05:31, 17 May 2005

Chechnya 'dire human rights crisis,' says HRW

Below are the Russia paragraphs from the Human Rights Watch Torture Worldwide report.

Russia considers its military and policing action in Chechnya to be a counterterrorism operation. Now in its sixth year, the conflict has created a dire human rights crisis. Chechen fighters have committed unspeakable acts of terrorism in Chechnya and in other parts of Russia.

Russia's federal forces have detained and "disappeared" thousands of Chechens whom they suspect of involvement with rebel forces and tortured them in custody to obtain confessions and information.

By carrying out forced disappearances, federal forces in Chechnya attempt to conceal the torture and summary execution of those in their custody, and therefore benefit from impunity for such crimes. "Disappearances" in Chechnya are so widespread and systematic that they constitute crimes against humanity; by some estimates between 3,000 and 5,000 have "disappeared" since 1999. In numerous cases their corpses are found in unmarked graves or dumped, but in most instances they are simply never heard from after being taken into custody. Human Rights Watch and the Memorial Human Rights Center have documented cases when dead bodies were simply dumped by road sides, on hospital grounds or elsewhere. The majority of the bodies showed signs of severe mutilation, including flaying or scalping, broken limbs, severed finger tips and ears, and close range bullet wounds typical of summary executions. Examinations by medical doctors of some of these bodies have revealed that some of the deliberate mutilations were inflicted while the detainees were still alive.

In February 2005, Human Rights Watch interviewed one former detainee on the day following his release. While in detention, the young man was held on the concrete floor of a tiny, unheated cell. He was handcuffed and had a plastic bag over his head the entire time. At the time of the interview he was in a state of shock, had difficulty speaking clearly and focusing his eyes; he said that his perpetrators had injected him with an unknown drug. He had bruises on his face and arms, and he could not move several of his fingers, which were heavily swollen.

Since 1999, only one serviceman has served an active prison sentence for torture or disappearance in Chechnya.