Illegal detentions and abductions with the purpose of obtaining information and recruitment. Illegal places of detention

4.5. Illegal detentions and abductions with the purpose of obtaining information and recruitment. Illegal places of detention

Late in the evening of July 31, near the Republican Hospital in the city of Nazran, officers of unidentified security services abducted a resident of the village of Ekazhevo Ramzan Husseinovich Gagiev, born in 1982. A month and a half before Gagiev underwent medical treatment at the surgical department, in ward No 3. He underwent two operations and was moving around with the help of crutches. After 11 pm he went outside and did not return. On August 1, Ramzan Gagiev was found in the vicinity of stanitsa Nesterovskaya unconscious with a plastic bag on his head. He had been severely beaten.

A staff member of the Memorial met with the victim and found out from him the circumstances of his abduction. According to the words of the latter: ”At about 11:15 pm I left the hospital and went out into the street to a local store. On my way back, somebody called out to me in Ingush: "Hey, who is coming?". I turned round to where the voice was coming from and saw two cars: a white VAZ-2107 and a steel-colored VAZ-21099. I asked the man sitting in the car: "Did you call me?". 5 or 6 persons in military uniform jumped out of the cars, put a bag on my head and thrust me into the cabin. I began to choke and asked them in Ingush to pull the bag off my head. In response I heard in Russian: "Shut up, you bitch!". I made a hole in the bag with my teeth and so I was able to breathe. We were traveling for something like an hour on an earth road. When the car stopped, they said in Ingush: "Get out". I was brought into some room. They began to ask questions. First they asked in Ingush: "Where are you working?". I told them that I am working at the Federal Drug Control Service. I was hit in the groin in response. Then they asked: «Do you have a family, any children?". “Two children”, - I answered. "You won't have anymore" - they said and again hit me in the groin. Between themselves, some of them were speaking Chechen. On that night I was beaten all in all 4 times. They beat me on the head with fists and in the groin. The next day, I was asked: "Where do you have pain?". I said them, after the operation I had renal pains. They began to beat me on the kidneys and ribs, having previously chained me to the chair. I heard that near me someone else was being beaten. I ask them: "Is someone else being beaten here too?" - The answer came: "Another two people are getting their lot". "What for?" - I asked. They said in Ingush: "We are going to sell you all to the Ossetians." I had lost consciousness several times during the beatings. I had water poured on me. The next morning, I heard someone say in Ingush that a search was being conduct and that it was necessary to take me away. I was put into a car, smacked badly on the head and lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness I realized that I was lying in an aryk (irrigation ditch). I started crawling out onto the road. When I reached the road level I passed out. I was accidentally found by a man traveling past by. "

The Prosecutor's Office in the city of Nazran made a decision to refuse to initiate criminal investigation into the Gagiev's abduction.

On August 8, after 1 pm in the town of Karabulak officers of an unidentified security service abducted a local resident Ibrakhim Mukhamedovich Gazdiev, born in 1978, residing at Proletarskaya St, 85.

Ibrakhim went out to a food store driving his brother’s car, VAZ-2110. Next to the town administration building Gazdiev's car was stopped by armed men in masks (7-8 people) and dressed in camouflage uniform. According to the eye-witnesses, they had arrived there on a Mercedes and a white Gazel minibus. After checking Gazdiev’s documents, the "siloviks" thrust him into the Gazel and took him away to an unknown destination. Gazdiev's car was also taken away with them. At the time of writing this report, the fate of Ibrakhim Gazdiev remains unknown.

Gazdiev was the director of a building materials store, was never on any wanted list. According to his relatives, on May 31, 2007 the officers of the Department of Investigations of UFSB for RI conducted a search in their house, nothing illegal was found. Since then, no-one has contacted the family.

On September 2, in the city of Nazran security authorities officers detained a local resident, Magomed Alikovich Tsoloyev, born in 1978, residing at the Nazran, Bazorkina Ave, 38/28.

On that day Magomed, together with his mother and his uncle, were taking furniture and household utensils into the house. At that moment, a UAZ-452 (the so-called “pill") and three passenger cars carrying about 20-25 people stopped near them. The people were all wearing masks except one. They were dressed in a combination of civilian clothes and military uniforms, some of them were wearing jackets with the inscription "FSB". One of the siloviks approached Magomed and hit him on the head with some heavy object. Then a few other people in masks ran up to him and began to beat Magomed who was lying on the ground. They were beating him for a few minutes, after which they dragged him along on the asphalt pavement and thrust him into the UAZ vehicle. Magomed’s mother and uncle tried to defend him. The men opened fire at the ground near their feet and in the air above their heads. One of the officers raised his rifle butt against the woman but Magomed’s uncle shielded her and received a blow in the chest.

The "siloviks" left without informing the relatives of Magomed Tsoloyev about the reasons for his detention and the place where he was being taken. In the car the “siloviks” continued to beat the detained on the head. From their conversation Magomed was able to guess that the abductors were Ingush. 40-45 minutes later he was brought, as it turned out later, to the Malgobek municipal department of internal affairs. Having put a plastic bag on his head, they took him to the second floor, where he was interrogated with the use of torture - beaten on the head with a plastic bottle full of water, his torturers were putting out their cigarettes against his bare back. Tsoloyev was forced to confess his involvement in the assassination of several police officers on August 31 near the House of Culture of the city of Nazran and in the wounding of a frontier guard on August 21. There were attempts to coerce him into collaboration, he was offered to give testimony against other people. Then he had the bag put back on the head, taken away somewhere and told that he was going to be shot. An hour later Tsoloyev was taken to the municipal department of internal affairs of the town of Karabulak and later to the same department in Nazran where he had the wound on his head dressed and was allowed to wash himself. The next day the interrogation was continued by an investigator of the Prosecutor's Office. The investigator asked Tsoloyev about his whereabouts at the time when the terrorist attack near the House of Culture and the armed attack on the frontier guard were committed. Magomed declared at all the interrogations that he had not been involved in any of these crimes.

On September 13, 2007 Tsoloyev was released. The period of detention of Tsoloyev was recorded as starting from September 3, 2007.

Magomed Tsoloyev chose not to complain to the authorities.

As it turned out later, Tsoloyev was detained (indeed, abducted) by the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Ingushetia, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nazran Department of Internal Affairs and the Nazran Operational Forces of the Temporary operational group of the Ingush Ministry of Interior.³⁰

Upon entering the house the officers of the security forces began to conduct a search without producing any required warrant for it. The attesting witnesses were two soldiers whom the "siloviks" brought along with them. During the search the policemen serving on a mission in Ingushetia were insulting the owners of the house. Moussa Estoyev reprimanded them several times and demanded that they behave properly. In response, a member of the mobile detachment hit Moussa on the head. Moussa hit the policeman back. After that Moussa and his younger brother Adam were taken by force out of the house and away in the direction of Nazran. Their relatives were not told where the detained were going to be delivered. Also a personal car was taken away from the Estoyevs’ house without formalization of the relevant procedure. The police officers said the car was being seized for a dactylographic examination of the passenger cabin.

The Estoyev brothers were delivered to the building of the Nazran municipal department of internal affairs. Here they were subjected to an interrogation by police officers serving in Ingushetia on a mission. During the interrogation the brothers had plastic bags put on their heads, they were subjected to attempted strangling, beatings with fists and batons, all this was accompanied by continuous humiliation of their dignity and insulting of their religious feelings. Their requests to provide them with a lawyer was denied. During the interrogation the Estoyevs were asked questions concerning various people, both known and unknown to them personally, concerning their work and general activities, etc.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the Estoyevs were trying to establish the place of detention of the two brothers. Closer towards the evening they gathered near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Ingushetia and demanded the release of the detained men, otherwise threatening with organization of mass protests with the blocking of roads and railways.

At about 10:30 pm the Estoyev brothers were released. By virtue of a decision of the local magistrate they were fined for willful disobedience to police officers.

On September 24, Moussa Estoyev took back his car from the territory of the municipal department of internal affairs. It was revealed that from the vehicle the following were stolen: a Panasonic stereo system, the Kenwood acoustic speakers. CDs coof a total cost of 900 rubles; the dash board was partially damaged and 20 liters of AI-93 gasoline were stolen from the fuel tank (AI-93).

On September 26 the Estoyev brothers submitted their written statements to the Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia Yu. N. Turygin and to the Chief of the Department of Investigations of the Prosecutor' General’s office of the Russian Federation I. L. Mogushkov. They demanded to conduct an investigation on the fact of the unlawful acts of the police officers.

In the cited cases the unlawful acts towards the civilian population of Ingushetia were committed by officers of the local law enforcement agencies. As stated above, since the second half of the summer 2007 the tendency towards "ingushization" of the anti-terrorism struggle has been making itself increasingly prominent. During the summer and fall of 2007 the special operations increasingly involved people of Ingush nationality and among the places where illegal methods are applied to the detained, more and more often appear agencies of the Ministry of Interior of RI.

Coordinated structures specializing in abductions of people, their illegal detention, extrajudicial tortures and executions - the so-called "death squads" - which are part of various law enforcement agencies in the territory of the North Caucasian republics and were until recently operating primarily in the territory of Chechnya have not become a thing of the past.

This is confirmed by the events related to the abduction in September 2007 of Magomed Osmanovich Aushev, born in 1982, and his second cousin Magomed Maksharipovich Aushev, born in 1985.

The unlawful acts of FSB officers towards Magomed Osmanovich Aushev in June 2007 were described in Section 4.4. of this report. In September 2007, the “siloviks” - apparently, the FSB officers who were earlier forcing him under torture to become their secret informer, decided to settle their scores with him.

On September 18 the brothers arrived by train from Astrakhan to Grozny, got into a taxi and went home to Ingushetia. Upon leaving the city of Grozny, in the suburban settlement of Chernorechye, the taxi was blocked by three cars carrying armed men in camouflage uniforms. Unidentified people thrust the brothers into one of their cars without giving any explanations and drove off on the thoroughfare leading to Ingushetia.

According to the story of M.O. Aushev told to the HRC Memorial staff, the abducted had their own T-shirts pulled on the heads to prevent them from seeing where the car was traveling and their hands tied. The journey did not take long. They were brought into a damp room. One of the abductors said: "We had warned you that we would find you anywhere, even if we have to get you from under the earth!", After that the brothers were beaten. Soon, as M.O.Aushev understood, the people who abducted them left, handing them over to some other people - the "owners" of the space. His relative was taken away somewhere and Magomed Osmanovich Aushev himself was tortured with electric current. They asked questions both in Russian and Chechen languages: "Why did you travel to Grozny? What was the purpose of your visit to Astrakhan? Why did you not respect the agreement?". After that, M.O.Aushev was brought into a room with a bed and a stove. There he spent the night. As for his second cousin; he was told that the latter had been released.

The next day, the beatings and the torture resumed. His hands had remained tied since the first day. During the torture with electric current his mouth was taped to silence the cries. He was shown photos of different people, including that of his cousin Ruslan killed on June 17. He was asked whether he knew those people, what he could tell about them, which of them had connections with the militants.

Once he was brought outside, again having previously had his mouth taped.. He was told that "he was walking for the last time in his life."

Late in the evening he was taken into a car, with the black plastic bag again put on his head. The car traveled for about half an hour, after which it stopped and someone said in Chechen: "I swear on the Koran if you say to anybody that you spent all this time in Chechnya, I'll find you and that will be the end of you!". Magomed was transferred into another car. He realized that his second cousin was being taken together with him. They were driving somewhere again. Then the Aushevs were ordered to get out of the car and led somewhere. They were in a room with many other people, all were talking. Suddenly everybody fell silent, they could hear how many were leaving the premises. A certain person who had just come in ordered: "Remove the bags from their heads". Magomed saw several people in police uniform standing near him, his second cousin was also there.

It turned out that the Aushevs were taken to the Shatoy municipal department of internal affairs. M.O. Aushev asked the superior officer: "Where are our documents? They were in the bag." - The reply came: "Forget about them. If you knew what you have got yourself out of, you would not be asking about documents now". Soon came the relatives to pick up the released men, they were brought to Nazran, where, as it turned out, an unlimited-term rally was taking place with a demand to release the abducted Aushev brothers.

The day after the release M.O. Aushev was for the first time interrogated by an investigator of the Prosecutor's Office. When, after the interrogation was finished, Magomed asked the investigator to show him the protocol, the latter declined to do that suggesting that Magomed signs the protocol without reading it. Nevertheless, Magomed continued to insist and saw that his testimony had been distorted: according to the protocol, he did not know in what connection he was abducted and had no idea as to who had abducted him as well as no claims against the abductors. Magomed tore the protocol to pieces and insisted on the investigator drawing up a new one.

On October 8, 2007, the investigator of the Interregional Zavodsky department of investigations of the city of Grozny initiated a criminal case on the fact of abduction of the Aushev brothers and of their subjection to violent treatment pursuant to parts A, B, C of Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abduction). ³¹ Usually, investigation of such cases in Chechnya and Ingushetia very soon comes to a standstill ending in nothing - the investigation is suspended due to "impossibility to identify persons to be charged with the crime". But in this case, quite unexpectedly, owing to the persistence of the relatives of the abducted men, primarily that of Maksharip Aushev, the father of M.M. Aushev, the investigation did manage to trace the abductors. Moreover, the place where the abducted brothers were kept, was also identified.

On November 15, an interview with Maksharip Aushev was published on the Ingushetiya.ru web-site. ³² In a conversation with a Memorial staff member Aushev confirmed the information that was stated in the text of that interview. Below is the text with minimal cuts:

In his interview, Maksharip Aushev also accused high-ranking officials of the Republic of Ingushetia, in particular the Minister of Interior Moussa Medov, of involvement in the activities of this group of abductors consisting of security services officers. The HRC Memorial has no information confirming such direct involvement, but it is clear that the leaders of the Republic of Ingushetia are at least not taking any real steps aimed at counteracting the abductions and murders of people by the Russian ”siloviks”.

It should be noted that in the village of Goyty, the building where, according to the information given by Maksharip Aushev, the illegal secret prison was (is?) located, continues to be the base for some security services staff. Formally, this building belongs to the Urus-Martan district department of internal affairs.

The question arises - what can be the explanation for such an unexpectedly active stance taken by the investigative authorities in this case?

Before that, all similar investigation proceedings were suspended shortly after their initiation due to "failure to identify persons to be charged with the crime". But in this case both the place of detention of the abducted men and the persons involved in the abduction, and even the possible fate of the other victims were established.

It appears that there were three reasons for this.

Firstly, the unprecedented powerful protest action in Nazran resulted in somebody ”from above” giving an order to the abductors to release the Aushev brothers and the case has received much publicity.

Secondly, much activity and assistance to the investigation was offered on the part of the family of Maksharip Aushev.

Thirdly, and this was, apparently, the decisive factor - in the late September and October, the Ministry of Interior of the Chechen Republic witnessed the unfolding of an internal struggle among those who used to be called "kadyrovtsy" (Kadyrov's men) in the not too distant past. One of the parties in the conflict was led by the Deputy Minister of Interior Alambek Yassayev³⁵, whom M. Aushev mentions in his story. Yasayev was actively contributing to the investigation of the cases of abduction of the Aushev brothers, apparently in order to compromise his own opponents. In mid-October the struggle came out into the open³⁶ and Yasayev lost. Since then the investigation has been suspended.