HRC "Memorial"* assesses human rights situation in Northern Caucasus

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has published a bulletin describing and analyzing the main events of the three spring months in Northern Caucasus – the new data on the "execution case" in Chechnya; the expulsion of North-Caucasian natives from the European Union (EU); the "Ingush trial"; and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on complaints received from residents of the region.

Human rights defenders told about the witness testimonies of Suleiman Gezmakhmaev, a former Chechen policeman, in the case of the "execution list" in Chechnya and the response of the republic's authorities. The line-up of the staff of PPSP-2 (patrol-and-post service regiment) for announcing on behalf of the regiment soldiers of an appeal to the Russian President with a request to stop the "information war" unleashed against the regiment is treated as a fundamentally new phenomenon of the campaign unleashed in Chechnya.

Human rights defenders were concerned about the worsening of the attitude of the authorities of EU countries towards Caucasian refugees. "One gets an impression that power structures of European countries have adopted the worst techniques used by Russian special services in Northern Caucasus," the bulletin states.

Speaking about the continuation of the trial against the Ingush activists, the HRC "Memorial"* concludes that the authorities do not care about the court independence. Rights defenders point to a sudden revision of the judgement to ease the measure of freedom restraint for Zarifa Sautieva and Akhmed Pogorov, who were returned from house arrest back into custody.

Human rights defenders have also criticized the verdict passed against Khasanbi Indreev, a native of Kabardino-Balkaria, who was found guilty of aiding members of a terrorist organization and sentenced to five years in a general security colony, as well as the verdict to his father. In fact, Khasanbi Indreev was convicted twice for one and the same crime, the HRC "Memorial"* has pointed out.

Separate sections of the bulletin are devoted to the preventive liquidation of the infrastructure of Alexei Navalny's movement in Dagestan, the current development of the armed conflict in Northern Caucasus, as well as to new decisions of the ECtHR on complaints received from residents of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 21, 2021 at 09:19 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.