Chechnyan Prime Minister 100 days in office

Ramzan Kadyrov has in his first 100 days of office as Prime Minister increased the atmosphere of fear and distrust in the North Caucasian republic. With an unparalleled publicity campaign this war criminal has managed to give the impression to the outside world that his leadership resulted in stability and the reconstruction of the republic. The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) on Thursday stated: "But behind this façade things are quite different. Everybody is afraid of being denounced by neighbours, friends or acquaintances, nobody can be sure that they won´t be dragged away, tortured or murdered." The war of the Russian army against Chechnya has not come to an end yet either, for the inaccessible mountain region in southern Chechnya is still being shelled by Russian artillery.

"Hundreds of people have disappeared without trace since Kadyrov took office", said the GfbV expert for the Russian Federation, Sarah Reinke. It is above all men aged between 16 and 40 who are in constant danger. According to eye-witness reports Kadyrov´s units break into the houses, mostly at night-time, in the so-called cleansing operations, dragging off the male residents and locking them in cellars or secret prisons. They are systematically tortured by blows, electric shocks or the amputation of parts of their bodies. The aim is to make them admit that they are part of the armed struggle of the Chechens or pass over names of supposed fighters. Kadyrov himself is said to be personally involved in all this.

40 percent of those abducted are never seen again. Only a few days ago an illegal prison, in which until May 2006 people were held in dreadful conditions, was discovered in Grosny. Kadyrov had parts of the building torn down, thus destroying important evidence.

Kadyrov likes to appear as the architect of reconstruction in Chechnya, reports Reinke. However the 29-year old is merely building Potemkin villages, is systematically deceiving both Chechens and Russians about the progress in his republic. "Behind renewed façades the houses remain unfit for habitation, there is neither running water nor heating.

Civilians can only dream of humanitarian assistance or prospects of work." An indicator for the catastrophic situation is the infant mortality rate of 22 percent. Monies provided for reconstruction both from the EU and from Russia disappear in the corrupt structures built up by Kadyrov.

The personality cult which has been developed by Kadyrov could drive Chechnya into a civil war on the Afghan pattern, fears the GfbV. There are pictures of him to be seen on posters all over Grosny, and in the media there are countless reports on him. In an effort to win the election in October he has spoken out in favour of introducing the sharia and gives 1000 dollars to women wearing headscarves at public meetings or gives a car to a mother who names her son after him. "In this way he makes himself unpopular with his Chechen rivals, the commanders of the pro-Russian western and eastern battalions, Sulim Yamadyev and Said Magomed Kakiev, who are supported by the foreign secret service GRU, but also by his rival, Movladi Baysarov, who is protected by the domestic secret service FSB", says Reinke. In the past week there have been many clashes between the units of Kadyrov and the men of these war-lords, who are also supported by Russia.