U.S. Groups Urge Bush Demand Putin End Brutality in ChechnyaNovember 12, 2001
Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
The International League for Human Rights and Physicians for Human Rights are writing on the eve of your summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge you to demand that the Russian Federation end its brutality in Chechnya. At a time when you have so eloquently spoken out in support of the value of respect for innocent civilians, the Russian Federation continues to brutalize innocent civilians in Chechnya. As the Norwegian Helsinki Committee recently reported, "the civilian population is itself a target in the federal campaign in Chechnya, and it receives not even a minimum protection from the forces that claim to liberate it from ‘bandits and terrorists.’"
International and local human rights monitors report that since the appalling terrorist attacks on America on September 11, the cooperation between the United States and the Russian Federation in the war against international terrorism has fueled the sense of impunity with which the Russian military has prosecuted the war in Chechnya.
According to local and international human rights monitors, since September 11 there have been large-scale Russian military attacks on Chechen villages suspected of harboring Chechen fighters (Starye and Novye Atagi, Chiri-Yurt, Duba-Yurt, Serzhen-Yurt, Alkhazurovo, and Argun). There have been reports of summary executions after passport checks, continued extortion at checkpoints and looting of villages during military sweeps, and allegations of beatings and torture in detention. In early October, Imran Ezhiev, the leader of the Nazran chapter of the Society for Russian Chechen Friendship, an NGO helping internally displaced people to find their relatives and monitoring the conflict, was detained by federal forces and taken into Chechnya, where he has remained in detention without charge. On October 27, Zalina Mezhidova, 24, a mother of four children, and her relative, Akhmad Gekhayev, age 15, were shot dead from a Russian helicopter on the outskirts of Komsomolskoye in the Gudermes District. The helicopter landed and Russian soldiers took away the bodies, which were only returned after several hundred villagers staged a protest rally. Although two Russian soldiers have been arrested, the record of failure to prosecute such crimes leads us to fear that the crimes will once again go unpunished.
From September 27-October 7, our respected colleagues at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee traveled to Ingushetia to interview newly internally-displaced persons from Chechnya. The findings of this mission, as well as those of local human rights organizations such as the Russian Memorial Society, indicate a continued and even worsening picture since September 11 and are consistent with findings and reporting our two organizations have made in the past. Based upon the findings of the Norwegian mission, "improvements cannot be seen, nor can they be expected unless the federal authorities drastically change their approach to the conflict in Chechnya. Serious violations of humanitarian law (including murder, disappearances and torture) and human rights abuses occur on a daily basis and on a grand scale in Chechnya.” The Norwegian Helsinki Committee went on to report: "There is no indication that there is a decrease in abuses; on the contrary the increase in military activities in the second half of September and early October 2001 seems to have resulted in a new wave of crimes against the civilian population. The continuation, if not further deterioration, of the human rights predicament in Chechnya is linked to the climate of impunity, which is still in place, in spite of the Budanov-verdict and a few other examples of punishment of federal servicemen."
Accountability is still absent. Only about 40 cases of abuses like murder and rape out of some 400 said to be investigated have been referred to courts, and of these, few result in serious convictions and sentences; most are conditional sentences. A serious obstacle to further prosecution is a willingness of the still fragile and overwhelmed local criminal justice system in Chechnya to drop a case if the suspect returns to his place of residence, e.g. when a contract soldier finishes his term and goes back to his hometown. In commenting on the killing of civilians from a helicopter, noted above, the Attorney General of Chechnya, Mr. Vsevolod Chernov, has stated that it is not an appropriate time to prosecute the helicopter crew for the killing of innocent civilians.
The humanitarian situation remains dire. This is the third winter that internally-displaced persons from Chechnya are spending the freezing season in tents, now without electricity or gas, since services have been cut off to the tent villages.
Finally, human rights monitors and journalists have been continually obstructed by the Russian Federation. UN agencies and NGOs continue to be denied access. Recently Anna Politkovskaya, a war correspondent who has repeatedly received death threats, was forced to leave Russia. On September 20, the editor-in-chief of her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, was summoned by military intelligence (the GRU), and informed that Politkovskaya should remain indoors for her own safety and that the newspaper could suffer for its connections to her.
The return of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG) to Chechnya has been welcome, but recent criticism of the mission by Russian pro-government media, among other indications, illustrate that it is operating under extreme pressure. While achieving release from detention of several persons, the AMG has been allowed to visit Grozny only once, and has been advised against going further south. OSCE mission representatives have made visits under armed Russian escort to local NGOs, and activists fear that human rights reports are hampered by the presence of the military.
It is certainly true that fighters on the Chechen side commit abuses as well. On November 6 Chechen field commander Khattab threatened to execute Lt. Col. Sergei Boryaev, an officer of the Russian military command in Vedeno on Nov. 11 unless the Russian command turned over 25 civilians who were allegedly detained by Federal forces. But the institutionalized, daily assaults by the Russian Federation forces cannot be condoned because of such abuses.
Accordingly, we call on you to demand that President Putin end the increased attacks of the Russian military on Chechen civilians. We believe that the common struggle against terrorism must include condemning Russian forces’ conduct in Chechnya, and demanding that President Putin:
- Take personal responsibility for ending abuses;
- Comply with 1999 and 2000 resolutions of the UN Human Rights Commission and create an effective national commission to address human rights violations in Chechnya;
- Hold perpetrators accountable, including unblocking investigations and prosecutions of those who have committed gross human rights violations;
- Allow the UN’s special rapporteurs and special representatives to travel to the region in compliance with the UN Human Rights Commission resolutions.
- Allow NGO human rights monitors free access to Chechnya.
Without such measures, the war on terrorism will not only be ineffective, but will encourage the very brutality against civilians the entire campaign is designed to end.
Sincerely,
Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
Executive Director
International League for Human Rights
Leonard S. Rubenstein
Executive Director
Physicians for Human Rights |
