HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 AI Index: EUR 46/043/2007 (Public) Tel: 212-290-4700 Fax: 212-736-1300 September 18, 2007 Email: [email protected] Procurator of the Chechen Republic V. A. Kuznetsov E urope and Central Asia ul. Idrisova 42 D i v i s i o n Holly Cartner, Executive Director 364000 Rachel Denber, Deputy Director Also by facsimile: + 7 (8712) 22 32 63; + 7 (8712) 22 31 44, Veronika L. Szente Goldston, Advocacy Director + 7 (495) 777 92 26 Benjamin Ward, Associate Director Allison Gill, Director, Moscow Office Alexander Petrov, Deputy Director, Moscow Dear Mr. Kuznetsov, Office Julia Hall, Senior Researcher Andrea Berg, Researcher Jane Buchanan, Researcher We are writing to express our concern about the recent Judith Sunderland, Researcher abduction of Vagap Dudaevich Tutakov, a former Wanda Troszczynska van Genderen, Researcher representative of the self-styled Ichkeria parliament to the Emma Sinclair-Webb, Researcher George Gogia, Consultant Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Inara Gulpe-Laganovska, Consultant We urgently request the Office of the Procurator of the Liudmila Belova, Associate Sonya Kleshik, Associate Chechen Republic to take immediate action to investigate Kathryn Koonce, Associate his abduction. Mihra Rittmann, Associate Iwona Zielinska, Associate ADVISORY Committee We are a group of international nongovernmental Marco Stoffel, Chair Alice H. Henkin, Vice Chair organizations that document human rights violations in the Henri Barkey Europe and Central Asia region and worldwide. Our Gerhart Baum Stephen Del Rosso organizations have followed cases of enforced Felice Gaer disappearances in and have well-founded Conor Gearty Michael Gellert reason to believe that Tutakov’s life and well-being are in Jeri Laber Walter Link great danger. Masha Lipman Helena Luczywo Jean Paul Marthoz According to reports, Vagap Tutakov disappeared on Michael McFaul September 12, 2007 in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya. Sarah E. Mendelson Karl Meyer Vagap Tutakov’s brother told a local non-governmental Jane Olson Arjan Overwater organization that he and his uncle were driving to meet Can Paker Tutakov and were intercepted by armed men in Hannah Pakula Colette Shulman camouflaged uniforms who arrived in four cars. An armed Leon Sigal man in civilian clothes demanded Tutakov’s brother to Malcolm Smith George Soros phone and tell him to come to the area where they were Gerard Stoudmann stopped. Before he had a chance to call, Tutakov arrived. Ruti Teitel Mark von Hagen The armed men forced Tutakov to get into their car and Patricia M. Wald Mark Walton drove off in the direction of Gudermes. He has not been Joanna Weschler seen since. Human Rights Wa t c h Kenneth Roth, Executive Director Michele Alexander, Development & Outreach Immediately after the incident, Tutakov’s brother contacted Director the Urus-Martan District Department of Internal Affairs, and Carroll Bogert, Associate Director Emma Daly, Communications Director the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic to Barbara Guglielmo, Finance & Administration Director Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy Director Iain Levine, Program Director Andrew Mawson, Deputy Program Director Suzanne Nossel, ChiefBERLI of OperationsN·BRUSSEL S·CHICAGO · GENEVA·LONDON·LOS ANGELES·MOSCOW· NEW YORK·SAN Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel Aisling Reidy, Senior Legal Advisor FRANCISCO·TORONTO·WASHINGTON James Ross, Legal & Policy Director Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director Jane Olson, Chair, Board of Directors report the abduction. Both governmental bodies claimed they were not involved in the incident.

There is reason to believe that Tutakov was targeted for this abduction due to his political ideas and affiliations. Tutakov has actively supported the idea of Chechnya’s independence from since 1991. He represented the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in Russia, and in 1997 was elected as a deputy of the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. He left Russia at the beginning of the second Chechen conflict, and served as a representative of the self-styled Ichkeria parliament to PACE in Strasbourg until 2003. Tutakov strongly criticized the deployment of federal forces into Chechnya and Russia’s policies on the North Caucasus.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Helsinki Federation, and the International Federation for Human Rights have serious concerns about Tutakov’s safety and well-being. Our organizations have documented that people subject to arbitrary and incommunicado detention in Chechnya are in grave danger of torture, ill-treatment, and extrajudicial execution. Numerous intergovernmental organizations, such as the PACE, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the United Nations Committee against Torture have expressed concern about the use of enforced disappearances, illegal detention and torture in Chechnya.

We fear for the safety of Tutakov and urge the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic to share with Tutakov’s family information about Tutakov’s safety and whereabouts and to take immediate action into this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Holly Cartner Executive Director Europe and Central Asia Division Human Rights Watch

Souhayr Belhassen President International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Aaron Rhodes Executive Director

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Nicola Duckworth Director Europe and Central Asia Programme Amnesty International

CC: Y. Y. Chaika, General Procurator of the Russian Federation R.A. Kadyrov, President of the Chechen Republic

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