Russia Rapes, Tortures, and Excecutes

Eto dlya tebya, gospodin Petukhov.


http://www.kavkaz.org.uk/eng/article.php?id=2643

LONDON - Several human rights groups are condemning what they say are
widespread abuses in the Russian republic of Chechnya and refugee camps
in neighbouring Ingushetia.

The groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, say
they have new evidence of rape, torture and summary execution of Chechen
civilians by Russian troops.

"The climate of abuse and impunity in Chechnya is now spilling over into
Ingushetia and threatening stability there, too," said Anna Neistat,
Moscow director for Human Rights Watch, in a statement on the
organization's website.

"Russia's assurances of 'normalization' in the region should no longer
obscure the vision of the international community. A resolution on
Chechnya and Ingushetia will send the message that these continuing
abuses must stop."

Russia insists that life in the breakaway republic is slowly returning
to normal after several years of war.

But the groups reject Moscow's line, saying the cycle of violence is
escalating. "The government is using a mixed policy of threats and
incentives to get the displaced persons to return (to Chechnya), with
blatant disregard for their well-founded fears about security," said
Neistat.

Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov said the West ignores Russian abuses in
Chechnya and branded its concern for human rights a sham. "I think the
international community's behaviour towards Chechnya is immoral," he
said in an interview published on Thursday on Chechen Press website

Memorial, the only major rights group active in Chechnya, said 78 people
were abducted in Chechnya, 41 of whom then disappeared, in the first
three months of 2004. Rights groups blame many of these abductions on
Kadyrov's forces.

Maskhadov said Washington ignored Russian violations for its own
reasons. "The Americans are playing their own game with Russia and,
unfortunately, often play the Chechen card," he said. "I do not doubt
that they are well-informed about what real terrorism is."

Maskhadov was elected president of an effectively independent Chechnya
in 1997 shortly after his guerrillas fought the Russian army to its
knees.