324 RUSSIAN FEDERATION*

IHF FOCUS: human rights defenders; elections; freedom of expression, free media and information; freedom of association; torture, ill-treatment and police miscon- duct;1 conditions in prisons and detention facilities; rights of persons with disabili- ties; national and ethnic minorities; aggressive nationalism, racism, xenophobia and hate speech; economic and social rights; Chechnya and the North Caucasus.

The year 2005 saw further consolida- tions of involvement in espionage because tion of the powers of the federal executive they had received funding from the UK and further erosion of democratic checks government. As in previous years, human and balances. This development was re- rights defenders working on issues related flected in the “Freedom in the World” rank- to the conflict in Chechnya were highly vul- ing of the US organization Freedom House, nerable to persecution. which rated Russia as “not free” rather than The so-called anti-terrorism operation “partly free” for the first time since 1991.2 in Chechnya continued for the sixth year. While the political process at the feder- The unilateral political process initiated by al level was already dominated by Presi- the Russian government, which included dent Vladimir Putin, a reform that took ef- parliamentary elections held in November, fect as of the beginning of the year abol- failed to bring peace and stability to the re- ished the direct election of regional gover- public and the cycle of violence and gross nors and thereby served to strengthen fed- abuses continued. As in previous years, fe- eral control over the country’s regions. Offi- deral and local law enforcement authori- cial information policies grew increasingly ties as well as rebel fighters engaged in se- restrictive and state-controlled media repor- rious human rights violations, such as ab- ted about politically sensitive issues, such ductions, illegal detention, torture, disap- as developments related to the fight pearances and extrajudicial executions, against terrorism, in a highly selective man- with little or no accountability. ner. Throughout the country, critical journal- The conflict in Chechnya increasingly ists were subject to intimidation, detention, spilled over to neighboring republics, with criminal prosecution as well as physical at- security forces and insurgents engaging in tacks, and independent newspapers some- abuses of the kind that previously had tak- times experienced difficulties in gaining ac- en place only in Chechnya also in these re- cess to publishing houses or were evicted publics. As a result, the security situation from their offices. Six journalists were killed deteriorated in the entire North Caucasus for apparently politically motivated reasons. region. The IHF, the MHG and other hu- Civil society was also the target of gro- man rights organizations cautioned that wing pressure. Various bureaucratic pro- this development represented a serious cedures were used to obstruct the work of danger to the Russian Federation and, con- NGOs, and a new law that was rushed sequently, to the international community, through parliament toward the end of and called for prompt and concrete meas- 2005 provided for enhanced control of ures to address the lack of rule of law and NGOs, in particular those that receive the climate of impunity reigning in the re- funding from abroad. In a development gion. They also appealed to the interna- that appeared aimed at justifying the adop- tional community to mount a more effec- tion of the new law, in early 2006 the tive and coordinated response to the de- Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) and a velopments in the North Caucasus. number of other leading Russian human A number of victims of human rights rights organizations faced absurd accusa- abuses in Chechnya eventually found jus-

* This chapter is based on a report from the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) to the IHF, March 2006, except for the chapters on the rights of persons with disabilities, national and ethnic minorities and Chechnya and the North Caucasus, which have been prepared by the IHF Secretariat or other co- operating organizations (see respective section). RUSSIAN FEDERATION 325 tice at the European Court of Human Yukos oil company, and his business asso- Rights (ECtHR), which ruled that Russia’s ciate Platon Lebedev reflected wider prob- conduct in these cases had violated sever- lems in the Russian criminal justice sys- al key articles of the European Convention tem, in particular lack of independence of on Human Rights (ECHR), including the the judiciary and violations of the right to right to life, the prohibition against torture defense. The two men were sentenced to and ill-treatment and the right to an effec- nine years imprisonment on tax evasion, tive remedy. embezzlement and related charges, which Also outside the North Caucasus, tor- were widely believed to be politically moti- ture and ill-treatment were frequently prac- vated.3 ticed, and detainees were often subject to At the same time as the government humiliating and cruel treatment. Through increased control over the country’s ener- their rhetoric and activities, nationalist mo- gy sector,4 it used economic pressure mo- vements openly exploited and encouraged re actively than previously in its foreign po- xenophobic attitudes, which according to licies. The most prominent example was surveys were widespread among the pop- the so-called gas war with Ukraine that de- ulation. Ethnically and racially motivated at- veloped at the end of the year. The state- tacks remained a serious problem, in par- controlled gas monopoly Gazprom de- ticular since the authorities failed to take manded that Ukraine, as of 2006, pay the adequate measures to prevent and reme- full market price – or four times more than dy such crimes. Moreover, violence and it had previously paid – on gas received abuse against Roma and other ethnic mi- from Russia. As Ukraine refused, Gazprom norities by law enforcement authorities cut off gas supplies to Ukraine until a con- were usually not challenged nor remedied, troversial agreement was reached, under and both direct and indirect discrimination which Gazprom would sell gas for the mar- against minority members was pervasive ket price but Ukraine would pay less since in areas such as education, health care, Russian gas would be mixed with cheaper housing, employment, and public services. Turkmen and Kazakh gas.5 Poor implementation of legislation protect- ing minority rights, lack of awareness and Human Rights Defenders incentive among minority members to pur- Overall Trends6 sue their rights and harassment of nation- In recent years, authorities have al activists seeking to promote minority stepped up their efforts to control the re- rights contributed to further assimilation of gistration and funding of independent hu- small ethnic minorities. man rights NGOs, while encouraging the In the area of economic and social growth of organizations loyal to them. De- rights, the year began with large-scale pro- liberate efforts by authorities to restrict ac- tests – ranging from demonstrations to ac- cess to information of legitimate public in- tions to block highways – against a new terest (such as on so-called anti-terrorism law that replaced social benefits with cash operations in Chechnya and elsewhere) payments. In particular leftist oriented po- have also seriously obstructed human litical parties played a central role in these rights work. protests. The protests continued until the Moreover, human rights defenders government promised to significantly raise have been subjected to pressure, including the level of the new payments. intimidation, arrests, searches and physical The high-profile trial in May against attacks. Over the last few years, the North Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former chair of the Caucasus has been the most dangerous

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 326 RUSSIAN FEDERATION region for human rights activists to work in, of law. The campaign appeared to be a but reports of harassment and persecution demonstration by authorities to justify the of human rights activists have also been adoption of the new restrictive NGO law. received from other regions, especially At the end of January, Russian authorities from Krasnodar, Kalmykia and Tatarstan. made moves to close down one human In 2005, several human rights activists rights NGO.10 died after being attacked by unidentified N On 28 January 2006 the BBC report- perpetrators.7 ed that the Justice Ministry had asked a N On 21 July, human rights activist Lyud- Moscow court to order that the Russian mila Zhorovlya and her son Konstantin Human Rights Research Centre be shut were shot by unknown people in their down. The move was officially justified as home in the city of Vorkuta in the Komi Re- a response to the NGO’s failure to register public. Zhorovlya and her colleagues had any information about its activities for the 11 provided legal assistance to Vorkuta resi- last five years. dents with respect to illegal increases in During the year, the websites of many utility payments required by local authori- human rights organization were hacked ties. The mayor of Vorkuta had reportedly and the material published on the sites criticized her work on repeated occasions was altered. and she had received numerous threats In March 2005, the parliament decid- and demands to stop her activities. At the ed to establish a so-called public chamber end of the year, there was no further in- upon proposal by President Putin. The formation about the investigation into the new institution was charged with analyzing case.8 draft legislation and overseeing the work of the parliament as well as federal and re- N On 13 November, unknown men vio- gional authorities, but it was granted only lently attacked two anti-fascist activists in consultative powers. Out of its 126 mem- St. Petersburg. One of the activists, Timur bers, one third was to be appointed by the Kacharav, died as a result of numerous president, another third to be nominated stab wounds and the other one, Maxim by civil society organizations and the re- Zgibai, suffered serious injuries. No infor- maining third to be elected by the first two mation about the investigation into the thirds. The creation of the public chamber 9 case was available at the end of 2005. was criticized by human rights activists, Soon after the adoption in early 2006 who feared that it represented an attempt of a new NGO law, which established new to control the country’s civil society and to restrictions on the work of human rights mute criticism of the increasingly authori- NGOs (see the section on freedom of as- tative policies of the federal executive.12 sociation), a slanderous media campaign was launched against 12 well-known Human Rights Defenders Working on Russian NGOs, including the MHG, Nishnij Chechnya Novgorod Committee against Torture, the Of all human rights defenders in the Centre for the Development of Democracy Russian Federation, those working in the and Human Rights and the Eurasia Foun- North Caucasus – and those living else- dation. These NGOs were accused of in- where but dealing with issues related to volvement in espionage because they had Chechnya and the North Caucasus - were received funding from the British govern- the most endangered. ment for activities to promote democratic N The Russian-Chechen Friendship developments, human rights and the rule Society (RCFS), an NGO based in Nizhny

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Novgorod and Chechnya/Ingushetia, has al weeks, during which time he was se- been the target of a particularly intense verely tortured, and then released on 13 campaign of persecution. Four RCFS asso- February after a number of human rights ciates were killed during the second war in groups had campaigned for his release. Chechnya (which began in 1999) and nu- Magomadov was involved in compiling in- merous others were harassed, arrested, formation from victims of human rights abducted, and threatened. RCFS offices in abuses in Chechnya for applications to be various towns have been raided and in- submitted to the ECtHR. At the time of his spected by different authorities on a vari- detention, he was working on over 30 cas- ety of grounds, all of which seem to be es, mainly concerning disappearances, tor- clear attempts to harass the RCFS. On 14 ture and ill-treatment, and extra-judicial ex- March 2005, threatening leaflets were ecutions committed by Russian security posted in the neighborhood of RCFS editor forces. Until December 2004, Magomadov Oksana Chelysheva in Nizhny Novgorod, had served as an expert within the IHF revealing her home address, labeling her a project on “Legal Protection of Individual traitor, and linking her to “terrorist activi- Rights in the Russian Federation,” which ties” carried out by Chechen fighters. Simi- focused on training Russian lawyers and lar leaflets were again posted on 9 Sep- human rights activists in the use of inter- tember 2005, this time in the home of the national law.14 RCFS chair, Stanislav Dmitrievsky, threaten- A human rights defender from Dages- ing him and Chelysheva. Further, on 28 tan also fell victim to persecution in 2005. November 2005, unknown persons broke N into the flat of the family of Dmitrievsky. Osman Boliev, a member of the “Ro- On 3 February 2006, a court imposed a mashka” human rights NGO in Dagestan two-year suspended sentence and a four- who had been involved in submitting a year probationary period on Stanislav complaint to the ECtHR concerning a kid- Dmitrivsky for “inciting hatred or enmity on napping that took place in 2004, was de- the basis of ethnicity and religion” (under tained on 15 November 2005 at his home article 282 of the criminal code) for pub- in Khasav-Yurt. A grenade was reportedly lishing statements by the late Chechen planted on him and used as evidence to separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and his bring charges against him under article envoy, Akhmed Zakayev. The statements 222 (1) of the Russian criminal code (“un- called for a peaceful resolution of the lawful possession of weapons”). He was Chechen conflict. Dmitrivsky’s trial ap- reportedly tortured in custody and only peared to be politically motivated.13 granted access to a lawyer two days after Members of other human rights NGOs he was arrested. Media reported that have also been targeted, including those Boliev was detained as an “insurgent.” The working for “Memorial.” On several occa- IHF believed that the charges against sions, members of this organization have Boliev were fabricated. On 13 February 15 been intimidated: they have e.g. been 2006, Boliev was released pending trial. “warned” that they are wanted by the se- curity services or are in danger of disap- Elections pearing or given death threats. In the last few years, President N On 20 January 2005, Makhmut Mago- Vladimir Putin has initiated a number of re- madov, a Chechen human rights lawyer, forms that have increasingly concentrated was kidnapped by a group of camouflaged power in the hands of the federal execu- gunmen in Grozny. He was held for sever- tive. Following the tragic events in Beslan

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 328 RUSSIAN FEDERATION in September 2004, President Putin pro- into law, would not bring about any real posed a number of new measures that he change since most regional parliaments argued were necessary to enhance the are dominated by the pro-Kremlin United fight against terrorism. Among them was a Russia party and the president will not be measure to abolish the direct election of bound by the proposals made. regional governors. Under a law that sub- sequently was adopted by the State Duma Freedom of Expression, Free Media and took effect as of 2005, the president and Information names governor candidates, which there- The situation with respect to freedom after are subject to approval by regional of expression and media continued to de- legislative assemblies. If a candidate pro- teriorate. All major national TV-stations posed by the president is rejected twice, were controlled by the federal authorities, the president can dismiss the regional par- and most newspapers exercised great cau- liament. The president was also granted tion with respect to the information they the right to dismiss regional governors if he published on politically sensitive issues. has lost trust in them. As of the end of Both federal and local authorities 2005, not a single governor candidate pro- sought to control the information pub- posed by President Putin had been reject- lished by the media, and in some cases, ed by the relevant regional parliament. public officials actively interfered with the The opponents of the law argued that free circulation of information. it had nothing to do with fighting terrorism N The management of the state-con- but rather served to circumvent democrat- trolled NTV reportedly removed a program ic processes at the regional level. They also about the murder of the Ukrainian journal- argued that it was unconstitutional, with ist Georgi Gongadze from its broadcasting reference to a 1996 decision by the Con- schedule on direct orders from the stitutional Court, which rejected as uncon- Kremlin. stitutional a provision of the Altai krai that entrusted the region’s legislative assembly N The chairman of the committee on in- with electing the regional governor. In July, formational policy of the government of the Constitutional Court admitted a com- the Altai demanded that the newspapers plaint against the new law submitted by Zvezda Altaya and Altaydyn Cholmony not the oppositional Union of Right Forces. In write about the activities of certain mem- December, however, the Constitutional bers of the regional parliament. Court confirmed that the procedure of ap- N The head of the Chernyakhovskiy mu- pointing governors was in accordance with nicipality of the Kaliningrad region de- the constitution. The judges were not un- manded to review the newspaper Polus animous in their decision: two judges, Ana- prior to publication. toli Kononov and Vladimir Yarloslavtsev, presented dissenting opinions. N Media in Kuban in the Krasnodar re- In November, the State Duma adopt- gion were ordered by authorities not to ed in the first reading legislative amend- make mentioning of the illness of the re- ments, which would grant the political par- gional governor, Alexander Tkachev. ty that holds most seats in a regional par- The fact that there were virtually no liament the right to make a proposal to the live broadcasts on the national TV-stations president regarding a candidate for the was also indicative of the control federal post as regional governor. The MHG con- authorities exercised over these media cluded that these amendments, if turned outlets.

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While state-controlled media reported Access to Information in a highly selective way about develop- Journalists experienced growing diffi- ments in so-called zones of anti-terrorism culties in obtaining information from the operations, access to such regions re- authorities, and the MHG and its local part- mained limited for independent journal- ners reported a total of 193 cases where ists. This was true not only in the case of journalists were denied access to informa- Chechnya but also in neighboring regions tion during the year. to which the conflict was spreading. During Journalists also experienced growing the events in Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria obstacles in gaining access to buildings (see the section on Chechnya and the where authorities worked. While it previ- North Caucasus), many correspondents ously had been sufficient to have a jour- who tried to enter the city were turned nalist ID to enter administrative buildings, away and one group of journalists, includ- particular accreditation was now typically ing representatives of several large interna- required, and such accreditation was diffi- tional agencies and TV companies, were cult to get. In August, new accreditation detained by the military. “Everybody was rules were introduced by the Moscow City let out of the city, but nobody was let in. Court, according to which the court will de- Taught by the bitter Beslan experience, the cide which journalists can attend court ses- authorities isolated Nalchik from Russia,” sions. said Margarita Kondratieva, Gazeta corre- During President Putin’s annual tele- spondent. conference with the people in September, In many regions, local media were ex- journalists were denied access to the loca- ploited for political purposes by regional tion where the conference took place. authorities seeking to cement their power, Also, the participants in the conference which undermined the role of these news- had been specifically selected, and only papers as sources of information for the lo- asked questions that the organizers of the cal population. Many federal and regional event had prepared in advance. media also devoted excessive attention to those in power, and state-controlled TV Persecution of Independent Journalists contributed to the gradual development of Journalists critical of the authorities a personality cult around President Putin. were subject to various forms of pressure, Proposals were made at both the fed- including intimidation, physical attacks, eral and regional level to censor TV broad- defamation suits, criminal prosecution and casts with a view to prevent airing of pro- detention. During the year, the MHG and grams with a high content of “violence, its local partners registered a total of 21 cruelty and sex” from being aired and to cases of intimidation of journalists and ed- thereby counter-act “bad morals.” In some itorial staff, 64 cases of physical attacks, regions, special councils were created to 313 cases of defamation suits, 35 cases of review TV programs. criminal prosecutions and 37 cases of de- There were also instances in which tention by police or security police. There Russian authorities put pressure on foreign were also six cases of killings of journalists media, e.g. by rejecting requests to extend that appeared politically motivated. the visas of foreign correspondents. The Moreover, the MHG and its partners MHG was concerned that these instances reported 24 cases in which printed issues may represent a first step toward a broad- of independent newspapers and maga- er process of forcing foreign media to zines were confiscated, 34 cases in which leave Russia. printing houses refused to print independ-

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 330 RUSSIAN FEDERATION ent newspapers and ten cases in which in- brought by an official against the newspa- dependent media outlets were evicted per Stavropolskaya Pravda, which had from their premises on apparently politi- published information about a criminal cally motivated grounds. case against the official in which he was Relatives of journalists were also sub- found guilty of corruption. ject to pressure. Many criminal cases were also initiat- N In September, the 22-year-old son of ed against journalists and media, and in Murtaz Pachev, a leading journalists and some cases journalists received heavy political commentator in Kabardino- penalties, such as non-suspended prison Balkaria, was reportedly thrown from the sentences. Such sentences were mainly upper floor of a multi-storey building in imposed under article 129 of the criminal Nalchik, as a result of which he died. It was code, which prohibits defamation. believed that the killing was an act of ven- N On 20 January, the regional prosecu- geance targeted at Pachev, who worked as tor’s office of Saratov arrested the well- the anchor of a satirical radio program and known journalist and political analyst often made caustic jokes about different Eduard Abrosimov on defamation allega- officials on air. An investigation was tions. Abromisov was arrested because of 16 opened into the case. a draft article that was found on his com- N On 2 July, the head of the center of puter during a house search. In this draft strategic initiatives and political technolo- article, which he had written for the local gies of the city of Makhachkala in Dages- newspaper, he alleged that an investigator tan was shot dead by an unidentified per- working at the regional prosecutor’s office petrator. For the past three years he had had accepted a bribe during a criminal in- contributed political analyses to the largest vestigation. The article had not been pub- weekly publication in Dagestan, Novoe lished because the chief editor of the local delo, and it was believed that the assassi- newspaper did not consider it suitable for nation was linked to his public activity. publication. Even so, the Saratov District Shortly before he was killed, he published Court ordered the journalist to be held in an analysis highly critical of local authori- remand custody, and on 23 June, the Ma- ties. No further information about the case gistrate Court of the Volzhskiy district of was available at the end of the year. Saratov found Abrosimov guilty of defama- Public officials at both the federal and tion and sentenced him to seven months local level used suits concerning violations of imprisonment. of honor and dignity as a means of repres- In an increasing number of cases, jour- sion against media expressing critical nalists were charged with blackmail under views. Courts, which displayed lack of in- criminal code article 163, which provided dependence, frequently found in favor of for harsher sentences than article 129. such suits, and critical media outlets had to N On 29 August, in Rybinsk in the Yaro- pay considerable sums of compensation. slavl region, law enforcement officers ar- Thus, honor and dignity suits often aggra- rested journalist Natalya Ilyushenkova on vated financial difficulties experienced by suspicion of blackmail. The journalist, who independent media outlets. In some cas- worked for the newspapers Zoloe koltso es, even absurd suits were satisfied. and Rybinskie izvestiya, was accused of N For example, in Stavropol, both the blackmailing a businessman, about whom first and the second instance court upheld she had written a critical article in May. claims of violations of dignity and honor Lyushenkova also participated actively in

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION IHF REPORT 2006 RUSSIAN FEDERATION 331 the campaign leading up to a referendum venting democratic change of the kind that about the status of Rybinsk in early Sep- took place in Ukraine during the so-called tember, and her engagement did not orange revolution. please all political actors in the region. In The original bill was rushed through November, the prosecutor of the Yaroslav the parliament without any genuine de- region closed the criminal case against bate, and virtually all recommendations for Ilyushenkova because of a lack of corpus changes made by NGOs and independent delicti in her actions. experts were rejected. Both civil society ac- Some newspapers reporting critically tivists and the ombudsman criticized the about official policies reportedly faced evic- law for being incompatible with the Rus- tion from rented premises. In a typical pat- sian constitution as well as international tern, the rent was first raised – sometimes human rights standards. Within only a few retroactively – and thereafter eviction for days, more than 5,000 people signed on outstanding rental payments followed. to an NGO petition called “Increased con- In a number of regions, local authori- trol over civil society – no!” International ties instructed state-controlled publishing organizations and leaders also expressed houses not to print newspapers consid- concern about the draft law. In response to ered inconvenient. For example, as of the criticism, some changes were made to January 2005, the printing house of Izh- the law before its adoption, but these evsk refused to print the independent changes failed to address major problems. newspaper Den, as a result of which the The new law, which entered into force newspaper had to be printed in the region as of April 2006, provides for stricter regis- of Perm instead. The authorities of some tration procedures for foreign and domes- neighboring regions, however, tacitly ag- tic NGOs and gives the state the power to reed not to publish newspapers that had close them down. It prescribes that offices been “blacklisted” for printing in any of the of foreign NGOs must inform the govern- regions concerned. ment registration office about their proj- ects for the upcoming year, and about the Freedom of Association17 money allotted for every specific project. During the year, many NGOs were Officials from the registration office can subject to arbitrary tax inspections and ban foreign NGOs from implementing some were ordered to pay high fines for projects with “the aim of defending the the alleged failure to complete full tax pay- constitutional system, morals, public ments. Such cases were also used to dis- health, rights and lawful interest of other credit the work of NGOs. people, guaranteeing defense capacity and New legislation passed by the Duma security of the state.” This means in prac- and the Federation Council in December tice that the law vests Russian government 2005 and signed into law in January 2006 officials with a high level of discretion in established new restrictions on freedom of deciding what projects, or even parts of association and provided for enhanced NGO projects, comply with Russia’s na- control of NGOs, in particular those receiv- tional interests. The government’s powers, ing funding from abroad. While the gov- however, are not stipulated by clear legal ernment insisted that the new law was provisions and thus leave room for arbi- needed to prevent foreign governments trary interference into the activities of and organizations from exploiting domestic NGOs. Many provisions were found by NGOs in ways undermining national secu- Council of Europe experts to be “dispro- rity, it appeared primarily aimed at pre- portionate.”18

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The MHG considered the new law a the observance of prisoners’ rights, re- serious attack on NGOs, the last civil soci- mained pending at the end of the year. The ety sector to enjoy relative independence MHG and other NGOs called for a prompt from the state. adoption and implementation of this law, as well as for additional changes of the Conditions in Prisons and Detention criminal execution code so as to bring it ful- Facilities19 ly in line with the Russian constitution. General Situation in Detention Facilities An amnesty implemented in May, in th It remained a serious concern that de- connection with the 60 anniversary of the tainees were often treated in violation of end of the World War II, was of a limited prison rules and relevant legislation, in- scope and only affected 262 prisoners. cluding by being subjected to humiliating and cruel forms of treatment. A significant Protests in Lgov Colony OX-30/3 amount of all complaints from prisoners In June, mass protests, involving received by NGOs concerned ill-treatment. hunger strikes and acts of self-maiming, Prisoners also objected to such treatment took place in the colony OX-30/3 in Lgov. by staging mass protests, organizing The protests were prompted by repeated hunger strikes and even committing acts of cases of torture of convicts and the pro- self-maiming (see also the section below testers demanded that the prison officials on the protests in the Lgov colony). guilty of abuse be criminally prosecuted. Major reasons for systematic violations During the protests, new cases of beatings of prisoners’ rights included a lack of de- of prisoners were reported. sire to address the situation on the part of The situation eventually de-escalated, the Federal Penitentiary Services (FSIN) as largely as a result of the efforts of human well as lack of effective opportunities for rights activists, media attention as well as NGOs to monitor detention conditions. responses by the international community. Complaints about the treatment of de- The ombudsman and the chairman of the tainees that were submitted to prosecutors presidential council on the support and and penitentiary authorities by human development of civil society and human right organizations typically did not result in rights also engaged in the issue, and fed- any thorough investigation. In most cases, eral prison inspectors were sent to the in- the NGOs received standard answers, ac- stitution. cording to which the allegations could not Two high-ranking representatives of be confirmed. In those cases where it was the administration of the Lgov colony were acknowledged that measures had been subsequently dismissed, but neither they “inadequately” used, those guilty of abuse nor any other officials were criminally pros- were typically not prosecuted. ecuted. Many of those who submitted There were, however, exceptions: in complaints to the prosecutor were trans- some regions there was constructive co- ferred to other prison facilities, in a meas- operation between authorities and civil so- ure that was said to be aimed at protecting ciety concerning detention conditions, them from repercussions. which contributed to more respect for the As public interest in the situation at rights of detainees. the Lgov colony waned, intimidation and A draft law granting civil society organi- torture of prisoners reportedly resumed. zations the right to monitor closed deten- A number of complaints concerning tion facilities, which was expected to bring the events in the Lgov prison were sub- about significant improvements in terms of mitted to the ECtHR.

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National and Ethnic Minorities ed the image of the “Gypsy” as the typical Situation of Meskhetian Turks20 drug dealer, and the identification of the The majority of the 15,000-18,000 Roma with drug dealing had reached a Meskhetian Turks residing in the Russian point of near synonymous usage in the Krasnodar krai arrived to the region from media. Uzbekistan in 1989-1991. Throughout the Racial discrimination against Roma was past decade, they have been subject to manifested in abusive raids on Romani discriminatory and abusive treatment by neighborhoods that were routinely carried the Krasnodar authorities as well as ha- out by law enforcement authorities; dispro- rassment and violence by para-military portionately frequent detention of Roma as Cossack units tacitly supported by the au- well as unlawful and unprovoked use of vi- thorities.21 olence during detention; arbitrary and dis- Under a US government program that proportionate checks of personal docu- took effect as of 1 February 2004, Mesk- ments of Roma; extortion of money and ar- hetian Turks from the Krasnodar krai beca- bitrary seizure of property of Roma; and me eligible for refugee status in the US. As fabrication of criminal cases against Roma. of October 2005, 21,000 Meskhetian Police raids targeting Romani communities Turks had applied for asylum under this often involved racial profiling, and deten- program, and more than 5,000 had al- tions based on such profiling were often ready moved to the US. accompanied by the fabrication of incrimi- Regional and local authorities of the nating evidence against Roma, usually Krasnodar krai, however, sought to obstruct through the “planting” of drugs. Roma on the departure of members of the minority whom drugs were “found” were sentenced in different ways, e.g. by delaying or declin- to imprisonment or released in exchange ing to issue residence and travel docu- of bribes extorted from their families. ments. There were also reports of illegal Roma were frequently reluctant or un- confiscation of passports by police and new willing to seek justice for illegal acts by po- attacks on Meskhetian Turks by Cossacks. lice, with intimidation and harassment by police as well the perception that law en- The Roma Minority22 forcement officials were immune from Anti-Romani racism was widespread in sanctions serving as powerful deterrents. Russia. Russian law guarantees equal treat- In the few known instances in which Roma ment and protection against discrimination filed complaints against police officers, the of all people in Russia, yet Roma, among complaints were rejected or the criminal several other ethnic minorities, found cases against police officers were eventu- themselves excluded from the equal pro- ally terminated for lack of sufficient evi- tection of the law and, in fact, frequently dence for the alleged illegal actions. from any protection of the law. Authorities Racism also affected access of Roma to were often themselves implicated in or ac- protection against violence and abuse by quiesced in human rights violations target- private actors. Public authorities did little to ing Roma, and such violations were typi- nothing to counteract anti-Romani racism cally not remedied. and, in some instances, law enforcement Roma and other ethnic minorities officials knowingly failed to prevent violent were particularly vulnerable to abuse in the assaults on Romani communities. Racial context of intensified efforts to fight terror- discrimination of Roma in the criminal jus- ism, organized crime and drug dealing. tice system created an environment in The “war on drugs” had gradually generat- which both public officials and private ac-

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 334 RUSSIAN FEDERATION tors felt confident that they would be ab- Despite its official status, the Mari lan- solved from responsibility for racially-moti- guage was used only to a limited extent vated violence and exposed the victims to within the public sector, and the legally further abuse. protected right to use the Mari language in Racism also effectively precluded contact with authorities was undermined many Roma from accessing education, by the fact that public officials were not re- health care, housing, employment, and quired to know this language. Comprehen- public services. Discrimination against sive instruction in the titular language was Roma in access to social and economic limited to the primary level, and a majority rights took two broad forms. Many Roma of all Mari children studied the Mari lan- were subjected to direct discrimination guage only as a subject. A special Ministry and faced less favorable treatment on of Education department in charge of co- grounds which expressly related to their ordinating Mari language programs had ethnicity. However, Roma also experienced been shut down, and a series of small Mari indirect discrimination whereby they were national schools had apparently been denied access to social and economic closed without due consideration of the rights on grounds that they did not have wider implications of such measures on personal documents, including residence Mari communities. TV programs in the registration. The system of residence regis- Mari language had been cut as a result of tration itself contributed to a vicious circle changes in the federal programming of abuse for many Roma. While Roma schedule and only a few books were pub- were often arbitrarily denied residence reg- lished in the Mari language during the year. istration by the authorities, they were also In recent years, freedom of expression disproportionately often the targets of ID has come under growing attack in Mari El checks by the police and those Roma who and, as others challenging official policies, were caught in such checks were often de- Mari national activists have been subject to tained and subject to ill-treatment. growing harassment. Involved in peaceful efforts to promote the rights of the Mari The Mari Minority of the Republic of minority, members of the Mari national Mari El23 movement have been depicted as “nation- The Finno-Ugric Mari minority is the alists” bent on overthrowing the regime in titular nationality of the Republic of Mari state-controlled media and have been the El, one of Russia’s so-called ethnic re- targets of e.g. intimidation, arrests, criminal gions. About half of the about 600,000 prosecution, eviction, dismissal and violent members of the minority resided in this attacks. Pressure against Mari activists and republic. other opponents further intensified after As the titular nationalities of other eth- the presidential elections held in the re- nic regions, the Mari enjoyed a special sta- public in December 2004, in which the tus in Mari El. The Mari language was a national movement campaigned for the state language next to Russian, and the major Mari opposition candidate. legislation of the republic obliged the au- N On 7 February, Vladimir Kozlov, Chair thorities to protect the language, culture of Mer Kanash, member of the Consultati- and national identity of the Mari. In prac- ve Committee of the World Congress of tice, however, legal guarantees were often Finno-Ugric Peoples and chief editor of the not effectively enforced and there were international Finno-Ugric newspaper Ku- worrisome gaps in the actual protection af- do+Kodu, was attacked on his way to forded to the minority. work. Three unknown people approached

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Kozlov from behind and repeatedly struck tional settings. Moreover, the poor quality him in the head with pipe-like metal ob- and isolation of the institutions caused and jects. They further kicked him as he fell facilitated abuse and marginalization of down on the ground. As a result of the at- mental disability patients. Access to institu- tack, Kozlov sustained life-threatening in- tions by independent monitors, including juries, which required emergency treat- attorneys, was severely limited and a law ment in hospital. By the end of 2005, the obliging the state to establish independent investigation into the attack had not yield- services to protect the rights of those in ed any results.24 psychiatric hospitals remained unimple- 27 The political and social trends in Mari mented. El served to undermine the interests of the During the year, there were a number Mari minority in the political process of the of court cases involving alleged human republic and enhanced the vulnerability of rights violations targeting people deemed its members to continued cultural and lin- to suffer from mental disabilities, which il- guistic assimilation. As other national mi- luminated broader problems with respect norities of the Russian Federation, the Mari to relevant Russian practice. experienced great assimilation during the Procedural violations commonly took Soviet era and one fifth or more of all Mari place within the Russian guardianship sys- had already lost their own language. tem. Relevant legislation was outdated and Intolerant social attitudes, which leading did not comply with international law, and in public officials allegedly encouraged by many cases a mere diagnosis of mental ill- making negative remarks, further con- ness was used to deprive a person of his or tributed to reducing the incentive and mo- her legal capacity and to place him or her tivation of Mari to practice their language under guardianship. Thus, although guar- and culture. dianship should be a protective measure for vulnerable individuals, it was routinely used Rights of Persons with Disabilities25 for reasons of administrative convenience, People with mental disabilities were with devastating consequences for those af- socially stigmatized and exposed to serious fected. Many individuals were institutional- human rights violations. Professionals ized for life without legal standing to apply treating those with mental disabilities were to authorities and courts in order to seek typically poorly trained, basic needs of remedies. In addition, many of those ap- mental disability patients (such as adequa- pointed guardians were directors of psychi- te food, housing and treatment in non-re- atric institutions, which resulted in a conflict strictive settings) were often ignored, and of interest that contributed to the denial of outmoded concepts of disability as well as access to justice for those deprived of their outdated diagnostics and registration sys- legal capacity. tems remained major obstacles to the ad- N In August, an application was lodged equate treatment and integration of per- with the ECtHR by a Russian woman S., sons with mental disabilities into commu- who in April 2004 was deprived of her le- nity life. gal capacity by a Russian district court in a Institutionalization was the major form hearing of which she was not informed of “treatment” used; there were almost no and at which she was not present. alternative community-based services.26 At Contrary to Russian procedural law, S. was the same time, psychiatric medications also not informed about the court deci- with serious and sometimes irreversible sion. In her application, S. alleged viola- side effects were widely used in institu- tions of several articles of the ECHR, in-

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 336 RUSSIAN FEDERATION cluding the right to a fair trial (article 6), (and its branches); the “brown Pora” creat- the right to respect for private and family ed by the RNE; the National Sovereign life (article 8) and the right to an effective Party of Russia (NDPR); the Movement remedy (article 13).28 against Illegal Immigration (DPNI); the Soviet psychiatric diagnoses contin- People’s National Party (NNP); the Party of ued to restrict everyday life of many indi- Freedom; and the Russian National Union. viduals. People with former records of In addition, a number of nationalist move- ments operated at the regional level, such psychiatric disorders experienced difficul- as “Vityaz” (Astrakhan’), “Otechestvo” ties, inter alia, in finding jobs or obtaining (Kuban’) and the fund “City without Drugs” certificates of professional ability or driving (Yekaterinburg).31 licenses. According to law enforcement authori- N In a written judgment made available ties, there were 10,000 nationalist skin- on 20 September, a Russian district court head activists in the country. These were found that the Russian state railway had organized into 35 different groups, most of discriminated against a potential employee which operated in the Moscow region and whose military card was marked with in St. Petersburg. Independent experts, “mental disorder” solely on the basis of his however, estimated that the total number homosexuality, which was considered a of skinhead activists was much higher, or mental disability during the Soviet era.29 up to 70,000. In a judgment made public in Decem- N In April, DPNI announced plans to ber 2005, the Supreme Court of the Re- start establishing paramilitary formations, public of Karelia found that the Russian go- an initiative that was justified with refer- vernment was obliged to provide children ence to the “the possible exacerbation of with intellectual disabilities access to spe- the internal political situation” and “the pos- cialized preschool education.30 This judg- sibility of mass riots and aggression from ment was one of the first cases in Russia foreign states.” The DPNI websites fea- in which a court has ruled that the state tured advice concerning the purchase of has positive obligations to combat social weapons, and other nationalist move- exclusion of children with disabilities. Ac- ments also called on citizens to arm them- ross Russia, thousands of children with selves. mental disabilities continued to be labeled N During a meeting held in the city of as “uneducable” and were sent to custodi- Perm on 14 October, at which the partici- al institutions, in serious violation of their pants used the slogan “Glory to Russia!” rights. Such decisions typically represented and raised their hands in fascist greetings, the first step toward lifelong institutional- the establishment of a new nationalist as- ization and social exclusion. sociation called “Avant-garde of Political Youth (APM)” was announced. According Aggressive Nationalism, Racism, to the leader of the Perm regional office of Xenophobia and Hate Speech the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Nationalist Movements and Sentiments Russia (LDPR), APM was established for According to information from the the purpose of uniting right-wing radical Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, at least youth organizations into one movement seven political parties and movements with and of granting “patriotic young people” an an ideology based on xenophobia and/or opportunity to act. In addition to the LDPR, racism operated at the federal level. These about a dozen nationalist organizations included the Russian National Unity (RNE) joined the APM, including the NNP, the

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NDPR, and the Russian Orthodox National- mation center SOVA reported a total of Socialist Movement (RPNSD). 252 violent attacks motivated by racial and ethnic hatred, and 19 deaths due to racial N On 4 November, the Day of People’s violence. Most attacks were reported in Unity created in 2004 to replace the 7 Moscow and the surrounding region, November public holiday marking the where 96 people were injured and six died 1917 Bolshevik revolution, a number of because of ethnically and racially motivat- nationalist organizations organized a ed violence. In the city of Voronezh, 19 “Russian march” in Moscow. The approxi- people were injured and two died because mately 2,000 participants marched of attacks, and in St. Petersburg 19 people through downtown Moscow chanting slo- were injured and one person died.33 gans such as “Hail empire!” and “Russians, As in previous years, the authorities awake!” Representatives of a number of failed to take effective measures to ad- anti-fascist movements tried to interrupt dress the problem of racially and ethnical- the event by organizing a counter-march, ly motivated violence, although govern- during which they carried anti-fascist ban- ment representatives publicly emphasized ners and chanted “Fascism won’t work”. the importance of intensifying the fight Ten members of the Oborona anti-fascist against racism. Many attacks were not pro- movement were reportedly “invited to perly investigated, and many perpetrators talks” with the police in connection with were not brought to justice. Although the this event. number of convictions for hate crimes In their rhetoric, nationalist move- grew in comparison to previous years, the ments exploited negative public attitudes old tendency of charging those guilty of toward immigrants and other xenophobic racist attacks with hooliganism rather than sentiments. This was in particular the case ethnically or racially motivated violence in Moscow, where representatives of the persisted. LPDR and the Rodina party made numer- N On 9 October, three foreign students ous statements targeting migrants during were violently attacked by a group of the campaign leading up to the Moscow young people in the city of Voronezh. One City Duma elections in December. of the foreign students, a Peruvian citizen, Sociological surveys indicated an in- died because of the injuries he sustained crease in the prevalence of nationalist and the two others, one of whom was views among the population. According to Peruvian and the other Spanish, were the Levada center, 58% of Russians sup- treated in hospital for their injuries. A Rus- ported the slogan “Russia for Russians” to sian citizen who also was targeted by the varying degrees, and every fourth Russian attackers received less serious injuries. Five would approve a ban for non-Russians to people suspected of involvement in the at- hold high state offices. Moreover, every tack were subsequently arrested; four third would support the eviction of people were charged with “hooliganism” and one of Caucasian origin from “traditional” with murder motivated by national or racial Russian territories as well limitations of the hatred (article 105 of the criminal code). right of non-Russians to reside in Russia.32 N A 9-year-old Tajik girl, Khursheda Sulta- Ethnically and Racially Motivated Crimes nova, was stabbed to death in St. Peters- The occurrence of violent crimes burg in February 2004 as she was walking based on racial and ethnic hatred re- with her father and her 11-year-old cousin. mained at a high level. For the period Ja- A group of young men armed with bats, nuary-October 2005, the analytical infor- chains and knives attacked the three Tajiks

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 338 RUSSIAN FEDERATION while shouting “Russia for Russians!” with varying intensity until May-June. Up to Khursheda died from multiple stab wounds, 70% of the protest actions were held un- while her father and cousin were injured. A der the leadership of activists of the 14-year-old boy was subsequently charged Communist Party.37 with murder motivated by ethnic, racial or As a result of the protests the new law religious hatred and seven others were gave rise to, the federal budget for social charged with hooliganism. In March 2006, assistance was increased. the city court of St. Petersburg acquitted the defendant charged with murder, and in- Unpaid Salaries stead convicted him, together with six of his The failure of employers to pay sala- co-defendants, of hooliganism. Their sen- ries in a timely manner remained a serious tences ranged from 18 months to five years problem. The backlog of unpaid salaries in prison. One defendant was acquitted of from past years decreased throughout the all charges. The lawyer of the victims an- country, but was still considerable in many nounced plans to appeal the verdict, which regions. The highest salary debts were reg- was strongly criticized for its leniency by hu- istered in Moscow (393 million rubles or man rights groups. 34 approx. EUR 11.5 million in unpaid sala- ries), the Altai krai (445.5 million rubles or Economic and Social Rights EUR 13.1 million), the Irkutsk region Social Benefits Reform (382.2 million rubles or EUR 11.2 million) A controversial new law that took ef- and the Primorsky krai (374.3 million ru- fect as of January 2005, which the gov- bles or EUR 11 million). ernment argued was aimed at preventing In some cases managers of compa- corruption,35 reformed the system of social nies that had failed to pay salaries were benefits for pensioners, disabled, war vet- brought to administrative responsibility erans and others depending on assistance and ordered to pay penalties. However, from the state. Under the new system, such penalties were typically very low. privileges previously enjoyed by the rele- N For example, the director of a compa- vant categories of citizens, such as free ny in the city of Bryansk that had had close travel on public transportation and free to 94 million rubles (EUR 2,8 million) in medicine, were generally replaced by outstanding salary payments with respect monetary payments of 450 rubles per to its more than 15,000 employees was month (less than EUR 15). At the same given a penalty of 1,000 rubles (EUR 30). time, the responsibility for providing pay- Criminal prosecutions were brought ments was shifted from the federal au- only in cases when there was evidence thorities to regional authorities for a major that a company had not paid salaries be- part of all those 32 million people who cause of mismanagement of funds. were estimated to be affected by the law.36 N The new law gave rise to mass A criminal case was, for example, protests among those affected by it as well opened against the director of a company as political parties that came to their sup- in the region of Chelyabinsk that had used port. The opponents of the law argued that company funds to buy a new luxurious car the new monetary payments did not ade- for himself, while the company had a quately compensate the lost benefits and salary debt of 30 million rubles (EUR 38 therefore resulted in a deterioration of liv- 88,000). ing standards. Protests took place in most In many cases, the attitudes of employ- of the country’s regions and continued ers were not conducive to a solution of the

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION IHF REPORT 2006 RUSSIAN FEDERATION 339 problem of outstanding salaries. For exam- Public Education ple, managers of companies with salary Lack of resources for the maintenance debts claimed that regular salary payments of public schools was in particular a prob- were not necessary for seasonal type of lem in the countryside, and the poor work or that it was justified to refrain from salaries offered to public school teachers paying salaries to prevent a company from often created problems in the recruitment going bankrupt.39 of competent teachers. Within the agricultural sector salary Moreover, in an effort to reduce payments were sometimes made in kind, school expenditures, numerous schools lo- i.e., in the form of agricultural products. cated in sparsely populated and remote ar- As in previous years, pension pay- eas were closed down, and the students of ments were often late. these schools were sent to boarding schools instead. For instance, as the local Public Health Care school of the village of Kayettyn of the Bili- Lack of funding remained a problem binsky District of the Chukotsky Autono- within the public health care sector, with mous Okrug was closed, its students were one major reason being that many private re-accommodated at the school of the vil- companies failed to complete medical in- lage of Omolon 400 km away.41 surance payments they were required to An increasing number of public pay by law. As a result, the health care sys- schools introduced various forms of stu- tem suffered from e.g. shortage of staff dent fees, which gave rise to concern and equipment, and hospitals were often about inequality in the access to educa- in a run-down condition. In the Kurgan re- tion. In some cases, school officials ac- gion, only 50% of regular staff positions cepted bribes in return for school admis- were filled within the health care sector, sion or good grades. During the year, 13 and one fifth of all medical service build- principals of Moscow schools were dis- ings were threatened by demolition.40 In missed because of unlawful collection of some cases, hospitals sought to cut costs money from parents.42 by limiting access to certain forms of treat- ment, such as more costly operations. Chechnya and the North Caucasus43 Many medical specialists left public med- According to the Russian authorities, ical institutions for private institutions, the armed conflict in Chechnya was over, where payment was better. and the process of political reconstruction Persons without a permanent place of in the republic had largely been complet- residence, such as members of nomadic ed. They claimed that the republic had peoples, continued to lack access to pub- been successfully reintegrated into the le- lic health care services as registration at a gal framework of the Russian Federation, certain place of residence was required for that new a government had been estab- treatment at public medical institutions. lished as a result of democratic elections The prevalence of tuberculosis re- and that internal affairs agencies, public mained a cause of concern. According to prosecutor offices and courts were fully information from the ministry of health functional. In reality, however, the armed and social development, about 30,000 conflict continued, although its forms had people died from various forms of tuber- changed, and gross human rights viola- culosis in the country during the year, and tions continued to take place.44 some 18,000 new cases of infected peo- Almost seven years after the second ple were registered. Chechen war started, there were a few

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 340 RUSSIAN FEDERATION signs of peaceful life. The process of com- gion deteriorated. The situation was espe- pensating for lost housing got off to a slow cially alarming in the republics of Ingush- start, and isolated reconstruction projects etia, North Ossetia, Dagestan and Kabardi- were under way in the capital Grozny. no-Balkaria. While there were major differ- Traffic and commerce also partly resumed ences in the respective situation in these in the capital. However, overall, living con- republics, it was clear with respect to all of ditions in the republic were characterized them that effective action by the federal by a “no peace, no war” situation, in which authorities was needed to prevent further lawlessness was widespread. destabilization and violence.48 The pattern of abductions, illegal de- The situation in the North Caucasus tentions, killings and torture persisted, with was exacerbated by a lack of adequate in- the prosecutor’s office typically unwilling or ternational responses. In a resolution unable to undertake effective investigations adopted in January 2006, the Committee into such cases.45 Massive human rights vi- on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the olations were perpetrated by both sides of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of the conflict. Separatist fighters sometimes Europe (PACE) expressed concern that ”a deliberately attacked unarmed representa- fair number of governments, member sta- tives of state authorities, and some of the tes and the Committee of Ministers [of the groups opposing the federal authorities Council of Europe] have failed to address used terrorist methods. However, a majori- the ongoing serious human rights viola- ty of all human rights violations were per- tions in the Chechen Republic in a regular, petrated by federal and – increasingly – lo- serious and intensive manner – despite cal law-enforcement authorities. the fact that such violations still occur on a In February or March 2005, Aslan massive scale in a climate of impunity in Maskhadov, who was elected president of the Chechen Republic and, in some cases, Chechnya in 1997 elections recognized as in neighboring regions” and strongly urged legitimate by international and Russian ob- the Committee of Ministers “to confront its servers, was killed in unclear circum- responsibilities in the face of one of the stances.46 After the beginning of the sec- most serious human rights issues in any of ond Chechen war in September 1999, the Council of Europe’s member states.”49 Maskhadov became the military and polit- ical leader of the armed Chechen sepa- Parliamentary Elections in Chechnya ratists. While he had limited control of the No serious violations of Russian elec- different groups among the armed sepa- toral law were reported by human rights ratists, he consistently spoke out against monitors in the context of the November terrorism as a method of fighting and dis- parliamentary elections in Chechnya.50 played readiness to find a peaceful solu- However, the elections took place in an at- tion to the conflict. After his death, the in- mosphere of fear, and against the back- fluence of those advocating extremist ground of massive human rights violations views47 reportedly increased among the conducted with impunity by the same au- forces opposing the Russian Federation in thorities that organized the elections. The Chechnya. political parties that participated in the Instability and human rights violations, elections were either unwilling or afraid to accompanied by impunity of security seriously raise important issues of safety forces, increasingly spread from Chechnya and security, and none of them addressed to other parts of the Northern Caucasus, the crucial issue of how to ensure peace in and the overall security situation of the re- the republic.

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The IHF and its partners pointed out Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, son of that no real political process was possible Akhmad Kadyrov,56 and consisted of sever- in Chechnya, and that free and fair elec- al, separate groups operating in different tions could not be held, as long as vio- districts of Chechnya. A majority of the lence, fear and insecurity prevailed.51 “Kadyrovtsy” were former separatist fight- The elected parliament only formally ers who had been forced to join this for- represented an independent legislature as mation under torture or threats to kill their it was controlled by the pro-Moscow gov- relatives, and another significant part was ernment.52 made up of people with a criminal past.57

Increasing “Chechenization” of the Cleansing and Targeted Operations Conflict in Chechnya So-called cleansing operations, Since 2003 the conflict in Chechnya zachistkas, continued to take place, al- has been increasingly “Chechenized,” as though the number of such operations newly established local law enforcement was lower than in previous years.58 Local bodies, made up of ethnic Chechens, have and federal authorities sometimes carried engaged in a growing number of abuses in out zachistkas together, and sometimes their efforts to combat separatists. As a re- separately. Relevant regulations were al- sult, the conflict has gained a new, intra- most always violated; the officials involved Chechen dimension, which has reinforced did not introduce themselves or the gov- feelings of fear and vulnerability among ernment agency they represented upon the civilian population.53 entering a house, their uniforms did not Special local units, which either for- have any insignia specifying their rank, sta- mally operated under the Chechen Minist- tus and affiliation, and they were often ry of Internal Affairs or the Federal Ministry masked and used vehicles without license of Defense or functioned outside official plates. 59 structures, frequently carried out unlawful Some of the zachistkas that took place abductions and extrajudicial executions. It in 2005 were as brutal as the operations was often not clear what particular group that took place in the first years of the sec- was behind a particular operation. Several ond war in Chechnya (in 1999). of these quasi-official units had their own N In the afternoon of 4 June, a unit of illegal places of detention, to which the the Chechen “Vostok” Battalion carried out prosecutor’s office had no access. Relati- a special operation in the village of ves of those who disappeared in illegal op- Borozdinovskaya (Shelkovsky district). The erations frequently turned to arranged officers of this unit raided houses and “black connections” in an attempt to local- brought all men they could find to the lo- ize their family members and to ensure cal school. The men, including elderly and their release.54 handicapped men as well as adolescents, The so-called “Kadyrovtsy,” a term were ordered to lie down on the ground used to depict members of the security on their stomachs and were thereafter service of late President Akhmad Kadyrov beaten with gun butts and kicked with that was formally liquidated after his death boots. Eleven men were forcefully taken in May 2004 and thereafter predominant- away and remained disappeared at the ly integrated into the local Ministry of end of the year. Several houses were also Internal Affairs,55 were more feared by the burnt down, and one old man died in such civilian population than any other forces. a fire. As of early 2006, only one of the of- The “Kadyrovtsy” were headed by Deputy ficials who participated in the operation

IHF REPORT 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION 342 RUSSIAN FEDERATION had been brought to justice: he received a However, about half of all those abducted conditional sentence for “exceeding his of- disappeared. ficial powers.”60 The Human Rights Center “Memorial” So-called targeted operations were registered a total of 316 cases of kidnap- more frequent than zachistkas. pings in Chechnya in 2005, and out of N In the course of September, numerous those targeted 127 remained missing and people were abducted in the village of 23 had been found dead at the end of the Novye Atagi. Among those abducted were year. The number of registered kidnappings youngsters aged 12-14, the employees of decreased somewhat from previous years, a bakery who were accused of supplying with one major reason being that many vic- bread to separatist fighters and the head of tims were reluctant to report violations the village administration. In most cases, committed by local forces.63 According to those abducted were held by the un- “Memorial,” 3,000-5,000 people have dis- known perpetrators for a few days, during appeared as a result of kidnappings, un- which time they were tortured, and were lawful arrests and detainments during the thereafter released. However, four men second war in Chechnya.64 Information on who reportedly had been forced to admit this topic provided by the authorities was to committing crimes under torture were contradictory.65 handed over to the Shali district internal af- In a growing trend in Chechnya, and to fairs department, where their arrest was a more limited extent also in other North duly registered. At the end of the year, no Caucasian republics, torture was used to one had been held accountable for any of pursue fabricated criminal cases. An in- the human rights violations targeting the creasing number of victims of abductions residents of Novye Atagi, although the were forced to sign confessions admitting commander of one armed unit61 openly to crimes of which they were accused. declared that his unit would continue to They were thereafter transferred to official use similar methods and threatened the pre-trial detention facilities, where their ar- residents with repercussions should they rest was duly registered, and the confes- protest these methods. sions they had given were used to bring fabricated criminal charges against them.66 Abductions, Disappearances, Torture Torture was also widely used in regu- and Fabrication of Criminal Cases lar detention centers and military unit The problem of abductions and disap- bases to obtain information from de- pearances remained urgent and serious in tainees about rebel activity or to force peo- Chechnya. As in previous years, most such 67 violations were committed by federal or lo- ple to become informants. cal pro-Moscow law enforcement or secu- Abduction and illegal detention of the rity forces.62 In a typical pattern, members relatives of armed insurgents had devel- 68 of law enforcement agencies abducted oped into a practice. “Memorial” received persons and held them for up to ten days, numerous reports about cases in which during which time they were intimidated relatives of rebel fighters had been ab- and tortured with the aim of forcing them ducted and held hostage for periods rang- to provide information about local rebel ing between several weeks to ten months. fighters and their supporters. If the kid- The most notorious hostage-taking napped persons provided the information case was that of relatives of former sought, and/or agreed to cooperate, they Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov, who could be released, sometimes for ransom. was killed in March.

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N In December 2004, seven relatives of ficial or semi-official forces since the be- Maskhadov, including his sister and two of ginning of the second war in Chechnya, his brothers, were forcefully abducted from only two officials had been criminally con- their homes and taken to an unknown lo- victed for abuses as of the end of 2005. cation. The circumstances of the kidnap- After lengthy proceedings, Colonel Yuri ping, and reports by eye witnesses, sug- Budanov was convicted of abducting and gested that the abductions were commit- killing a young Chechen girl, Kheda (Elza) ted by “Kadyrovtsy.” On 31 May 2005, al- Kungaeva, in July 2003 and sentenced to most three months after Maskhadov was ten years’ imprisonment.72 In March 2005, killed, all the kidnapped relatives were re- Police Officer Sergei Lapin was sentenced leased. They reported that they had been to eleven years’ imprisonment in a strict held in a small concrete chamber (three regime prison colony for “intentionally in- by three meters in size) that lacked furni- flicting serious harm” to the health of Ze- ture and had only one small, barred win- limkhan Murdalov under aggravating cir- dow in the ceiling. They had only been cumstances.73 able to leave the chamber in order to go to Further compounding the problem of the toilet. An investigation was initiated impunity, many victims of abuses by fed- into the case but was suspended allegedly eral and especially local authorities were due to the impossibility of identifying reluctant to report their experiences to po- those behind it. In July, however, the depu- lice because they feared that their com- ty prosecutor general of the Russian Fede- plaints would not be effectively dealt with ration, Nikolai Shepel, claimed at a confer- and that they would be subject to reprisals. ence in Kislovodsk that Maskhadov’s rela- Many victims of abuses by local law en- tives were released as a result of a special forcement or security forces, in particular operation by government forces. “Kadyrovtsy,” were also reluctant to re- count their experiences to NGOs. Lack of Accountability Although international actors, such as Despite claims by Chechen and feder- PACE and the human rights commissioner al officials, including President Vladimir Pu- of the Council of Europe, continued to call tin, that perpetrators of abuses in Chech- on the Russian government to engage in nya were held accountable, a widespread more systematic and consistent efforts to climate of impunity continued to prevail.69 address the climate of impunity in Chech- The lack of accountability perpetuated the nya, almost no effective measures were conflict and contributed to further abuses. taken by the federal authorities.74 In particular, only few cases involving abus- es by federal or pro-federal forces were First Judgments by the ECtHR on brought to court, and in most cases the in- Chechen Cases and Harassment of vestigation was terminated because it al- Applicants75 legedly was impossible to identify those Because of the limited opportunities responsible.70 of obtaining redress for abuses within the In an overwhelming majority of cases Russian criminal justice system, an increas- in which officials were punished for abus- ing number of victims of abuse have es the sanctions were disciplinary or ad- brought their cases to the ECtHR. ministrative in nature.71 Thus, while inter- On 24 February 2005, the ECtHR de- national and Russian human rights organi- livered its judgments on the first six cases zations have documented thousands of brought by victims of abuse in Chechnya. human rights violations perpetrated by of- In each of these cases, the court found

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Russia in violation of several key articles of optional protocol to the convention the ECHR. In particular, the court found (peaceful enjoyment of possessions).78 that the Russian authorities had failed to N The sixth case (Isayeva vs. Russia) carry out adequate investigations into the concerned aerial and artillery bombard- circumstances of the deaths of the rela- ment by Russian military of the village of tives of the applicants, and that there was no effective remedy available for the com- Katyr-Yurt on 4 February 2000. The appli- plainants before Russian courts. The IHF cant’s son and her three nieces were killed and its partner organizations expressed in the bombing. The court found violations 79 satisfaction with the decisions by the of articles 2 and 13 of the ECHR. ECtHR, saying that they demonstrated to While those who applied to the ECtHR “the despaired victims of human rights vi- hoped to obtain justice for past abuses, olations and their families in Chechnya the fact that they submitted complaints that at least there is justice on the sometimes rendered them vulnerable to European level.” The organizations also new abuses. “Memorial” and the Russian said that they hoped that the judgments Justice Initiative, both of which represent- would serve as “an impetus for the ed Chechen victims in Strasbourg, report- Russian Federation to prevent and remedy ed several cases in which applicants were human rights violations in the Chechen intimidated or killed. 76 Republic and Russia as a whole.” N On 2 April, armed and camouflaged N Two of the cases dealt with by the men speaking unaccented Russian abduct- ECtHR (Khashiyev and Akayeva vs. Rus- ed Said-Khusein Elmurzaev and his son sia) concerned the circumstances sur- Suleiman Elmurzaev from their houses in rounding the deaths of five people in the village of Duba-Yurt. On 8 May, the Grozny in January 2000. The applicants dead body of Said-Khusein Elmurzaev was claimed that their relatives – whose bodies found in the Sunzha River near the village were found mutilated and with numerous Ilyinska (Groznenskiy District). Elmurzaev stab and gunshot wounds – had been tor- had filed an application with the ECtHR af- tured and extra-judicially executed by ter the body of his son, Idris, was found on Russian armed forces. The court found the 9 April 2004 on the outskirts of the Russian Federation in violation of articles 2 Serzhen-Yurt among eight other mutilated (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture and bodies.80 inhuman and degrading treatment) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Developments in Nalchik81 ECHR.77 On 13 October, a number of state in- N Three other cases (Isayeva, Yusupova stitutions were the targets of an armed at- and Bazayeva vs. Russia) concerned the tack in Nalchik, the capital of the Republic aerial bombing of a convoy of civilian cars of Kabardino-Balkaria. According to official by Russian military in Grozny in October information, 35 law enforcement officials 1999. As a result of the bombing, the first and 95 insurgents were killed in the fight- applicant was wounded and her two chil- ing that ensued. dren and daughter-in-law were killed; the The attack took place against the back- second applicant was wounded; and the ground of an increasingly indiscriminate third applicant’s car containing her family’s fight against “extremists” and “terrorists” possessions was destroyed. In these cases, carried out by the authorities of Kabardino- the court found violations of articles 2 and Balkaria. This fight, which had not only in- 13 of the ECHR and article 1 of the first volved crackdowns on terrorist cells but

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE REGION IHF REPORT 2006 RUSSIAN FEDERATION 345 also persecution of peaceful Muslims, had tained were subject to torture. One of served to drive a growing number of those detained, Zaur Psanukaev, officially Muslims underground and to create condi- died after jumping out of the window of tions for the development of an armed un- the building of the Office for Combating derground movement. In 2003 the au- Organized Crime (RUBOP). However, this thorities introduced strictly regulated open- explanation was questioned by human ing hours for mosques, and in 2004 five rights defenders as his body bore traces of mosques were closed down in Nalchik, as violence. In the wake of the attack, public a result of which only one mosque re- assemblies also took place in which the mained open to believers under the limit- families of the insurgents as well as fol- ed hours permitted by the authorities. lowers of “untraditional Islam” and immi- After the October attack, numerous ar- grants from Chechnya were denounced. rests were carried out, sometimes on a to- The assemblies were reportedly organized tally arbitrary basis, and many of those de- by the authorities.

Endnotes 1 See the sections on “Chechnya and the North Caucasus” and “Conditions in Prisons and Detention Facilities.” 2 The Freedom in the World ranking is available at http://freedomhouse.org 3 See also Amnesty International, “Russian Federation: On the conviction of Mikhail Khodorkovskii and Palot Lebedev,” 31 May 2005; and Amnesty International, “Russian Federation: the case of Mikhail Khodorkovskii and other individuals associated with Yukos,” 17 April 2005, at www.amnesty.org. 4 Yukos was nationalized as a result of the criminal case against Khodorkovsky and his as- sociates and the government obtained a controlling stake in the oil company Sibneft through a high-profile transaction. 5 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Claire Bigg and Daisy Sindelar, “Does Ukraine ‘Gas War’ Cast Shadow over Moscow’s G-8 Chairmanship?” 30 December 2005; Eurasia Daily Monitor, Marat Yermukanov, “Moscow’s Gas War with Ukraine Leaves Astana Bruised,” 10 January 2006. 6 This section is based on IHF, The Assault on Human Rights Defenders in the Russian Federation, Belarus and Uzbekistan: Restrictive Legislation and Bad Practices (March 2006), at www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=4221. 7 Information from the MHG to the IHF, March 2006. 8 Ibid. See also International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), “Lyudmila Zhorovlya and her son murdered,” 2 August 2005, at www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=2606. 9 Ibid. 10 IHF, “IHF Protests the Smear Campaign against the Moscow Helsinki Group, NGOs Face Prosecution,” 25 January 2006, at www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_ id=3&d_id=4178. 11 BBC, “Russia ‘to close rights group’,“ 28 January 2006, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ europe/4658026.stm. 12 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Jeremy Bransten, “New Public Chamber Criticized as ‘SmokeScreen,’” 18 March 2005, at www.cdi.org/russia/346-5.cfm.

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13 IHF, “A Fair Trial for Stas Dmitrievsky?,” 2 February 2006, at www.ihf-hr.org/documents/ doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=4187. See also IHF, “Legal Harassment Against the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society - An Update,“ 29 November 2005, at www.ihf-hr. org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=4163, and “The ’Russian-Chechen Friendship Society’ is Under Severe Risk of being Destroyed by Russian Authorities. Its Director Stas Dimitrievsky Faces a Prison Term,” 2 November 2005, at www.ihf-hr.org/ documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=4144. 14 IHF, “Chechen Human Rights Lawyer Still Missing,” 1 February 2005, and “Abducted Chechen Human Rights Lawyer Makhmut Magomadov Reappears,” 13 February 2005, at www.ihf-hr.org. 15 IHF, “Dagestan: Open Letter Regarding the Unlawful Detention and Fabrication of a Cri- minal Case Against Human Rights Lawyer Osman Boliev,” 5 December 2005, at www. ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_id=3&d_id=4165. 16 See also “Pressure on journalist suspected,” 22 September 2005, at http://eng.kavkaz. memo.ru/newstext/engnews/id/863081.html. 17 See also the section on human rights defenders, below. 18 IHF, “IHF Protests the Smear Campaign against the Moscow Helsinki Group, NGOs Face Prosecution,” 25 January 2006, at www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_ id=3&d_id=4178; BBC, “Russia closer to controlling NGOs,” 27 December 2005, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4562278.stm; Human Rights Watch, “G8 Must Tackle Putin on Controversial Bill,” 28 December 2005. 19 This section is based on a report drafted by Lubov Bashinova, MHG partner in Pyatigorsk. 20 This section is based on information from a 2005 report of Novorossiysk Committee of Human Rights entitled Panorama of Ethnic Discrimination in Krasnodar Territory. 21 For more background information, see “Meskhetian Turks are on the brink of expulsion,” April 2002, at www.minelres.lv/minelres/archive/04102002-13:06:15-995.html. 22 This section is based on a report from the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) to the IHF, March 2006. 23 This section is based on IHF and MHG, The Russian Federation: The Human Rights Situation of the Mari Minority of the Republic of Mari El, February 2006, at www.ihf-hr. org/viewbinary/viewdocument.php?doc_id=6654. 24 See, for example, Information Centre of Finno-Ugric Peoples (SURI), “Opposition Lead- ers Still Persecuted in Mari El: Vladimir Kozlov Assaulted,” 4 February 2005. 25 This section was provided by the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC, IHF coope- rating organization). 26 Precise figures on the level of institutionalization were difficult to obtain. Generally, insti- tutionalization was regarded as the norm and there were a high number of “internats” (long-term social welfare institutions), which housed people with mental disabilities as well as other vulnerable social groups. 27 Section 38 of the Law on Psychiatric Care and Guarantee of Citizens’ Rights. 28 Shakulina v. Russia, application no. 24688/05. See also Shtukaturov v. Russia, applica- tion no. 44009/05. 29 V.P. v. State Health Care Institution “Oktyabrskaya Railways Clinic,” case 2-1066/05, judgment of 10 August 2005 30 T.V. et al. v. Petrozavodsk City Administration, cases No. 44_-105/2005 and 44_-106/ 2005, rulings of 23 November 2005. 31 For more information, see the website of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights at www. antirasizm.ru

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32 See the website of Levada at www.levada.ru/. 33 SOVA, Statistics on violent attacks motivated by racial and ethnic hatred, by regions, year 2005, 12 October 2005, at http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB41EE/6362F81. 34 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Salimjon Aioubov and Bruce Pannier, “Verdict in Trial of Tajik Girl’s Murder Shocks Public,” 23 March 2006; St Petersburg Times, Galina Stolya- rova and Nabi Abdullaev, “Jury Clears Teenagers of Killing Tajik,” 22 February 2006, at www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=17095; Le Monde, “Vent de racisme meurtrier en Russie,” 25 April 2006; BBC, “Jail for Tajik girl’s attackers,” 30 March 2005. 35 AP, “Thousands rally for pay, pensions across Russia,“ 10 June 2004. 36 This figure is from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Valentinas Mite, “Pensioners’ Pro- tests Mount Growing Challenge to Putin,” 17 January 2006. 37 Regnum, 14 July 2005, at www.regnum.ru. 38 Regnum, 30 June 2005. 39 Report on the human rights situation in the Republic of Komi (2005) prepared by the Komi regional branch of Memorial. 40 Report on the human rights situation in the Kurgan Region, 2005 prepared by the Kur- gan regional public movement “For fair elections.” 41 Report on the human rights situation in the Chukotsky Autonomous Okrug, 2005. 42 See www.rbc.ru//30.05.2005. 43 This section has been prepared by the IHF Secretariat. 44 See the joint report In a Climate of Fear published by the Human Rights Center “Me- morial”, the Demos Center, IHF, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, January 2006. 45 IHF, Chechnya: More of the Same. Extrajudicial Killings, Enforced ‘Disappearances’, Illegal Arrests, Torture, 30 March 2005. 46 The official version was that he was killed on 8 March during a special operation in the village of Tolstoi-Yurt, north of Grozny. 47 Such as the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the whole North Caucasus region. 48 IHF, “Ingushetia/North Ossetia/Kabardino Balkaria: The Spread of Chechnya-type Hu- man Rights Violations,” 2 June 2005. 49 PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, “Human rights violations in the Chechen Republic: The Committee of Ministers’ responsibility vis-à-vis the Assembly’s concerns” (Doc. 10774, 21 December 2005, Rapporteur: Mr Rudolf Bindig, Germany, Socialist Group). 50 On election day, however, the representatives of human rights organizations noted a sig- nificant difference in information on the number of voters presented by heads of local election committees and by observers representing political parties. 51 Human Rights Center “Memorial”, the Demos Center, IHF, FIDH and Norwegian Helsinki Committee, In a Climate of Fear, January 2006. 52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. 54 IHF, Chechnya: More of the Same. Extrajudicial Killings, Enforced ‘Disappearances’, Illegal Arrests, Torture, 30 March 2005. 55 This security service, also often called “SB”, was initially created as a personal security force of the Moscow-appointed head of the Chechen administration, Akhmat Kadyrov. From the beginning it was commanded by Akhmat Kadyrov’s son, Ramzan. Some of its sub-units were legalized in 2004 and 2005 to become parts of different structures of the Chechen ministry of internal affairs. After Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in a bomb blast

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in May 2004, the service was formally liquidated and most of its remaining units were integrated into the system of Russian law enforcement agencies and security authorities. Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed deputy prime minister, responsible for the security bloc. Gradually, all structures of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs have got under the control of “Kadyrovtsy.” 56 In March 2006, Ramzan Kadyrov was assigned prime minister of the Chechen Republic. 57 In some cases, whole detachments were made up of people who had committed crim- inal offences in the period between wars. 58 For example, only in the villages and towns of the Urus-Martan district, there were 27 zachistkas in 2005. 59 Human Rights Center “Memorial,” Demos Center, IHF, FIDH and Norwegian Helsinki Committee, In a Climate of Fear, January 2006. 60 Ibid. 61 The second Road Patrol Regiment of the Police (PPSM-2), which had a mandate to en- sure security in the streets, but in reality was involved in so-called “anti-terrorist opera- tions,” accompanied by grave human rights violations. 62 Officials at different levels have confirmed this pattern. For example, Chief Chechen Prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko stated in March 2003 that out of 565 cases of abduc- tions his office had opened investigations into in 2002, about 300 cases involved fed- eral forces. See Nezavizimaya Gazeta, “The scandalous declaration of the prosecutor of the republic,” 16 April 2003. 63 Human Rights Center “Memorial,” Demos Center, IHF, FIDH and Norwegian Helsinki Committee, In a Climate of Fear, January 2006. 64 Ibid. 65 For example, at the meeting with heads of the republic’s security and law enforcement agencies in October 2005, the president of the Chechen republic, Alu Alkhanov, said: “The kidnapping statistics over the past year has slightly increased… since the beginning of the year 2005, 143 cases of kidnapping were registered in the republic. Over the same period of time in 2004, this number was 128” (RIA News, 11 July 2005). In De- cember of 2005, in an interview given to Komsomolskaya Pravda, Alkhanov stated: “The number of kidnappings has decreased; last year, there were 168 cases of kidnapping, this year – only 67” (Komsomolskaya Pravda, 20 December 2005). Finally, at a meet- ing at the ministry of internal affairs, Alkhanov said: “This year, there were 77 kidnap- pings, while last year this number was 213” (RIA News, 17 January 2006). Human Rights Center “Memorial,” Demos Center, IHF, FIDH and Norwegian Helsinki Committee, In a Climate of Fear, January 2006. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. In a July 2003 statement, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) not- ed that there is “continued resort to torture and other forms of ill-treatment by members of the law enforcement agencies and federal forces operating in the Chechen Republic” and that “as regards action taken to bring to justice those responsible for acts of ill-treat- ment, illegal detention and disappearance on the territory of the Chechen Republic, to date it has proven largely unproductive.” The CPT also made a number of recommen- dations in this public statement. As of the end of 2005, the Russian authorities had not allowed the publication of the reports of the CPT on its seven visits to the Chechen Republic, the most recent one in December 2004 (at www.cpt.coe.int/documents/rus/ 2003-33-inf-eng.htm). 68 Authorities not only failed to take effective measure to respond to this lawlessness, but

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even attempted to make it appear normal. On 29 October 2004, in his address to the Russian State Duma, Russian Prosecutor General V.F. Ustinov officially suggested to le- galize the “counter-taking of hostages” as a method in the fight against terrorism. While no concrete action was taken to follow up on this suggestion, it appeared that Ustinov’s speech, broadcast on TV, was interpreted by security and law enforcement agencies in Chechnya as a further guide to action. 69 IHF, “Impunity: A Leading Force behind Continued Massive Violations in Chechnya,” 19 May 2005. 70 Human Rights Center “Memorial,” Demos Cente, IHF, FIDH and Norwegian Helsinki Committee, In a Climate of Fear, January 2006. 71 Ibid. 72 See IHF, “Impunity: A Leading Force behind Continued Massive Violations in Chechnya,” 19 May 2005. 73 The crime took place on 2 and 3 January 2001. Neither Lapin nor anyone else was con- victed for the “disappearance” and alleged killing of Murdalov, and no one except him was held responsible for torturing Murdalov (and many other detainees) in the tempo- rary isolator (VOVD) in Grozny’s Oktyabrsky district. See IHF, “Impunity: A Leading Force behind Continued Massive Violations in Chechnya,” 19 May 2005. 74 Ibid. Typically only few, courageous investigators have dared to seriously look into disap- pearances where the alleged perpetrators were members of federal or pro-Moscow lo- cal law enforcement forces, and those who have done so have faced repercussions. See, for example, the case of Rashid Ozdoev in IHF, Human Rights in the OSCE Region: Europe, Central Asia and North America, Report 2005 (Events of 2004). 75 IHF, Chechen Applicants Finally Find Justice … at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, 24 February 2005, www.ihf-hr.org/documents/doc_summary.php?sec_ id=3&d_id=4026. 76 See IHF, “Chechen Applicants Finally Find Justice … at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg,” 24 February 2005. The cases had been lodged by the Human Rights Center ‘Memorial’ and the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC). 77 More information at the website of the EHRAC, at www.londonmet.ac.uk/EHRAC. 78 Ibid. 79 Ibid. 80 Human Rights Center “Memorial,” 25 May 2005. 81 Human Rights Center “Memorial,” Conflict Spill-Over Outside the Chechen Republic in 2004-2005 (Ingushetia and Kabardino - Balkariya), at www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/ caucas1/index.htm.

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