ACPC Weekly News UPDATE
May 10, 2010 – May 16, 2010

Violence in North Caucasus Federal District undermines envoy’s economic reforms

On May 12, the murder of a presidential aide and putative prime-ministerial candidate in Karachay-Cherkessia attested to the complexity of challenges facing Alexander Khloponin, the Kremlin’s special envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District. Fral Shebzukhov was brutally beaten and then shot by masked men in the republic’s capital, Cherkessk. Earlier, Khloponin had instructed the republic’s president, Boris Ebzeyev, an ethnic Karachay, to appoint a Cherkess to the post of prime minister in order to ease ethnic tensions among the Karachay and Cherkess ethnic groups that had flared up in the republic recently. Shebzukhov was among the top candidates being considered by president Ebzeyev.

Politically-motivated violence is just one of many predicaments facing the Kremlin’s special envoy who has emphasized economic reform and investment as a way to bring stability to this volatile region, although critics question the effectiveness of implementing economic reforms while the security environment continues to deteriorate. Almost-daily attacks by a persistent insurgency, including suicide bombings, have so far undermined efforts by Khloponin to attract much-needed private investment to the region.

Just last week, a series of deadly attacks by insurgents in Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Ingushetia left eight people dead, including two civilians. Eight people were also injured during the attacks. Also in Kabardino-Balkaria, suspected militants threw an explosive device into the private residence of the Minister of Construction, Adib Abregov. Mr. Abregov and his family were unharmed.

Related articles:
Explosion in Minister of Justice’s backyard
Caucasian Knot, May 16, 2010 (in Russian)
Was Karachayevo-Cherkessia President aide’s killing intentional?
RFE/RL, May 14, 2010
Putative Prime Ministerial candidate murdered in Karachayevo-Cherkessia
RFE/RL, May 13, 2010
Workers killed by bomb in Dagestan
CNN, May 13, 2010
Four people injured during shootout in Ingushetia
Caucasian Knot, May 11, 2010 (in Russian)

As ECHR continues to rule on Chechen cases, human rights violations and abductions continue in Chechnya

On May 12, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) fined the Russian government almost €225,000 ($277,000) in judgments for two separate cases from Chechnya involving murder and abduction charges against Russian servicemen. To date, the ECHR has rendered over one hundred decisions on cases originating in Chechnya, ordering the government of the Russian Federation to pay compensation and prosecute the perpetrators. In 2009, Russia ranked first in the number of lawsuits filed against it pending at the ECHR, according to the court’s President, Jean-Paul Costa.

Despite the continuing judgments, egregious human rights violations in the North Caucasus continue unabated, according to reports by international human rights organizations. Rights groups have accused local and federal security services in Chechnya of ongoing abductions, torture, illegal detentions and the use of collective punishment against families of suspected militants. On May 13, the online web portal Caucasian Knot reported the kidnapping of a young man in the capital, Grozny, by camouflaged gunmen. In March, two people were also allegedly kidnapped by members of Kadyrov’s private militia in Shali.
 
Related articles:
Grozny residents report about young man’s abduction
Caucasian Knot, May 13, 2010 (in Russian)
Two chamber judgments against Russia concerning Chechnya
The European Court of Human Rights, May 12, 2010
Russia fined more than 220,000 euros for Chechnya killings
Deutsche-Presse Agentur, May  12, 2010