Key topics: This survey is dedicated to the development of the situation in the Chechen Republic. The survey is published under the “Development of the multifunctional analytical center on the problems of democracy and human rights” project supported by the Ford Foundation.
This survey is dedicated to the development of the situation in the Chechen Republic. The survey is published under the “Development of the multifunctional analytical center on the problems of democracy and human rights” project supported by the Ford Foundation.
Issue’s headlines:
Battle in President’s office
Games with law-enforcement structures
“Pre-election” initiatives of the Chechen Prime Minister
Hunting down refugees in TPFs
Killings of civilians and their presentation by bandits
Human rights activist kidnapped
Search for abducted and missing persons
Criminal proceedings against federal military servicemen
Problems of introduction of the court by jury in Chechnya
Politicians to start growing trees
***
Mr. Ramzan Kadyrov completely dominates the public environment of Chechnya. The scope of his official activities keeps expanding. Earlier, he demonstrated his successes in fighting separatists; next, he shaped the moral image of his fellow citizens (headscarves, cell phones, liquor, morality, “Potyomkin’esque” construction), etc. Last month, he finally decided to get to purely political business. But his modus operandi remained the same.
Battle in President’s office
On April 25, downtown Grozny became a battlefield
as two groups of officers representing two different law-enforcement structures of the republic opened gunfire at each other . The skirmish was caused by the visit of the Head of the RF Audit Chamber, Sergey Stepashin, in Chechnya. The conflict occurred when the Chechen President, Alu Alkhanov, was meeting Stepashin behind closed doors. The Premier of the republic who had not been invited to take part in the dialogue wanted to attend nevertheless. But Alkhanov’s security did not let Kadyrov into the office. In response, Kadyrov’s security decided to take the president’s office by storm. Their adversary turned out to be stronger and they quickly retreated and went to the nearest city hospital No.9 to have their wounds banded. The soldiers of the Chief Department of Administration of Justice (GUIN) of the Ministry of Justice who safeguard the compound of governmental buildings did not interfere with the situation.
Practically all law-enforcement structures of Chechnya, both republican and federal, have refused to comment on this event. And the RF Audit Chamber asked “not to focus attention on these issues but write about positive changes instead”.
According to the chairman of the Islamic committee, Geidar Dzhemal, the situation in the republic can change in fall when Ramzan Kadyrov turns thirty and he will become eligible for the presidential office in Chechnya, as well as prior to presidential elections in Russia. “There will be no options within the context of the current Kremlin regime. I mean that the disposition of forces unarguably favors Ramzan Kadyrov, – thinks the Islamic committee chairman. – And I think it is inevitable because from the viewpoint of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Ramzan Kadyrov and his troops are an important card in the possible game aimed at destabilizing the situation in the republic that may accompany the election campaign in Russia in 2007- 2008”.
Return to the main menu
Games with law-enforcement structures
At the same time, serious changes occurred in April in the lives of law-enforcement structures that control the republic. On April 15,
Kadyrov announced his intention to have the federal police units withdrawn from Chechnya. Formally this decision was based on numerous complaints of the population against illegal actions of the operative investigation bureau (ORB-2) of the Chief Department of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Southern Federal District.
“I will see to it that this unit is withdrawn from the republic because its representatives illegally detain citizens, beat and cruelly treat detainees”, – promised Kadyrov having emphasized also that ORB-2 officers make detainees “sign under crimes that they never committed”.
In addition, representatives of local authorities consider this law-enforcement structure absolutely redundant. Head of the Chechen parliament, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, is confident that republican law-enforcement forces are quite enough to ensure security in Chechnya.
ORB, on the other hand, claimed that all these accusations were far-fetched having also noticed that: “The only reason why our operations cause so much grief is that the local authorities are willing to do whatever it takes to take us under their own control”. If Kadyrov succeeds in having the ORB-2 withdrawn from Chechnya, the Chechen Premier will gain full control over all the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs quartered in Chechnya.
Representatives of the “Memorial” human rights center that actively operates in Chechnya
confirm that Kadyrov is absolutely right to accuse ORB officers of illegal detentions (in fact – abductions) and of torturing detainees and arrested persons. Over the past three years, human rights activists had to spend a lot of time working with human rights violations committed by ORB-2 officers. They are of the opinion that this prison (officially it is listed as a temporary detention facility) was established in order to exert pressure against detained and arrested individuals (including torture) to make them supply “required” testimonies.
At the same time, human rights activists emphasize that this method will not be able to help solve the problem of abductions, disappearances, and torture in the Chechen Republic. “Employees of the law-enforcement structures controlled by Kadyrov (most of which formally are part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), as well as officers of the so-called battalions of the Chief Investigation Department of the Defense Ministry, “Vostok”, commanded by Sulim Yamadayev, have as much to do with this problem as ORB-2 officers”, - reports the “Memorial” human rights center.
The ORB-2
responded to Kadyrov’s initiative heavily be disseminating information about existence of criminal cases against representatives of the local law-enforcement structures. On April 19, a source in the republican law-enforcement bodies advised that investigation had managed to prove implication of a group of officers of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs and the republican Anti-Terrorist Center (“Kadyrov’s men”) in several dozens of crimes against Chechen citizens.
“The criminal case against 17 former officers of the Anti-Terrorist Center and the Road Patrol Unit has already been handed over to the Supreme Court by the republican prosecution authority. It was established that the accused, serving in the law-enforcement structures, abused their authority and used their weapons engaging in banditry and brigandage, – announced law-enforcement authorities. – Their victims were primarily citizens who had been compensated for houses and property they lost in the war. The bandits threatened their victims with physical violence and collected their money, vehicles, and valuables. In addition, they are also implicated in other crimes. Members of this criminal group are incriminated with commission of 35 offences of various kinds. If they are convicted each of them will be facing 20-year imprisonment terms”.
Several days later, Kadyrov delivered another blow upon “alien” law-enforcement officers. On April 24, it became known that based on decisions adopted at Ramzan Kadyrov’s meeting with representatives of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ruslan Alkhanov, issued an order “On inspection of compliance of personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Chechnya with uniform wearing rules”. The reason why this seemingly purely formal order was issued is that Kadyrov had noticed that “officers kept carrying their machine guns during their off-duty time as they wandered aimlessly around the city, their uniforms looking nothing like their true designation”.
Put simply, Kadyrov decided to remove from the Chechen streets all those armed people who do not report to him personally. Just like the previous story, this episode stirs ambiguous feelings. On the outside, everything looks correct: being off-duty policemen should not walk around town carrying their machine guns. On the other hand, police officers used to serve as at least some sort of counterbalance to ATC officers who pledged their allegiance personally to Kadyrov.
But the next step of the Chechen Premier proves that the game that he plays with the law-enforcement structures may be a part of a lot more serious plan. On April 29, Ramzan Kadyrov officially announced that the Chechen republican Anti-Terrorist Center
was to be liquidated .
“The security service was reorganized as an anti-terrorist center and now the anti-terrorist center will be reorganized into two police battalions (“North” and “South”) that will report to federal structures”, - noted Kadyrov. – Any person who purports to be a representative of the security service or the anti-terrorist center is an impostor, must be detained and handed over to the law-enforcement authorities”.
Thus, the Chechen Premier kills to two birds with one stone. On the one hand, he demonstrates his loyalty to the federal authorities. And fighting the ORB-2 looks like a fight for law and order in their pure forms. On the other hand, in the eyes of the population he distances himself from both SPB and ATC whose employees are also accused of arbitrariness and violence. It may only mean one thing: Kadyrov indeed counts on assuming the highest office in the republic in the nearest future. Now that the fund named after A. K. Kadyrov that he controls
has accumulated astronomic amounts of cash Ramzan can afford pretending to be a politician and improving his own image. And his loyal law-enforcement officers will not go anywhere – Kadyrov controls everything in the republic anyway. But it is federal structures that will be responsible for everything from now on. And even if the “North” and the “South” engage in clearly criminal activities the “federals” will be unable to stop them – to do that they would have to begin another Chechen campaign right on the eve of the 2008 elections.
Return to the main menu
“Pre-election” initiatives of the Chechen Prime Minister
Kadyrov attempts to position himself not only as a strong leader who controls law-enforcement structures but also as a national-scale politician concerned with relations between the Russian and Chechen peoples.
In early April,
Ramzan Kadyrov invited all ethnic Russians who had previously resided in Chechnya to come over and visit the graves of their relatives on Easter’s eve. The Fund named after Akhmad Kadyrov agreed to cover all their transportation and accommodation expenses. As a result, 804 people who at some point had to flee the republic due to military operations visited the republic on Easter’s eve.
On April 23, at the reception given in guests’ honor, Kadyrov said: “It is our sincere wish that everyone who feels like going back home does so. We do not see the Chechen Republic without a population of ethnic Russians”, – said Kadyrov at the reception. He noted that “the government of the Chechen Republic will do everything in its power to assist all those who wish to come back in fixing their apartments and homes, or in receiving compensation”. Speaking about what caused the tragedy that led to mass exodus of both ethnic Russians and several hundreds of thousands of Chechens Kadyrov said that “neither the Russian, nor the Chechen people was to blame”.
“This was done by the enemies of Russia who wanted to sell it to the west, who wanted to weaken it and turn it into a second-rate power. But they did not and will never succeed”.
On the next day, however, a little hitch happened. On the morning of April 24,
several dozens of ethnic Russian citizens gathered together in front of the administration of the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny. They demanded that the local authorities pay them the money that the republican authorities had promised to them.
The fact of the matter is that on Easter’s eve the republican authorities promised to pay 1,000 rubles to every ethnic Russian resident of Chechnya. So, the people gathered together on that account because prior to that they had prepared and submitted lists of their names to district administrations. According to rally participants, they had submitted a list containing approximately 700 names but the promised cash was issued only to not more than 20% of those who had signed up.
Another loud statement indicates that Kadyrov’s ambitions reach out beyond internal problems of Chechnya. And it was not the Prime Minister who verbalized it but the head of the republican legislature. On April 24, Chairman of the People’s Assembly of Chechnya, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, announced that the situation in Northern Caucasus could be stabilized a lot faster by
unification of Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Dagestan .
Experts considered the statement of Abdurakhmanov, who had never been an independent politician, as a “touchstone” thrown by Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and his sponsors in Moscow.
This viewpoint appears at least partially questionable. It is possible that this was really a touchstone and a dummy one too. It was thrown to distract the attention of his partners in Kremlin and his neighbors in the region.
Clearly, the office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the RF President in the Southern Federal District perceived Abdurakhmanov statement not without some surprise. “We are not considering any unification initiatives just as yet”, - announced the administration of the Plenipotentiary Representative. – Furthermore, Dmitry Kozak has recently said quite unambiguously that today such initiatives are irrelevant”.
The President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, was not particularly delighted with the proposed prospect either. “There used to be two republics, now this so-called unification, and nobody bothered to ask either the Chechens or the Ingush if they needed any of that”, - he said in August of 2002 and since then his position has not changed.
Return to the main menu
Hunting down refugees in TPFs
On April 19, the Chairman of the government of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, demanded that
the temporary placement facilities (TPFc) for refugees and forced migrants on the territory of Chechnya be entirely liquidated within the shortest timeframe possible. “The temporary placement facilities for displaced persons are source of crime, drug addiction, and prostitution and I will not let anything like this happen on the territory of the Chechen Republic, - said Kadyrov at a government session in Gudermes. – I have thoroughly examined the situation in these facilities and I have materials that support my statements. Most residents of these camps still have their houses and they can go back home. The problem is that over the past several years these people have become lazy and they do not want to work anymore. Women who live in those camps have forgotten all about housekeeping and no longer want to take a broom in their hands. I demand therefore that these people go back to their homes”. According to the Prime Minister, the refugees continue to live there because of the humanitarian aid provided by various organizations. “They receive those paltry kilograms of flour and macaroni instead of doing an honest work to earn them”, - Kadyrov thinks.
The government session under discussion was held specifically to discuss the issue of refugees. Session participants included leaders of law-enforcement authorities, heads of administrations, and commandants of the temporary placement facilities for refugees located on the Chechen territory.
At the moment, there are 32 temporary placement facilities on the territory of the Chechen Republic, as well as 14 compact residence areas for forced migrants most of which are located in Grozny. The overall number of forced migrants residing on the territory of the republic exceeds 60,000 people.
On the next day, human rights activists
stood up for the refugees . “The temporary placement facilities (TPFs) were the only enticement used during the liquidation of refugee camps in Ingushetia. People had hoped they would live in homes, not in tents, that they would have gas in their kitchens where they could cook mush, – comments Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairperson of the Refugees Assistance Committee, “Civil Assistance”, on Kadyrov’s statement. — I know who lives in these camps, I saw it myself. It is mostly old women, mostly even Russian old women who have no one at all to take care of them, and women with lots of children. If they are ousted from there right now they will end up in the streets, simple as that. I did not see any drug addicts in TPFs. Maybe there are drug addicts in there but then again they can be found everywhere. I did not see any shelters for bandits out there either. And if they did live there it would be very convenient in my opinion because it is rather an attractive prospect – to do a night-time check and catch Basayev in a TPF in downtown Grozny”.
“We cannot know if there are any bandits living in TPFs because there is no mechanism we could use to inventory bandits. But logically the temporary placement facilities for refugees are less convenient for strangers to be around. They are guarded by the police. These sites are a lot more heavily regulated than neighborhoods with private houses. There are check points at entrances that are not that easy to pass”, – supports his colleague Alexander Cherkasov, member of the board of directors of the “Memorial” human rights center.
“TPFs belong to that very small group of buildings in Chechnya that have been restored. I think that officials want those building for themselves”, - sums up Gannushkina.
Nevertheless, on the same day, Kadyrov instructed
that a special commission be put together in Chechnya to monitor compliance with TPF residence norms and rules. “The special commission that will inspect the TPFs consists of heads of district administrations, heads of district police departments, representatives of the migration service, and deputies of the parliament, – advised a source in the presidential and governmental administration of the republic. – Apti Alaudinov, head of the economic crime investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya, was appointed commission’s leader. Ramzan Kadyrov will exercise personal control over activities of the special commission”.
The Chechen law-enforcement authorities almost immediately started raiding
the TPFs looking for infractions . According to official sources, these raids identified that in some TPFs only 30% of the registered residents were found on the premises at the time of inspection. It was also established that some of the refugees have houses of their own and they only show up in the camps to receive humanitarian aid. Numerous infractions committed by TPF administrations were also identified.
The “cleanings” of the Chechen TPFs may have been accounted for by the fact that this year the Chechen authorities
plan to return 10 thousand Chechen refugees from Ingushetia. Presently, these people reside in TPFs on the territory of the neighboring republic.
“Some of them will be settled in compact residence areas (CRAs); others will be assisted with rent money. They will also be able to receive food and other humanitarian aid, - says the source in the presidential and governmental administration of Chechnya. – Presently, a little over 9,000 people reside in TPFs in Ingushetia. Another 13,000 live in private residences. This applies only to those individuals who were officially registered by the RF Federal Migration Service (FMS) in the Republic of Ingushetia”.
Surprising as it may be, but it was around the same time
that the Danish Refugee Council announced it intended to reduce the number of humanitarian aid recipients in Ingushetia. The DRC office in Nazran advised that these changes would take effect in May. According to the new rules, refugee families in which there are no invalids, people older than 50, orphans, etc., will be excluded from food lists. This decision was adopted by our donor – the UN World Food Program – and is primarily accounted for by reduction of funding. These reductions will primarily affect approximately 9% of the total number of refugees.
Note that after the “cartoon scandal” Kadyrov ordered to expel the Danish Refugee Council from Chechnya and it was not until early March that the Council was finally able to resume its activities following negotiations with the Chechen Prime Minister. The question that arises in this connection is whether DRC’s “eager loyalty” is a condition of its returning to Chechnya.
Return to the main menu
Killings of civilians and their presentation by bandits
On April 18, in the Sayasan settlement of the Nozhay-Yurt district, a group of what looked like Kadyrov’s law-enforcement officers broke into the house of local resident Ilman Umayev and
detained the following four people : Ilman Umayev, his wife Madina, his father Yeisa Umayev, and his cousin Anzor Umayev. All four were taken in an unknown direction.
At around 5 a.m., Kadyrov’s officers arrived in several vehicles at the house of Ilman Umayev located in the outskirts of the settlement where his cousin, Anzor Umayev, had spent the night. As they broke into the house they shot sleeping Anzor in the leg. Having heard the shooting a neighbor went to fetch Ilman’s father, Yeisa Umayev, who lives in the center of the settlement, and brought him to his son’s residence. By then, the “Groza” fighters were already taking away Ilman, his wife Madina, and wounded Anzor. Yeisa – a senior and infirm person – was severely beaten up and taken away too.
At around 16:00 – 16:30, Umayevs’ relatives were informed that the bodies of Anzor and Ilman Umayev had been found at the intersection of roads leading to Nozhai-Yurt, Sayasan, and Beno. Local residents who happened to pass by saw operative picture taking in progress: the killed, who by then had already been changed in military uniforms, were being photographed as if they were active bandits who had just been neutralized.
The wife of Ilman Umayev, Madina, was released on the night of April 19. And Yeisa Umayev was being held in the settlement of Nozhai-Yurt. Victims’ relatives received an anonymous warning over the telephone ordering them to bury Ilman and Anzor outside the cemetery limits without the traditional burial ritual otherwise Yeisa would be killed.
In 1999-2003, Ilman Umayev fought for the separatists but later gave the armed struggle and swore on Koran to never participate in it again. He was enrolled in Kadyrov’s security unit but did not stay there long and quit. He had three little children left one of whom was born in the summer of 2005. His father, Yeisa Umayev, according to relatives, had never had anything to do with any armed fighting on any side.
During the first Chechen war, Anzor Umayev fought for separatists. Having sustained severe bodily injuries he became an invalid: he lost one eye, the right side of his body was partially paralyzed – he limped on his right foot, and his right hand was entirely immobilized. He also suffered partial amnesia and slow thinking.
On April 19, in the afternoon,
Yeisa Umayev was released and returned back home. After the settlement’s imam had visited the Nozhai-Yurt district administration, a permission was issued to bury Ilman and Anzor but without the wailing ritual.
On April 20, RIA “Novosti” disseminated information about the detention of three bandits in the Sayasan settlement who had shown armed resistance to police officers. It was reported that two of the bandits were killed as they attempted to escape.
According to the information received by the “Demos” Center from local residents, the persecution of this family was really caused by settlement of accounts among Kadyrov’s officers. Shortly before these events, one of them had stolen a large amount of budget funds and fled. His former fellow servicemen assumed that he was absconding in the house of his acquaintance, Ilman Umayev, and the entire operation was an attempt to catch the fugitive. The brothers, apparently, were killed as a result of their having been unable to provide required information even under torture and their presentation in the capacity of bandits – was just a means to cover up the traces.
Return to the main menu
Human rights activist kidnapped
On the morning of April 9, at the exit from the Sernovodsk settlement to the “Rostov-Baky” highway, representatives of unidentified law-enforcement structures
detained Bulat Chilayev, an employee of the local office of the humanitarian organization “The Civil Assistance” Committee”, and Aslan Israilov, a Grozny resident. Both were taken away in an unknown direction.
At around 21:10 on the day before, three local residents were killed in the Sernovodsk settlement: Timur, Artur, and Arsen Shamilev. Timur Shamilev used to work for the Anti-Terrorist Center of the Chechen Republic (“Kadyrov’s men”) and according to his fellow settlers he was an “especially fervent” serviceman. On the early morning of April 9, a special operation began in Sernovodsk. The settlement was sealed off on its entire perimeter and a large amount of armored machinery and police and FSB troops were drawn up. The troops checked compliance of local residents with the current passport regime.
According to the “Memorial” human rights center, only one person was detained – Aslan Israilov, a resident of Grozny who had come to visit his relatives on his mother’s side. Soon, however, Aslan was released. He then asked his neighbor, Bulat Chilayev, to take him to Groznyy. Bulat Sultanovich Chilayev works as a driver for the health care program administered by the “Civil Assistance” Committee in Sernovodsk. They managed to pass through two block-posts established at the exit from Sernovodsk for the period of the “cleaning”.
At around noon, as they approached the Sernovodsk-Assinovskaya intersection on the federal highway “Caucasus”, Bulat Chilayev and Aslan Israilov were detained by representatives of unidentified law-enforcement troops and taken away in an unknown direction. According to chance witnesses, the troopers (among whom there were both Chechens and Russians) covered their faces with masks as they saw the approaching vehicle. Then, they blocked the car and made the driver to pull over. Explaining nothing, they seized Bulat and his passenger, twisted their hands, and beating them up they manhandled them into their vehicle, a VAZ-2112: Israilov was thrown into the trunk and Bulat – on the back seat in between two troopers. The other three troopers got into Bulat’s car and both vehicles headed in the direction of Groznyy.
Relatives of the detainees petitioned to the republican prosecution authority, the FSB department in the Chechen Republic, the RUBOP (ORB-2), and the Anti-Terrorist Center, as well as to the district departments of FSB in Achkhoi-Martan and Urus-Martan. All these bodies responded that they had nothing to do with the detention and abduction of Chilayev and Israilov and their vehicle.
Until late April,
the whereabouts and fate of Bulat Chilayev and Aslan Israilov remained unknown. Head of the “Civil Assistance” Committee, Svetlana Gannushkina, contacted top officials of the republican law-enforcement authorities but they all advised her that they had nothing to do with what had happened. Relatives of Chimayev and Israilov are attempting to find out what happened to them using their own channels.
On April 18, the International Helsinki Federation (IHF) for human rights
expressed its profound concern with the abduction of Bulat Chimayev and Aslan Israilov. “The IHF urges all pertinent federal and local authorities to undertake an effective investigation of the abduction of Bulat Chilayev and Aslan Israilov and either have them released or present them with an official arrest warrant and inform their relatives of their fate”, - stresses the document.
Return to the main menu
Search for abducted and missing persons
One day after the abduction in Sernovodsk, on April 11, Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov
had a meeting with the prosecutor of Chechnya, Valery Kuznetsov, to discuss the issue of abduction of people. In the course of the meeting Kadyrov emphasized that among those who are currently listed as abducted there are people who left for the mountains or used fake passports to flee abroad. Among them there are also people who have truly gone missing
The prosecution authority of Chechnya refused to provide any comments on account of the meeting: “We have nothing to add to the statement of Kadyrov’s press service. If they decided to present the matter the way they did it is their right. And there is really nothing to comment upon: they just had a meeting and discussed important issues, that’s all there is to it”.
At the same time, it is known that in the course of that meeting Ramzan Kadyrov suggested using officers of the RF Defense Ministry, internal troops of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, and public organizations to search for abducted and missing persons.
According to the “Memorial” human rights center, in 2005,
317 residents were abducted on the territory of Chechnya. 153 of them went missing, 126 were released, 23 were found murdered, and 15 are under investigation. Since the beginning of the current year 30 residents of the republic were murdered and 45 were abducted. “21 of them were released, three persons were found murdered, and 13 went missing. Another eight people who were considered abducted are currently under investigation. Grozny authorities are of the opinion, however, that the figures provided by human rights activists that demonstrate abduction of people in Chechnya are inflated. According to the president of the republic, only 14 residents have been kidnapped in Chechnya since the beginning of the current year.
The threefold difference is accounted for by the fact that according to the statistical methods traditionally used in Chechnya, those abducted citizens who are later released or presented with indictment or found murdered do not end up in the “abducted” column.
Human rights activists insist that during the second Chechen campaign 3,000 – 5,000 people were abducted in the territory of the republic. This is also supported by the Human Rights Ombudsman in Chechnya, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev. According to him, more than 7,000 people have gone missing or been abducted in Chechnya since the beginning of the first Chechen campaign, and 2,780 people are listed to have gone missing since 1999 (these data are incomplete).
On April 20,
the parliament of Chechnya announced that the problem of searching for missing people cannot be solved without creating a cross-departmental commission at the federal level. At a joint meeting, the deputies of the People’s Assembly and members of the Council of the Republic adopted an address to the Russian federal authorities requesting that such a commission be established and that RF Deputy Prosecutor General, Vladimir Kolesnikov, be appointed its leader.
It is very likely that at least several dozens of those who were listed as missing people were found in Grozny on April 3. On the territory of the former park named after Kirov,
a mass burial ground was found containing 57 bodies of murdered people. The prosecutor of Chechnya, Valery Kuznetsov, announced that according to results of forensic examination almost all of those people died having sustained severe traumas inflicted by mine explosions. Six people of those who were buried in the park remain unidentified. It is planned that their remains will be sent to a medical laboratory in Rostov.
According to witnesses, the bodies uncovered in the park belonged to bandits and civilians who died as a result of bombardments and rocket and artillery shelling in the winter of 2000: “Among them there were bandits who were killed or died of severe wounds, and civilians who fell victims to raids and artillery shelling. Bandits would place a bottle right next to their killed comrade that contained a note stating his name and last name and where he was originally from… Civilians who had identification documents on themselves at the time when they were killed were also buried with them”.
The Kirov Park served as the burial ground for victims’ bodies found throughout the entire downtown Grozny. Therefore people who witnessed those events think that the number of bodies buried in the park is a lot larger than the authorities have announced.
Another grave was found in the Zavodsky district of Grozny. A statement to that effect was made by the republican law-enforcement authorities. According to one of the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, three men and one woman whose remains were found on May 9 in the Zavodsky district of Chechnya’s capital could have been murdered by federal troopers. The grave is approximately five years old. All victims had their hands tied and each one received a control shot in their head.
Return to the main menu
Criminal proceedings against federal military servicemen
On April 6, in Rostov-on-Don,
a sentence was passed on the case of a Russian soldier, Alexey Krivoshonok, who had murdered three civilians in Chechnya. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a penalty in the amount of 200,000 rubles payable to the families of each of his victims – a total of 600,000 rubles.
On November 16, 2005, in the outskirts of the Staraya Sunzha settlement, the intelligence group of which Alexey Krivoshonok was a member pulled over three vehicles. The drivers and passengers were ordered to lie down on the ground. After that three Chechen residents were shot to death and three more managed to escape.
“I ask my victims to forgive me, - said the contracted soldier in his last plea. – I didn’t mean to kill. I ask the court to take into account my positive characteristics, the services I provided to our Fatherland, and the fact that I have three children. I ask for your leniency. It was my fault and I do deserve a penalty but not a harsh one”.
On April 11, the Grozny garrison military tribunal
began proceedings against Krivoshonok’s fellow serviceman, federal trooper Zinchuk, who is accused of inflicting severe health injuries upon a resident of Chechnya and of deliberately damaging property. But these proceedings were singled out into a separate case.
Being with Krivoshonok, Zinchuk fired a shot from his Kalashnikov machine-gun in the leg of citizen Munayev thereby causing him severe health injuries. After that, to deliberately damage somebody else’s property, he opened fire against two vehicles that belonged to citizens Akhmadov and Avduyev. The latter was also beaten up by the defendant. Wounded Munayev and three other civilians detained by the troopers managed to escape.
Return to the main menu
Problems of introduction of the court by jury in Chechnya
On April 6,
the RF Constitutional Court acknowledged that until court by jury is introduced in Chechnya all cases involving crimes committed by military servicemen in the republic must be considered without jurors – by different judges. The Constitutional Court passed this decision in response to the petition submitted by the President of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, and the petition submitted by the North-Caucasian district military tribunal. In addition, the Constitutional Court recognized that even if court proceedings take place in a different region the jury may be composed of jurors who ordinarily reside on the territory where the crime was committed.
Thus, the North-Caucasian district military tribunal will no longer be able to maneuver and withdraw individuals accused of commission of military crimes from under the jurisdiction of Chechnya into Rostov-on-Don like it did in the “Ulman’s case”.
On April 17, materials on the “Ulman’s case” were
requested from the North-Caucasian district military tribunal by the Presidium of the RF Supreme Court for consideration of procedural issues concerning new court proceedings.
The Presidium of the RF Supreme Court decided to consider the case in response to the petition of the chief military prosecutor in which he suggested that the cassation decision of the Military Board of the RF Supreme Court on the “Ulman’s case” be reviewed and that the district military court be allowed to return to the preliminary hearing.
Four military servicemen - Captain Eduard Ulman, Ensign Vladimir Voyevodin, Lieutenant Alexander Kalagansky, and Major Alexey Perelevsky are charged with commission of murder and abuse of their authorities. According to the investigation, in January of 2002, being on a military mission at the Dai settlement of the Shatoy district, they murdered six civilians.
The North-Caucasian district military tribunal that considered the case, however, has already acquitted the defendants twice on the basis of verdicts reached by the jury. The third review of the case was to begin in early February of this year but on February 3 the tribunal suspended the proceedings waiting for the decision of the RF Constitutional Court.
As of today, the Chechen Republic is the only Russian region in which court by jury does not yet operate. According to the legal reform plans, the institute of court by jury must appear in all Russian regions by January 1, 2007.
In this connection, on April 3,
the RF State Duma received a bill that requires that jurors in Chechnya be nominated not by municipal bodies of power (as it is done on the rest of the RF territory) but by bodies of state power. It seems that the essence of this amendment suggested by deputies from the United Russia is to provide the authorities with an extra possibility to manipulate the composition of jury.
Former judge of the Moscow city court, Sergey Pashin, has joined those who protest against introduction of court by jury in Chechnya. He thinks that “nothing but profanation will come out of it. It is premature to introduce court by jury in Chechnya, as well as in a number of other Russian regions, it is simply dangerous. In the situation when citizens do not feel like autonomous personalities but rather like representatives of certain religious or community groups, court by jury can cause more harm than good”.
Return to the main menu
Politicians to start growing trees
Similar agreement was demonstrated on April 10 by Chechen politicians. All political parties and public movements operating in Chechnya established a common advisory and coordination body –
the “Union of political forces” . The decision was made in Gudermes at the meting of representatives of political parties of the republic and regional chapters of national parties, parliament deputies, and government members. Chairman of the government of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, urged the meeting participants “to show political activity and support the efforts of the republican authorities undertaken to stabilize the socio-political situation and help restore Chechnya’s economy”.
To do him justice, Ramzan Akhmadovich offered the Chechen politicians a truly worthy alternative to the debates over republic’s destiny. He urged all the meeting participants to organize a campaign under which each resident of the republic should plant a tree so that “one million and 200 thousand trees could bloom in the republic one day”.
Monthly reviews of the situation in the Chechen Republic
