On the Situation of Residents of Chechnya in the Russian Federation

MEMORIAL Human Rights Center Migration Rights Network Edited by S. A. Gannushkina On the situation of residents of Chechnya in the Russian Federation October 2007 – April 2009 Moscow 2009 1 Этот материал выпущен МОО ПЦ "Мемориал", который внесен в реестр, предусмотренный ст. 13.1.10 ФЗ "Об НКО". Мы обжалуем это решение. The project is funded by the European Commission Based on materials of the Migration Rights Network and Hot Spots Program, both part of Memorial Human Rights Center, as well as on materials of Civic Assistance Committee and Internet publications Svetlana Gannushkina – Head of the Migration Rights Network, Chairwoman of the Civic Assistance Committee The Migration Rights Network of Memorial Human Rights Center comprises 56 offices of free legal aid to forced migrants, with 5 of the offices located in Chechnya and Ingushetia (www.refugee.memo.ru) Lawyers of the Migration Rights Network in Moscow work using the base of the Civic Assistance Committee, a charity helping refugees (www.refugee.ru). ISBN 978-5-93439-273-5 Distributed free of charge 2 Этот материал выпущен МОО ПЦ "Мемориал", который внесен в реестр, предусмотренный ст. 13.1.10 ФЗ "Об НКО". Мы обжалуем это решение. CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4 II. CHECHENS IN THE PENITENTIARY AND JUDICIAL SYSTEMS....................................7 III. ON THE IMAGE OF THE ENEMY IN MASS CONSCIOUSNESS....................................30 IV. PROVISION OF HOUSING TO INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF INGUSHETIA ......................................................................................41 V. THE SITUATION OF CHECHENS IN OTHER REGIONS OF RUSSIA.............................55 VI. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................62 VII. APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................63 Appendix 1. Abduction of a former prisoner of Ramzan Kadyrov’s illegal prison ......................63 Appendix 2. North Caucasus: disturbing tendencies.....................................................................64 Appendix 3. The practice of arsons of suspected terrorists’ houses..............................................65 Appendix 4. Article “The Right to Be a Human” by Svetlana Gannushkina ................................68 Appendix 5. Reply of the Prosecutor’s Office of Mordovia to the inquiry about Kodzoyev ......................................................................................................71 Appendix 6. Reply of the Federal Penitentiary Service to the inquiry about Zubayrayev............74 Appendix 7. Reply of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Chechen Republic to the inquiry about violation of the rights of tenants of temporary accommodation points in the city of Grozny...........................................................75 Appendix 8. Inquiry to the Ministry of Interior with regard to the existence of special rules regulating the sojourn of Chechen Republic residents in other federal subjects...........................77 Appendix 9. Inquiry to the RF Federal Security Service ..............................................................79 3 Этот материал выпущен МОО ПЦ "Мемориал", который внесен в реестр, предусмотренный ст. 13.1.10 ФЗ "Об НКО". Мы обжалуем это решение. I. INTRODUCTION The previous sixth report on the situation of Chechens in Russia covered events through October 20071. There has long been plenty of material for preparing the next yearly report. However, when compiling it we face the problem of safety both for those whose destinies we describe and of those officers of our organization who work in Chechnya. Of course, the problem existed earlier as well, but the level of danger became such that we no longer risk publishing and presenting a report, which would openly tell about the situation in Chechnya. In the end of 2007 such a presentation already resulted in a storm of protests from the leadership of the republic. Besides, the applicants themselves dare to approach us or the law enforcement bodies more and more rarely, more and more of them refuse to tell about the violent acts committed against them, fearing persecution by the authorities. If they do come and tell about their grieves, they almost always prohibit us from making their stories public. Therefore, despite a decrease in abductions and extrajudicial executions, we cannot reliably determine how high the percentage of the information that we lose is. We still included one tragic case of applying to law enforcement bodies into the report (Appendix 1). Despite the drastic decrease in registered abductions of people by the law enforcement and in cases of tortures, the abductions, tortures and other violations of human rights nevertheless remain commonplace in the republic. Besides, in 2008 the numbers started to grow again, as shown in the tables below. Abductions, disappearances Year Abducted Set free with or Found Disappeared Under without ransom murdered investigation 2006 187 94 11 63 19 2007 35 23 1 9 2 2008 42 20 4 13 5 Murders Year All Civilians Law enforcement Militants Unknown 2006 101 33 24 34 10 2007 54 16 23 15 0 2008 72 24 20 18 10 In 2009, the tendency didn’t change (Appendix 2). From time to time we get information from anonymous sources. In March 2009, we learnt that starting from 1 http://refugee.memo.ru/C325678F00668DC3/$ID/6AE81AEE666DB64BC32573AA00016555 4 Этот материал выпущен МОО ПЦ "Мемориал", который внесен в реестр, предусмотренный ст. 13.1.10 ФЗ "Об НКО". Мы обжалуем это решение. January law enforcement agencies frequently abducted residents of the Dargo village of Vvedensky district. Officers of Memorial Human Rights Center visited Dargo and ascertained that uniformed persons from the neighboring Nozhay-Yurt district regularly come to take young lads and sometimes even girls with them. As a rule, the abducted return home beaten up and intimidated in a few days. There were registered more than 20 of such cases. However, not all of them came back, and the fate of some abducted persons still hasn’t been found out. Officers of Memorial Human Rights Center applied to the Chechnya Prosecutor’s Office asking to perform a check of the abduction facts that they had learnt about. As a result of the check, it was established that unlawfully detained persons had been transported to Nozhay-Yurt where they had been kept and beaten up at the deployment of the patrol police regiment of the Chechen Republic Ministry of Interior named after A. Kh. Kadyrov. At that, a division of the same regiment is deployed in the village. They don’t participate in the abductions, but they don’t prevent those from happening either. Prosecutor’s Office staff spoke to many residents of the Dargo village who had been subjected to unlawful detention and had been transported to Nozhay-Yurt. However, the victims, without refusing the facts, flatly refused any official witnessing. On the other hand, the unlawful detentions in Dargo stopped right after the beginning of the Prosecutor’s Office check. It is necessary to state that in Chechnya there has formed a totalitarian regime based on violence, delation, and fear. Even the seminars for teachers of small schools in mountain villages and for young human rights campaigners organized by Civic Assistance Committee raise suspicions. Participants of the seminars have to speak “informally” to law enforcement officers who probe to find out about seminar discussions with Moscow human rights defenders, but in particular with their foreign colleagues. The conversations include warnings and threats. In summer 2008, the Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov said it was necessary to exert pressure on relatives of those who, in the opinion of the authorities, left for the mountains: “…we have to make use of the Chechen customs. In the past such people were cursed and banished.” After that there spread a practice of setting houses of suspects on fire. A few families left their villages after they had been threatened (Appendix 3). Violations of women’s rights are additionally fostered by Vaynakh traditions (Appendix 4). Forced marriages, polygamy, marriages to underage girls are just a part of Russian law violations, against which there is currently no protection in Chechnya. Female students of the Chechen State University, highly cultured modern young ladies, bitterly tell how they are forced to wear headscarves, which they had to accept after a few expulsions. Besides, they make them buy headscarves, and now also uniform, at a high price and of bad quality. The girls who try objecting to the constraints are treated rudely and without esteem by the guards, who may push them, take them by their hands, or lead them out of the building. The girls turn out to be isolated from the society, they cannot leave their houses in the evening, or meet at a public place. Students speak of a lawless situation, in which women who get abducted or married by their relatives without their consent find themselves. Not a single one of the female students we asked was prepared to live with a future husband who would also have other wives. 5 Этот материал выпущен МОО ПЦ "Мемориал", который внесен в реестр, предусмотренный ст. 13.1.10 ФЗ "Об НКО". Мы обжалуем это решение. At the same time, Vaynakh traditions contain a number of mechanisms constraining arbitrariness towards

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