Nizhnevartovsk: Chechen natives state protraction of inquiry into their beating by local OMON fighters

In the city of Nizhnevartovsk, natives of Chechnya claim that last September they were beaten by local OMON (riot police) agents. Six weeks after the incident, a criminal case was initiated on this fact, which is still under investigation. According to the victims, their attempt to achieve identification of the attackers turned into mockery on them; and their advocate was repeatedly threatened.

OMON fighters were beating Chechens, demanding from them to leave Nizhnevartovsk, victims say

The fact that on September 10, 2011, a group of Chechens, who were sitting in a cafe named "Sibirski Balagan" near the marketplace of Nizhnevartovsk, was unjustly beaten by OMON fighters was reported in the statement published by the Chechens from this city on the website of the Ombudsman of the Chechen Republic Nurdi Nukhazhiev. The beating, as the authors of the statement write, was accompanied by demands to leave Nizhnevartovsk and "return to their Chechnya."

The agents gave a month to Chechens to "gather up their things", otherwise threatening to use physical violence against those who would remain within the limits of the autonomous region.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt from Kyuri Sabdulaev, the chairman of the organization named "The 'Vainakh' Chechen-Ingush National Cultural Centre", the beaten Chechens were oil workers, who worked at the local oil fields (out of the eight victims only one was not associated with the oil industry). They came to the cafe to celebrate the birthday of one of them.

The members of the Chechen Diaspora claim that this was not the first anti-Chechen action committed by Nizhnevartovsk power agents. In late July 2011, riot policemen from this city, deployed in Nefteyugansk after several explosions had been triggered there, were engaged in selective detentions and searches of Caucasian natives.

Injured Chechens say they were beaten repeatedly after they demanded to investigate the incident in the cafe

Adlan Orzaliev, the leader of the regional national-cultural autonomy of the Chechen-Ingush people, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Moldi Sanaev, who had filed a complaint to the ICRF against his beating by OMON fighters last September in Nizhnevartovsk, was repeatedly attacked by the same fighters.

According to his story, it was Sanaev who was attacked, because he alone stayed in Nizhnevartovsk, the rest of the victims have left.

Husein Israilov, a friend of one of the victims, said that after the beaten Chechens had filed a complaint with the local department of the ICRF, they were beaten again on January 12. When they went to complain about this attack, OMON agents stopped them just five hundred meters away from the entrance of the building and beaten for the third time.

Criminal case is investigated in relation to unidentified persons, while victims report threats to their advocate

According to relatives of the victims, an attempt was made to deny criminal investigation. "When the case was finally opened, it was filed against unidentified persons, although by entries in the on duty logs it was easy to establish those agents who were on duty then in the area where the beating happened," said Kyuri Sabdulaev.

Despite the fact that the case was opened rather long ago, its investigation is not yet over, said an employee of the ICRF, whom the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent managed to contact.

According to Husein Israilov, policemen say in informal conversations say that they will not let to sue their OMON colleagues and will close the case.

Recently, the lady-advocate hired by the victims began receiving threats. She was twice (last time in early April) visited by local power agents with threats and declarations.

The "Caucasian Knot" is monitoring the situation and has sent requests on the facts of the attacks on Chechens and threats to their advocate to N. V. Lukash, the head of the investigatory division for the city of Nizhnevartovsk of the Investigatory Department of the ICRF for Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District, and to V. I. Romanitsa, the head of the Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District.