Oppression in the Caucasus - II

The deteriorating human rights situation in Ingushetia, North-Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria

Vienna, 2 June 2005. Today the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) issued a new report on the human rights and humanitarian law situation in three neighboring republics of Chechnya: Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria. The report once again documents that the severe human rights violations by Russian and Chechen security forces are increasingly spreading across the borders of Chechnya into its neighboring republics.

Ingushetia has attracted the attention of human rights activists for over two years due to increasing numbers of human rights abuses. Initially there were reports of cars with dark tinted windows and no license plates arriving from neighbouring Chechnya and abducting people, then driving off in an unknown direction. The victims were primarily Chechen refugees. Since the end of 2003, these abductions have become more frequent, and increasing numbers of Ingush civilians are also being abducted. This criminal trend in Ingushetia is made evident by data from the Human Rights Center “Memorial,” which consistently monitors the situation in the region:

· 2002 - 28 abductions (27 Chechens and 1 Ingush) - Six persons remained
'disappeared' (5 Chechens, 1 Ingush)

· 2003, 52 abductions (41 Chechens, 9 Ingush, 2 Armenians) - Fourteen
persons remained 'disappeared' (11 Chechens and 1 Ingush).

· 2004, 75 abductions (38 Chechens and 37 Ingush) - Twenty three persons
remained 'disappeared' (12 Chechens and 11 Ingush).

The deputy prosecutor of Ingushetia, Rashid Ozdoev, attempted to investigate the role of the local FSB office in these abductions. As a result, on 11 March 2004 he too, was abducted, and then “disappeared.” More than a year has passed since his abduction, and while the facts surrounding his abduction and the abductions he was investigating received a good deal of publicity, no proper investigation has been conducted, and those who are guilty have not been identified and brought to justice.

Following the 21-22 June 2004 events, when fighters carried out an armed raid on the republic, a specially tasked group from the Office of the Russian Prosecutor General, headed by M.Lapotnikov, an investigator dealing with particularly important cases in the North Caucasus Prosecutor’s Office, arrived in Ingushetia. They disregarded the concept of “civilian”, and as a result, another Chechnya-like “anti-terrorist operation” was launched, this time in Ingushetia. Now, any resident of the republic can be detained, abducted, subjected to torture, beaten and even killed, and the perpetrators are not held responsible for their actions.

The extensive data provided in the given report shows that even in cases where the names of the perpetrators are known, none of them are brought to justice. The climate of impunity, which originated in Chechnya, has effectively spread to Ingushetia.

Furthermore, following the Beslan tragedy, Northern Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria also became “places beyond the rule of law”.

The varied and disturbing cases described, demonstrate that the wide range of gross and systemic human rights violations, which used to be localized in Chechnya have been steadily spilling out into neighboring Ingushetia and then into other republics of the Northern Caucasus. The worsening human rights climate and the impunity of security forces for their lawless actions contribute to the over-all deterioration of the security situation in the entire Northern Caucasus region. These developments represent a serious danger to the Russian Federation and, consequently, to the European community as a whole.

The IHF report may be found in English and Russian language at http://www.ihf-hr.org/index.php


See also in this blog: Oppression in the Caucasus