Organization: Human Rights Watch - Moscow Office
Subject: EU MUST DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CHECHEN WAR CRIMES
Please find below a letter sent to French President Jacques Chirac
urging him to take a strong stand on accountability for war crimes in
Chechnya during the upcoming E.U. summit meeting with Putin.
Mr. Jacques Chirac
President de la Republique
Palais de l'Elysee
Faubourg St. Honore
F-75008 Paris
Brussels, October 26, 2000
Your Excellency,
We are writing in advance of the upcoming European Union Summit meeting
with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris to urge a strong E.U.
position on accountability for war crimes in Chechnya and on related
problems of rule of law in Russia.
Human Rights Watch maintained a continuous research presence in
Ingushetia from November 1999 through May 2000 and we have monitored the
conflict from our Moscow office since then. We have exhaustively
documented war crimes and other violations of international human rights
and humanitarian law committed by both parties to the conflict,
overwhelmingly by Russian forces. These include the mass, summary
execution of civilians, arbitrary detention and subsequent beating and
torture of detainees, the indiscriminate bombardment of densely
populated areas, systematic looting, and rape. Chechen forces have
violated humanitarian law by summarily executing servicemen they have
captured, physically abusing civilians, and violating civilian immunity.
In advance of the E.U.-Russia Summit we are releasing a report detailing
the cycle of torture and extortion faced by thousands of Chechens whom
Russian forces have detained in Chechnya. We enclose a copy of the
report, entitled "Welcome to Hell," which describes how Russian troops
have detained thousands of Chechens on suspicion of collaboration with
rebel fighters. Many of them were detained arbitrarily, with no evidence
of wrongdoing. Guards at detention centers systematically beat Chechen
detainees, some of whom have also been raped or subjected to other forms
of torture. Most were released only after their families managed to pay
large bribes to Russian officials. Russian authorities have launched no
credible and transparent effort to investigate these abuses and bring
the perpetrators to justice. "Welcome to hell" is how guards at the
Chernokozovo detention facility would greet detainees, before forcing
them to undergo a hail of blows by baton-wielding guards. These are not
only abuses of the past. Chechen civilians still are at risk of
arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse at the hands of Russian
troops. Chechens who do not have proper identity papers, who share a
surname with a Chechen commander, who are thought to have relatives who
are fighters, or who simply "look" like fighters, continue to be
detained and abused on a daily basis in their communities or at
Chechnya's hundreds of checkpoints. Many "disappear" for months as
Russian officials keep them in incommunicado detention. Some are
eventually released when relatives pay a bribe. Others never come back.
Fear of detention has prevented tens of thousands of internally
displaced persons from returning to their homes in Chechnya. It has also
confined those who have remained inside Chechnya, particularly young
men, to their homes or communities.
In April the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted an E.U.
sponsored resolution deploring abuses in Chechnya and calling on Russia
to investigate them. The resolution called on Russia to invite five
U.N. thematic mechanisms to visit Chechnya and instructed these
mechanisms to report to the Commission and to the General Assembly. The
resolution called on Russia to take specific action to investigate
violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and to
cooperate with intergovernmental and nongovernmental agencies seeking to
conduct their own inquiries. The centerpiece was a requirement that
Russia establish a national commission of inquiry to investigate abuses,
in order to hold accountable their perpetrators. This signified that
henceforth Russia's commitment to accountability would be assessed by
the way in which it mounted a credible and impartial inquiry. The
resolution also urged Russian cooperation with the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the
International Committee of the Red Cross, and other international and
regional organizations.
Resolution 2000/58 represented perhaps the broadest consensus among
international actors that impunity would not be countenanced in
Chechnya; it also marked the first time the Commission had singled out a
permanent member of the Security Council in this manner. The E.U.
obviously viewed implementation of the resolution as the best hope for
accountability and accordingly set aside alternative measures, such as
an interstate complaint before the European Court of Human Rights, in
favor of the process set out in the resolution.
However, the Russian government has rejected the resolution and refused
to implement its chief requirements in a transparent manner. Six months
after the resolution's adoption, Russia has made no meaningful progress
toward establishing accountability for abuse. It has invited only two
thematic mechanisms to visit Chechnya and neighboring regions (the
Special Rapporteur on violence against women and Special Representative
of the Secretary General for children and armed conflict). These
thematic mechanisms have been informed that their visits can only take
place "in general exercise" of their mandates and not in connection with
the resolution. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions, Special Rapporteur on torture and Special
Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons
are still waiting for an invitation. To its credit, Russia has
permitted limited access to Chechnya to Council of Europe
representatives. In the attached memorandum we discuss the inadequacy
of the Russian response to each of the key requirements specified by the
U.N. Commission on Human Rights in this resolution.
The E.U. has sharply criticized Russia's actions in Chechnya and it has
repeatedly called for justice for violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law. However, the E.U. has blatantly failed
to press Russia to implement key recommendations outlined in the UNCHR
resolution.
We therefor strongly urge the E.U. to express its profound dismay with
the failure of Russian authorities to date to engage in good faith
investigations. We urge you to reinforce with President Putin that the
E.U. will assess the credibility of the Russian effort to implement the
UNCHR recommendation according to a set of actions which the E.U.
expects the Russian President to undertake without any further delay.
These actions should include:
-- invitations to all the UN mechanisms mentioned in the UNCHR
resolution;
-- invitation to Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights, enabling her to undertake the follow-up that the resolution
charges her with;
violations of international humanitarian law;
A staff chosen according to principles of impartiality and specially
trained to carry out human rights investigations;
Unimpeded access to evidence, witnesses, and classified documents;
The legal authority to subpoena evidence and witnesses;
The formal ability to submit evidence to prosecutorial authorities;
Full cooperation on the part of the military procuracy and other
military agencies, particularly toward obtaining records and other
information vital for establishing responsibility for abuse and toward
interviewing suspected perpetrators of abuse;
Full and unfettered access to any area of the conflict zone, and
conditions that would allow an investigative team to interview persons
freely and in private;
Full and unfettered access to any detention facility, wherever it may be
in Russia, where people have been detained in relation to the conflict
(including unannounced visits), and the ability to meet with individuals
in private;
Active monitoring of criminal investigations and trials of those accused
of crimes in relation to the conflict; this requires full cooperation on
the part of the procuracy and other investigative and criminal justice
agencies;
Cooperation and coordination with Russian and international
organizations active in documenting human rights and international
humanitarian law violations in the conflict. This would be best served
by regular consultation and information-sharing; and
Full transparency, achieved by making public the results of
investigations and other work, instances when authorities attempt in any
way to hinder the work of the commission, or when they fail to take
appropriate action in response to evidence of serious abuse that the
commission may present during the course of its work;
-- present a list of those individuals who will serve on such a
commission of inquiry;
We also urge the E.U. to initiate an effort to obtain comprehensive
information about the current status of Russia investigations into human
rights and humanitarian law crimes committed in the context of the
Chechen conflict. Such information should include:
-- the number and nature investigations that have been initiated by
the Military and the Civilian
Procuracy respectively;
-- which incidents are under investigations e.g. Aldi,
Staropromyslovski, Alkan Yurt;
-- which crimes are being investigated;
-- to what extent the investigations involve crimes committed against
civilians;
-- information on the number and nature of prosecutions so far.
The Russian government should be put on notice that continued failure to
make significant progress on implementing the UNCHR resolution, will
trigger the launching by E.U. member states of an inter-state complaint
against Russia before the European Court of Human Rights, alleging
breaches of the European Human Rights Conventions to which Russia is a
state party. The E.U. should establish a deadline by which time it
expects this progress to have been made.
All the above mentioned concerns and suggested benchmarks and
recommendations are significant indicators of Russia's credibility
vis-a-vis its commitment to rule of law and international human rights
principles. The Russian government's complete disregard for the E.U.
sponsored UNCHR resolution and thus with the primary international human
rights body, together with its systematic violation of international
humanitarian and human rights law, should seriously call into question
its commitment to abide by international agreements in other fields as
well.
We thank you for your attention to these concerns and wish the E.U . a
successful summit.
Sincerely yours,
Lotte
Leicht
Rachel Denber
Brussels
Director
Acting Director
Human Rights
Watch
Europe & Central Asia Division
cc: Mr. Thierry Dana, Conseiller Technique
Mr. Pierre Vimont, Permanent Representative to the EU
Mr. V. Likhachev, Mission of the Russian Federation to the
EU
--
Diederik Lohman,
Director, Moscow Office
Human Rights Watch
Russian Federation, Moscow 125267, A/Ya 2
Tel: 7 095 250 6852
Fax: 7 095 250 6853
dlohman@hrw.glasnet.ru
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