IHF: amnestied militants are persecuted in Chechnya

Today, the International Helsinki Federation (IHF) has published its report "Amnestied Persons as Persecution Objects in Chechnya." It narrates the destiny of Chechen residents who were amnestied and then kidnapped, tortured and murdered.

"The people released by amnesty and members of their families are the basic risk group from the viewpoint of human rights violations in Chechnya," Aaron Roads, IHF Executive Director, asserts.

According to the IHF report, the "amnestied persons" and members of their families are the main victims of prosecution by power agencies. They are kidnapped and tortured (frequently with the aim to knockout confessions and fabricate a criminal case). In certain cases these people were murdered.

On July 10, 2006, head of the FSB Nikolai Patrushev addressed militants on behalf of the Antiterrorist Committee of the Russian Federation with an appeal to lay down arms within two weeks. An official amnesty statement fixing its validity term till January 15, 2007, was passed by the State Duma late in September only.

According to the official data, a total of 546 militants surrendered during the amnesty. However, in the opinion of a number of observers, there were extremely few real participants of armed actions among them, the "Caucasian Knot" wrote earlier.