WAR CRIMES IN CHECHNYA A REPORT BY PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Copyright © May 2001 by Physicians for Human Rights All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 1-879707-32-2 Library of Congress Catalog No. 00 093520 COVER AND REPORT DESIGN: Glenn Ruga/Visual Communications COVER PHOTO: Grozny, © Médecins Sans Frontières Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) promotes health by protecting human rights. PHR believes that human rights are essential for the health and well-being of all people. Using medical and scientific methods, we investigate and expose viola- tions of human rights worldwide and we work to stop them. We support institutions to hold perpetrators of human rights abuses, including health professionals, accountable for their actions. We educate health professionals and medical, public health, and nurs- ing students and organize them to become active in supporting a move- ment for human rights and creating a culture of human rights in the medical and scientific professions. As one of the original founders of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. PHR currently serves as coordinator of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines. The President is Robert Lawrence, M.D., M.P.H.; Vice President is Holly Atkinson, M.D. The Executive Director is Leonard S. Rubenstein; Deputy Director is Susannah Sirkin; Advocacy Director is Holly Burkhalter; Director of Communications is Barbara Ayotte; Director of Campaigns is Gina Cum- mings; Director of Finance and Administration is Lori Maida; Senior Pro- gram Associate is Doug Ford; William Haglund, Ph.D. is Director of the International Forensic Program and Vincent Iacopino, M.D., Ph.D., is Senior Medical Consultant. Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights 100 Boylston Street, Suite 702 1156 15th Street, NW #1001 Boston, MA 02116 Washington, DC 20005 Tel. (617) 695-0041 Tel. 202-728-5335 Fax. (617) 695-0307 Fax. 202-728-3053 Email: [email protected] Email:[email protected] www.phrusa.org CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . .1 Recommendations II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND . .15 International Demands for Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Chechnya U.S. Policy Toward Chechnya III. SURVEY OF DISPLACED PERSONS: . .35 FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2000 Purpose Survey Methods Subjects Survey Instrument Interviewer Training and Quality Control Interviews Data Analysis IV. SURVEY FINDINGS . .41 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents Human Rights Abuses Among Household Members Human Rights Abuses Witnessed by Respondents Violations of Medical Neutrality Use of Landmines V. TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE ON ABUSES IN CHECHNYA: . .51 FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2000 Killings and Forced Flight Other Abuses Testimonies from the Aldi and Katyr Yurt Massacres and the Chernokozovo Filtration Camp Violations of Medical Neutrality VI. FINDINGS OF DECEMBER 2000 INVESTIGATION . .81 Purpose and Methods Arbitrary Arrests, Detention, Disappearances, and Torture Bribery as the Means for Release Terror After Release Murder of Civilians Military Action Against Civilians Restrictions on Movement Violations of Medical Neutrality Health Consequences of Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law VII. INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND HUMAN . .107 RIGHTS LAW Human Rights Law International Humanitarian Law Medical Neutrality VIII. CONCLUSION: A POLICY TO PROTECT HUMAN . .115 RIGHTS IN CHECHNYA IX. RECOMMENDATIONS . .119 APPENDIX A: PHR Survey Questionnaire . .127 APPENDIX B: PHR Senate Testimony . .137 v vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was written by Leonard S. Rubenstein, J.D., Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights; Doug Ford, J.D., Senior Program Associ- ate, Physicians for Human Rights; Ondrej Mach, M.D., a consultant to Physicians for Human Rights; Allison Cohen, Program Coordinator, Physi- cians for Human Rights; Holly Burkhalter, Advocacy Director, Physicians for Human Rights; Ramin Ahmadi, M.D., Yale University School of Medi- cine; Michael Vassiliev, M.D., a consultant to Physicians for Human Rights; Haq Nawaz, M.D., Assistant Director of Research Programs, Griffin Hos- pital, Derby, CT; and Vincent Iacopino, M.D.,Ph.D, Physicians for Human Rights Senior Medical Consultant. It was reviewed by Susannah Sirkin, Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights and Barbara Ayotte, Director of Communications, Physicians for Human Rights. Ms. Ayotte edited and prepared the report for publication. The survey was conducted by Mr. Ford, Dr. Ahmadi and Dr. Vassiliev. Dr. Nawaz conducted the data analysis. Lilian Wisniewski, Allison Gill, Keith Mellnick, and Victoria Floriani, PHR research interns and Celine Jackson and Chen Reis, PHR Program Fellows, also contributed to the survey report. Kharon Deniev was instrumental in survey design and organization, as were Ronald Waldman, M.D., MPH, Director, Program on Forced Migra- tion and Health, Center for Population and Family Health, The Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; and Dr. Iacopino. We owe special appreciation to the staff of Human Rights Centre- Memorial and the Danish Refugee Council. We thank the Open Society Institute and Foundation Promeso for their generous support of this investigation. PHR also thanks Peter Bouckaert and Alexander Petrov, among others from Human Rights Watch, for their help. The team is indebted to all of the people of Chechnya who, after suf- fering so much and still uncertain about their personal safety, spoke with us or simply pointed us to others to speak to. The team is also grateful for the efforts of its nearly 30 local research staff who diligently worked in difficult circumstances. These and many other local people who assisted are not named in the report because of the continuing uncertainty over the security situation. We dedicate the report to those still missing or detained in Chechnya. vii I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The findings of this report reveal widespread war crimes against thou- sands of civilians for more than a year. The crimes include summary exe- cutions and other killings, torture, forcible expulsion, and violations of medical neutrality, committed by Russia’s federal forces under the com- mand of President Vladimir Putin, in this second war with the republic of Chechnya. To date, Russia has not been held accountable for these crimes nor has it held accountable those individuals, officials, soldiers and others who perpetrated abuses. While the most intense period of the war in Chechnya ended in the spring of 2000 with the occupation of the capital, Grozny, and most other areas, the behavior of Russia’s forces toward the civilian population con- tinues to be brutal, corrupt and illegal. In February and March 2000, Physicians for Human Rights assessed patterns and prevalence of abuse and found extensive evidence of war crimes and widespread human rights violations. PHR conducted a ran- dom survey of 1,143 persons displaced from Chechnya by the war. Respondents and members of their households alone witnessed almost 200 killings of non-combatants. 46% of the 1,143 surveyed reported wit- nessing at least one killing of a civilian by Russia’s federal forces. Survey respondents reported 77 instances of torture.1 The survey was accompanied by corroborated witness case testimonies of massacres at the villages of Katyr Yurt and Aldi, and atrocities at the Chernokozovo filtration camp.2 Physicians for Human Rights returned to the region in December 2000 and found that Russia’s forces continued to engage in arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, torture, murder, attempted murder, disappearances, bribery, and shelling of population centers. As the year ended, civilians 1 Extrapolations from survey results led Physicians for Human Rights to estimate that Rus- sia’s federal forces had killed more than 4,600 civilians and tortured more than 1,800. Physi- cians for Human Rights, “Random Survey Conducted by U.S. Medical Group of Displaced Chechens Finds Widespread Killings and Abuses by Russia’s Forces,” February 26, 2000. Visit www.phrusa.org/research/chechnya/chechen_displaced.html. 2 Human Rights Watch has released a number of reports on violations in Chechnya, includ- ing, Civilian Killings in Stavopromyslovski, No Happiness Remains: Alkhan-Yurt, A Day of Slaughter in Novye Aldi, Welcome to Hell: Arbitrary Detention, Torture, and Extortion in Chechnya, and The Dirty War in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture, and Summary Executions www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/chechnya/. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 continued to be arrested on flimsy pretexts, interrogated, beaten, and sometimes thrown into pits in the ground, only to be released after rela- tives paid significant bribes. Some have disappeared. Russia’s military units still sweep through cities and villages ostensibly in search of fighters on the Chechen side, arrest civilians, shoot into homes, take property, and leave. Travel within Chechnya requires civilians to run a gauntlet of check- points, where they also may experience extortion, arrests or beatings. In April 2000, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin conduct an independent investigation of serious breaches of human rights by Russia’s forces and hold accountable those responsible for them. But when Russia failed to perform the demanded investigation or to end impunity, it suffered no consequences. Instead, Russian authorities continued to block the entry of human rights monitors from international bodies including the Orga- nization