The Russian troops are practicing “Stalinist” terrorism in Chechnya, Yusupova

NEW YORK, April 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The United Nations and the international community should denounce in a strong resolution “gross and systematic violations” of human rights in Chechnya at the hands of Russian troops and pro-Moscow Chechen militias, said the world’s major human rights organizations in a joint statement.

Rape, torture and extrajudicial executions by Russian troops have become everyday occurrences in Chechnya, said the statement released Thursday, April 8, by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, and the Moscow-based Memorial.

On Saturday, April 10, the bodies of nine men bearing gunshot wounds were found in a ditch in southeastern Chechnya. The dead are believed to be abducted by unidentified men last month, the Ria-Novosti news agency reported.

The British charity Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture will release next Thursday, April 15, a separate report providing the first-ever substantial body of reliable evidence on the use of rape in Chechnya.

The Russian troops are practicing “Stalinist terrorism” in Chechnya by carrying out massive “enforced kidnappings” for entire families to force Chechen fighters to lay down their arms, said Lida Yusupova, coordinator of the Grozny office of Memorial.

The rights groups called on the government in their statement of the Russian Federation to take immediate steps to bring an end to the human rights abuses in Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia.

“The climate of abuse and impunity in Chechnya is now spilling over into Ingushetia and threatening stability there too,” said Anna Neistat, Moscow director for Human Rights Watch.

“A resolution on Chechnya and Ingushetia will send the message that these continuing abuses must stop.”

The statement also condemned a “new and increasingly militant armed group” under the command of the son of Chechnya’s President Ahmad Kadyrov, popularly known as the Kadyrovtsy.

They blamed the militias for an increasing portion of the “disappearances” as many Chechens say they fear the Kadyrovtsy more than federal troops

Last month, Germany’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy Claudia Roth pointed the accusing finger for the growing abuses at Russian security forces and the militias of the son of Kadyrov, who assumed power  last October amid cries of foul playing and rigging in the elections.

Memorial said that 41 people were missing after being abducted in Chechnya during the first three months of the year. 

A total of 78 people were kidnapped in the Caucasian republic during that period, the group said.

E.U. Bill 

A Chechen mother cries over the kidnapping of her son

The joint criticism came as Russia hit out Friday, April 9, at the European Union for asking the United Nations to condemn human rights abuses in Chechnya. 

Moscow claimed that the E.U. was encouraging “terrorists” in pressing ahead with the measure, Reuters news agency reported.

“This is encouragement for terrorists and contradicts the uncompromising fight against international terrorism,” Interfax news agency quoted deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov as saying.

“The current draft is politicized and we hope it will not be passed,” Fedotov said.

The expanding bloc presented a draft resolution to the U.N. Human Rights Commission on Thursday, April 8, to denounce the appalling human rights abuses at the hands of the Russian troops in the country.

The E.U. draft resolution also condemns attacks by Chechen fighters on Russian civilians as “terrorist acts”.

Last October, human rights groups accused the West of ignoring blatant and state-sanctioned abuses in Russia for the sake of improving relations with President Vladimir Putin.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee slammed  in a panel on November 7 the ill-treatment of detainees under interrogation, executions and torture in the republic of Chechnya.

The small mountainous republic has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first war between Russian forces and Chechen fighters ended in August 1996 and the second broke out in October 1999.

At least 100,000 civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated to have been killed in both wars, but human rights groups have said the real numbers could be much higher.