Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism
Encyclopedia
The article details notable human rights violations committed by the warring sides of the ongoing second war in Chechnya
. Russian officials and Chechen rebels have been regularly and repeatedly accused of committing various war crimes, including kidnapping
, torture
, murder
, hostage taking, looting
, rape
, beheading and assorted other breaches of the laws of war
.
International and humanitarian organizations, including the Council of Europe
and Amnesty International
, have criticized both sides of the conflict for blatant and sustained violations of international humanitarian law
.
campaigners estimate that since September 1999 - the start of the second Chechen conflict - as many as 5,000 people have disappeared and are feared dead.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm According to Amnesty International in 2005, Russian officials give about 2,000 as the official figure for "disappearances" since late 1999.http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460112005?open&of=ENG-RUS
. The hostage
-takers demanded an end to the Russian presence in Chechnya, and threatened to execute the hostages if their conditions were not met. The siege ended violently on October 26, when Russian troops were forced to storm the building after the detonation of some explosive devices inside. Many casualties resulted from the fact that unconscious victims' airways were blocked and sub-optimal care was given during the rescue. In particular, the failure of Russian authorities to equip their troops with opioid
antidote
s and their efforts to conceal the identity of the gas for days afterward hindered efforts to save the lives of the stricken hostages.
On November 2 Basayev assumed responsibility for the attack and apologized to Maskhadov for not informing him of the plan.
, North Ossetia. Most of the hostages were children aged from six to sixteen years old. Following a tense two-day standoff punctuated by occasional gunfire and explosions, Alpha Group
of the FSB
raided the building. The fighting lasted more than two hours; ultimately 331 civilian
s, 11 commandos and 31 hostage-takers died.
Russian officials publicly linked Baseyev and Maskhadov to the attack. Baseyev claimed responsibility in a September 17 website publication; Maskhadov denounced the attacks and denied involvement. The carnage at Beslan and the outcry it caused has had an unexpected effect on the tactics employed by Chechen separatists and their allies.
Meanwhile, the practice of taking civilians hostages exists among the officers of Russian and local security agencies in Chechnya. On March 1, 2004, officers of security agencies seized more than 30 relatives of former Ichkeria
n defence minister
Magomed Khambiyev, including women, in the Khambiyev family's native village of Benoy
in Chechnya's Nozhay-Yurtovsky District. Magomed Khambiyev got an ultimatum to lay down his arms in exchange for the lives of his relatives; he did it, giving himself up to the authorities in a few days.
s to their weaponry. During this period there were 23 Chechen related suicide attacks in and oustide Chechnya, targeting both military and civilian targets, the profiles of the suicide bombers have varied just as much as the circumstances surrounding the bombings. Although only six of the attacks were directed against civilians, these attacks have drawn the lion's share of the publicity generated by Chechen suicide tactics.
rules of war, including the right to be released at the end of the conflict and not to be held criminally liable for lawful combat. Participation in combat is treated as murder or attempted murder
and terrorism, making little if any distinction with incidents of actual murders and terrorism.
(ECHR) agreed to try cases brought by Chechen civilians against the Russian government.
As of November 2007, 23 cases were decided by the Court. The cases include:
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
. Russian officials and Chechen rebels have been regularly and repeatedly accused of committing various war crimes, including kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, hostage taking, looting
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
, rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, beheading and assorted other breaches of the laws of war
Laws of war
The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...
.
International and humanitarian organizations, including the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, have criticized both sides of the conflict for blatant and sustained violations of international humanitarian law
International humanitarian law
International humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...
.
Forced disappearances
Human rightsHuman rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
campaigners estimate that since September 1999 - the start of the second Chechen conflict - as many as 5,000 people have disappeared and are feared dead.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm According to Amnesty International in 2005, Russian officials give about 2,000 as the official figure for "disappearances" since late 1999.http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460112005?open&of=ENG-RUS
- In March 2001 Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
(HRW) issued the report titled The "Dirty WarDirty WarThe Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
" in Chechnya,http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya/ which called the "disappearances" of detainees in the custody of Russian federal forces in Chechnya a major human rights crisis that the international communityInternational communityThe international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
must address.
- On March 31 2003, Akhmad KadyrovAkhmad KadyrovHajji Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov , also spelled Akhmat, was the Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War...
, the head of the pro-MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
administration of the Chechen Republic, has suggested that Russian federal forces are behind breaking into homes at night and abductingKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
people. "People continue to go missing in Chechnya. They are taken away in the middle of the night. Their bodies are not found and they are never seen again," Kadyrov said to reporters in GroznyGroznyGrozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
. "Through their crimes, they maintain tension in the republic, and their hands are stained with the blood of innocent people. The force is made up of kidnapperKidnapperKidnapper may refer to:* Kidnapper , a film by Kelvin Tong* "Kidnapper" , by American band Blondie on the Plastic Letters album* A person who performs a kidnapping-See also:* Kidnapped * Kidnapping...
s in armoured vehicles. They are a death squadDeath squadA death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
." But according to many journalists and experts on Chechnya, many such abductions are the work of the Kadyrovites - Chechen security policeSecurity policeIn some countries, including the United States, security police are those persons, employed by or for a governmental agency, who provide police and security services to those agencies' properties....
headed by his son, Ramzan KadyrovRamzan KadyrovRamzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov is the President of Chechnya and a former Chechen rebel.Ramzan is a son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007 Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as President, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post...
.
- On February 25-26 2006, Alvaro Gil-RoblesÁlvaro Gil-RoblesÁlvaro Gil-Robles is a Spanish jurist and human rights activist.He was Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe from 15 October 1999 to 31 March 2006...
, resigning Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, visited Chechnya, together with his successor, Thomas HammarbergThomas HammarbergThomas Hammarberg is a Swedish diplomat and human rights defender.He is currently the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg...
; they criticized abductions, impunity and lack of security in Chechnya. On March 2, 2006, Chechen ombudsmanOmbudsmanAn ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
Nurdi Nukhadzhiyev stated the problem of forced disappearances of people in Chechnya cannot be solved by local authorities, adding that a special commission has to be created at federal level.
- On May 12 2006, Dmitry Grushkin of the 'Memorial'Memorial (society)Memorial is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states....
human rights group told Interfax that at least 1,893 residents of Chechnya had been kidnapped since 2002; of those, he said, 653 were found alive, 186 were found dead, and 1,023 "disappeared". 'Memorial' monitors kidnappings for only 25-30 percent of Chechen territory.
- On November 13 2006, HRW published a briefing paper on torture in Chechnya that it had prepared for the 37th session of the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Committee Against Torture. The paper covered torture by personnel of the Second Operational Investigative Bureau (ORB-2), torture by units under the effective command of Ramzan Kadyrov, torture in secret detention and continuing "disappearances." According to HRW, torture "in both official and secret detention facilities is widespread and systematic in Chechnya. Based on extensive research, HRW concluded in 2005 that forced disappearances in Chechnya are so widespread and systematic that they constitute crime against humanityCrime against humanityCrimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...
."
The Moscow theater hostage crisis
On October 23 2002, over 40 terrorists took more than 700 hostages prisoner at a Moscow theaterMoscow theater hostage crisis
The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armed Chechens who claimed allegiance to the Islamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the...
. The hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
-takers demanded an end to the Russian presence in Chechnya, and threatened to execute the hostages if their conditions were not met. The siege ended violently on October 26, when Russian troops were forced to storm the building after the detonation of some explosive devices inside. Many casualties resulted from the fact that unconscious victims' airways were blocked and sub-optimal care was given during the rescue. In particular, the failure of Russian authorities to equip their troops with opioid
Opioid
An opioid is a psychoactive chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central and peripheral nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract...
antidote
Antidote
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek αντιδιδοναι antididonai, "given against"....
s and their efforts to conceal the identity of the gas for days afterward hindered efforts to save the lives of the stricken hostages.
On November 2 Basayev assumed responsibility for the attack and apologized to Maskhadov for not informing him of the plan.
The Beslan school siege
On September 1 2004, a group of 32 heavily-armed, masked men seized control of Middle School Number One and more than 1,000 hostages in BeslanBeslan
Beslan is a town and the administrative center of Pravoberezhny District of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. In terms of population, Beslan is the third largest town in the republic behind Vladikavkaz and Mozdok...
, North Ossetia. Most of the hostages were children aged from six to sixteen years old. Following a tense two-day standoff punctuated by occasional gunfire and explosions, Alpha Group
Alpha Group
The Alpha Group , is an elite component of Russia's Spetsnaz as well as the dedicated counter-terrorism unit of the Federal Security Service...
of the FSB
FSB (Russia)
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet Committee of State Security . Its main responsibilities are counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and...
raided the building. The fighting lasted more than two hours; ultimately 331 civilian
Civilian
A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...
s, 11 commandos and 31 hostage-takers died.
Russian officials publicly linked Baseyev and Maskhadov to the attack. Baseyev claimed responsibility in a September 17 website publication; Maskhadov denounced the attacks and denied involvement. The carnage at Beslan and the outcry it caused has had an unexpected effect on the tactics employed by Chechen separatists and their allies.
Other hostage incidents
- March 15 2001 - Three Chechens hijackedAircraft hijackingAircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
a Russian Tu-154 aircraft with 174 people on board after it left Turkey; they forced it to land in MedinaMedinaMedina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. On March 16, Saudi commandos freed over 100 hostages, killing three people including a hijacker, a female flight attendantFlight attendantFlight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
and a TurkishTurkish peopleTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
passenger. A Russian diplomat in Saudi Arabia said the leader of the hijackers was a "highly-trained military officer who appears to know what he is doing."
- April 22 2001 - In Turkey pro-Chechen gunmenGunA gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
seized up to 100 hostages at a luxury hotel in IstanbulIstanbulIstanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. The standoff lasted nearly 12 hours before the hostage-takers, armed with automatic rifleAutomatic rifleAutomatic rifle is a term generally used to describe a semi-automatic rifle chambered for a rifle cartridge, capable of delivering both semi- and full automatic fire...
s, surrendered; police said they had encountered no resistance from the gunmen and there were no reports of anybody being injured.http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/04/23/turkey.hostage.03/index.html
- October 29 2004 - The State DumaState DumaThe State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
hosted Vladimir UstinovVladimir UstinovVladimir Vasilyevich Ustinov is a Russian politician.He currently is the Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Southern Federal District. Until 2008, he was Russia's Minister of Justice....
, head of the ProsecutorProsecutorThe prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
General's Office, to discuss the Putin administration's anti-terrorism strategy. As he explained it to the deputies, in future hostage-taking episodes the security agencies would have a formal statutory right to seize and detain the relatives of the suspected hostage-takers. The government would then let the terrorists know that it will do to these "counter-hostages" whatever the terrorists do to their own hostages.
Meanwhile, the practice of taking civilians hostages exists among the officers of Russian and local security agencies in Chechnya. On March 1, 2004, officers of security agencies seized more than 30 relatives of former Ichkeria
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
n defence minister
Defence minister
A defence minister is a person in a cabinet position in charge of a Ministry of Defence, which regulates the armed forces in some sovereign nations...
Magomed Khambiyev, including women, in the Khambiyev family's native village of Benoy
Benoy
Benoy is an international firm of architects, masterplanners, retail auditors, visualisers, interior and graphic designers working from design studios in the United Kingdom, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore...
in Chechnya's Nozhay-Yurtovsky District. Magomed Khambiyev got an ultimatum to lay down his arms in exchange for the lives of his relatives; he did it, giving himself up to the authorities in a few days.
- June 3 2006 - Russian diplomats in Iraq were seized when their convoy was waylaidAttack on Russian diplomats in IraqThe 2006 abduction of Russian diplomats in Iraq took place on June 3, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq when Iraqi insurgents ambushed a car belonging to the Russian Embassy....
by the Mujahedeen Shura Council. One was shot during the kidnapping; three others were later executed. The group hoped to pressure Russia into allowing Chechnya to secede and become an Islamic theocracyTheocracyTheocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
.
Indiscriminate attacks
- On October 5 1999, a bus filled with refugeeRefugeeA refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s was reportedly hit by a Russian tank shellShell (projectile)A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
, killing as many as 40 civilians and wounding several others.http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9910/07/chechnya.bus/
- On October 7 1999, federal forces carried out a cluster bomb attack on the village of ElistanzhyElistanzhi cluster bomb attackElistanzhi cluster bomb attack occurred on October 7, 1999, in Chechnya, when two Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter bombers dropped several cluster bombs on the apparently undefended mountain village of Elistanzhi....
in Vedensky District. Within several minutes 27 people were killed; among them only eight were men of "fighting age", meaning aged 14 to 60. In the next two weeks, 21 more died of their wounds.
- On October 21 1999, a series of Russian ballistic missileBallistic missileA ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
strikes on central Grozny killed at least 137 peopleGrozny ballistic missile attackThe Grozny ballistic missile attack was a wave of devastating Russian ballistic missile strikes on the Chechen capital Grozny on October 21, 1999, early in the Second Chechen War. The attack killed at least 118 people according to initial reports, mostly civilians, or at least 137 immediate dead...
, mostly civilians, and injured hundreds. The missiles hit the city's main marketplaceMarketplaceA marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
, a maternityMaternityMaternity or motherhood is the social and legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a mother and her child.It is specially related with the protection of the baby and the mother within and after the childbirth.-See also:...
hospital and a mosqueMosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
.
- On October 24 1999, seven children were killed and 14 maimed by a Russian tank attack in Novy Sharoy; an adult man was also killed.http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/3603.html##2
- On October 29 1999, the Russian Air ForceRussian Air ForceThe Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
carried out a rocket attackBaku-Rostov highway bombingThe Baku-Rostov highway bombing was an incident which occurred on near the village of Shaami-Yurt in Chechnya, on October 29, 1999. Two low-flying Russian attack aircraft carried out repeated rocket attacks on a large convoy of refugees trying to enter the Russian republic of Ingushetia using a...
on a large convoy of refugees who were using a "safe exit" route. Casualties were estimated at 50-100, among them several Red Cross workers, two journalists and many women and children.
- On February 4 2000, in an attempt to stop the Chechen retreat, Russian forces bombed the village of Katyr-YurtBombing of Katyr-YurtThe reported bombing of Katyr-Yurt occurred on February 4, 2000, when Russian forces bombed the village of Katyr-Yurt and a refugee convoy under white flags in an attempt to stop the breakout of the Chechen separatist forces from Grozny , killing or injuring hundreds of people...
, then a civilian convoy under white flagWhite flagWhite flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale.-Flag of temporary truce in order to parley :...
s, killing at least 170 civilians, while many more were injured.
- On February 9 2000, a Russian tactical missile hit a crowd of people who had come to the local administration building in Shali, a town declared to be one of the "safe areas", to collect their pensions. The missile is estimated to have killed some 150 civilians, and was followed by an attack by combat helicopters causing further casualties. The Russian attack, which happened without any warning, was a response to infiltration of the town by a group of Chechen fighters who suffered few casualties.http://www.crimesofwar.org/expert/chech-oleg.html
Documented mass killings
- On December 3 1999, at least 40 people fleeing the besieged Grozny were shot and killedGrozny refugee convoy shootingThe Grozny safe corridor shooting incident happened on December 3, 1999, when about 40 people fleeing the besieged Chechen capital Grozny were allegedly killed by Russian policemen....
by Russian troops, leaving only seven wounded survivors.
- In early December 1999, Russian troops under the command of General Vladimir ShamanovVladimir ShamanovVladimir Anatolyevich Shamanov is a Lieutenant General in the Russian Army, the commander of the Russian Airborne Troops since May 2009 and a former Russian politician...
killed up to 41 civilians during a two-week drunken rampageAlkhan-Yurt massacreThe Alkhan-Yurt massacre was the December 1999 incident in the village of Alkhan-Yurt near the Chechen capital Grozny involving Russian troops under command of general Vladimir Shamanov...
in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, near Grozny.
- In several incidents during December 1999 and January 2000 in the Staropromyslovski district of Grozny, Russian troops killed at least 50 unarmed civiliansStaropromyslovski executionsIn the Staropromyslovski massacre Russian federal soldiers summarily executed at least 38 confirmed civilians during an apparent spree in Staropromyslovsky city district of Grozny, the Chechen capital, according to survivors and eyewitnesses. The killings went unpunished and publicily...
, mostly elderly men and women.
- A particularly brutal massacre was carried out on February 5, 2000 in the suburb of Novye Aldi, where suspected members of OMONOMONOMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...
, a special purpose police unit from St Petersburg and contract soldiers summarily executed at least 60 civiliansNovye Aldi massacreThe Novye Aldi massacre was a notorious crime in which Russian federal forces summarily executed dozens of people in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, in the course of a "mopping-up" operation conducted there on February 5, 2000, soon after the end of the battle for the city...
.
- Following the March 2000 Battle of KomsomolskoyeBattle of KomsomolskoyeThe Battle of Komsomolskoye took place in March 2000 between Russian forces and separatists in Chechnya in the village of Komsomolskoye .-The battle:...
about 70 Chechen combatants who were taken prisoner were officially amnestiedAmnestyAmnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
, but almost all of them are believed to have been murdered in captivityKomsomolskoye massacreKomsomolskoye massacre allegedly occurred following the Battle of Komsomolskoye during the Second Chechen War in March 2000, when a large number of captured Chechen separatist fighters were extremely mistreated, resulting in deaths of many or even most of them...
.
Rebel bombings
- September 6 - September 14 1999 - a series of nighttime explosions in apartment buildingsRussian apartment bombingsThe Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing 293 people and injuring 651. The explosions occurred in Buynaksk on 4 September, Moscow on 9 and 13 September, and...
using hexogen (RDX) killed 307 and injured 1,700 people. Four buildings in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Buinaksk and Volgodonsk were destroyed.
- May 9 2002 - An explosion of a Russian-made anti-personnel mineAnti-personnel mineAnti-personnel mines are a form of land mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles...
in the DagestanDagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
i town of KaspiyskKaspiyskKaspiysk , until 1947 known as Dvigatelstroy , is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea, southeast of Makhachkala. Population: 43,000 ....
killed 45 and wounded some 1752002 Kaspiysk bombing2002 Kaspiysk bombing was a May 9, 2002, attack which ripped through the military parade to commemorate the 57th anniversary of Soviet victory in the World War II on Lenin Street in the city of Kaspiysk, Dagestan...
soldiers and civilian bystanders during a military paradeParadeA parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
. A Dagestani pro-Chechen group blamed for an attack had previously killed seven Russian soldiers on January 18 2001, in the Dagestani capital, MakhachkalaMakhachkala-Twin towns/sister cities:Makhachkala is twinned with: Sfax, Tunisia Siping, China Spokane, United States Vladikavkaz, Russia Yalova, Turkey Ndola, Zambia-See also:*...
.
- June 12 2005 - A bomb planted by Russian nationalist extremists, said to be veterans of the Chechen wars belonging to the Russian National UnityRussian National UnityRussian National Unity or All-Russian civic patriotic movement "Russian National Unity" , is a far right, fascist political party and paramilitary organization based in Russia and operating in states with Russian-speaking populations. It was founded by the ultra-nationalist Alexander Barkashov...
group, derailed the Grozny-Moscow passenger train some 150 kilometers south of the Russian capital. Dozens of people were injured, but only eight hospitalized. On May 30 2006, suspects Vladimir Vlasov and Mikhail Klevachyov were charged with terrorism and attempting to commit murder motivated by ethnic or religious hatred.
Suicide bombings
Between June 2000 and September 2004, Chechen insurgents added suicide attackSuicide attack
A suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
s to their weaponry. During this period there were 23 Chechen related suicide attacks in and oustide Chechnya, targeting both military and civilian targets, the profiles of the suicide bombers have varied just as much as the circumstances surrounding the bombings. Although only six of the attacks were directed against civilians, these attacks have drawn the lion's share of the publicity generated by Chechen suicide tactics.
- July 5 2003 - 19 year old Zulichan Elichadzjijeva blew herself up outside a rock festival at the TushinoTushinoTushino is a former village and town to the north of Moscow, which has been part of the city's area since 1960. Between 1939 and 1960, Tushino was classed as a separate town. The Skhodnya River flows across the southern part of Tushino....
airfield near MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Her bomb did not detonate as expected. 15 minutes later, only a few meters from the site of the first attack, 26 year old Zinaida Alijeva detonated her explosives and killed 11 people instantly. Four more died in hospital. For many observers, the Tushino attacks appeared out of place.
- December 5-10 2003 - A shrapnelFragmentation (weaponry)Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
-filled bomb which was believed to be strapped to a lone male suicide attacker ripped apart a commuter train near Chechnya, killing 46 people and wounding nearly 2002003 Stavropol train bombingThe 2003 Stavropol train bombing was a suicide bomber blast which ripped through the commuter train in Stavropol Krai, Russia going from Kislovodsk to Mineralnye Vody as it was leaving Yessentuki on December 5, 2003. The explosion killed at least 46 people and injured more than 170.The rebel...
. The explosion occurred during a busy morning rush hourRush hourA rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
when the train was packed with many students and workers; it ripped the side of the train open as it approached a station near Yessentuki, 750 miles south of Moscow. Only five days later another blast shook RussiaRed Square BombingThe 2003 Red Square bombing was the 9 December 2003 suicide bombing on Mohovaja street in Moscow.According to police, a female suicide bomber set off a explosive belt on a busy street close to the Moscow Kremlin, killing six people and injuring 44. Moscow's mayor Yuri Luzhkov reported speculation...
-- this time five people were killed and 44 injured in Red SquareRed SquareRed Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
in the very heart of Moscow. Shamil Basayev later claimed responsibility for organising the December 2003 attacks.
- February 6 2004 - A bomb ripped through a Moscow metroRapid transitA rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
car during the morning rush hour, killing 40 people and wounding 134February 2004 Moscow metro bombingThe February 2004 Moscow metro bombing occurred on 6 February 2004 when a male suicide bomber killed 41 people near Avtozavodskaya subway station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line in Moscow...
. A previously unknown Chechen rebel group claimed responsibility for the bombing; the claim came from a group calling itself Gazoton Murdash, and was signed by Lom-Ali ("Ali the Lion"). According to the statement, the group launched the attack to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of scores of Chechen civilians by Russian soldiers who took control of the Chechen capital Grozny.
- August 27 2004 - 123 people were killed by a female suicide bomber in the Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004The Russian aircraft bombings of August 2004 were terrorist attacks on two domestic Russian passenger aircraft at around 23:00 on August 24, 2004. Both planes had flown out of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow....
. Basayev again claimed responsibility.
Trials of Chechen fighters
Since the Russian authorities do not treat the war as an armed conflict and enemies as combatants, the secessionist Chechen fighters are invariably described by the Russian government as terrorists or bandits. Captured extremists are routinely tried for such articles of the Russian criminal code as illegal weapons possession, "forming and participating in illegal armed groups," and banditry. This strips detainees of key rights and protection under the Geneva ConventionGeneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
rules of war, including the right to be released at the end of the conflict and not to be held criminally liable for lawful combat. Participation in combat is treated as murder or attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
and terrorism, making little if any distinction with incidents of actual murders and terrorism.
- One of the earliest war crimes trials to be held was that of Salman RaduyevSalman RaduyevSalman Raduyev was a Chechen separatist warlord considered to be one of the most radical and notorious Chechen rebel commanders of the period between 1994 and 1999...
, a notorious ex-field commander for the rebel Chechen forces. Raduyev was convicted in December 2001 of terrorism and murder charges and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in a Russian prison colony a year later.http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460702002?open&of=ENG-380
- On February 21, 2001, a Chechen field commander Salautdin Temirbulatov was sentenced to life in prison for murdering four Russian contract soldiers whose execution in 1996 was filmed on video tape. When Russia invaded Chechnya for the second time in September 1999, the video became a powerful weapon in the Kremlin's propagandaPropagandaPropaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
war, as it was shown to soldiers preparing for active service in the war-torn republic.http://premium.europe.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/02/15/russia.chechnya/ Temirbulatov was also accused of terrorism and abducting Russian special unit servicemen taken prisoner during their raid into Chechnya in 1997.http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=hruicrs2001&l=en&s=f&o=161950
- On May 26, 2006, Nur-Pashi KulayevNur-Pashi KulayevNur-Pashi Kulayev , a native of Engenoi, Chechnya, is thought to be the sole survivor of the 32 hostage-takers in the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, although Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev denied the claim, stating that one other escaped....
was jailed for life for his part in the Beslan school hostage crisis.
Trials of Russian servicemen
The cases of a Russian servicemen being tried for war crimes are few and far between, no one has been charged with mistreatment or the murder of captured enemy fighters. Several servicemen have been accused and even convicted of a crimes against civilians:- On July 25, 2003, after a series of trials and retrials, Russian tank unit commander Col.ColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Yuri BudanovYuri BudanovYuri Dmitrievich Budanov was the Russian military officer convicted by a Russian court of kidnapping and murder in Chechnya.Budanov was highly controversial in Russia: despite the conviction, Budanov enjoyed widespread support of Russian households, as polled by public opinion. At the same time,...
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the March 2000 abductionKidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
and murder of a Chechen woman, Elza KungaevaElza KungaevaElza Kungayeva was an 18-year-old Chechen woman abducted, beaten, and murdered by a Russian Army Colonel during the Second Chechen War....
. According to the newspaper Novye Izvestia Budanov mysteriously disappeared: he had left the prison colony in Dmitrovgrad but he did not arrive at his destination, a prison colony in Ulyanovsk OblastUlyanovsk OblastUlyanovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Ulyanovsk...
.http://www.newizv.ru/news/2007-04-13/67868/
- On April 29, 2004, a Russian court in Rostov-on-DonRostov-on-Don-History:The mouth of the Don River has been of great commercial and cultural importance since the ancient times. It was the site of the Greek colony Tanais, of the Genoese fort Tana, and of the Turkish fortress Azak...
acquitted four GRUGRUGRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
special forcesSpecial forcesSpecial forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
unit officers of the fatal shooting of six Chechen civilians, including a disabled woman. In the incident in January 2000, Captain Eduard Ulman's unit killed a civilian and subsequently extrajudicially executed five more with silenced weaponSuppressorA suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....
s; the commandos then burned the bodies in the victims' vehicle. They were found not guilty in a retrial on May 19, 2005. Although the four admitted the killings, the court ruled that their actions were not punishable as they had been following orders. The acquittalAcquittalIn the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
s of Cpt. Ulman and his three subordinates sparked a public outrage in Chechnya, where rights advocates and many Chechens say Russian forces act with impunity. During the third court hearing Ulman and the two officers mysteriously disappeared.http://www.newizv.ru/news/2007-04-13/67868/http://www.gazeta.ru/2007/04/12/oa_236492.shtml
- On March 29, 2005, a court in Grozny found LieutenantLieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
ergey Lapin (a police officer) "Kadet" and a member of the Khantia-Mansia OMON, guilty of torturing the "disappeared" Chechen civilian Zelimkhan MurdalovZelimkhan MurdalovZelimkhan Murdalov was a 26-year-old student from Grozny, Chechnya, who left his home on January 2, 2001, saying he would be back soon, but did not return. His parents tracked him down at the police station, where an official promised that he would soon be released, but they have not seen their son...
in January 2001, and sentenced him to 11 years imprisonment.
- On October 27, 2005, Mukhadi Aziyev, a company commander of the Vostok (East) SpetsnazSpetsnazSpetsnaz, Specnaz tr: Voyska specialnogo naznacheniya; ) is an umbrella term for any special forces in Russian, literally "force of special purpose"...
GRU unit, was convicted of "exceeding official authority", and given a three-year suspended sentenceSuspended sentenceA suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
regarding the June 2005 Borozdinovskaya operationBorozdinovskaya operationThe Borozdinovskaya operation was an infamous cleansing raid by the pro-Moscow ethnic Chechen unit Battalion Vostok of the Spetsnaz of GRU on the ethnic minority village of Borozdinovskaya in Chechnya near the border with the republic of Dagestan on June 4, 2005.Borozdinovskaya is a predominantly...
resulting in the death or disappearance of 12 ethnic AvarCaucasian AvarsAvars or Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan, in which they are the predominant group. The Caucasian Avar language belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family ....
civilians on Chechnya's border with DagestanDagestanThe Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
.
- On April 5, 2006, Alexey Krivoshonok, a Russian serviceman, accused of killing three Chechen civilians at a roadblockRoadblockA roadblock is a temporary installation set up to control or block traffic along a road. The reasons for one could be:*Roadworks*Temporary road closure during special events*Police chase*Robbery*Sobriety checkpoint...
in November 2005, admitted his guilt in his final plea. Next day, Krivoshonok, a contract soldier since 1995 whose rank was not disclosed, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for violent murder while under a state of alcoholAlcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
ic and narcoticNarcoticThe term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
intoxication.
- On May 15, 2006, the Grozny Garrison Military Circuit Court completed the trial of contract soldier, PrivatePrivate (rank)A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
Pavel Zinchuk. He was sentenced to seven years in a general penal colony for shooting and wounding from "hooliganHooliganismHooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
motives" three civilian persons in the village of Staraya Sunzha near Grozny.
- On December 27, 2007, Lt. Sergei Arakcheyev and Lt. Yevgeny Khudyakov were convicted by a Rostov-on-Don military court of the January 2003 of the killing of three local construction workers at a checkpoint in Chechnya and sentenced to 15 and 17 years in prison, respectively. According to court papers, Khudyakov and Arakcheyev forced the victims out of their truck, ordered them to lie on the ground and shot them dead; the bodies were doused in fuel and set on fire. Khudyakov failed to show up for the verdict and the court said police would soon start a nationwide search for him.http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Chechnya-Trial.html
European Court of Human Rights
In October 2004, the European Court of Human RightsEuropean Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
(ECHR) agreed to try cases brought by Chechen civilians against the Russian government.
As of November 2007, 23 cases were decided by the Court. The cases include:
- The first trialTrialA trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
concluded in February 2005. The Court ruled that the Russian government violated several articles of the European Convention on Human RightsEuropean Convention on Human RightsThe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
, including a clauseClauseIn grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
on the protection of propertyPropertyProperty is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
, a guarantee of the right to life, and a ban on tortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and inhumane or degrading treatment, and ordered the Russian government to pay compensationDamagesIn law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
to the six plaintiffPlaintiffA plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
s in the case.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4295249.stm The cases concerned the Russian federal forces' indiscriminate aerial bombingStrategic bombingStrategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
of a civilian convoy of refugees fleeing GroznyGroznyGrozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
in October 1999; the "disappearance" and subsequent extrajudicial execution of five individuals in Grozny in January 2000; and the indiscriminate aerial and artillery bombardment of the village of Katyr-Yurt in February 2000. The compensation were not paid, NGOs claim that applicants to the court are met with repression, including murders and disappearance.http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/03/10/russia10298.htm
- In summer 2006 the ECHR decided the first cases concerning forced disappearances from Chechnya; more than 100 disappearance cases related to Chechnya were pending in the court.http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/07/28/002.html The cases included one where the court ordered Russia to pay 35,000 euros to the mother of Khadzhi-Murat YandiyevKhadzhi-Murat YandiyevKhadzhi-Murat Yandiyev was a 25-year-old Ingush insurgent fighter, who was forcibly disappeared in February 2000 after being filmed in the company of Russian Army general ordering him taken away and shot...
for violating her son's "right to life" as well as failing "to conduct an effective investigation" into his February 2000 disappearance. Key evidence in the case, according to court documents, was video footage filmed by a reporter for NTVNTV RussiaNTV is a Russian television channel. As a subsidiary of Vladimir Gusinsky's company Media-Most, it was a pioneer in the post-Soviet independent television media, but was later taken over by state-owned Gazprom.- History :...
and CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
television http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZW1uwMma5w showing an army officer, later identified by CNN reporters as Colonel-General Alexander BaranovAlexander Baranov (general)General of the Army Alexander Ivanovich Baranov was the Commander of the North Caucasus Military District from July 2004 to May 2008...
, ordering soldiers to "finish off" and "shoot" Yandiyev. Baranov has since been promoted and awarded a Hero of Russia medal and is now responsible for all Defense Ministry forces in the North Caucasus. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5219254.stm
- On October 12, 2006, the Court held the Russian state responsible for the summary execution of the Estamirov family during the February 5, 2000 Novye Aldi massacreNovye Aldi massacreThe Novye Aldi massacre was a notorious crime in which Russian federal forces summarily executed dozens of people in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, in the course of a "mopping-up" operation conducted there on February 5, 2000, soon after the end of the battle for the city...
by OMON forces. "Russian and Chechen security forces should take this decision as a warning that the abuse and murder of innocent civilians cannot be met by impunity," said Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
.http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/13/russia14384.htm At least 11 other incidents of summary executions committed on the same day in the same region of Chechnya were pending before the Court.
- On November 9, 2006, the Court ruled the Russian government complicit in the murder and abduction of three Chechen civilians, including a case on the disappearance and presumed death of two Chechens from the same family. The court sided with Marzet Imakayeva, a Chechen woman who fled Russia two years ago to seek asylumRight of asylumRight of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
in the United States. It also said that the way Imakayeva's complaints were dealt with by Russian authorities constituted "inhuman treatment." The bodies of Imakayeva family members have never been found. In the other case the abductee, the body of Nura LuluyevaNura LuluyevaNura Luluyeva was a Chechen woman who was kidnapped and murdered by a Russian death squad in 2000.In the morning of June 3, 2000, Nura Luluyeva, an unemployed nurse and kindergarten teacher and the mother of four children , was selling strawberries on Mozdokskaya Street of Grozny, the capital of...
turned up in a mass graveMass graveA mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
eight months later.
- On January 8, 2007, the Court condemned Russia in the first torture case from Chechnya to be heard by the ECHR. In its judgment,http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=812996&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 the Court stated that the applicants Adam and Arbi Chitayev had been held in unacknowledged detention, that they had been subjected to torture, and that the Russian authorities had not properly investigated their allegations.
External links
- Human rights violations attributed to Russian forces Council of EuropeCouncil of EuropeThe Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
- List of terror attacks 2001-2004
- Cases from Chechnya pending before the European Court of Human Rights
- "As I was raped by the Chechens." Confession of a victim