"Memorial" insists that an illegal prison existed in Chechnya

"A temporary detention facility of the TDIA was located on this territory, it functioned normally and was not a secret site," yesterday, June 7, Valery Kuznetsov, prosecutor of Chechnya, stated before journalists, while discussing the materials disseminated by the "Memorial" human rights centre the day before, which demonstrated that a secret MIA prison had existed on the territory of the former asylum for deaf children in Grozny, where people had been tortured and killed, reports NEWSru.com.

"The prosecutor has been a little bit sly. The word "secret" is really not entirely exact. It should rather be called an illegal prison. In effect, while the temporary department of internal affairs (TDIA) was located there, the existence of a prison, such as a pre-trial detention facility, was legitimate. But the TDIA ceased to exist several years ago (disbanded in 2003), and up to May 27 its place was occupied by the RF MIA Operational Group in October district of Grozny. Traces in the cells indicate that, up to mid-May of this year, people were held in the basement of the former asylum. From the moment of the TDIA liquidation, there should not have been detention facilities there," commented Alexander Cherkasov, member of board of the "Memorial" human rights centre, to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"It is the same as with ОRB-2. Under the law, detainees may be held in temporary detention facilities (TDF), or in pre-trial prisons (PTP). TDF must be located at district departments of internal affairs under the public security militia structures, while the operational group belongs to the criminal militia structure which should not have it own detention facilities. PTP have been withdrawn from MIA and subordinated to the Ministry of Justice, and likewise the TDF do not belong to operational or investigation units. The reverse would be a violation of the law," says Cherkasov.

Talking about the time when the Temporary Department of Internal Affairs was located on the territory of the former asylum in Grozny, Alexander Cherkasov noted that, although the detention facility there was legitimate, "still, people have been disappearing and tortured."

In his turn, Nurdi Nulhazhiev, ombudsman in Chechnya, as the "Caucasian Knot" has already reported, has refuted the information of the human rights activists on the discovery in the centre of Grozny of a secret prison where people were tortured and killed. "I have officially addressed the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic on this issue. An investigation has been conducted. No evidence leading to any conclusion that people were tortured and killed has been found," stated Nukhazhiev to "Interfax."

"If the information in the "Memorial" statement were true, this issue would never have been ignored by Alu Alkhanov, President of Chechnya, or by Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Government. However, someone wants to aggravate the situation here, and I regret to state this," added the Chechen ombudsman.

"Nukhazhiev's statement that, if people had been tortured and killed in the prison on the territory of the former asylum in October district of Grozny the Chechen authorities would not have ignored this, lacks logic. It is after the meeting of human rights activists with Chechen authorities, where the issue of inspection of the building was raised, that workers were sent there to pull it down," said А. Cherkasov to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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.

According to numerous facts collected by human rights activists, detainees and arrested persons have been tortured in the TDIA of October district. The "Memorial" HRC cites an example of Alavdi Sadykov held there in April 2000: the Khanty-Mansijsk militia unit officers cut off his left ear. Many of individuals brought to the department have disappeared, according to the information of the human rights centre.

"To a considerable degree, this grim notoriety is connected with the activity of the combined militia unit (CMU) from Khanty-Mansijsk autonomous okrug (it was often wrongly referred to as Khanty-Mansijsk riot squad) dispatched to the October district TDIA in 2000-2001. A second dispatch of this unit to Grozny in spring 2002 caused protests from human rights organizations. The Khanty-Mansijsk militia unit was also dispatched to Grozny in subsequent years. In April 2001, local residents found several dead bodies in the basements of semi-destroyed houses near the building of the October district TDIA. After that, the soldiers exploded the vacant buildings surrounding the TDIA. The ruins started to be cleaned but on the following day the ways to the building were blocked. Officials hastily announced that there had been no bodies in the ruins. The ChR prosecutor's office initiated several criminal cases on the facts of disappearance of detainees and torture in the October district TDIA, however, only one of them was partially investigated," runs the report of the "Memorial" HRC.