Rescue Chechnya
20 June 2007
Four members of a special unit of the Russian Military Intelligence (GRU) were convicted on 14 June for the killing of six unarmed Chechen civilians near the village of Dai, Chechen Republic in January 2002. However, the verdict is one of only a handful of convictions for serious human rights violations, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed during the second Chechen conflict. The authorities in the Russian Federation must vigorously and effectively investigate and bring prosecutions in the thousands of other cases of violations such as extra-judicial executions, torture including rape, enforced disappearances and indiscriminate killings of civilians.
Amnesty International calls for guilty verdict against Stanislav Dmitrievskii to be overturned
Amnesty International is deeply disappointed by today’s conviction of human rights defender Stanislav Dmitrievskii on “race hate” charges, for publishing non-violent articles by Chechen separatist leaders.
Amnesty International considers that the conviction of Stanislav Dmitrievskii is a blow to independent civil society in Russia and will have a stifling effect on the right to freedom of expression. Stanislav Dmitrievskii has been convicted for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and should not have faced trial in the first place. Amnesty International considers that the conviction should be quashed.
Rights group says European response to Russian abuses in Chechnya inadequate
04.18.07, The Associated Press
The head of Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused the Council of Europe of
yielding to pressure from Moscow and failing to respond to documented Russian
civil liberties violations in Chechnya. Kenneth Roth, executive director of the
New York-based rights group, said European institutions have been inefficient
in defending civil liberties despite countless monitoring bodies set up solely
for this purpose.
Tour airs Chechen war via kids’ eyes
Children don’t lie. For Chechen journalist Zara Imaeva,
children were the best chroniclers of the realities of war in Chechnya
in her documentary «No Children’s Story."
With the international spotlight focused on Iraq,
Imaeva has come to Japan to raise awareness on the desperate
situation in war-ravaged Chechnya.She is seeking humanitarian aid and
international pressure to bring an end to the four-year
conflict.
«I want the world to pay attention to Chechnya,"
Imaeva, 42, told Kyodo News in a recent interview in Tokyo.
«Without pressure from international political institutions, such
as economic sanctions, the war will not end."
Chechen Women Left Alone in War’s Path
27.02.2006 , Delphine Thouvenot
At the Coral beauty shop in the capital of war-torn Chechnya, Luisa, Lyuda and Rima are lonely but bent on upholding standards — in a hair salon without water and a city without enough men.
“Women want to look pretty, despite the war,” says Luisa
Aftakhanova, a 38-year-old with a short, dark fringe wearing a fake
leopard-skin T-shirt. With hairstyle magazines and nail polish bottles strewn around, Coral looks at
first like any other beauty parlor.
But this is Chechnya.
Russian and Chechen authorities have in most cases failed to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into allegations of human rights violations against the civilian population in Chechnya. Women do not have enough confidence in the authorities to bring complaints of rape and sexual violence, and the perpetrators are not brought to justice. In this climate of impunity, women are effectively denied access to justice or to reparations.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Amnesty International welcomes the judgment of the European
Court of Human Rights released today on the case of Bitiyeva and X v. Russia.
Zura Bitieva (or Bitiyeva) was a well-known peace activist
in the Chechen Republic,
Russian Federation.
She had spoken out against the armed conflict there and the human rights
violations committed during the conflict, organizing marches and demonstrations
for peace by Chechen women. She was arbitrarily detained in Chechnya in
2000, and subsequently extra-judicially executed, along with three other family
members, in 2003.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that in this case, the Russian Federation had violated the right to life, the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment and the right to liberty and security as well as the right to an effective remedy (Articles 2, 3, 5 and 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR)).
Kharsenoy residents visit their destroyed village
Prague Watchdog, 12 Jun 2006
By Umalt Chadayev
GROZNY, Chechnya
– On June 6 a group of residents of Kharsenoy in the Shatoysky district (southern
Chechnya) visited
this mountain village which they were forced to leave six years ago after the
beginning of a so-called "counter-terrorist operation".
"After the start of the intensive bombing and artillery
shelling of villages in the winter of 1999-2000, everyone who lived in
Kharsenoy left the place. No one has been there since then," says one of
the members of the delegation.
"We've tried repeatedly to get permission to go out to the village, until recently without success. It wasn't until a few days ago that we got the necessary permission from the authorities and the military. The only people included in the group were elderly and old folk, and also Bazayev, the administrative head."
Environmental situation in Grozny "a serious health threat"
Prague Watchdog, 22 July 2006
GROZNY, Chechnya – During the Soviet era, Grozny was 17th on the list of the 100 most polluted and environmentally damaged places in the country. This was partly due to emissions from oil- and chemical-processing plants.
Despite the fact that these plants are no longer operational, the environmental situation in the republic, and the capital in particular, is still critical. As a result of two wars, some 37,000 tons of oil have burned, with 150 million cubic meters of gas escaping into the atmosphere.
The heads of one Chechen, two U.S.-based, and two European human rights groups have addressed an open letter to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev requesting that they launch an investigation into the abduction, torture, and killing of Ruslan Eliyev, a Chechen granted refugee status in Azerbaijan, chechenpress.org reported on April 14.
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One of the 10 most under-reported humanitarian stories of 2004.
Source: MSF-USA
Chechnya citizens - largest single group seeking asylum in Europe.
Source : UNHCR
Source: UNICEF
