Check of information on torture in secret prisons is under way in Chechnya

Officers of the riot squad combined unit from Khanty-Mansijsk autonomous okrug are suspected of arranging in Grozny, the Chechen capital, a secret prison where detainees were tortured. The prosecutor's office of Chechnya has initiated criminal cases against the militiamen, and in the course of the investigation, information on torture is being checked, informs "Regnum" information agency.

Olga Rogozina, assistant of the Chechen prosecutor, has confirmed that the check is connected with the information on discovering a secret prison in Grozny in the building of the former base of the Khanty-Mansijsk unit. She claims that there is no detailed information, as the guilt of the suspects has not been proved, reports Lenta.ru.

For reference, on May 29, 30 and 31, employees of the "Memorial" human rights centre examined and made video and photo records of vacant buildings in the Chechen capital where prior to May 27 the RF MIA Operational Group in October district of Grozny had been dislocated, and previously the Temporary department of internal affairs (TDIA) of the district, reports Dmitri Grushkin, employee of the "Memorial" HRC to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to the human rights activists, people were held in the basements of the buildings, were tortured and killed there.

During the night of May 31, unknown persons destroyed inscriptions on the walls of the cells for detainees and arrested persons in the basement of the building. At present, the building is pulled down. A team of builders was sent there for pulling it down already on the following day after the RF MIA Operational Group had left its dislocation place, runs the message of the "Memorial" HRC handed over by Dmitri Grushkin to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

A video on the basement where detainees and arrested persons had been held, and on the documents found there, was broadcast on May 29 night over the Chechen TV. Only after that, on May 30, representatives of the district administration, prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic (ChR), militia, a group of mine pickers, and FSS drove to the building of the former asylum. They inspected the building and the basement, and opened two sealed rooms. In the evening a group of soldiers came to pick up the papers which still remained there.

The prosecutor's office employees demanded the photo album from the "Memorial" HRC which, according to them, "may be of use in investigating criminal cases on the disappearance of people in October TDIA." The "Memorial" complied with the request. The human rights activists also handed over to the prosecutor's office some other documents which they had found in the premises of the former asylum.

As early as on May 25, in the course of the meeting with Alu Alkhanov, President of Chechnya, representatives of the "Memorial" HRC and the "Civil Assistance" committee mentioned that the RF MIA Operational Group in October district of Grozny and the Independent Operational Brigade of RF MIA were leaving Grozny and it was necessary to inspect their dislocation places in the presence of representatives from the prosecutor's office, law-enforcement agencies and human rights organizations, since there were numerous indications that detained residents of Grozny "had been disappearing" there. The meeting was attended by the prosecutor and deputy minister of internal affairs of Chechnya.

On May 26, officers of the Russian MIA Operational Group in the October district of Grozny vacated the building they had occupied. The group consisted of militiamen dispatched to Chechnya from different regions of Russia. In 2000-2003 the Temporary Department of Internal Affairs of October district was located there. In the process of transferring the power to local law-enforcement agencies, the TDIA was transformed into the Operational Group which now has ceased to exist.