Domiciliary search during the targeted "preventive operations" and "cleansing” operations in settlements

4.3 Domiciliary search during the targeted "preventive operations" and "cleansing” operations in settlements.

Often certain families become the customary targets of the regular "preventive" checks repeatedly carried out over the years. These "operations" are often conducted not even by the Republican Ministry of Interior staff but by the personnel of other security services sent to operate in the Republic - by the mobile Detachment of the Russian Ministry of Interior, the FSB special police, etc. In doing so, the republican Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office were usually not even notified of the operation being carried out.

Here are two typical examples.

On June 1, 2007 gunmen broke into the courtyard of the Merzhoyev's family house in stanitsa Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Shosseynaya st., 14. They failed to produce any identifying documents or introduce themselves. Although no-one offered any resistance, they opened fire above the heads of the young children swimming in an inflatable pool. The soldiers hit Ramzan Merzhoyev with the butt of a gun. His father, Hazhbiker Merzhoyev, disabled of the 1 category (with part of his leg amputated) was thrown onto the ground and searched, while being pelted with verbal abuse. Then they proceeded to searching the home - without attesting witnesses being present and without drawing up a protocol of the search. Not having discovered anything of illegal nature, the armed men left^st. But before that they had beaten Adam Merzhoyev, another son of H. Merzhoyev, of the school age. As a result of the beatings Adam's finger was broken.

The Merzhoyev family together with their neighbors appealed to the Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia upon the fact of causing severe bodily injuries to Adam Merzhoyev and other violations of their rights. Their complaints were forwarded to the military prosecutor's office, from where, in September 2007, they were returned - the military prosecutor reported that "from the message of the Chief of the Russian FSB department in the Republic of Ingushetia,- the military agency authorized to conduct search operations, it appears that the Office of the Federal Security Service in the Republic of Ingushetia did not conduct any search operations in the Mezhoyev family's house on June 1, 2007"¹⁵.

As a result, a criminal case was never opened.

In the office of HRC "Memorial" in Nazran received a visit from Osman Abuyevich Bogatyryov, a resident of the city of Malgobek, born 1976. In his written statement, he reported that after his release from prison unidentified men had been following him and that he feared for his safety. On the night of April 30, 2007 unidentified masked men dressed in civilian clothes came to Bogatyryov’s house and conducted an inspection of the rooms. Neither did they introduce themselves nor did they show any documents. They were looking for Osman. Their conduct was rude, they refused to answer the questions of the relatives as to why they needed Osman.

Earlier, on March 22, 2005 Osman Bogatyryov was arrested in the city of Nalchik by officers belonging to an unidentified security service. He was kept in the building of the UFSB office in Kabardino-Balkaria for a while and then transferred to the pre-trial detention center of the city of Vladikavkaz. The investigation team of the General Directorate of the Public Prosecutor's Office in the Northern Caucasus charged him pursuant to Articles 210 (organization of a criminal community), 222 (illegal possession of weapons), 278 (forcible seizure of power), 317 (Encroachment on the life of an officer of a law-enforcement agency), 205 (terrorism) according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The charges were examined by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ingushetia. In November 2006 Bogatyryov was acquitted by the jury of almost all the articles and condemned only pursuant to Article 222. On January 19, 2007 Bogatyryov was released.

Similar statements about "preventive searches" were reported to the HRC "Memorial" in the summer and autumn of 2007.

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A day before, at about 10:00 pm on July 27, the insurgents opened fire at the UFSB building and the building of the RI Presidential administration. One soldier was killed and several others were injured.

According to official reports of the law enforcement officials to the media, in the village of Ali-Yurt had been "strengthened passport control, inspecting of vehicles and houses where militants might seek shelter. The operation is carried out strictly according to the Russian legislation». During the special operation several suspects were detained, which will be checked for involvement in the firing in Magas.¹⁹

The interview with the residents of Ali Yurt revealed that at about 4 am members of the federal security services blockaded the village, started breaking into homes, without introducing themselves, opening fire into the air, cursing with obscene words, beating people without any apparent causes. Their victims were mostly men residing on the Zyazikov st. and the Ordzhonikidze st.

The "siloviks" had beaten the local mullah Ramzan Nalgiev, born in 1927, who was returning home from the morning prayers in the mosque having broken his ribs. Tanzila Akhmedovna Esmurzieva, seven months pregnant, was beaten in her own home.

The armed men broke into the courtyard of Yakhiy Yevloyev's house (Zyazikov St., 15), threw the owner on the floor, wrang his hands behind his back and started beating and kicking him in the kidneys. The "siloviks" were asking him who had opened fire by night from the direction of Magas and where Yakhiya himself was at that time. The answers were not listened to; Yakhiya's passport was thrown aside without being looked at. After that, having ordered Yakhiya to lie on the ground without moving, the military men moved on to the neighbouring yard belonging to Bilan Yevloyev. There they took all the people out into the yard and started beating all the males. Bilan Yevloyev's youngest son, a teenager of 16, suffered substantial injuries as a result received a major bruise on his head.

Among other victims was also the local elder and mullah Makhmoud Bagaudinovich Yevloyev: a month earlier the President of RI presented to him a VAZ-2107 car as a gift, now the car was smashed with the butts of the guns.

There is information that children under 15 had also been beaten during the "cleansing operation".

This was an action of intimidation, senseless and ruthless, with an effusive flow of obscene words, sporadic shooting and fits of hysteria: "You killed our people, bitch!". All this resembled in almost all the details the "cleansing" operations in the Chechen villages in the first half of this decade, although, here, fortunately, there were no murders. The fact that it was precisely a punitive action is confirmed by the lack of interest on the part of soldiers in the local residents' documents and by the "interrogations" in which interrogators did not even listen to the answers of the people they were beating. One soldier shouted that he was ready to burn down the entire village and suffer the most severe punishment in order to eliminate the possibility of any new attacks from this side.

Seven people were detained in the village:

Akhmed Sultan-Khamidovich Ganizhev, born in 1985, resident of the village of Ali-Yurt, Yandiev st., 37;

Ruslan Alievich Ganizhev, born in 1980, resident of the village of. Ali-Yurt, Ganizhev st,." 7a";

Khavash Bagaudinovich Gagiev, born in 1978, resident of the village of.Ali-Yurt, Albogachieva st, 26;

Bilan Bagaudinovich Tutayev, born in 1970, resident of the village of.Barsuki, Magistralnaya st., 6;

Magamed Musayevich Izmailov, born in 1990, resident of the village of. Surkhakhi, Gvardeyskaya st, 17;

Roman Viktorovich Pavlov, born in 1983, permanent registration in Slavgorod, the Altai region, working for hire in Ali-Yurt;

Andrey Anatolyevich Petukhov, born in 1986, permanent registration in the Republic of Mari-El, working for hire in Ali-Yurt.

A few hours later the heads of the republican security services, including the Minister of Interior Moussa Medov, the deputy Chairman of the Government of RI, the head of the Anti-Terrorism Commission Bashir Aushev arrived. The Ingush policemen who arrived with them started checking people's passports, without resorting, however, to force or insulting the local residents.

With regard to the detained, the RIA Novosti agency reported, quoting "an informed source" that "during the special operations in Ingushetia in the village of Ali-Yurt, a number of individuals who may be involved in the shooting attack on the UFSB building in RI were identified. Currently several suspects who have been detained are being checked by the investigating agencies on the subject of their possible involvement in the crime. All the people are permanent residents of the Republic.²⁰

The detained were taken to the FS republican department building in the city of Magas. According to Ruslan Ganizhev, in the car he and Akhmad Ganizhev had black bags put on their heads. Upon their arrival they were taken (apparently) to the basement and interrogated separately. During the interrogation, they were beaten on the legs, kidneys and heads. They were asked questions about the militants, there were attempts to coax them into cooperation. The interrogation lasted several hours. At around 8:00 pm Ruslan and Akhmed Ganizhev as well as Khavazh Gagieva were thrown out onto the road between the villages of Surkhakhi and Yandyrka, still with the bags on their heads. Catching a passing-by car they got home. All the three men were in a serious condition and taken to hospital on the same day. Ruslan Ganizhev was diagnosed with brain concussion, rib fractures and kidney prolapse.

Later on the other detainees were also released.

All in all about 30 residents of the village of Ali-Yurt were taken to the central clinical hospital of the city of Nazran.

Many victims have submitted written complaints to the republican Prosecutor's Office. According to the Public Prosecutor of RI Yu.N.Turygin²¹, an inspection was conducted and its results were sent to the Military Prosecutor's Office with a recommendation to initiate criminal proceedings. But the Military Prosecutor's Office has considered insufficient the evidence of the fact that the military personnel were involved in the beatings and returned the materials. However, the Investigation Committee of the Public Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Ingushetia has opened criminal case No 07500032 pursuant to Paragraph 3 a of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (exceeding official powers) on the fact of exceeding of the official powers by officers of law enforcement agencies.²² At the same time, according to the Prosecutor of RI, if during the investigation it will not be possible to identify the specific individuals involved in the mass beating of Ali-Yurt residents, the punishment shall be inflicted upon the supervisor of this special operation, "who is, at the very least, guilty of negligence".²³ However, the Prosecutor does not know the representative of which agency was n charge of this special operation. It is unclear how the Prosecutor imagined charging an officer of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior or an FSB officer in a criminal case initiated on the fact of abuse of power not by the military but by law enforcement staff!

As expected, by the end of January 2008, nobody had yet been charged with the crime.

The residents of the village who dared to complain, have been receiving threats from unidentified people.

On August 2, the office of the HRC Memorial in the city of Nazran was visited by Magomet-Girey Belanovich Aspiev, one of the victims of the Ali-Yurt events, and reported that on August 1, at approximately 11:15 pm unidentified people in civilian clothes knocked on the gate of his house. They did not greet the owner, called him by his name and ordered him to stop complaining about the actions of the security forces in Ali-Yurt, saying: "This is your last chance." Then one of them took out a pistol and ordered Aspiev to return into the house. Magomet-Girei obeyed, but three minutes later he went out again - there was nobody at the gate. On the same day Aspiev appealed to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

What can be achieved with such special operations in the region where the majority of the population until very recently was far from being ready to support the armed opponents of the Russian government? The result may only be hatred and an increased support of the militants as well as the swelling of their ranks.

Perhaps this was realized by the leaders in charge of the "anti-terrorist operation" in the region. In any case, after the events in Ali-Yurt, despite the numerous shooting attacks by the militants on representatives of the state power and on the government agencies in Ingushetia, there were no more such "cleansing operations" in settlements.