From the Conflict Zone. Bulletin of Human Rights Center "Memorial". November 2004

II. The Situation in the Chechen Republic and Republic Ingushetia: November 2004

1. Statistics

According to HRC "Memorial"'s data*, during November 2004:
(*The human rights center carries out monitoring in 5 out of the 17 regions of the Chechen Republic, therefore the following data is incomplete):
1.Killed: 10 persons
2. Kidnapped:  36 persons
- Subsequently set free or released for ransom- 15;
- Subsequently found dead - 1;
- Subsequently went missing - 19;
- Under trial -1
NB! Given the specific nature of the monitoring carried out in the Chechen Republic, it has to be acknowledged that the information received over the past two months is less than usual and will be gradually supplemented over the following few months.  Therefore, regrettably, the numbers of those killed and abducted in November 2004 will inevitably grow.

Situation in the Chechen Republic and Republic Ingushetia: November 2004

Chechnya

On November 1, unidentified armed men in camouflage brought a 23 year old man, Bazaev to the village Churt-Tog'i (Petropavlovskaya) of Groznensky (Selsky) district in order to carry out investigating procedures on site. The young man had handcuffs on his fists. He was brought into the yard of his family house located right at the bank of Sunza river.

While in the yard, Bazaev chose the moment when his guards were not watching him, he escaped and threw himself into the river. Fire was opened at him from machine guns. The fellow-villagers, who witnessed this happening claim that at least once his head appeared on the surface and then quickly disappeared under the water.

Being uncertain whether he was dead or alive the military servicemen blocked the area around the village and until evening searched the river and the surrounding areas. No one of the young man's family or his co-villages were allowed to come close to the river. In the dusk after the military men left gunfire was heard in the small grove near the village. Then everything was quiet again. The body of Bazaev had not been found as of November 3.

At night of November 2, the outskirts of Churt-Tog'i village were subjected to artillery fire. According to the local residents, the shells exploded in a very close proximity of the residential quarters. There was no panic in the village because  the attacks happen almost every night and the people had got used to it already.

On November 6, in the village Roshni-Chu, Urus-Martanovsky district, three local residents went missing: Abubakarov, aged 70, Bakiev and Elmurzaev. The three men went to the forest for firewood and never came back.

On November 9, at 5:20 from the house located at Grozny, Leninsky district, Lermontova street 72, unidentified armed persons in camouflage kidnapped Uvajs Elsievich Khasimikov, born 1977.  The kidnapping was carried out by a group of about 10 men. They explained Khasimikov's relatives that they had to carry out investigating activities involving Uvajs.  The unknown servicemen explained that he would be delivered to the ROVD (militia) station of Zavodskoj district.
 
The relatives almost immediately turned to Zavodskoj militia station,  however, they were told that Uvajs Khasimikov was not detained by this ROVD. The relatives turned to the municipal prosecution.

On November 10, early in the morning, in the village Sernovodsk, Sunzensky district of Chechnya was carried out a "zachistka". The operation was performed jointly by the Russian and Chechen power agencies, specifically, the fighters of the local OMON and MVD (Ministry of interior troops) of the Chechen Republic.

Having closed off three streets: A. Sheripova, D. Bednogo and Kutalova, the servicemen carried out door-to-door check ups and detained all men, starting the age of 14 in order "to establish their identity". The detained men were brought to the headquarters, which had been organized in the building of school # 2 in the eastern outskirt of the  village.

All the detained were released after check ups. The last detainees were released on November 11. According to one of them, Vitaev Ruslan, during the interrogation a young man in mask was brought into the room. One of the military servicemen asked this young man was asked to identify Vitaev. The young man did not know him, so Vitaev was released.

The same day on November 11 was released Amagov Idris, who had been detained earlier. Idris spent 48 hours in Grozny in a damp cellar with rats running around. During the interrogation Idris was asked whether his brother Amagov Arbi, born 1973 participated in organizing the explosion at the bridge in Sernovodsk on November 3, which injured two OMON fighters.

After prolonged negotiations, the relatives of Amagov paid a ransom for him, with the condition that his brother Arbi comes to police. Arbi is married he has a small daughter, he is physically disabled – his leg has been amputated. On November 19 he had to come to Achkhoi-Martanovsky ROVD, from where he was to be taken to Grozny.

On November 11, were released three other residents of Sernovodsk, detained during the mop-up of November 9 – two brothers Kurbanov and Amagov Timur. Their relatives also paid 1.000 USD for each them. The second day after release the ransom was returned to the families. The head of local investigating department of Sunzensky ROVD, Visaitov Ruslan Salaevich, helped to get the money back.

On November 12, late at night, in the village Koren-Benoj, Kurchaloevsky district of Chechnya unidentified armed persons broke into the house of Bataev Ruslan, born 1965. Without presenting themselves they carried out unsanctioned search in the house, beat the wife and the children of Bataev. Bataev himself was pushed in one of the cars (YAZ or URAL) and driven in the unknown direction. Bataev's car YAZ-452 was also taken. In the morning of November 13, the car of Bataev was found at the outskirts of Dzaglargi village. The relatives suppose that Ruslan was kidnapped by representatives of one of the kadyrovtsy units, under command of Ruslan Yamadaev.

The relatives turned to the prosecution, but as of November 23, the whereabouts of Bataev were not established. According to the co-villagers of Bataev, Ruslan had no criminal links. He is married, has 5 small children. 

November 25, at about 9 p.m. in Grozny from his flat at Olimpijsky proezd, 9 unidentified persons in masks kidnapped Eldibekov Ramzan Abudevich, born 1951. Unidentified persons, numbering  6-7 persons, broke into the flat of Eldibekov and in the unaccented Russian language demanded that he presented his documents. When Ramzan's handed his to the military servicemen, they put handcuffs on his wrists, wrapped the skotch tape on around eyes and took him out in the unknown direction. 

The next day, on November 26, at 9 a.m. he was disposed at the place known as Baronovsky bridge. Ramzan could not explain where he had been detained.  He just remembered that he was in a cellar on concrete floor, the walls of which were covered with ice. At the place of detainment he was interrogated under torture, demanded information on the participants of resistance.

From the interview with Ramzan Edilbekov 

"...They were  driving me for about half an hour. Upon arrival they brought me into the building, where I  was put on the  bench and immediately they started interrogating me. They took my shoes off and connected electric wires to my toes. They let electric shock periodically and hit me heavily in the areas of important organs: heart, head, back, legs. They also closed my nostrils and mouth with skotch tape, I was suffocating and I was loosing consciousness.  Their questions were related to combatant field-commanders Dokka Umarov and Alikhan Maltsagov. I responded only that I knew nothing of the Umarov family, as to my co-villager Maltsagov, last time I saw him 2 years ago. My answers did not satisfy them, so they continued torturing me with passion.

This way they tortured me for about an hour. I should mention that the interrogators knew about my brother, Umat Giri, who was found in 2001 in Khankalsky mass grave with the marks of violent death. They accused him of  being a resistance fighter. I denied this and they insisted: "he was a brigade commander"," he fought"," you are lying he was a brigade general". They also asked me if I lived in Baku. In the end they wrote down the names and personal data of all my relatives, including my sons and daughters..."

On November 27, in the village Noybera, Gudermes district in the house of Veziev family at Kazanskaya street took place an armed incident. This day Vezievs were celebrating a wedding.  Late in the evening the wedding was attended by one of their relatives, Veziev Gapur, aged 25, and his friend, whose name is unknown. Gapur was wanted by the federal police as a combatant.

At about 10 p.m. unidentified armed persons, allegedly the members of Kadyrov Security Service,  broke into the house of Vezievs, with the aim to  detain Gapur and his friend. The friend of Gapur started off an explosive, which was tied to his body. As a result his body was torn into pieces. One of the Security Servicemen, Shikhaev Alsambek, was also killed. Veziev Gapur, his uncle Veziev Salam, born 1962 and a few other persons were heavily injured.   Veziev Gapur and Salam were delivered to the Gudermes central hospital # 2, where they remained under armed custody of "kadyrovtsy". The bride and the bridegroom were detained but in a few hours they were released.

On November 30, Gapur died of injuries.  His uncle Salam was still in the emergency ward.  The Chechen security servicemen were hunting Gapur Veziev for some time. On May 2, 2004 his father Veziev Maskhud was taken hostage by kadyrovtsy and kept for a few days with them.

Hostage-taking, beatings and torture of relatives of Chechen combatants

"Memorial" has repeatedly reported the cases of hostage-taking of relatives of Chechen combatants. Most frequently, these methods have been practiced by "kadyrovtsy". In the last year "kadyrovtsy" tested them on the relatives of almost all famous field commanders, including Maskhadov. In November "Memorial" described several cases of such illegal acts.

In early January 2004 in the village Sogunty, Nozaj-Yurt district of Chechnya, the personnel of Chechen power agencies took hostage the relatives of Temirlaev Makharbi, 30 years old, who worked in the sharia court in Nozaj-Yurt before the war.  Makharbi's brother, Temiraliev Umar, aged 50, his uncle, Temiraliev Khas-Magomed, aged 54 (school teacher) and his son, Temiraliev Khas-Magomed, aged 20 (works at school) were taken hostage.

The hostages were brought to Gudermes to one of the kadyrovtsy bases, where they have remained for a month already. One of Temiraliev relatives filed a complaint to prosecution. He was allowed a meeting with the hostages, who informed him that turning to prosecution only made their situation worse.

On November 14, in the village Alleroj, Kurchaloy district of Chechnya, the personnel of Kadyrov security service kidnapped Nasurov Khasmagomed, two of his sons and Maskhadov Ramzan. On November 19, Akhmadiev Il'yas, born 1962, was kidnapped from the same village. 

On November 26, the father and the sons Nasurov were released, as well as Akhmadiev Il'yas. They were brought home by Abuev Sulejman, the commander of Alleroy unit of Kadyrov Security Service. One of Nasurov's sons was heavily beaten. This is not the first time when Nasurov family members were being kidnapped by "kadyrovtsy" or "yamadaevtsy"

At night of November 16, at about 3 p.m. unidentified servicemen of OMON (allegedly Sunzensky OMON, which functions in conjunction with Sunzensky ROVD) broke into the house of Umarov Amkhad, born 1970, in the domicile address: village of Sernovodsk ulitsa Nagi Asueva,5.

Umarov is a farmer, currently he lives alone. 6 OMON fighters broke into his home at night, woke Umarov up and started beating him and demanding that he turned in his machine gun and other weaponry. They also demanded to reveal the whereabouts of his brother-in-law, Khachukaev Khizir, a field commander, general of Ichkerian army, the former commander of the famous Galanchozsky guard (Khachukaev is married to Umarov's sister). Having beaten Umarov until he was half dead the OMON fighters left.
 
On November 27 early morning in the village Mesker-Yurt, Shalinsky district the personnel of one of the republican power agencies broke into the house of Ekiev Sup'yan and kidnapped him. Before kidnapping they carried out an unsanctioned search in his house, using rough force in respect of Ekiev. In the evening of the same day from the house of Ekiev was kidnapped his mother Jisma and his wife Petmat, born 1982. 4 small girls, including a breast-fed baby were left alone without their mother or grandmother.

From conversations with the locals, "Memorial" found out the reason for hostage taking of the Ekiev family. The day before, on November 26, in the neighboring Germenchuk village unidentified persons killed two local militiamen and disappeared by car Zhiguli (VAZ 21099). Soon the car was found at the outskirts of Mesker-Yurt. This car for some time belonged to Eliev Sup'yanm but, according to the relatives, he had sold it a long time ago. All the villages characterized Ekiev in very positive terms. For some time he worked as a deputy commander of Kadyrov security service, dislocated in Mesker-yurt.
 
The same day the personnel of unidentified power agency kidnapped  Israilov Sherpuddi, born 1956 and his wife. The wife was released a few hours later. Most likely Sherpuddi was taken hostage because his son Alikhan, who for some time worked in the security service, left this job and disappeared from the village. Allegedly, the father was taken in order to force his son to surrender.

On December 2 2004 at the outskirts of Grozny was found a heavily distorted by torture corpse of Ekiev Sup'yan. As of today neither his mother nor his wife returned home. Israilov Sherpuddi also remains in captivity.

Explosions, assaults on representatives of power agencies

On November 1, at 3: 52 in the center of Sernovodsk, Sunzensky district of Chechnya a fougasse explosion went off at the moment when a convoy of OMON from Penza was driving by. The OMON fighters were returning back to their base from night patrol. By a lucky coincidence only two servicemen received light injuries.  

On November 9, in the proximity of Alleroy village was found a collective grave with 3 corpses. They were soon identified as the residents of Alleroy: Abuev Yusup, born 1982, Abuev Abubakar, born 1977, and Usmaev Isa, aged 26. All of them were the relatives of kadyrov field commander- Abuev Sulejman. They were kidnapped by the Chechen combatants at night of April 30/May 2004. Judging  by the condition of corpses, these people were killed soon after kidnapping.

On November 9, at about 9 a.m. in Leninsky district of Grozny, Bogdana Khmelnitskogo street a land mine exploded at the moment when the sapper team was passing by, heavily injuring two servicemen - sappers.

On November 17, at 10 p.m. in the village Avtury, Shalinsky district in his house was killed a member of Kadyrov security service-Machigov Rasul, aged 25. According to his co-villagers he had previously received threats from the fighters twice.

On November 26, in Grozny during a special operation for detainment of a young suspect, carried out by the personnel of ORB (department for combat of organized crime) in cafe "Arion", located at the Pobedy prospect, four servicemen received injuries; one ORB serviceman and the suspect were killed.

According to the eye-witnesses, the unidentified suspect realized that he was followed and opened fire, and threw a grenade at the ORB servicemen. However, he was killed by one of the ORB men. Subsequently, one of the ORB servicemen from the group, Vashaev Aslambek, died of injuries.
 
On November 26 in Shali village, Shalinsky district of Grozny unidentified persons killed the head of Shalinsky department of ORB-2 Abzatov Rizvan (colonel of militia) and investigator for special importance cases Guduev Khabib, born 1980.

The  assault happened at the moment when the ORB men left the mosque after the Friday prayer and were getting into their car. The unknown assassins shot them dead from automatic weapon and disappeared.

Ingushetia

Power Agencies Assault the Mosque: Elders Humiliated and Beaten

On November 4 2004, during the night namaz at 7.20 p.m. a group of armed servicemen in masks broke into the mosque in the town of Sleptsovsk, Republic Ingushetia.

Without introducing themselves or explaining the purpose of their visit, they forced everyone out of the mosque and placed them on the ground, faces down. The servicemen behaved very rudely, were kicking and hitting men with the gun butts, including the elderly men. One of the elders refused to lay on the ground, explaining that he was ill. "I prefer that you shoot me down", - he said. The assaulters hit him repeatedly with gut butts and threw him on his knees on the ground. The "operation" continued for about one hour.

Eventually the unidentified servicemen pushed one of the men in one of their Gazel van and drove into unknown direction. According to the relatives, late at night he was dropped out near the same mosque. The young man was beaten.

According to the local residents, the assaulters were the representatives of the Republican FSB. The operation was aimed at detainment of a fighter, who first opened fire, and then managed to escape.

The citizens of Sleptsovsk are outraged at the behavior of the unidentified servicemen, especially in the Holy month of Ramadan. 

Monitoring in the Central Maternity House of Grozny

The social workers of HRC "Memorial" carried out monitoring in the Central Maternity House of Grozny (CMH). The central maternity house, recently renamed into Clinical Center of Mother's and Child's Health is the largest medical institution providing maternity care in the Chechen Republic. Apart from the Central Maternity House, in Grozny functions another maternity house and one specialized hospital department; in the Chechen regional hospitals exist special maternity wards. "Memorial" monitors were interested in the conditions, in which the babies were being born in the Chechen Republic, the problems the doctors faced and the health situation of mothers and the new born babies.

According to the head of the children's department Nukhaeva Bella, in 2004 the number of babies born in their clinic had increased almost 1,5 times compared to last year.  If in 2003 3,200 children were born, then in 2004 by November  the number of newborn has increased by 4,500 babies. This is explained by two factors: firstly, people are coming back to Chechnya and the commandant hour (1) is getting shorter, so more women are able to get to the hospital on time. On the average 358 babies are being born every month. However, until now, every day the hospital receives 2-3 women who have given birth to children at home due to night restriction of movement.

Child mortality in Chechnya remains the highest in the country; in CMH it amounts to 2% average. Thus, in November 2004 were born 9 dead babies, three others died soon after they were born. The major factors behind high death rates before or just after birth are: belated consultations with doctors, lack of mandatory medical examination (most of mothers do not consult with the doctor before labor), infections, hard anemia, bad environmental conditions.

According to the doctors, about 60% of labor is problematic. Over 30% of children are premature. The reason for this is heavy anemia of mothers. In CMH the level of anemia of 80 grams is a statistical norm, with the 30 gram average in the country. The hospital is short of couveuse for keeping the early born children. The "Memorial" monitors registered that in each individual neonatal incubator 2-3, sometimes 4 early born babies are being kept, which violates all sanitary-hygienic norms. Many children are being born with low weight. At the moment of visit there were 12 of such babies in the emergency ward.

Another problem of CMH is overcapacitation. The hospital, which can take up 70 patients receives 108-111 women per day. As a result, mothers and babies lay in the hospital corridors. The doctors hope that the situation will improve after the building is fully repaired.

IV. Cultural Events and Peacemaking with Support of "Memorial"

On November 25-27 with support of "Memorial" the Days of French Culture took place at Chechen State University, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the department of French and Latin languages. In the program of the holiday was a performance in the French language, contest, movies and a concert. "Memorial" offered information support and delivered the students congratulations and presents from the Embassies of Belgium and Canada, Chechen committees in France and from other French-speaking friends of Chechen State University.

On November 28 with support of "Memorial" in Nazran took place a concert of a popular Chechen singer Liza Umarova (Saffia), dedicated to the 10th anniversary since the beginning of war in Chechnya. "Memorial" presented tickets to 50 forced migrants from Chechnya, who live in places of compact settlement in Ingushetia.

(1) Unofficial restrictions of movement in the dark time