A meeting of Chechen president with human rights activists in Grozny

On Thursday, May 25, a meeting of Moscow and local human rights activists with Alu Alkhanov and representatives of several government structures took place in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Svetlana Gannushkina, initiator of the meeting, chairperson of the "Civil Assistance" committee on assisting refugees, member of the Board of the "Memorial" human rights centre (HRC) and member of Council on facilitation of civil society development and human rights under the RF President, informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that, during the meeting, they had discussed "disappearances" of people in Chechnya, mass diseases among residents of the republic which had started in Shelkovsk district, the progress of liquidation of temporary shelters for internally displaced persons and the prospects for cooperation between human rights organizations and the authorities in Chechnya.

The Chechnya leadership was represented at the meeting by about ten persons: Alu Alkhanov, head of the republic; Abdulkakhir Izrayilov, deputy chairman of the government, head of the President's and the Government Administration; councillor of justice Valery Kuznetsov, prosecutor of the Chechen Republic (ChR); Nurdi Nukhazhiev, ChR ombudsman; Shamsadov, deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Chechnya; Sultan Alimkhadzhiev, deputy Minister of Health, chief physician of the Republic's children's clinic; Asu Dodurkaev, head of the territorial directorate of the federal migration service under the RF MIA on Chechnya, and a number of other functionaries.

The human rights activists were represented by Svetlana Gannuskina; Elena Burtina, head of the medical program of the "Civil Assistance committee" in Chechnya and Ingushetia; Shamil Tanghiev, office manager of the "Memorial" human rights centre in Grozny, and Natalia Estemirova, prominent member of the "Memorial" HRC in Chechnya.

After a word of welcome of A. Alkhanov in which he thanked the members of the human rights organizations for their contribution into human rights protection on the territory of the republic and beyond it, Svetlana Gannuskina gave the president two volumes of the book "People Live here. Chechnya: Chronicles of Violence" and two volumes of "Fairy-tales of World Nations" in the Chechen language, published by the "Memorial" and "Civil Assistance," as presents.

The main topic of discussions was continuing kidnapping of people in the Chechen Republic. Alu Alkhanov noted that the number of kidnappings had decreased several times over. In his opinion, this was achieved thanks to coordinated efforts of the law enforcement agencies and human rights organizations. "Regretfully, we have failed to control the evil completely. However, we shall do everything possible to eradicate not only kidnapping in our republic but also other violations of human rights and the rights of citizens. The whole society ought to take part in solving these problems. We must speak straight truth, irrespective of the rank of this or that person, and we must demand rather than ask for, as it frequently happens nowadays. The republic's leadership only exists thanks to people, not vice versa," cites Alkhanov's press-service.

The president of Chechnya has advised people to speak openly about the violations of their rights, he says that people must know their rights and feel citizens. I have responded that this is all true but is only possible if fear has been overcome. It is not so simple. People rely on real perceptions and not on something that is imagined," Gannushkina assumes.

"In response to the statement that the number of kidnappings has decreased, says the well-known human rights activist, we have said that it is a hidden problem. A lot of such crimes are not officially registered because people do not apply to law-enforcement agencies or to human rights organizations, expecting no help from them. This is primarily connected with the cases when the kidnappers represent state structures. These are virtually not investigated, as is testified by the case of Chilaev-Israilov and by the case of Borodzinovskaya village. Alkhanov has agreed with all this."

Raising the issue of investigation of the April 9 kidnapping of Bulat Chilaev, member of the program of assistance to sick people in Chechnya implemented by the "Civil Assistance" Committee, the human rights activists resolutely asserted that he was not implicated in any crime and that the kidnapping had been staged by officers of power authorities (in all probability, from the "West" battalion of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the RF Armed Forces General Headquarters). Alu Alkhanov noted that "he knows the case" and that "it is being monitored," however he was surprised with the slow progress of investigation.

Valery Kuznetsov, prosecutor of Chechnya, stated that the investigation of kidnapping of Chilaev and Aslan Israilov, resident of Grozny who had disappeared together with him, was progressing at a normal rate and taken under special supervision. "However, he has related that they have not managed to interrogate the officer whose name badge was found on the place of the crime because he is not a civilian, he really serves in the "West" battalion, he is very busy and is always engaged in operations. He alleges that they are a civilian prosecutor's office, not a military one, and are not able to exert pressure to have him come for interrogation," tells Svetlana Gannushkina to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The prosecutor's office will undertake all efforts for a logical completion of this criminal case," the republic's prosecutor assured the delegation members, cites Alu Alkhanov's press-service.

The human rights activists urged the law-enforcement agencies to conduct an adequate investigation of the Chilaev-Israilov case, to identify and punish the persons guilty of their kidnapping. They also related that the previous Tuesday Chilaev's relatives had been informed through an "intermediary" that he had been killed on the day of kidnapping and received a proposal to prevent a picket in Grozny demanding that Bulat should be found in exchange for his body. According to the "Civil Assistance" leader, it is to such intermediaries and not to human rights organizations or law-enforcement agencies that people in Chechnya apply in order to find their relatives.

The topic of "framed up criminal cases " under which residents of the Chechen Republic serve their terms in prison was also discussed. "I spoke about the commission on kidnappings. There used to be an agreement that the commission would also deal with framed up cases. I cited the cases of Zara Murtazalieva and Zaurbek Talkhigov where we know for sure that the convicts are not guilty of anything. Alkhanov said that he had read about the cases and spoken to the prosecutor. But we see the result: the president of Chechnya is not able to do much," says S. Gannushkina.

Then the participants discussed the situation with resettlement of refugees from the places of their compact residence in Chechnya. The human rights activists regarded as unacceptable the recent statement by Ramzan Kadyrov, chairman of the ChR Government, to the effect that the temporary shelters for internally displaced persons (TS) must be liquidated because they represented seats of "criminality, drug abuse and prostitution " and that the people residing there simply did not want to work and preferred to live on humanitarian assistance. Shamil Tanghiev, leader of the "Memorial" human rights centre office in Grozny, described what he thought were the real problems existing in the places of compact residence of refugees and the violations of their rights.

"We are not liquidating the TSs, God forbid if people are left without dwelling. We shall never do it, and Ramzan Akhmadovich has never meant to do it. The campaign of checking the TSs is aimed at clarifying whether there are people there who need dwelling, cites Gannushkina the idea of presentations by Chechen leadership representatives. - Ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiev decided to zealously protect Ramzan Kadyrov, whom nobody had hurt, in the first place, and claimed that, indeed, there was a lot of bad going on in the TSs, such as drug abuse, criminality, etc. I responded that fighting drug abuse was all very well, but this did not mean that people should be moved from the TSs completely. I have visited temporary shelters many times and saw, for instance, Russian old ladies residing there. These old ladies have no relatives, otherwise they would have gone to other regions of Russia. They have nowhere else to go."

In his turn, Alu Alkhanov promised "not to throw people into the street." According to him, only those who possess their own dwelling were to be moved from the TSs. Talking about positive developments in settling the issue, Alkhanov reminded that, while previously the money allocated for refugees' meals had amounted to 15 roubles per person per day, starting from the IVth quarter of the current year, it would be raised up to 25 roubles, and by 2007, it must reach 35 roubles. The Chechen leader highlighted that this increase had been supported by the federal authorities, reports the "Memorial" human rights centre.

"I suggested that Asu Dodurkaev, head of the migration service directorate in Chechnya, and ombudsman Nukhaziev, together with Shamil Tanghiev, head of the "Memorial" Grozny office, should make a tour of TSs and check who wants to leave, who does not want it, where there are drug-abusers, etc. "My door is always open," said Nukhaziev, which, in my view, may be taken as an acceptance of our proposal, and we should use the opportunity. Dodurkaev, head of the FMSD, did not object either," says S. Gannushkina, head of the program "Migration and Law" of the "Memorial" HRC.

Then they discussed the unknown mass disease among the republic's residents, which had started in the Shelkovsk district at the end of the last year. "We have fully agreed that, against the background of the problem, one should avoid mass psychosis or public campaigns. We must try and see where we can help people who are not able to get rid of those attacks and seizures, and identify the cause of the disease. The deputy Minister of Health of Chechnya did not object to this approach. However, he objected to the accusation of the Ministry that it had resorted to falsifications, etc. I quire agree with him," says Gannushkina.

In conclusion of the negotiations, the participants discussed the issues of cooperation of non-government organizations (NGOs) with state authorities in Chechnya. Svetlana Gannushkina noted that ministries and departments of the ChR failed to respond to written requests of human rights activists. At the same time, she highlighted that functionaries were prepared for personal cooperation: "There are no obstacles for meetings with functionaries of agencies or even with the Chechen president. For instance, we phoned him on May 23, and already met on May 25. This is an example of the fact that the Chechen authorities are prepared for cooperation. However, they dislike writing. I have explained to the participants that we need written responses for showing them to functionaries in Moscow, in particular. We have agreed that, when our NGOs need a written response, we shall phone them to notify to the effect, and they will respond in writing." It was also agreed to continue cooperation of the authorities and human rights activists within the framework of the medical program.

Natalia Estemirova, member of the "Memorial" HRC, moved a proposal to create in the Chechen Republic something like an institute of protection of witnesses: "The people dealing with the protection of victims of arbitrariness, such as victims in the cases of Ulman or Kungayeva who strive for the investigation of crimes committed against their relatives, and clearly stating that such crimes will not remain unpunished are in danger and need special treatment. There have been cases when persons who filed applications in Strasburg were killed or subjected to violence. There is no system of protecting witnesses in Russia, and I have suggested that at least some institutes of the type of honorary citizens enjoying special protection of the state should be created on the level of the Chechen Republic." Alu Alkhanov and members of the government met the proposal with good will but no specific decisions on its implementation were adopted.

"Such meetings are important because when we return back to Moscow those people in power who were sitting in front of us on May 25 perceive our colleagues remaining here as serious partners," concludes Svetlana Gannushkina.