Chapter 6 – Illegal Methods Used in the “Counter-Terrorist Operation” by Chechen Enforcement Groups

Chapter 6 – Illegal Methods Used in the “Counter-Terrorist Operation” by Chechen Enforcement Groups

Hostage-taking and Abuse of Official Powers to Execute Personal Vendettas or Attain Personal Gain

In December 2004, eight of Maskhadov’s close relatives, including one of his sisters, were illegally detained, allegedly by representatives of the Security Service. The relatives were released in June 2005, almost three months after the authorities killed Aslan Maskhadov in circumstances that are not entirely clear. The relatives have so far refused to disclose where they were held and by whom, apparently afraid of the possible consequences of going to the courts or the media. But the surrender of Khambiev and the killing of Maskhadov are far from the only such cases. Behind the high profile hostage taking episodes, there are a large number of similar cases targeting families of less well-known commanders and other suspected Ichkerian fighters.

Although it is impossible to give a clear estimate of the number of such cases – since many families are afraid to speak, and since human rights monitors only cover parts of Chechnya -- the practice of hostage taking continues. Many families have been targeted, and the illegal practice contributes to the climate of fear pervasive in Chechnya today. Below are two examples of hostage taking incidents reported to the Memorial monitors in October 2005. For security reasons the names of the individuals and families involved have been changed.

Hostage Taking in Grozny

The background for the detention and torture of Ali were the activities of his son, “Khamzat”. Khamzat joined the Ichkerian fighters, but was captured in 2003 by the “kadyrovtsy”, tortured and threatened. As a result, Khamzat joined the ranks of the “kadyrovtsy” and became a unit commander in his home village in order to reveal and eliminate his former colleagues. Khamzat was looking for ways to escape the “kadyrovtsy”. After an accident in the fall of 2004, Khamzat was severely injured. When attempting to seek medical assistance in clinics in Southern Russia, he was apprehended and questioned by the FSB. Apparently scared by these encounters, and the prospect of conflicts with his superiors among “kadyrovtsy”, Khamzat used the opportunity to leave Chechnya and apply for asylum in a European country. His former colleagues apparently assumed that Khamzat had returned to the Ichkerian fighters, and consequently detained his family. However, the SB continued to hold his father even after having established his current whereabouts in Western Europe, in order to make him return, or in order to punish the family for Khamzat’s “desertion”. Ali was released without documents, and is afraid that he may be detained again in the future.

On the night of 9 October 2005 in the village Kurchaloy, fifty-year old Isa Dzabikhadziev, was detained in his home by masked servicemen who arrived in unmarked UAZ cars. They did not identify themselves. However, before detaining Isa, the men raided a neighboring house by mistake. Witnesses claim that among the masked men was Lyoma Salmanov, a local head of the SB who, according to customary law, was in blood-feud with the Dzabikhadziev family after having killed one of Isa’s sons.⁴⁴ Isa’s relatives think that the abduction is connected with the departure of another son of Isa, Usman, in August 2005 -- apparently he left home to join the Ichkerian fighters, fearing that if he stayed, he too would be targeted by the SB. Salmanov may have wanted to safeguard himself against revenge, and consequently took Usman’s father as a hostage. By the end of October, the whereabouts of Isa Dzabikhadziev were still unknown.

The case of Isa Dzabikhadziev, illustrates that the conflict in Chechnya is fuelled in part by feuds between families and individuals that have no ideological, political or religious basis. Chechen men and boys join the Ichkerian fighters in order to revenge themselves on individuals in the state security services, or in order to seek protection from the security services.
Abuse of Official Powers for Execution of Personal Vendettas or Attaining Personal Gain
Using the powers handed to them by the state, pro-federal Chechen commanders, like Lyoma Salmanov, ruthlessly persecute individuals and families they perceive as a threat. The cases below illustrate why Chechen society today is trapped in a climate of fear. Paramilitary leaders, who often have serious criminal records, have had their formations incorporated into the state institutions (whether under the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or directly under Vice Premier Ramzan Kadyrov in the Chechen government), and now use their powers to eliminate anyone perceived to be a threat against themselves and their interests. In some cases, it appears that this entails the virtual extermination of male members of the targeted families.

Persecution of the Buraev-Arsanakaev Families

On 2 October 2005, at about four PM, servicemen from different local and federal security structures, apparently including personnel from the FSB and Movladi Baysarov’s group, surrounded the house of Zarema Buraeva (b. 1982). Zarema Buraeva was at home with of her two small children, her two brothers Baudin Buraev (b. 1984) and Ali Buraev (b. 1987), and her mother -- Satsita Buraeva (b. 1950). In the house the servicemen found and executed Supyan Arsanakaev, a wounded Ichkerian fighter, who was hiding in a small room below the roof. The servicemen gave Baudin and Ali a harsh beating, detained them along with Satsita and Zarema, and confiscated cash and electronic equipment.

Apparently it was Zarema who hid Supyan Arsanakaev in the house. Supyan was the brother of her deceased husband, who was killed while trying to escape federal servicemen in April 2003.

On October 3 Satsita Buraeva was released and went to different federal and local judicial and law enforcement agencies, but so far it is not known whether her three children are still alive, where they in that case are detained and what they are charged with. At the Grozny police station she was offered a deal: Her children would be returned if she signed a document testifying that weapons had been buried in her garden. She refused.

In the early morning of 18 October 2005, unidentified, masked servicemen broke into the house of Supyan Arsanakaev’s father, Salman Arsanakaev (b. 1940). They detained Salman and his son Khamzat (b. 1983). The next day their bodies were found outside the village, bearing marks of torture and violent death. Salman and Ali were apparently the last remaining male relatives in the Arsanakaev family. Satsita Buraeva’s first son, Rizvan, was killed in 2002. She now believes that her three other children are dead, and fears that her only remaining son, Roman, is in serious danger. She believes that the murders and disappearances are connected with a long-lasting feud between Movladi Baysarov and the Arsanakaev family, into which her daughter Zarema married, and that Bayasarov systematically eliminates everyone who conceivably could represent a threat to him, even to the extent of killing a 65-year old man. In this brutalized environment, Satsita is afraid that Roman may be next on the list, since his siblings already have been drawn into the feud.

Extra-Judicial Execution of Ibragim Shovkhalov

On 5 October 2005, in the village of Mesker Yurt, Ibragim Shovkhalov (b. 1974), a local resident, was abducted by unidentified servicemen, some of whom spoke in unaccented Russian. The servicemen arrived in UAZ cars, and where accompanied by a BTR armoured vehicle, indicating that there was a federal unit taking part in the operation. The next day Shovkhalov’s body was found in the neighbouring village Chechen Aul. He was found with a plastic bag over his head. There was no forensic examination of the body, but his wife believed that he was strangled to death. The extrajudicial execution is probably connected with the fact that members of his family had been fighting with the Ichkerian forces -- apparently an uncle was believed to be still in the hills. The rest of Shovkhalov’s family were either dead or had fled, but Ibragim stayed since it was widely known that he had not participated in the armed formations.

The disappearances and extrajudicial executions of the Buraev-Arsanakaev families, and the extrajudicial execution of Shovkhalov, indicates the type of brutal vendetta warfare representatives of the authorities wage against what they perceive to be hostile or unreliable families. The resulting bloodshed consolidates the climate of fear pervasive in Chechnya. But it is, to say the least, doubtful whether such criminal methods will serve to bring about normalization and a return to stability in Chechnya.