MOSCOW,
March 20, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The
wide-scale “forced disappearance” of Chechen citizens with the
full knowledge of Russian authorities is a crime against humanity,
said an international human rights watchdog,
demanding international action.
“The
pattern of enforced disappearances in Chechnya has reached the level
of a crime against humanity (and) a dire human rights crisis,” said
a 57-page report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) cited by Agence
France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday, March 20.
“Thousands
of people have 'disappeared' in Chechnya since 1999, with the full
knowledge of the Russian authorities,” asserted the New York-based
rights group.
“Russia
has the inglorious distinction of being a world leader in enforced
disappearances,” stressed the report, to be released Monday, March
21.
The
UN defines forced disappearance as “when a person is taken into
custody by state agents, and the authorities subsequently deny that
the victim is in their custody or conceal the victim's whereabouts or
fate in a way that places the victim beyond the protection of the
law.”
Since
the beginning of the second Chechnya war in 1999, between 3,000 and
5,000 people have disappeared without a trace in Chechnya, after being
taken away by either Russian soldiers or pro-Moscow Chechen forces.
The
vanishing people are either men suspected of being separatists, women
suspected of being potential bombers or the relatives of separatists.
Nightmare
The
57-page report, based on interviews conducted during the winter in
war-torn Chechnya, includes an appendix of 36 disappearances.
“The
soldiers then went to Adam Demelkhanov's room, where his mother heard
a gunshot fired,” reads one passage, describing how 30 soldiers
broke into a house in the Starye Atagi village at 3:00 am on November
7 and took the 21-year-old away.
“The
soldiers dragged Demelkhanov by the feet down the stairs and out to
the cars parked near the house,” it goes on.
“I
could even hear the knocking of his head against the stairs,” the
report quoted one relative as saying.
“He
showed no signs of life. If at least he had moaned! But nothing, he
was unconscious. And the trail of blood went on for about 100 meters
(yards) where they had dragged him. They dragged him like a dog.”
The
second-year student at Chechen State University has not been heard
from since.
Last
year a 59-year-old man disappeared on his way to a village mosque
while a 20-year-old woman was dragged by 15 armed men from her home at
2:30 in the morning, says the report.
It
also cited the case when four men from 17 to 31 years old were taken
after being beaten by some 30 drunk soldiers who burst into their yard
at 4:00 am and looted the house.
No
Accountability
 |
|
Apti
Muzaev, born in 1973, was last seen by his parents on January 19,
2000 when Russian soldiers took him from his home in
Grozny-Karpinka.
|
In
its report, the international human rights watchdog lambasted the
Russian authorities for failing to take legal action against those
responsible for such forced disappearances.
The
pro-Moscow administration in Chechnya has opened nearly 2,000
investigations into disappearance claims, which “demonstrates the
Russian government's awareness of the scale of the problem, even if it
denies responsibility,” it said.
The
HRW lamented, however, that in all these probes were fruitless.
“Not
a single person has been held fully accountable for a 'disappearance'
since the conflict began in 1999.”
The
rights watchdog maintained that this has created an atmosphere of
“complete immunity,” stressed the group.
It
further added that in the rare cases when the detained people are
released, “none of the cases resulted in security force members
being held responsible for the 'disappearances.'”
Terrorized
The
57-page report underlined that the atmosphere of fear in Chechnya has
reached unprecedented proportions during the past year as Ramzan
Kadyrov, who is widely believed to head a 5,000-strong militia, has
consolidated his power.
“People
who have survived the chaos of two wars and actively protested the
abuses perpetrated in their villages are now too terrified to open the
door even to their neighbors, let alone to complain,” it said.
“It's
worse than war,” the report quotes one witness as saying.
“Ask
anyone here -- we are all weeping from fear.”
Moscow
recently gave Kadyrov, the son of slain pro-Moscow Chechen leader
Ahmad Kadyrov, a Hero of Russia medal.
International
Action
The
Human Rights Watch called on the international community to take a
firm action against Moscow.
It
urged the UN Human Rights Commission, currently meeting in Geneva, to
“adopt a resolution condemning enforced disappearances in Chechnya,
urging the Russian government to immediately adopt measures to stop
the practice.”
The
rights watchdog also opened its salvos at the European Union which
decided not to include Chechnya on the agenda of this year's meeting
of the commission.
“It
is astounding that the European Union has decided to take no action on
Chechnya at the Commission,” it said.
“To
look the other way while crimes against humanity are being committed
is unconscionable.”
The
small mountainous republic of Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict
since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first
Russian invasion of the region ended in August 1996 and the second
began in October 1999.
At
least 100,000 Chechen civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are
estimated to have been killed in both invasions, but human rights
groups have said the real numbers could be much higher.
International
human rights watchdogs said in a
joint
statement
that rape, torture and extrajudicial executions by Russian troops have
become everyday occurrences in Chechnya.
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