Ingushetia: Moscow calls on Ramzan Kadyrov, a probable war criminal, to help - violations of human rights likely to increase

The Chechnyan President, Ramzan Kadyrov, is, as Moscow wishes, to carry out "special operations in the fight against Ingushetian rebels”. Kadyrov stated on Tuesday that he had received this mission from the Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev.

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) fears that, under the command of this probable war criminal, violations of human rights and violence will increase in Ingushetia. "While the Ingushetian President, Junus-Bek Yevkurov, tried to hold the violence in his republic under control by keeping to constitutional measures, Kadyrov is known for holding torture, abduction and murder, even of civilians, to be the right way in the fight against terrorists. For his way of handling things he has now once again blessing of Moscow”, criticised the GfbV consultant for the Russian Federation, Sarah Reinke, on Wednesday. The GfbV has documented the severe violations of human rights which Kadyrov’s troops have committed in Chechnya since his time as head of the security service of his father, Ahmad Kadyrov, and during his own presidency since 2007. Very many of the Chechnyan people are still suffering up to the present day under the arbitrary rule of Kadyrov.

Ingushetian and Chechnyan security forces have been carrying out joint operations in Ingushetia since 16th May 2009. From this time on the violations of human rights in Ingushetia have increased considerably, said Reinke.

A recent example of this has been shown by the Russian human rights organisation Memorial with the case of Yusup Muzolgov, who was abducted on 15th June. "I had to stand against the wall and they began to strike me. They asked me about contacts to fighters, where arms were hidden etc. I said that I knew nothing. They bound my mouth, tied wire round my toes and hit me with sticks. Then they hit me with an iron bar, tried to pull down my trousers and cursed my country. They threatened to kill me in the same way in which they had killed my brother Rustam. After about three hours they ended the torture and let me free.” Muzolgov emphasises that he will in no circumstances go to the fighters or take part in illegal activities.