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Reporter Who Exposed Abuse of Chechen Inmate Seeks Asylum

Source: Ezhednevniy Journal

In another blow to investigative journalism and freedom of the press in Russia, Yelena Maglevannaya, a Volgograd-based reporter for the opposition newspaper Svobodnoye Slovo, is requesting political asylum in Finland. Maglevannaya cited concerns for her safety after the Kirovsky District Court fined and ordered her to retract articles she wrote about the torture of Zubayr Zubayrayev, an ethnic Chechen inmate serving time in the Volgograd branch of the Federal Prison Service. Maglevannaya said she has also received death threats from a nationalist group that posted her photo on its website with the caption, “Enemies Should Be Known by Face.”

At issue are a series of articles Maglevannaya wrote about the abuse that Zubayrayev suffered at the hands of fellow inmates and prison guards since arriving at the Volgograd prison 2007. The articles revealed that prison guards and inmates systematically beat and tortured Zubayrayev on the basis of his ethnicity and alleged association with Chechen separatists with whom Russia fought two deadly wars.

The defamation suit against Maglevannaya was filed by the chief of the prison ward, Vladimir Deripaska, a Chechen war veteran known for using guard dogs during interrogations during his service in Chechnya.  Deripaska told the court that no one is allowed to employ torture and abuse in his prison and that Zubayrayev inflicted the wounds upon himself. The court also accepted statements by the men accused of torturing Zubayrayev, while rejecting testimony from Zubayrayev’s attorney, Musa Hadisov. Hadisov told the court that doctors removed a screw from Zubayrayev’s shin and the soles of his feet bear scars from where nails were driven through. The inmate has since been transferred to solitary confinement.
The court decision against Maglevannaya was a victory for nationalist groups who pressured court officials and organized a smear campaign against the reporter. The case demonstrates a disturbing lack of judicial independence and the complete failure of the rule of law in cases that involve non-ethnic Russians. The decision sends the wrong message to Caucasus nationals and Chechens particularly, who can still recall mass human rights violations by Russian forces during the Chechen-Russian wars.

According to Amnesty International, conditions in Russian prisons are some of the worst in the world with systematic reports of beatings, ill treatment, and denial of medical attention. Last year, four prisoners died after being beaten while transferring from one prison colony to another in the Cheliabinsk region.  Human rights groups have reported about citizens from the North Caucasus region often being singled out by inmates and prison officials because of increasingly nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments in Russia. In addition, many prison officials are veterans of the Chechen wars and are motivated to carry out acts of revenge on Chechen nationals under their care. Such targeted abuse only aggravates the cultural divide and tensions between ethnic Russians and Caucasus nationals, who have historically faced discrimination and persecution.

 

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