The American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus

ACPC Weekly News UPDATE
December 7, 2009 – December 13, 2009

Anniversary of first Chechen war marked, Russian NGOs call on Memorial to resume work

December 11 marked fifteen yearssince then President Boris Yeltsin ordered federal troops into Chechnya to crush a popular movement demanding independence from Russia. The brutal military campaign that was expected to be swift and decisive dragged on for almost two years killing and injuring thousands of Russian and Chechen soldiers and civilians, and almost completely destroying the capital city Grozny.

Today, Chechnya is largely rebuilt under the leadership of Kremlin-appointed president of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. A former separatist himself who fought against Russia in the first Chechen war, Kadyrov switched sides during the second Chechen military campaign in 1999. Kremlin, eager to portray Chechnya as a stable and prosperous republic, has been facing criticism from foreign governments over Kadyrov’s regime, which has been accused by rights groups of grave human rights violations. Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, stated this week that “the question of human rights in Chechnya requires serious investigation.”

Activists and human rights workers in Chechnya have also come under increasing pressure from authorities. In August 2009, Human Rights Center Memorial suspended its work in Chechnya after a prominent researcher, Natalya Estemirova, was kidnapped outside her Grozny apartment and later murdered.

Prior to the decision to halt its activities in Chechnya, Memorial estimated that at least 86 people were abducted in the first nine months of 2009, which is double the amount of documented abductions in all of 2008 in Chechnya. Many activists believe that authorities continue to employ illegal tactics, such as abduction, torture and extrajudicial executions, as the government stuggles to contain a rising militancy. Citing these concerns, a group of more than eighty Russian human rights organizations and activists signed a letter calling on Memorial to resume its work in Chechnya stating that “to leave Chechnya without any public scrutiny… would leave people whose rights have been violated without any assistance or defense.” The letter also called on Russian authorities to ensure security for human rights defenders in Russia.

Related articles:

The representative of the Council of Europe believes that the human rights situation in Chechnya requires a serious investigation

Itar-Tass, December 14, 2009 (in Russian)

Reign of fear grips Russia’s Chechnya
The New York Times, December 12, 2009

Russian activists mark 15^th anniversary of Chechen war’s start
RFE/RL, December 11, 2009

Russian NGO’s are calling on Memorial to resume work in Chechnya
Memorial, December 11, 2009

Award for the Ingush president, two years for journalist killer, and more bullets for policemen

Ingushetia president Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was among this year’s recipients of the Andrey Pervozvanniy “loyalty and devotion” award. The Pervozvanniy Fund was established in 1992 and is aimed at safeguarding “historical, cultural, spiritual and moral continuity between generations, in order to preserve a United Russia,” according to its website. Yevkurov was commended for his “great personal contribution to strengthening Russia’s statehood.” The reaction among the Ingush population was mixed, however. Many questioned the validity of the award, citing Yevkurov’s failure to curb militant violence in the republic and his inability to stop forced disappearances of civilians, generally believed in Ingushetia to be carried out by the security services.

Observers also cited this week’s judgment by a court in Ingushetia that sentenced a policeman who shot and killed a prominent opposition member, Magomed Yevloyev on August 31, 2008, to only 2 years in a penal colony, questioning whether Yevkurov had done enough to “strengthen Russia’s statehood.”

Meanwhile, violence continued to ravage the republic. Over the weekend, three policemen were wounded in two related incidents when an investigative team that arrived on the scene of an earlier attack came under fire by unknown gunmen. On Monday, authorities were forced to cut off gas supplies bound for Armenia and North Ossetia after homemade explosive devices were discovered on a section of the pipeline that runs through Ingshetia. Earlier this year, militants announced that they would target key economic and strategic targets throughout the North Caucasus and more broadly in Russia. Last month, authorities in the neighboring republic of Kabardino-Balkaria defused a bomb planted at a hydro-electric powerplant.

Violence in the North Caucasus continues to sweep other republics that lack proximity to the epicenter of violence in Chechnya, Dagestan or Ingushetia. In Karachay-Cherkessia, the farthest westward republic in the North Caucasus, authorities carried out a raid on a militant hideout last Thursday during which the alleged emir of Karachay-Cherkessia and two other accomplices were killed.

Despite increased counter-terrorist operations and the occasional killing or capture of high ranking militants, Russian authorities have been unable to suppress a region-wide escalation in militant activity. Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Bureau, stated during a session of the National Antiterrorist Committee last week that 782 members of illegal armed formations have been detained and 81 terrorist acts prevented in 2009.