Human rights activists: people are tortured in illegal prisons in Chechnya

"Information has arrived repeatedly that in Tsentoroj, the family village of the Kadyrovs in Chechnya, there is an illegal custody of earlier kidnapped persons, who are subject to tortures there. The most well-known episode is the keeping in the village of the relatives of Aslan Maskhadov, former leader of Chechen separatists. It is now clear why the delegation of the Committee Against Tortures of the Council of Europe was first not let, and on the following day was permitted to visit the village: in the small Tsentoroj within half an hour the kidnapped persons may be easily removed from one place to another," Alexander Cherkasov, member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial," told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot."

Hampering the work of inspectors of the Council of Europe is a breach of international liabilities of Russia, Cherkasov asserts. According to Sergey Davidis, head of the legal group of the Anti-War Club, this is also a breach of the home legislation of the country. Foreign citizens, legally residing in the territory of the Russian Federation, have the right to visit any dwelling settlement of the country, except the places, specifically referenced in federal laws or normative regulations of the government of Russia. If the access into the village was restricted by officials of a subject of the federation, this offence is qualified in the RF Criminal Code as "arbitrariness" (Article 330 of the CCRF), the lawyer explained to the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot."

The illegal prison in the village of Tsentoroj of the Kurchaloj District of Chechnya is controlled by the so-called "Kadyrovtsy," the fighters of the Security Service of the president of Chechen Republic (ChR) - the strongest power agency formed in Chechnya out of local residents in the times of Akhmad-Hadji Kadyrov. It comprised many of those who fought against the federal forces and then agreed to surrender under personal guarantees of Akhmad-Hadji. The structure was headed by his son Ramzan Kadyrov. After the death of A.-H. Kadyrov, the service was reorganized into the regiment of Patrol-Post Service of Militia (PPSM 2). Also, the "Kadyrovtsy" formed the Anti-Terrorist Centre of the MIA of the Republic. Recently, these units were transformed into the "Sever" (North) and "Yug" (South) battalions of Internal Troops, and will formally subordinate to the command of the North-Caucasian Zone of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation. In the opinion of many experts, the real power over the new battalions will remain in the hands of Ramzan Kadyrov.

Illegal custodies in Chechnya, according to mass media and human rights activists, are located also in the territory of the Operations and Search Bureau of the North-Caucasian Operations Department of the Chief Administration of the MIA of Russia in the South Federal District ("OSB-2") in Grozny and Russian Military Base in Khankala, and in some other places where power units are deployed. One of the residents of Chechnya told the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" that such illegal prison is located, in particular, in the territory of the FSB RF unit in the village of Starye Atagi.

The illegal prison in Tsentoroj kept not only the relatives of Aslan Maskhadov, but also many other people. The report of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial" named "Hostage-Taking and Repressive Actions in Relation to Relatives of Supposed Combatants" presents a number of such facts. Thus, under the information available with human rights activists, Nurzhan Aisultanova, detained in March 2004 and accused of assisting Aslan Maskhadov, was kept in this prison until June 2004.

In another episode, on July 25, 2004, in the city of Gudermes, the fighters of Ramzan Kadyrov detained Makhmud, Marzhan, Ali and Magomed Jabrailovs in connection with the fact that one of Jabrailovs was a participant of illegal armed formations of the ChR. On July 31 of the same year, it became known from the residents of the Republic, who were released from the illegal prison in the village of Tsentoroj, that the Jabrailovs were kept there. It was established later that several days before another Jabrailov - Musa - was put into the same prison and was subjected there to "most violent tortures." They immediately shot his leg through, and then took him to interrogations wounded. After ten days of tortures, in a heavy condition he was taken to the surgical ward of the Gudermes hospital No. 2. As soon as M. Jabrailov could move by his own, he was again taken to Tsentoroj. And only after that, on August 16, 2004, his relatives were released.

On the night of July 30, 2004, in Gudermes, "Kadyrovtsy" detained Adam Kagermanov. They told the relatives that he would be released only after the detainee's son - Aslan Kagermanov - would come to them. It became known to the relatives from the persons who were released from Tsentoroj that Adam Kagermanov was kept in the prison illegally functioning in the territory of this village.

In August 2004, in the village of Mekenskaya of the Naurskiy District of Chechnya unknown armed persons kidnapped and forced away Zaira Magomadova from her home. The kidnappers told her mother that they were "members of Kadyrov's security service" and were taking her daughter to Hose-Yurt (Tsentoroj) to clarify certain circumstances.

On July 22, 2005, the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" was told at the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office (CMPO) that "there is data that 11 residents of Borozdinovskaya village kidnapped on June 4, 2005, had been kept for some time in the private prison of Ramzan Kadyrov in Tsentoroj." According to the investigators of the military prosecutor's office, about these facts "they learnt from operative sources." "However, we cannot check the information - they just wouldn't let us into the village," the employee of the CMPO stated. "They have their own power there, and federal structures do not mean anything there."

According to an employee of the FSB Department for Chechnya, "now, the real power belongs to Ramzan Kadyrov and his retinue. The control everything in the Republic - from exports of oil to kidnapping people." According to the operations agent, he personally, while "at an ordinary tour to Tsentoroj, saw there the people who had been detained in Borodzinovskaya village."

The HRC "Memorial" was not able to confirm the information disseminated by the public organization "Council of Non-Governmental Organizations," which is based in Ingushetia, that at the very end of April this year, in the village of Tsentoroj over 20 persons were kidnapped by armed soldiers in camouflage suits and taken to unknown places. On the request of the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot," Dmitri Grushkin, the worker of the Moscow's "Memorial," contacted with the representatives of the Organization in Gudermes and Grozny, who told him that they have no information about this incident in Tsentoroj.

According to mass media and human rights activists, illegal custodies in Chechnya are located also in the territory of the Operations and Search Bureau (OSB-2) of the North-Caucasian Operations Department of the Chief Administration of the MIA of Russia in the South Federal District located in Grozny, and on the Russian military base in Khankala, and in some other places where power units are deployed. One of the residents of Chechnya state today to the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" that such an illegal prison is located, in particular, in the territory of the detachment of the FSB of the RF in the village of Starye Atagi.

We remind you that yesterday the delegation Committee of the Council of Europe Against Tortures, headed by deputy chairman of the Committee Mauro Palma, visited the village of Tsentoroj of the Kurchaloj District of the Chechen Republic.

"Members of the European Commission visited in the village the base, where Company No. 9 of the MIA of the Chechen Republic is deployed, a local ambulance station, and the school, to be able to assess the social level of local citizens," reported the Ombudsman in Chechnya Nurdi Nukhazhiev, who is accompanying the delegation in their tours over the Republic. Nukhazhiev stressed that "the members of the Commission were free to choose the objects for visiting, and nobody prevented them in their travels or visiting this or that object," the RIA "Novosti" reports.
 
Earlier, on May 1, the delegation of the Committee tried to get into the village of Tsentoroj, however, the security members on duty at the entrance to the settlement would not let the human rights activists into the village. Mauro Palma called this incident unacceptable. President of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov, who met the members of the delegation yesterday, said that "a misunderstanding took place." "You should understand that the family of Akhmad Kadyrov, former president who died as a result of a terror act, is living in this village, and under decision of the president and parliament of the Chechen Republic, the village is specially guarded," Alkhanov said. According to him, these measures have been undertaken since "even today there are intents to undertake actions in relation to the members of the Kadyrovs family."