"Disappearances" Widespread in Chechnya
"Disappearances" Widespread in Chechnya
Mass Graves Also A Hallmark of Russia's "Dirty War"
(Stockholm, March 21, 2001) - European Union governments must press the issue of the "disappeared" in Chechnya when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Stockholm this week, Human Rights Watch urged in releasing a
new report on Chechnya today.
The 40-page report, "The 'Dirty War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances,
Torture and Summary Executions," details the cases of fifty-two
"disappeared" individuals who were last seen in the custody of Russian
federal forces. Human Rights Watch believes the actual number of
"disappeared" is much higher. The mutilated bodies of some of the
"disappeared" were later found in unmarked graves in Chechnya, most
bearing unmistakable signs of torture.
Human Rights Watch said that European governments should act decisively at
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, currently convening in
Geneva, to ensure that an international commission of inquiry is formed to
investigate human rights abuse in Chechnya.
The term "dirty war" was coined to describe the campaigns of forced
"disappearances" perpetrated by Latin American governments in the 1970s
and 80s.
"Russia's war in Chechnya is certainly a 'dirty war,'" said Holly
Cartner, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central
Asia division. "The Russians have had plenty of time to investigate and
prosecute these cases, but they haven't done so. It's time for the
international community to act."
In a typical "disappearance," federal agents-from the Russian military,
police, or security forces-take someone into custody during "sweep"
operations or at a checkpoint. But Russian authorities later deny any
knowledge of the individual who has "disappeared."
Family members may visit detention centers all over the northern
Caucasus to glean information about their loved ones. Often they are
compelled to bribe prison guards to scan prisoners' lists for the name of
the "disappeared," or to pay middlemen who claim to have connections to
authorities.
Russian legal authorities offer little help. The civilian procuracy
charged with investigating such cases cannot compel the military
authorities to cooperate. The thirty-four criminal investigations into
"disappearances" that the civilian procuracy has opened so far have not
resulted in the discovery of the whereabouts of any "disappeared," or in
any indictments of perpetrators.
The Human Rights Watch report documents eight mass graves and eight
other makeshift burials, where corpses of the "disappeared" and others
have been found.
Among the victims whose cases are detailed in the report:
o Akhmed Zaurbekov and Khamzad Khasarov, who were detained on January 14,
2001. Local authorities denied all knowledge of their whereabouts. Two
weeks later, their corpses were found in a rock quarry. o Nina Lulueva and
her two cousins, who were detained on June 3, 2000, were selling
strawberries at a market in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, when they
were detained by masked armed men. Her husband, a judge, searched for
information on her whereabouts among all levels of law enforcement. Her
corpse was found early this month in a mass grave near the Khankala
military base. o Two minors, Islam Dombaev and Murat Lyanov were detained,
together with eighteen-year-old Timur Tabzhanov on June 28, 2000.
Although police documents record their initial detention, their relations,
after an exhaustive search, have been unable to obtain information about
their whereabouts.
Human Rights Watch called on the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva to
give high priority to a draft international convention on protecting all
persons form forced "disappearances."
The report is available on the Human Rights Watch website at
http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports/2001/chechnya/
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