Appeal of Dagmara Musalimova (Dagestan) to human rights defenders in context with persecution of her son

To:
Oleg Orlov,
Moscow Public Association
Human Rights Centre "Memorial";
Svetlana Gannushkina,
Member of the Council at the
President of the Russian Federation for
Development Civil Society and Human Rights

From:
Musalimova, Dagmara Borissovna,
No. 47 Tolstogo Street, Khasavyurt,
Republic of Dagestan,
Tel. 8-928-559-11-82

Application

I am a mother of 4 children - Salim Bolatovich, born in 1985; Said Bolatovich, born in 1990; Seda Bolatovna, born in 1993; and Kheda Bolatovna, born in 1997. I work at a hospital as a kitchen worker; I am married to Musalimov, Bolat Yusaveich. Our eldest son Salim has his own family, consisting of his wife Khava Khalilova and two minor children: a son Musalimov, Magomed Salimovich, born in 2007, and a daughter Khavra Musalimova, born in 2009. Our family has never been involved in the Chechen War; and our children and my husband have never been registered by the police and have never been attracted to any criminal or administrative liability. We have always been law-abiding citizens of the Russian Federation.

Our sons Salim and Said worked in the city of Khasavyurt, in the shop manufacturing paving slabs. In late 2008, employees of the Khasavyurt GOVD (City Interior Division) came to the shop and detained the entire team. Our children were brought to the police station in the same light clothing they wore at work in the shop, without outer clothes. They were detained allegedly to check for their involvement in some crime committed in the city on that day - what the character of the crime was, we do not know until now. They were released in the evening of the same day. Our sons hid this fact from us, as they did not want to distress us. They told us about the detention only a few days later, when one of the sons fell ill and was in bed with high temperature.

For the next two years nobody disturbed us; and the police did not bother our son Salim.

However, on November 3, 2010, policemen in masks and armed with submachine guns (there were some 30-40 of them), accompanied by two witnesses, came to our house at No. 47 Tolstogo Street, and presented a search warrant. Without explaining the reason, they began a search. They found nothing illegal, but took away four telephones of our children and a computer. They explained that they would check for our children's contacts with the criminal world. They detained our sons Salim and Said and took them away. On the same day they returned the telephones and the computer and released the sons. On November 4, 2010, Salim and his family moved to Moscow; and on November 6, 2010, he and his family left for France, where they live now. They left under a Schengen visa, issued by the Austrian Embassy.

On January 9, 2011, without a search warrant and without presenting any documents, some 15-20 persons in masks and with automatic firearms entered our house. They arrived in one Ural truck and two passenger cars. It was about 8 p.m. They came with no witnesses; made a search of the whole house - the attics, the basement, the shed and the yard. At that time, only our son Said was in the house; they asked him about where Salim was. Said told them that Salim was in France, but they did not believe him and said that we were hiding him somewhere. However, on that day they also found nothing, and detained our son Said. They kept him till 3 p.m. of the following day. From the evening on January 9 until morning on January 10, 2011, he was kept in a locked room at the Khasavyurt GOVD. Only in the morning on January 10, they began interrogating him about his brother Salim, who left for France back on November 4, 2010.

At the same time, when our son was kept at the GOVD of Khasavyurt, on January 10 at 7:30 a.m., some 50-60 persons in masks with automatic firearms broke into our yard in the village of Charavali, Novolaksky District. They drove into the yard in two APCs (armoured personnel carriers) followed by an Ural truck, breaking everything in the yard - we had paving slabs stored there; the Ural drove over them. The truck entered our yard from the yard of our neighbours, where they also broke the fence. Without presenting a search warrant, they searched the house, the shed, the attics and the barn; they found nothing; they showed no documents to us; and we did not sign anything. They took away our telephones. Then, they saw the light switched on in the window of our neighbours and asked about who lived there. I replied that the neighbours were away. They said that they need to search the neighbours' house too. On January 9, my neighbour left for visiting her mother and left the key to me, asking to switch on the light. That they not break down the door, I had to open the neighbours' house to them; they searched everything there - the attics, the barn and the pantry. They found nothing and left without making any protocol and taking away my husband to the Khasavyurt GOVD.

They again asked my husband about the whereabouts of our eldest son Salim; he replied that he had left with his family to France in November 2010. But they did not believe, saying that we were hiding him somewhere. They interrogated my husband for the whole day; at the same time our younger son was also there; and they interrogated him too. All the questions were about our eldest son Salim. They were interrogated in two different rooms.

On the same day, policemen went to the Agro-Economic College, where our minor daughter is trained; they took her away from classes; at that time she was underage. Nobody told us that she was brought to the GOVD of Khasavyurt, where she was also questioned; she was frightened and fainted; they brought her to senses there. By 3 p.m., all the members of my family - the husband, the son Said and the daughter Seda - were released. They were interrogated there about Salim - where he was and where he was hiding.

On February 17, 2011, investigator O. O. Aliev from the Investigatory Department for Khasavyurt of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian federation (ICRF) called us for questioning and told about some alleged crime committed by Salim back in January 2011.

Our son is now on the federal wanted list, as a criminal for the crime he never committed. Policemen demand to present documents confirming Salim's departure from Russia.

The photo of our son with a beard is on the board "They are searched for". My son never wore a beard; it is an obvious photo-montage.

Why are the authorities that must protect the people, us, citizens, are frightening us saying that our son is a criminal and terrorizing us for nothing, conducting searches and arranging interrogations?

I ask you to get into the situation around our family and to restore the violated rights of my son Salim.

Musalimova, Dagmara Borissovna
March 27, 2012