Survey of Human Rights Materials - February 2001
One of our major focus areas is monitoring of violations of human rights. This page contains a list of major documents and reports published in the month of February describing the human rights violations and suffering of people in the war-torn republic.
February 23 marked the 57th anniversary of the brutal mass deportation of Chechens and Ingushes to the Central Asia and Siberia. Demonstrations and rallies took place in over 15 cities around the world to commemorate the tragic event and to call on the Russian authorities to stop the current military campaign in Chechnya. At the same time one of Russia’s most prominent journalists, Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya, was detained in Chechnya after having allegedly discovered a new, very brutal filtration camp, where arbitrarily arrested Chechens are objects of regular trade activities of Russian soldiers, who sell them to their relatives.
The second major event of the month of February was the discovery of a mass grave near the Russian military base Khankala on the outskirts of Grozny. The available information about the mass grave vary from a score to a few hundred bodies. Also the information about the identity of the dead changes according to the sources from civilians including children and women to fighters killed in the course of military activities.
The third major event concerns preparations for the trial with colonel Yuri Budanov who has been charged with rape and homicide, the first trial with a Russian senior officer accused of crimes committed during the second war in Chechnya. The trial itself started on March 1, 2001.
FEBRUARY 5, Memorial
CHECHNYA: ANTI-TERRORIST OPERATION OR WAR?
Background materials for the All-Russian Human Rights Congress held in Moscow on January 20-21, 2001.
THE WHOLE REPORT IN RUSSIAN IS AVAILABLE HERE
FEBRUARY 6, 15, 17, 20, 21, and 27, The Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship
PRESS RELEASES
The press releases of The Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship No. 42 to 47 describe instances of human rights violations in various places in Chechnya as reported mostly by the Chechen correspondents. Press release No. 43 is devoted solely to the case of Colonel Budanov, the first Russian Army senior officer to be charged with war crimes.
THE PRESS RELEASES IN RUSSIAN CAN BE FOUND HERE
PRESS RELEASE NO. 43 IN ENGLISH IS AVAILABLE HERE
PRESS RELEASE NO. 46 IN ENGLISH IS AVAILABLE HERE
FEBRUARY 9, Memorial
INFORMATION ON THE SITUATION IN THE URUS-MARTAN DISTRICT OF THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC
During the month of December 2000, at least 33 Chechen civilians were murdered in the Urus-Martan district. The local consultation point of the Human Rights Center Memorial has gathered evidence about the murders.
THE WHOLE REPORT IN RUSSIAN IS AVAILABLE HERE
FEBRUARY 13, 2001, Human Rights Watch
MEMORANDUM ON DOMESTIC PROSECUTIONS FOR VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW IN CHECHNYA
Russian authorities have concealed and obstructed the prosecution of Russian forces for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the Chechnya conflict. The failure to hold violators accountable can be expected to encourage Russian federal forces to continue to perpetrate abuses. Announced investigations into three well-known massacres believed to be committed by federal forces in the first six months of the war--at Alkhan-Yurt, Staropromyslovski, and Aldi--have been incomplete, haphazard, or suspended altogether.
THE WHOLE MEMORANDUM IS AVAILABLE HERE
FEBRUARY 26, Novaya Gazeta
COMMERCIALLY ORIENTED CONCENTRATION CAMP
Anna Politkovskaya published the first series of her first-hand report on human rights violations in Chechnya, which she managed to document prior to her detention. The report includes testimonies of Chechen civilians, who were held in a pit for several days, tortured and later released for a ransom.
THE WHOLE REPORT IN RUSSIAN IS AVAILABLE HERE
SLIGHTLY ABRIDGED ENGLISH VERSION IS AVAILABLE HERE
ARTICLES ON ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA AND HER DISCOVERIES ARE COLLECTED HERE
Compiled by Prague Watchdog |
