IMC doctors wrongly and repeatedly exposed as suspected terrorists

We call your attention to the press release issued by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) on 27 September 2004:

The IHF is deeply concerned with the repeated exposure of fourteen medical doctors mistakenly labeled as terrorist suspects on Ministry of Interior / FSB leaflets and internet sites in the Russian Federation. After the Ministry of Interior apologized for the publication of leaflets in the spring of this year (but without offering any compensation), the leaflet reappeared slightly modified on 9 September 2004, a week after the Beslan hostage tragedy. It includes the names and photos of the same medical doctors, all of whom reside in Ingushetia and work for the International Medical Corp (IMC), a prominent international organization with its headquarters in Los Angeles, USA.

The leaflet appeared in the news column of the popular web resource www.rambler.ru , and now shows pictures of 17 women, who are said to be wanted by the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs on suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities on the territory of the Russian Federation. It was also published on at least two other popular webpages and in the North-Ossetian newspaper Slovo Nahis. Together with the fourteen medical doctors, the leaflet displays the names and photos of three women who are suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks, two of whom have already been arrested.

Below is the English translation of the said leaflet as featured at www.rambler.ru:
"Attention! These women are wanted on suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities in the territory of the Russian Federation. On suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities in the territory of the Russian Federation, the following persons are wanted by the law-enforcement agencies: If you have any information on their whereabouts or have seen either of them, do not undertake any independent actions but call the hotline of the joint operative headquarters of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation at (0195) 914-2222 to report this. You can also call the police station nearest to you.
(Photographs and names of the suspects)"

The document appeared for the first time in the aftermath of the 6 February 2004 bomb attack on the Moscow metro. It was displayed in a number of public places in Moscow, featuring names and photos of the fourteen women claiming that they were wanted by the police and were planning a terrorist attack similar to the 6 February one.

During a mission in Ingushetia and Chechnya in September, one of the fourteen women met by mission members gave the following testimony to the IHF: In that leaflet, they actually used the pictures that we had submitted to the IMC along with our job applications. For the IMC files, our pictures with our names spelled out in English and our hiring dates were saved on a computer disk and forwarded to the Moscow office of our employer-organization. In the "wanted" leaflet, everything is printed exactly like it was in that particular file. It says under each photograph: Doctor (NAME) and the relevant date. The only exception was the photo of Mrs. Uzhakhoeva under which it was also written in Russian that she was the first wife of Shamil Basaev (In fact Mrs Uzhakhoeva is married and has five children).

The Ingush Deputy of the Russian Federation State Duma, B. Kodzoev addressed an inquiry  to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, V. Ustinov, transmitting the reports of the women "that their pictures were put up in Moscow along with "wanted" signs in connection with their alleged involvement in terrorist organizations", and that "such leaflets could be seen at police stations, at the operative search unit of the Moscow Police Department, at several metro stations, at the Sheremetyevo-1 and Sheremetyevo-2 airports, and in the supermarket 'Stolitsa' located in the South of Moscow". Mr Kodzoev further requested to inform him on which grounds the women were wanted by police. He expressed his concern that their rights were violated by law-enforcement officials.

The answer to his request indicates that "the information on the alleged participation of the aforementioned women in acts of sabotage and terrorism, as well as their color photos, was sent to the Center 'T' under the GUBOP SKM Department of the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia. From thereon, the pictures were sent to the Moscow City Police Department to be used in the operative-search activities of anti-terrorist nature." It concludes by assuring that "at the present time, all units of the Moscow City Police Department were ordered to destroy the photographs of the aforesaid persons."

After an extensive exchange of letters by different state bodies the "misunderstanding" finally appeared to be corrected, and it was officially stated that all the necessary measures were taken to void the pictures from public domain. The Ombudsman of the Russian Federation V. Lukin could inform the Chair of the People's Assembly of Ingushetia, M. Sakalov, that "at the moment, an internal investigation into the issue is being conducted by the Moscow City Prosecutor's Office", and that "V. Pronin, Police Lieutenant-General and Head of the Chief Department of the Internal Affairs in the City of Moscow, sent his regrets to the doctors of the International Medical Corps."

Law-enforcement agencies claimed that the list of women and their photographs were found in an illegal weapon storage belonging to Kh. Tazabaev, head of a terrorist group that actively used suicide bombers. This official version does not sound very convincing, but even if it would be true, it would very negligent to publish the leaflets without running at least a preliminary check on the identities of the given women by contacting the relevant registration authorities of Ingushetia and Chechnya. With the addresses and professions of all the women the authorities could have easily and fast found out that they are all peaceful citizens of Ingushetia and Chechnya.

When the old leaflet reappeared now with the revisions described above, the fourteen female doctors were quite frightened by this development and actually called the number given in the leaflet, indicating that they were the very individuals wanted by the joint operative headquarters of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The response they got was to call back in one week. And when the women then went to the Ingushetia FSB in the town of Magas, the security guard did not let them into the building but emphasized nevertheless that if they had not been guilty they would not have been wanted either.

The IHF is seriously concerned with the repeated exposure as suspected terrorists of the fourteen doctors on staff of the prominent humanitarian organization International Medical Corps. Regrettably, it appears that the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation handled personal data irresponsibly. We urge the Russian Government to take immediate measures to protect the private lives of the 14 doctors and ensure that the repeated violation of their rights is effectively remedied.