Rights defenders tell Swedish Human Rights Envoy about kidnappings and housing problems of refugees in Ingushetia

Among the problems reported by Ingush human rights activists to Hans Dahlgren, the Swedish Human Rights Envoy, during their meeting in Nazran, Ingushetia, were the situation of refugees, appeals of republic's citizens to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), and illegal actions of law enforcers.

The meeting took place on October 6 in the office of the organization named "Legal Initiative".

"From the very beginning, Mr Dahlgren expressed his interest in local problems - he wanted to know everything, and to hear about human rights violations from rights defenders, not from the authorities," Vakha Chapanov, the head of the Information Agency "Maximum", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Mr Chapanov, the initiative of the meeting with Ingush human rights advocates belonged to the Swedish party. "Mr Envoy noted that this was his first trip to the Caucasus; however, he was aware of the many Caucasian problems in need of solution," he said.

From the context of the conversation, it was clear that Dahlgren was interested in three points: human rights violations by law enforcers; safety of human rights activists; and the freedom of speech, said Timur Akiev, the head of the regional branch of the HRC "Memorial" in Nazran and another participant in the meeting. Besides, according to his story, Hans Dahlgren wondered whether there had been any positive changes in the republic.

Activists told him that local human rights organizations are still facing the problem of kidnappings, causing their concern. "There are suggestions that law enforcers are behind kidnappings. Of special concern are illegal actions of power agents at making detentions: institution of faked criminal cases and torture during interrogations," said Akiev.

Besides, Ingush human rights activists are concerned about the situation with refugees, whose problems are not solved for decades. Also, the meeting touched on the complaints lodged to the ECtHR, which for many years remain unanswered.

"People have to wait for an answer for five years," said Zurab Tsechoev from the human rights organization "Mashr". "Even if they win the case, they receive compensations, but the crimes remained unsolved, and those guilty escape criminal responsibility."

The criminals' impunity, in Mr Tsechoev's opinion, leads to the fact that unlawful acts against residents of the republic continue.

Along with negative phenomena, activists also told the Swedish Envoy about certain positive changes they see in the republic: a possibility to work peacefully in Ingushetia, not fearing for one's life, to publicly declare the existing problems, and to reach the authorities to work together to solve particular problems. Besides, thanks to defenders' efforts, they began initiating criminal cases on facts of kidnappings.

Despite the marked improvement of the situation in the country, activists turned to the Swedish Envoy for help in solving the accumulated problems, since they, according to their story, mainly fix human rights violations and not always have real resources to provide practical help to victims.

The Swedish Human Rights Envoy agreed that the republic abounds in problems; they should be addressed; and Europeans should be more proactive in settling them.

Let us note here that the delegation of the Swedish Embassy made an acquaintance tour to three republics of Northern Caucasus - Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia - with the main mission of getting familiar with the situation with human rights.

According to Hans Dahlgren, his today's responsibility is to monitor the respect of human rights in the vast region - Europe and Asia, while earlier he had studied these issues in Africa and other parts of the world. The Envoy said that Western media give very little information about the processes in Northern Caucasus, while he wants to receive "first-hand" information, the newspaper "North Ossetia" writes.

In Vladikavkaz and Grozny, the delegation met the respective Ombudspersons - Valery Tsomartov and Nurdi Nukhazhiev.