Chechens being purged from Moscow?

Chris Doss itschris13 at hotmail.com
Wed Nov 6 07:46:49 PST 2002


Vremya Novostei November 6, 2002 CHECHENS BEING OUSTED FROM MOSCOW The police are purging Moscow of Chechens, in violation of the law Author: Anastasia Naryshkina [from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html] HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATES SVETLANA GANNUSHKINA AND YELENA BURTINA HAVE REPORTED GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BY THE MOSCOW POLICE. POLICE ARE DETAINING CHECHENS AND KEEPING THEM IN JAIL JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR ETHNICITY, WITHOUT EVEN CITING ANY INSTRUCTIONS.

On November 5, at a press conference, Memorial human rights group member Svetlana Gannushkina and Yelena Burtina from the Civilian Assistance public committee reported that the Moscow police are detaining civilian Chechens in Moscow, recording their specific features, taking photos of them, taking their fingerprints, and even weighing them and recording their height - without producing any documents permitting these activities. Police refer only to television reports. The human rights advocates told the story of the Gelogaev familiy. On the morning of October 25, plain-clothes police came to their Moscow apartment and took away Mr. Gelogaev in handcuffs, without explaining anything despite the fact that he had all the necessary ID papers with him.

Mr. Gelogaev was lucky: his wife phoned Radio Liberty and her report about the detention of her husband was broadcast.

It seems that only publicity can help in such cases. The story of Aelita Shidaeva, a young woman who works in a cafe near the Maryino metro station, suggests the same idea. Aelita was detained and taken to the Maryinsky Part interior affairs department, where she was kept for seven hours. Police were intimidating her, demanding that she confess her links with terrorists. Aelita's mother, a teacher of Russian, phoned the Echo of Moscow radio station and contacted prominent lawyer Abdulla Khamzaev and Duma deputy Aslanbek Aslakhanov. Calls from the Echo of Moscow and from the editorial staff of "The New York Times" were of help: Aelita was released that night.

Human rights groups consider that despite regulations of the government, the law enforcement agencies are openly ousting Chechens from Moscow. Svetlana Ganushkina said that some of her colleagues who registered families of Chechen refugees in their apartments cannot prolong their residency registration. The police are saying, without citing any documents, that people from the Caucasus cannot be registered in Moscow, and if they are registered for some reason, this residency registration can be valid for no more than ten days. (Translated by Kirill Frolov)

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