Chechnya: terror against civilians must not be disregarded!

Ever since the Russian President Wladimir Putin has decided to support the coalition against international terrorism and the policy of the U.S. and NATO against Osama bin Laden, criticism about Russia's course of action against Chechnya has largely subsided. In the German Bundestag at the end of Sept. 2001 even Chancellor Schröder pleaded for a more "differentiating" judgment regarding the situation in Chechnya, in the wake of the US terror. The fact that at present Chechens are falling victim to genocide the third time in the last 60 years seems to sink into oblivion.

In 1944 tens of thousands of Chechens died during the deportation to Central Asia under Stalin. The first Chechnya war, which started off with the invasion on Dec. 11th, 1994, killed 80000 people according to estimates by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV). General Lebed, whose initiative ended Jelzin’s war of aggression in 1996, even estimated 90.000 fatalities (10 percent of the population, at that time). Like other human rights organizations the GfbV accused the Russian army of committing genocide according to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The annihilation of a large portion of the Chechnyan population by means of attacks on people and on refugee convoys, massacres of civilians, lootings and rape, has been accepted approvingly.

The Russian leadership argues that this is a legitimate right, in order to fight against disloyal rebels and terrorists in Chechnya. Thus the bomb attacks in Moscow and Wolgodonsk justify the current war which started in Sept. 1999. 300 people lost their lives in the attacks. Chechnyan terrorists were blamed for the attacks. However, Moscow still owes prove of the accusation. Instead, time and again indications suggest involvement of the Russian Secret Service FSB, a successor organization of the KGB. On Sept.7th 2000 the British paper ‘The Independent’ quoted a Russian general who claimed the FSB was responsible for the attacks. Human rights activists, like Mrs. Jelena Bonner, are accusing the Russian leadership to have unleashed this second Chechnya war in order to distract attention regarding home affairs, and to influence the mood of the population in favor of President Putin, prior to the Duma elections which were held on Dec. 1999.

According to GfbV estimates around 50.000 people have fallen victim to this third genocide against Chechens. Hardly any information is leaking through ever since in the spring of 2001 the FSB has taken over command in Chechnya and the Russian leadership has silenced several independent media. Thanks to two brave women the GfbV has been able to inform about the serious human rights violations: Zainap Gaschajewa and Lipkan Basajewa risked their lives smuggling statements of eye witnesses, video tapes, photos and other evidence out of the country. According to this the Russian troops are committing systematic human rights violations and contravene against the paragraphs a, b and c of article II of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. There is evidence of torture in so-called filtration camps, arbitrary shootings und murder, violence against children, torture and rape.

Time and again Chechen civilians are arbitrarily shot and murdered. The family Ajdomirow lost two of their sons within a short period of time. Soslan (born 1979) was murdered by Russian soldiers on the market place in Grosny on May 2nd 2001. On May 8th 2001 their second son Aslan (born 1975) was abducted from a hospital in Urus-Martan by Russian soldiers. On May 7th 2001 26-year old Ramsan Achmadow was shot at night in the village of Machkety after having been brutally beaten. He had been questioned by soldiers about the whereabouts of Chechen fighters. On May 13th 2001 at about 10.30 pm Jaragi Chaguew, 54 years, Marcha Chaguewa 49 years and Majrbek Chaguew, 15 years were shot in the village of Machkety. Their daughter in-law Toisu (born 1978) and her child have been taken away by soldiers.

Even children are not spared. For example, on May 4th 2001, 11year old Zalina was shot at from the roof of headquarters in Gudermes. Several women had gathered in front of the building in order to try to prevent the removal of their arrested husbands with a military helicopter. Zalinas grandmother reports: "the soldiers were no more than 15 to 20 meters away from the child. They were very close to her and well aware that they were shooting at a child." Furthermore, since March 2001 evidence is growing that male dead bodies may be abused for organ trading. The GfbV is in possession of several photos of dead bodies who exhibit surgical cuts from neck to the lower abdomen. The mother of one of the victims has filed a law suit at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. According to Mrs. Basajewa, the father of another dead person, a surgeon, confirmed that organs had been taken from his son’s body. He wants to remain anonymous for fear of persecution by Russian Authorities.

According to Mrs. Gaschajewa, by the summer of 2001 there were 23 ’filtration’ camps on Chechnyan territory where torture is systematically carried out. Young men, in particular, who have been taken away by the Russian Army, are held captive, systematically humiliated and sexually abused. Victims are brutally beaten on their genitals. Electroshock, cold, heat and water are used for torture in these camps.

According to Mrs. Gaschajewa each Russian gate guard in Chechnya has its own system of trenches where prisoners are held and tortured. Mrs. Basajewa tells about a mother who, whilst looking for her son, met a soldier who led her to Tangi-Tschu for a bribe in return. He showed her a system of 17 trenches, each of which was used to hold four to ten people captive. Most of these trenches were covered with wooden beams. This woman told Mrs. Basajewa about horrific torture and systematic mistreatment of prisoners. Some women were amongst them. Relatives may pay for the release of these prisoners. Thus a flourishing trade with life and death is developing.

On the whole, information verifies that most of the 50.000 Chechnyan victims of executions, massacres, shooting of refugee convoys as well as bombardments of towns and villages, hospitals, schools, mosques and market places are in fact civilians. Russia has violated the Geneva ‘Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War’. That is why the Chechnyan foreign minister Ilyas Akhmadov, on the occasion of a press conference of the GfbV Switzerland, has applied to call for a conference regarding violations of the Geneva Conventions in Chechnya.

We fear that the serious human rights violations in Chechnya will be pushed to the background even further because of Russia's participation in the international "anti-terror-coalition". Even more compelling reasons for us to carry on our human rights work for Chechnyan civilians. Please support our work with a donation addressed to account No. 1909 at the Sparkasse Göttingen, BLZ 260 500 01.

Translated by Bärbel Heimansberg