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Seeking justice in
Chechnya
By Gregory Feifer
MOSCOW - Representatives of Russian and
international rights groups in Moscow have commended a
decision by the European Court of Human Rights to hear
six cases filed by Chechens alleging violations by
Russian forces in the war-torn region.
They said
that the move represents a significant, if symbolic,
victory for Chechens who have long petitioned the
international community to take seriously accusations
that the Russian military is carrying out atrocities
such as arbitrary detentions, summary executions,
torture and rape.
Bjorn Engesland,
secretary-general of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee,
said that the decision was a clear signal to Russia.
"Being part of international institutions such as the
Council of Europe also brings with it [legal]
obligations. This is a clear example of what it means to
be part of the Council of Europe: that if you violate
and gravely abuse the human rights of your own citizens,
and don't deal with it in a sufficient way within your
own legal system, it will eventually be dealt with by
the international human rights court in Strasbourg,"
Engesland said.
Two of the plaintiffs accuse
Russian soldiers of torturing and executing family
members in the Chechen capital Grozny in 2000. Another
three complain that Russian planes bombed civilians
fleeing the capital. The sixth alleges Russian forces
killed his son and three nieces in a Chechen village in
2000.
Moscow launched its first post-Soviet
conflict in Chechnya in 1994. It ended after a 1996
peace settlement but was reignited by then-Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin in 1999 and continues with no
end in sight.
Chechens and rights groups accuse
Russian soldiers of harassing the local population and
committing regular abuses, often during so-called
zachistki, or mopping-up operations. They also
allege that Moscow is coercing refugees to return to
their homes in the region, where the infrastructure has
been devastated during the years of conflict.
Court spokesman Roderick Liddell said that the
ruling on admissibility is only the first stage of the
process and that it is unclear how long it will take to
reach a decision in the cases. "It's impossible to say
at this stage how long it will take to deliver judgment
in these cases. I would say normally one would expect a
judgment to follow the admissibility decision within one
year to 18 months, but I've absolutely no means of
guaranteeing that that would be the case in this
instance," Liddell said.
The court, based in the
French city of Strasbourg, is investigating another 100
complaints from Chechens for possible hearings, AFP
reported.
Akhmed Zakaev, a top aide to Chechen
separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, said the Strasbourg
court's decision to hear the six cases is inappropriate
and doesn't go far enough. He told RFE/RL's North
Caucasus Service: "The Strasbourg court does not have
the authority to bring to trial those who committed
these terrible crimes. What is happening in the
[Chechen] Republic does not call for financial
compensation, because it is mainly murder, violence and
humiliation, which is impossible to compensate
financially. For three or four years now, our leadership
has been seeking the creation of an international
committee to investigate these horrible crimes with the
subsequent creation of an international tribunal that
would put on trial the war criminals who committed those
crimes."
Russian officials also criticized the
decision. Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, Moscow's human rights
ombudsman for Chechnya, accused the move of being
politically motivated. "Unfortunately, some officials in
the Council of Europe make a political game out of
regular court deliberations," Interfax quoted Sultygov
as saying. "They simply want to tell the world to see
how everything in Russia is bad."
Valentina
Melnikova is a leader of the Union of Soldiers' Mothers
Committees of Russia, which works to protect young men
from abuses in the Russian military. She said Sultygov
does not have the constitutional right to hinder the
rights of Russian citizens to appeal to the court.
Speaking during a Moscow news conference, during which
the international Human Rights House Network umbrella
group issued a statement condemning the war in Chechnya,
Melnikova went on to praise the court decision as "good
and right".
"An appeal to the European Court
[for human rights] is an open appeal to all states. It
is an open investigation of the violations of these
people's rights," Melnikova said.
Other rights
defenders in Moscow said they hoped the court decision
would help change the situation inside and outside
Russia. Tatyana Lokshina, executive director of the
Moscow Helsinki Group, said the move was a positive step
toward resolving the Chechnya issue. "We know of so many
people who have been trying to appeal to Strasbourg. And
it's a very symbolic thing that those cases will finally
be considered. It is very important that the Chechen
people continue to have hope in justice, continue to
have hope in democratic values," Lokshina said.
Boris Altshuler, head of the Moscow-based Rights
of the Child organization, said the European court's
decision could help affect the government's stance on
Chechnya. "Exactly this type of interference - and the
stronger, the better - will help the Russian president
develop at least some minimal control over his own armed
forces and special forces, which he doesn't have today.
They act autonomously from the president and Russia in
their own financial interests. This whole nightmare
comes from that," Altshuler said.
Aaron Rhodes
is executive director of the Vienna-based International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, which unites
groups based in a number of countries and has made
Chechnya one of its priority issues. He said the court's
decision might lead the international community to
increase its opposition to the war in Chechnya. "If the
cases are won, it would give legitimization to the cause
of these victims. It would be a demonstration by
independent and international judicial authorities that
these crimes have actually taken place. And that will
help, hopefully, to resolve the problem," Rhodes said.
Human Rights Watch this week called the war in
Chechnya Europe's worst rights crisis. The organization
criticized the international community, including the
United Nations Human Rights Commission, for failing to
adequately condemn Russia's conduct in Chechnya.
Last month, Moscow refused to extend the mandate
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe to monitor violations in Chechnya.
Copyright (c) 2003, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC
20036
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