Asia-Pacific, Europe, Headlines, Human Rights

CHECHNYA: ‘Dark’ Record on Disappearances Brought into the Light

Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, Jun 30 2005 (IPS) - “Recognition by the Russian or Chechen authorities that disappearances and abductions are going on is a good start, but we are calling for the immediate stop and the prosecution of everyone responsible for these acts,” a regional expert with human rights watchdog Amnesty International told IPS.

Abductions have been common in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya for years, with civilians and rights groups blaming federal troops and separatist rebels, as well as security forces under the command of Moscow-backed Chechen first deputy prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov, known as the Kadyrovtsi.

Kremlin-backed Chechen President Alu Alkhanov said federal forces were involved in five to 10 percent of all kidnappings in the region and that 23 people had gone missing in the first five months of this year, according to a report by Russian news agency Interfax.

“The problem is not yet solved,” he said. “Solving this problem is the main task of both Chechen president and Russian president, and I am confident we will accomplish this task.”

Alkhanov said investigations had shown that some people reported as missing were in fact being held as part of criminal inquiries. “It has become clear after checks that a person has not been abducted, but has been detained as a suspect in a specific crime,” he said, adding that 58 people were initially reported missing in the first five months of 2005.

“The Russian authorities cannot credibly deny their role in the widespread and ongoing violations in Chechnya,” Victoria Webb, Amnesty International’s researcher for Russia and Central Asia, told IPS.

“Amnesty International (AI) has actively researched numerous, consistent and credible reports that Russian federal forces have been responsible, over the course of the conflict in Chechnya, for widespread human rights violations such as (forced) disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture, including rape.”

“Chechen armed opposition groups have also been responsible for abuses of human rights,” she added

Tom de Waal, Chechnya analyst with the UK-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting, said in an interview: “The Kadyrovtsi are widely recognised as the as the most dangerous armed group who answer to no one but themselves and human rights groups have amassed a large amount of evidence that they are responsible for abductions and many people are afraid too afraid to report what has happened to their relatives and families.”

“The number of people kidnapped last year could be as high as a thousand,” he added.

He said Russia has portrayed the conflict in Chechnya as being part of the “international war on terrorism” with some success and that in many people’s eyes this justifies the brutality committed there, including widespread abductions.

Waal said in most cases both Russian and Chechen authorities failed to conduct prompt, independent and thorough investigations into allegations of rampant abductions.

Due to scant media coverage of Chechnya, the Russian government does not have to face much pressure on human rights violations, so the region remains the darkest place in Europe for human rights, he added.

“The security conditions for journalists or human rights activists trying to report on the situation are so difficult that it is very hard to know the true scale of the problem,” said AI expert Webb.

AI’s reports revealed that forced disappearances and abductions usually take place at night, usually by armed men, in camouflage and often masked, who arrive in a large number of military vehicles with identification plates covered, and in which one or more people are taken away to unknown destinations.

In some cases the individuals are released within a few days, in other cases they remain missing, and in others their bodies are found bearing signs of a violent death. The nature of the human rights violations – with the secrecy and anonymity – means it can be extremely difficult to attribute responsibility.

AI only uses the term “disappearances” for cases which fit this definition and involve state agents. When people have been taken away by armed groups not affiliated with the government, or when it is unclear whether state agents were the perpetrators, it is referred to as an abduction.

AI is calling for the establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry into all cases of “disappearances” and abductions.

However, eyewitness reports, testimony of survivors who are subsequently released, and other research indicate that in many cases, Russian and Chechen security forces, including those under the control of Chechen deputy prime minister Kadyrov, the so-called Kadyrovtsi, are responsible.

There has been some official acknowledgment of this: for example, President Vladimir Putin’s adviser, Aslanbek Aslakhanov, stated in April this year that he did not rule out the involvement of the Kadyrovtsi, or of the federal forces, in disappearances.

Case files are passed between one prosecutor’s office and another, and closed for lack of evidence, when no real actions have been undertaken to effectively investigate. Those trying to find out the truth – such as relatives of missing people, journalists, human rights activists, even prosecutors – are intimidated, threatened, and in some cases are “disappeared” themselves.

“The problem is that there are almost no effective investigations into the violations. The climate of fear in the region is an enormous obstacle to efforts to see justice done,” Webb said.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers have appealed for international support for human rights advocates in Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia, who the groups said were increasingly in peril.

According to the groups, persecution of rights advocates had intensified, and 11 people were abducted last week alone by the federal forces.

Analysts and human rights groups alike confirmed to IPS that the European Court of Human Rights ruled in February this year that Russian federal forces have been guilty of serious violations of human rights in Chechnya.

The court found that Russian forces have violated the right to life and the prohibition of torture, as well as the right to an effective remedy and the peaceful enjoyment of possessions, of civilians in Chechnya.

“The Russian authorities should give a clear message to all branches and levels of the security forces operating in Chechnya that ‘disappearances’ and abductions are illegal, unacceptable, and that those responsible will face severe punishment,” said Webb.

An independent international commission of inquiry should immediately be established into all cases ofá disappearances and abductions in the North Caucasus which have occurred in the context of the two armed conflicts in Chechnya, she said.

Waal agrees, adding: “There needs to be an international monitoring presence there to investigate cases of abduction… and check that Russia is not failing the international commitments it made when it joined institutions like the Council of Europe.”