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Chechen
civilians abducted by Russian forces
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MOSCOW,
November 20 (News Agencies) - Pro-Russian Chechen officials Tuesday,
November 19, called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to put end to
federal forces’ abuse of Chechen civilians, which they say has
increased since last month’s Moscow hostage-taking.
“We
are compelled to appeal to you urgently as the holder of the executive
power and the guarantor of the constitutional rights of all Russian
citizens,” the officials wrote in an address to Putin quoted by the
Russian Interfax news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Exactions
carried out by Russian forces have increased sharply after a Chechen
fighter commando took more than 800 hostages in a Moscow theater last
month, the Chechen officials said.
“In
the days following the terrorist attack in Moscow, the activities of
federal units in Chechnya have resulted in a drastic deterioration of
the political situation in the republic. Military units use armored
vehicles on a massive scale to abduct civilians in the dead of the
night,” they said.
Massive
abuses by Russian forces against Chechnya’s civilian population have
been a staple of the military operation Moscow has been carried out in
Chechnya for over three years.
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Amnesty
International recently slammed the widespread human rights
abuses in Russia
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A
total of 128 hostages died in the Moscow theater siege, most from the
affects of gas used by Russian forces to quell their attackers. The 41
hostage-takers were also killed.
In
a report published in October, international human rights group Amnesty
International said that torture, rapes and “disappearances” are
common in Russia’s legal “climate of impunity”.
Drafted
last June, the report’s publication coincided with a major campaign by
Amnesty to highlight the discrepancy between the human rights protection
enshrined under international and Russian law and the reality of
widespread abuse, AFP reported.
The
125-page report, entitled “Russian Federation: Denial of Justice,”
focuses on “specific and serious violations of international human
rights and humanitarian law by Russian law enforcement and security
forces.”
In
Russia there is a “reality of widespread human rights abuses committed
by agents of the state and private individuals or groups (non-state
actors) in a climate of impunity,” the report said.
On
November 4, Russia announced that it had dropped plans to withdraw some
of its troops from Chechnya, instead are stepping up their operations.
“Over
the past days, we’ve been receiving information that guerrillas based
in Chechnya - and not only Chechnya - are preparing new terrorist
acts,” Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told Interfax.
“I
have made a decision to interrupt plans to reduce the number of troops
in Chechnya.
“Starting
today, our military has begun a broad, tough but well-conceived special
military operation across the whole of Chechnya.”
Ivanov’s
announcement contradicted his own comments earlier, when he said some of
Russia’s 80,000 troops in Chechnya would be withdrawn as planned,
despite the October theatre siege in which 119 hostages died after being
gassed by the Russian forces.
In
addition, Moscow stepped up pressure on the United States to add Chechen
groups to its terrorist blacklist, describing the issue as a test of the
international coalition against terrorism.
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