Ingushetia 2007: what is coming next?

3. Winter - spring 2007

Twice - in January and in April - the military forces carried out a series of massive artillery and bomb attacks in forests on the territory of Ingushetia.

On March 23, Uruskhan Zyazikov, born in 1928, uncle of the President of the Republic of Ingushetia Murat Zyazikov and father of the head of the Ingush President‘s Security Service Ruslanbek Zyazikov, was abducted by unidentified persons.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Ingushetia, ”at about 12.10 pm on March 23, 2007 on Zheleznodorozhnaya street of the Barsukinsky district of the Nazran city, four unidentified men, masked and dressed in camouflage, armed with automatic weapons, arrived from the direction of the FAD-Caucasus road in a silver-coloured VAZ - 21112 vehicle, approached Urukshan Zyazikov, born in 1928, Moussa Zyazikov, born in 1940, and Issa Zyazikov, born in 1942, who were on his way to the mosque. Three criminals (the driver remained inside the car), jumped out of the car and, despite the resistance offered by the Zyazikovs, attacked Uruskhan and brutally forced him into the car, while Moussa, who attempted to intervene was shot in his leg from an assault rifle by one of the kidnappers, thus, suffering moderate injury”.

According to the newspaper Kommersant^th, Ruslanbek Zyazikov is "a person invested with much power in Ingushetia. It is said that all new assignments to the key posts in Ingushetia have to be agreed upon with him. The Mayor of Nazran Magomed Tsechoyev, former director of the city market, is regarded as a protégé of the Chief of the President’s Security Service. Even the current Prime Minister of the Republic of Ingushetia, Ibragim Malsagov, was appointed to his position not without certain intervention on the part of the influential official, according to the rumors".

This is not the first case of abduction of a close relative of the President of Ingushetia. A year earlier, on February 27, 2006 in Nazran a member of the People's Assembly, the 70 - year-old Magomed Chakhkiev, Murat Zyazikov's father-in-law, was also abducted. The responsibility for the abduction was claimed by a certain Amir Habibullah, who called himself the Leader of the Ingush Jamaat "Shariah". On May 1, 2006 under unclear circumstances Chahkiev was released. According to unverified information, a considerable ransom was paid for his release⁷.

Urushan Zyazikov was unexpectedly released on October 11, 2007, shortly before the principal Muslim feast of Uraza-Bairam (the end of the Ramadan fasting), without any ransom being paid⁸.

Despite a certain intensification of the militants’ activity in Ingushetia, news about their attacks, explosions and armed clashes were relatively uncommon (compared to the neighboring Chechnya). The main problem was the marked increase in the frequency of illegal actions on the part of the security services personnel. Often, the ”siloviks” would penetrate into the territory of the Republic of Ingushetia from the neighboring republics of Chechnya and North Ossetia and were operating without informing the local police or the republican Prosecutor's Office.

Often armed masked men raided homes without introducing themselves or producing identification documents. People who attempted to protest were beaten and often valuables and money would disappear in the course of the raids. Many detained people would disappear for a few days and were then "found" in the detention center of Vladikavkaz, the capital of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. People in Ingushetia would hear about the extremely cruel treatment to which Ingush detainees were subjected there. Given that the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict of 1992 have not yet been completely overcome, this has inevitably contributed to further aggravation of the situation. Officials attributed the fact of the detaineesd being taken out of Ingushetia to the neighboring republic by the lack of a proper detention facility which has not yet been build in Ingushetia. But it is clear that the construction of a detention facility in Nazran is being deliberately postponed, in order to have a pretext for taking the suspects from Ingushetia out of the Republic. This way makes it easier to “pressurize” the arrested and hinder the work of lawyers.

As an example of a typical case for today’s Ingushetia, which had, however, a lucky ending for the detained people. In the evening of February 7, 2007, in the city of Nazran, personnel of an unidentified security service conducted a number of arrests. According to the HRC "Memorial", the "siloviks" arrested at least five people, all of them were residents of Ingushetia.

Approximately at 5 pm three armored personnel carriers, a Ural track and 15 cars carrying armed men stopped near house No 107 on Gazdiev Street. According to witnesses, the "siloviks" who numbered more than 150 people, spoke mostly Russian but the Ingush and Ossetic languages were also heard. In house No 107, which is home to the Sultygov family, also hosts a car repair shop. Therefore, in addition to the several inhabitants of the house there were customers who had come to have their cars repaired in the yard.

The "siloviks" immediately ordered everybody to lie face down on the ground in the courtyard. Then they put everybody against the wall with their hands up and they had to stand there like that for about three hours. The "siloviks" searched all the people present there and confiscated their documents, money and personal belongings. The money had not been returned to anyone of those who had been searched. All the people who had been in the yard of the Sultygov's house, were also detained and subjected to personal search. After a while, the owner of the house, Adam Kerimovich Sultygov, was brought into one of the rooms and asked about the origin of the Niva-Chevrolet vehicle, which was being repaired at the car repair shop.

The security services' staff had carefully inspected the car and proceeded to search the Sultygovs' house and the garage. No warrant authorizing such search was ever presented to anybody. Nothing illegal was discovered. Later, it turned out that in the course of the raid the following had been stolen: jewels, money in the amount of 300 US dollars, tools; all the documents had also been seized.

Approximately at 11pm Adam was told that he was being detained, no explanation of the reason was provided, he was only promised release after interrogation. Several people were detained together with Adam Sultygov. All the detainees were taken to a building in the city of Vladikavkaz, and beaten during the first day. Sultygov was again asked about the owner of Niva Chevrolet.

Several foreign-made cars had been taken away from the shop. Later, they were returned to their owners, but the car audio players had been stolen.

Three days later, on the evening of February 10, all the detained people were released, after they had signed a statement certifying that they have no claims against the Ministry of Interior personnel who had detained and interrogated them. In the "Decree on the release of suspect" which was issued to each of them, it was stated that the detention was carried out in connection with the investigation of a criminal case of the shooting attack on the military convoy of the Russian Ministry of Interior on February 6, 2007. For all this, Sultygov and the other detained people did not receive back their passports and other papers seized during the search.

Such practice would give rise to even greater indignation on the part of the population of Ingushetia. Sometimes the republican police personnel have tried to counter the illegal practice of taking the detainees (in fact, the abducted people) out of the republic Ingushetia.

On March 29, at around 5:20 pm a convoy of three vehicles carrying armed men tried to leave the territory of Ingushetia for North Ossetia. At the local traffic police service post the cars were stopped for inspection. It turned out that they were carrying officers of the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Interior (UBOP) of North Ossetia as well as two local residents abducted by them. The Ingush police demanded to explain on what grounds these people had been detained, why they were being taken out to the neighboring republic and why the local law enforcement agencies of RI had not been notified about this operation. Instead of giving any explanations, the driver of the car suddenly pulled forward and the car disappeared on the territory of North Ossetia. With the help of additional forces staff of MVD RI managed to detain other 15 officers of UBOP of North Ossetia who was in two other vehicles, which was brought into the office of MVD RI. The second abducted local resident, Bagaudin Tochiev, was released. He, together with his relatives, also arrived at MVD RI. According to his relatives, Bagaudin Tochiev expressed his readiness to come and give his testimony should the law enforcement authorities ask him to do so. But, instead, unidentified masked men, who had not produced any identification documents, seized him and tried to take him out of the Republic.

On the same day, the press secretary of the Ministry of Interior of RI, Nazir Yevloyev, said: "a number of law enforcement officials of North Ossetia were delivered to the Ministry of Interior department of Ingushetia where the situation is currently being clarified. The problem is that the law enforcement officers of North Ossetia were trying to detain certain persons on the territory of Ingushetia without informing the Ingushetia Ministry of Interior of this operation. This is unacceptable and such attempts shall not be tolerated but summarily suppressed. Law is the same for everyone, those working within the Ministry of Interior structure shall accurately follow orders and everyone is equal before the law. Otherwise, it so happens that people are disappearing and this arouses an indignant response from the population".⁹

Nevertheless, the law enforcement authorities of Ingushetia resolved to refrain from initiating a criminal case and conducting an investigation against the officials of the UBOP of the Ministry of Interior of North Ossetia. The latter were taken from the Ministry of Interior building to the republican prosecutor's office where they were interviewed and subsequently released.

In connection with this incident, the Ministry of Interior of North Ossetia released an official statement claming that "the Ingush police have forgotten that suspects in crime are subject to detention all throughout the territory of the Russian Federation". The Chief of the UBOP of the Ministry of Interior of North Ossetia Mark Metsyaev stated that his agency was authorized to operate in the territory of Ingushetia without notifying the local police. But the Ingush Ministry of Interior officers have displayed "certain lack of understanding".¹⁰

During the special operations the "siloviks" have on more than one occasion killed people who did not offer any resistance. Thus, on February 7, in the center of Nazran two young men - Adam Izmailovich Gardanov and Magomed Bashirovich Chakhkiev were shot dead. In the bulletin communicated by the press service of the FSB Department for Ingushetia it was alleged that Gardanov and Chakhkiev had "offered armed resistance and were destroyed by retaliation fire” at the time of their arrest. But the eye-witnesses of the murder - dozens of people, including deputies, law enforcement officials and human rights activists unanimously denied approval of the “siloviks” that those killed people tried to resist.

Similarly, on 15 March in the courtyard of his home was killed Husen Uvaysovich Mutaliev, who was immediately declared by the law enforcement authorities of Ingushetia to have been ”the ideological leader of the illegal armed groups”.

At about 6 am four vehicles carrying masked members of the security services (up to 25 people) approached the Mutalievs' house situated at address: Malgobe, Kievskaya st, 61. They broke into the house. The”siloviks” had neither introduced themselves nor produced any documents, were behaving very rudely and insulting the members of the Mutaliev family. Having searched the household and found nothing, they grabbed Husen Mutaliev, took him out into the yard, brought near one of the cars and started beating him. Mutaliev escaped and tried to flee. He was then exposed to opened fire from automatic guns. Husen fell, but was still alive. Despite his injuries, he was thrown into the "Volga" car and the "siloviks" left. Hussein's brother, Hassan Mutaliev went after them in his own car. At the so-called "Kanytshevsky crossroads" the "siloviks”' convoy was stopped by the police of RI. The”siloviks” showed a ”special pass” (the GrOU pass for the Northern Caucasus), and moved on in the direction of North Ossetia. Hasan was stopped.

According to him, ”the wounded militant was taken to the local hospital where he died of the wounds received. According to the Interfax source, there was operational information claiming that Husen Mutaliev was the ideological leader of the illegal armed groups who were followers of the Wahhabi ideology, as well as an active participant of the field commander Magomed Bogatyryov's illegal armed group. In addition, he is suspected of participation in the attack on Ingushetia in June 2004”.

The next day, on March 16, the Mutalievs were officially informed of the death of Husen and received his body from the city morgue of Vladikavkaz.

At the Malgobek district department of internal affairs the relatives of the murdered Husen were told that Husen Mutaliev had not been on the wanted list and there was no information as to his connection with the militants. The Prosecutor's Office of the city of Malgobek opened a criminal case on the murder of Husen Mutaliev pursuant to Article 286 (exceeding official powers), which was then transferred to the Prosecutor's Office of the Southern Federal District and then dismissed ”for the absence of corpus delicti”.

Earlier, on February 5, 2007, Husen Mutaliev communicated with the HRC Memorial. He asked to help him with ensuring his personal safety and protection of his constitutional rights. "They detained me in September 2006, beat me and tried to force to confess my guilt in a crime which I had not committed. Then I was released because they had nothing against me. But now they are again persecuting me. After the assassination attempt against the mufti I was again summoned to the police to give testimony. What should I do? I am ready to answer any but only if I am treated decently. All this is happening because of my having studied in Egypt, they are persecuting me because of this, even in the mosque, I don't even go to the mosque anymore because everyone who goes to the mosque is perceived as a Wahhabi”,- that is how Mutaliev explained his situation to an officer of the Memorial. "There are many young men like m, who are being harassed because they are Muslims", - said Husen before he left and promised to return to the HRC Memorial office with his friends who also being persecuted on religious grounds. The young people were going to make a public statement announcing that they are ready to answer the questions from the authorities but are demanding respect for their constitutional right to freedom of conscience. Husen never came back.

The Head of the FSB for RI Colonel Igor Bondarev, apparently, firmly believed that "the end justifies the means" and that acting in this way his agency would be able to achieve the desired result. On March 16, RIA Novosti broadcasted his interview given to the press service of the Republican UFSB.

In that interview Bondarev said that the efforts of the law enforcement agencies had led to the underground militant forces that used to operate in the region having been practically eliminated.

"It is possible to say that their activities are of a rather disorganized nature. Several notorious militant leaders have been eliminated and charged with various criminal offences.” According to him, the UFSB was responsible for a significant share of that success. Bondarev gave the following opinion on the current situation of the militant forces: "I would not speak of any sufficiently noticeable forces. The situation in the republic is quite stable. Complete stabilization is our task and we are working on it".

The UFSB Chief denied the allegations "already appearing on certain extremism-sympathetic Internet web-sites" claiming that the militants of the Ingush Jamaat are actively operating on the territory of the republic.

"All these declarations are too far from the truth and I would not speak of the existence of any Ingush Jamaat at all. This is pure bluff, an attempt to make their movement seem more significant for the public", - said Bondarev.¹¹

Colonel Bondarev was clearly mistaken; he was refusing to see the obvious. As early as in February the popular web-site Ingushetiya.ru announced that "dozens of young people who perfectly realize that tomorrow they may find themselves among the "suspects", "killed while offering armed resistance" are already thinking about engaging into the armed struggle against the FSB and the law enforcement system of the Republic of Ingushetia <…>. These dangerous trends can only be stopped by the republican authorities, whose duty it is to protect the population from extra-judicial killings and repressions".

In May, several abductions had taken place in the Republic. Two of the abducted people disappeared without a trace.

On May 5, 2007, in the Nasir-Kortovsky district of the city of Nazran on Komsomolskaya st near house No 15, members of unidentified security services abducted Hussein Magomedovich Mutsolgov, born in 1986, residing at: the village of Surkhakhi, Kazansky side street, 16, and Zaurbek Isayevich Yevloyev, 25, resident of the village of Nasir-Kort, Komsomolskaya st, 15.

Hussein and Zaurbek were standing near Yevloyev's home when masked armed men (over 10 people) drove towards them. Unidentified people grabbed Mutsolgov and Yevloyev, taped their mouths with scotch, put cotton wool in their ears, put on black plastic bags their heads and shoved into a minibus.

In the evening the relatives brought home Zaurbek Yevloyev. According to his words, after the actual abduction the two young men were taken somewhere in a car travelling for about 2 or 3 hours. Finally they were brought to a stranger place and taken to a room of the basement type. It was damp and cold. After a while, Hussein was taken away somewhere but Zaurbek was put into a car and released somewhere on the outskirts of stanitsa Assinovskaya of the Sunzhensky district of the Chechen Republic.

As of early 2008, Hussein Mutsolgov's whereabouts remain unknown. There is certain information that allows to suggest that he was kept at the illegal secret prison in the village of Goyty of the Urus-Martan district of the Chechen Republic (see Section 4.5. of this report).

On May 22, 2007 in the city of Nazran, near the office of the Federal Migration Service Department for Ingushetia, unidentified armed people wearing camouflage uniform, driving a Gazel vehicle, abducted Akhmed Mugamedovich Kartoyev, born in 1977, resident of Nazran, Moscovskaya st., 17/90. The Gazel vehicle (registration number: C351 KT/06) driven by Akhmed Kartoyev was blocked by a white Gazel minibus with tinted windows (registration number 486 (or 495), region 95). Out of the minibus jumped armed masked men dressed in camouflage uniform. Threatening to use the weapons they pushed Kartoyev into their car and drove away to an unknown destination. Akhmed Kartoyev was not on the wanted list, he worked at the House of Culture in the village of Ekazhevo.

As of early 2008, Akhmed Kartoyev's whereabouts remain unknown.

At the same time, while all these incidents are happening, the republican authorities continue to repeat that the situation in Ingushetia is peaceful and stable.