report is based on ‘Memorial’ Human Rights Center’s latest information bulletin. The information is the result of the monitoring of human rights abuses in the armed conflict zone in the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Ingushetia and Republic of North Ossetia-Alania.

In January 2005 13 persons were killed and 18 persons kidnapped. Of those kidnapped 3 were subsequently set free or released for ransom; 14 subsequently went missing; one person was subsequently charged with offences. It was a month just like every other month.

January 1: At 11 p.m. in the village of Geldagan, Kurchaloy district of Chechnya three persons were killed after a resident of Sergen-Yurt managed to kill two “kadyrovtsy” who had brutally interrogated him before he himself was shot dead.

January 2: At about 4 p.m. in the village of Proletarskoje, Groznensky (Selsky) district of Chechnya, unidentified representatives of Chechen power structures, who arrived by cars YAZ (over 10 cars) kidnapped Gaziev Zaurbek, born 1981. At the moment of kidnapping the military servicemen badly injured Gaziev. They were supposedly looking for weapons. The youngest daughter, aged 18 months, was shot in the shoulder, the older daughter, aged 2.5, was threatened with suffocation. Lina Markhieva, their mother, claims that all the servicemen were in the state of alcoholic intoxication. Gold valuables, clothes, the cell phone and small items were stolen. According to Lina Markhieva, her husband Zaurbek Gaziev spent the last years in Kazakhstan and came back to Chechnya just recently to take his family with him. She has been denied access to her husband, is not informed about his whereabouts and is being followed by military servicemen.

January 11: Early in the morning in the village Argun, Abdurakhmanov Elikh, the father of 6 children, was kidnapped. Attempts of relatives to establish his whereabouts have been inconclusive.

January 15: In Grozny unidentified armed military servicemen kidnapped a pregnant woman, Zalina Barkinkhoeva, a resident of Nozhaj-Yurtovsky district. Several days later she was released, but is very scared. Her first husband was killed by a random bullet during zachistka in 2003.

January 24: An attempt on the life of Tapalov Adam took place in the village of Achkhoj-Martan. His car exploded, injuring his legs so badly that they will perhaps both have to be amputated. His driver was also seriously injured.

January 25: At the checkpoint near the village of Goyty, Urus-Martan district of Chechnya, masked military servicemen without explanation detained Mousaev Ruslan. For a several days Ruslan was kept on unidentified premises, given no water or food, in a tiny room with a concrete floor where he made to sleep. He was interrogated only once under torture. On January 31, Mousaev was dropped near the village of Starye Atagi.

January 30: In the village of Achkhoi-Martan military servicemen kidnapped Umaev Zelimkhan and Bibulatov Alik. They did not explain the reasons of detainment and did not let the young men put their shoes on. They were taken out barefoot. Zelimkan Umaev was previously detained in April 2004, by Chechen militia. Zelimkhan was beaten and tortured and forced to sign a testimony about crimes.

Armed Clashes between Federal Military Servicemen and Personnel of Republican Security Agencies

On January 3 in the Shalinsky District of Chechnya, Chechen militia together with military servicemen of the RF carried out an operation to liquidate oil processing mini-factories. In the course of the operation in the village of Mesker-Yurt a conflict took place between personnel of the local security service and Russian troops. The local security service tried to obstruct the liquidation of mini-factories. According to unofficial sources, the representatives of the security service control the oil processing and the owners of the mini-factories pay them dues. In the dispute one of the locals, in order to scare the Russians, opened fire. As a result, the deputy commandant of Shalinsky district was injured.

After the incident the “kadyrovtsy” (local security service) retreated to their base in the village. In spite of superiority in numbers and military vehicles the federal troops did not fight back. Locals think that only by chance was the village saved from a major crossfire.

At night of January 18–19 in the proximity of village Novy Sharoi, in the Achkhoy-Martanovsky district of Chechnya, Russian federal army troops detained two representatives of Chechen security agencies. One of them was subsequently killed while the other managed to escape.

Disappearances, illegal detainments of human rights workers and armed raid on NGO

On January 6, at the Russian–Azeri border two residents of Grozny-Larisa were detained. One of them worked for the Chechen NGO “Ekho Voyni”, the other for Human Rights group “Nijso” (Justice). 2 days later the young women, after being released, returned home.

On January 12 in the town of Nazran, in the Republic Ingushetia, a group of armed men in masks dressed in camouflage uniform broke into the office of the Information Center of the Council of NGOs (SNO).

At the time there were seven people in the office, four of them were employees of the Information Center SNO, two were reporters of the Russian news web site “Kavkazskij Uzel”, and three others, including a child, were visitors. Threatening everyone with guns and swearing the unidentified troops forced all the men onto the floor. Women were put against the walls. No one was allowed to move or to ask questions. Having cut the telephone wire of the landline telephone, the servicemen collected everybody’s mobile phones. Having searched the rooms and the kitchen, one of the servicemen called somewhere by radio transmitter. All the papers on the table and in the drawers were thrown onto the floor. After some time a man in civilian clothes arrived and everybody’s documents were checked. All the passports were photographed. The statute of the NGO was also photographed. Two computers were expropriated and the head of the office was told to come and pick them up at the Department of FSB in the republican capital Magas next morning. Then the troops left.

SNO is a human rights NGO. The web site of SNO, which currently does not function due to shortage of funding, publishes information about the human rights situation in Chechnya and Ingushetia.

On January 20 unidentified servicemen in camouflage kidnapped the well-known human rights defender Makhmut Magomadov in Grozny.

For more than 10 years Makhmut Magomadov worked in law enforcement agencies outside the then Chechen-Ingush Republic. He has not been involved in politics or participated in military activities. During the first Chechen war (1994–1996) he worked in the prosecution and tax police of the Chechen administration, first under Salambek Khadziev, then under Doku Zavgaev.

After the signing of the Khasav’ Yurt Treaty he stayed in the republic, and headed the special brigade against kidnapping of people. After the beginning of the Second Chechen war he worked as a lawyer in the “Chechen Committee for National Salvation”, and until recently he was an expert of the International Helsinki Federation in the Northern Caucasus.

The relatives and friends of Makhmut Magomadov are seriously concerned for his safety and life.

Acts of Protest in the North Ossetian Town of Beslan

On January 20–22 at the crossroads of the Rostov-Baku highway and the road leading to the airport the relatives of the victims of the terrorist act in Beslan carried out a protest picket. The residents of Beslan blocked the entrance to the town and demanded the resignation of the republican president Alexander Dzasokhov; instigation of criminal procedures against the ex-minister of MVD of North Ossetia, Kazbek Dzantied, and the head of FSB of North Ossetia, Valery Andreev, the carrying out of an international investigation into hostage-taking in Beslan, and publicizing the results of the investigation. The protesters also demanded the closure of the administrative border between North Ossetia and Ingushetia.

Measures were taken to deny the residents of Vladikavkaz access to the picket. The town of Beslan was surrounded by militia. The picketers were visited by the officials of North Ossetia and the Southern Federal Okrug, including President Dzasokhov.

Dzasokhov assured the protesters that he was not trying to retain power but that the question of who would be head of the republic had to be decided in full compliance with the new law on electing the executives of federative regions. “Only in this case, will it reflect the will of the people,” said the president.

The picket was dismantled on January 22. The Executive Representative of the South Federal Okrug, Dmitry Kozak, reached an agreement with the participants to free the highway. The protesters were given a chance to verbalize their demands on TV.