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CHAPTER
2
IT IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH: CHECHNYA
Mass
Graves
Another reality, which constitutes the rings of a planned genocide
movement and of which evidents are darkened and it is not allowed
to be searched, is the mass graves that come out one by one.
Despite all efforts made by Russians, some of these mass graves
could be documented by the works of Memorial.
World community has not paid even as much attention as they
did in mass graves found out in Bosnia when they were found
in Chechnya.
The first mass grave, which showed the executed war crime, is
found on 25th February 2001 in Khankala where there is a Russian
military base. 200 civil corpses are taken out of here. The
legs and arms of the corpses were tied up and they were blindfolded.
The second mass grave is found in Roshni-Chu. There was even
the dead the dead body of a one-year old baby in the grave of
50 people. Later on 14th April 2001 a grave of three people
in a district of Jaharkala, Avtorkhanovsky and another on 1st
May 2001 in Dachni, Jaharkala with corpses all internal organs
removed and another one of 35 people on 4th May 2001 in Khankala
has been found.
On 5th may 2001 when an explosion led to the death of two children
at the entrance of a building used as headquarters this event
revealed another mass grave of 70 people in the basement of
that building.
In May, in Obtyabriski district of Jaharkala, in the yard of
a building which had been used as headquarters another 17 corpses
was found.
On 30th August the bodies of 56 people were dug out near the
village Aleroy while on 15th October in Avtorkhanovsky area
a new mass grave of 50 people was found.
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MEMORIAL:
How A-V. Yashkuraev was found?: On 28 February 2002, some
youths who were minding cattle not far from the grain elevator
on the edge of Argun noticed that some stray dogs were digging
in the ground and trying to drag something out. On closer
inspection they realised that it was a human leg. They went
immediately to the commandant's office and told the women
there, who passed the news on to people who were searching
for missing relatives. A crowd soon gathered around the commandant's
office, demanding that a search of the site be carried out.
As there was no visible response from the public prosecutor's
office, the crowd stayed there from 1 to 2 March. Only at
4.00pm on 2 March were they invited to identify the bodies.
According to the public prosecutor from the inter-regional
public prosecutor's office, Rostislav Viktorovich Timshin,
it took almost three days for sappers to open a way through
to the burial site.
There they found three shallow graves no more than 50 centimetres
deep. Two had been exposed, obviously by the dogs. Bones had
been picked bear and the skulls were missing. Also, no clothes
were found. The corpse in the third grave was well preserved.
Zalpa Yashurkaeva identified her husband, Yashurkaev Abdul-Vakhid
Sulimovich (born 1940) from surgical scars. He had been taken
away by Russian soldiers during the "mopping-up"
operation from 11 to 14 March 2001. His head was also missing
and the edge of the wound on his neck was ragged. The remains
of his trousers were found next to the body, to which were
stuck pieces of skull and teeth. According to the public prosecutor
R.V. Timshin, all three were killed and buried at the same
time. (64)
Statement of Yashurkaeva Zalpa, widow of Yashurkaev Abdul-Vakhab:
The corpse was headless and there were knife wounds on the
body. The body was preserved as if he had only died a week
ago. There were blue weals on his legs and across his ribs
as if they had beaten him with clubs. The body was clean,
as if they had washed him. On his chest was hair from his
beard. The left shoulder had been smashed and you could see
the bones.
When he had the operation, he had a skin graft and they took
58 centimetres of skin from his leg. I recognised him by the
marks from the operation.
The others: the bones of one had been separated; the bones
of the lower half of the other one's body had remained together
and the muscles were still there on the legs below the knees.
It looked as though the flesh had been cut from the bones.
Maybe the dogs had gnawed them. They weren't able to identify
anyone else. There were no heads.
The youths saw that the dogs were digging up something and
pulling at it. They went up, pulled at it and realised that
it was a human leg. They went to the commandant's office and
said there were bodies behind the flour factory. That was
on Thursday (28 February). But the soldiers wouldn't let us
get there. For three days they said there were no bodies.
We said we wouldn't leave until they were exhumed. On 2 March
at 4.00pm two armoured personnel carriers went out there with
Masaev (a policeman), Eldiev Khusein (who is looking for his
missing first cousin) and Idrisov Kharon (the deputy commandant).
They dug them up and brought them back to the commandant's
office. There were no clothes. They brought some trousers
along with my husband, but they weren't his. They said they
were by his head. They must have pulled them over his head
and then blown him up. There were bone fragments from his
skull and teeth (in the remains of the trousers). The cloth
fell to pieces when you touched it. In the empty hole they
found a piece of bandage and a sock. The sock was as good
as new. They told us that there are another 24 sites that
they are treating with suspicion, but that they are not going
to check them until they have finished dealing with four men
who were taken away on 2 March from their homes and whose
bodies were handed over on 2 March. (65)
There are more than 60 people from the village who have been
taken away, who have "disappeared" and have not
been found. (66)
Human Rights Watch: BURYING THE EVIDENCE: On February 24,
a dumping ground for human remains was discovered in the village
of Dachny (also called Zdorovye), located less than a kilometer
from the main Russian military base in Chechnya. The corps
es of fifty-one people were eventually found in the vicinity;
nineteen bodies were identified, at least sixteen of which
were the remains of people who were last seen alive in the
custody of Russian federal forces. Most were in civilian clothing,
some were blindfolded, and many had their hands or feet bound.
The mass "dumping site"-the bodies were dumped along
streets in the village and in abandoned cottages over an extended
period of time-provides striking evidence of the practice
of forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial execution
of civilians by Russian federal forces in Chechnya. Federal
and local authorities denied responsibility for the deaths
of those found at the site and instead blamed the deaths on
Chechen rebel forces and criminal gangs. However, the area
where the mass dumping ground was found has been under Russian
military control since December 1999, long before the vast
majority of the bodies were deposited there. The Russian government's
investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths
of those found at the site has been wholly inadequate. Russian
authorities failed to provide adequate time or information
for identifying the bodies, so that the victims' relatives
often did not know that they could view the bodies or learned
about the identification process only through word of mouth.
Russian authorities also conducted the investigation in a
manner that did not preserve potentially crucial evidence
that might have led to the identification of those responsible
for the torture and execution-style killings of the more than
fifty persons found at the site. The investigation provided
further evidence of the Russian government's refusal to take
meaningful steps to identify the perpetrat ors of serious
human rights abuses by its forces and hold them accountable.
Dachny was not the first site of unmarked graves to be found
in Chechnya, although it is the largest found to date. In
March, Human Rights Watch issued a report, "The 'Dirty
War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture and Summary
Executions," documenting eight mass graves and eight
other makeshift burial sites where corpses of the "disappeared"
and others had been found.1 Most of the people whose bodies
were found in those graves were last seen in the custody of
Russian federal forces, and most bore unmistakable signs of
torture. Injuries commonly found on the bodies included broken
limbs, flayed body parts, severed fingertips, and knife and
gunshot wounds. (67)
Memorial- Bodies discovered near Khankala: The following are
some of the tragic cases when the bodies of the former detainees
were actually discovered:
On 13th December 2000, on the outskirts of the village of
Stariye Atagi, three graves were discovered and excavated.
During the excavation, the head of the administration of the
village of Stariye Atagi and representatives of the Procuracy
were present. In one of the graves, the bodies of three men
were found. These men had been arrested by the federal troops
on 20th December 1999 at the block station in the same village
- the victims were an uncle and two of his nephews: Kuntayev
Imran Vakhayevich, Sadayev Adam Sultanovich and Abdurzakov
Adnan Aliyevich. In another grave, two male corpses were discovered
- it is unclear to whom they belonged but the victims had
only recently been killed. There were clear signs of beatings
and torture on the bodies. The face of one of them was seriously
mutiltated. In the third grave, the body of Isaev Edel'bek
was found, a young man who had been arrested in the hospital
of the village of Stariye Atagi on 7th September 2000 during
a cleansing operation. Isaev had been wounded in March in
an attack on the village of Khalkela in the Shamoisky district.
His father and brother had died as a result of this attack,
and Isaev was, with the help of the federal soldiers, evacuated
to the hospital of Stariye Atagi to recuperate. On 7th September
he was arrested by troops during the cleansing operation.
And now his mutilated body has been found, with signs of torture.
On 18th November 2000, at about 23.00 o'clock, two cars stopped
in front of the Yanurkaev family home in the village of Goity:
a "Ural" heavy goods vehicle and a "UAS"
car. There were armed men in camouflage in these vehicles.
After quickly recognizing the value of the Yanurkaev property,
they broke into the yard, shooting into the air. The head
of the family, Shirvan Yanurkaev came out to meet them and
they told him they had come from Urus-Martan in search of
Abubakar Yanurkaev. Shirvan Yanurkaev answered that Abubakar
was his son and was at that time in the house, because he
had been ill for five days. The soldiers went into the house,
took Abubakar out of bed and told him to get dressed. When
they took Abubakar out of the house, his two-year old son
Isa seized hold of his feet. His other son, four years old,
also began to cry. The mother of the detainee was standing
in the doorway. The men in camouflage tore Isa from his fathers
feet, dragged the aged woman into the yard and took Abubakar
away.
After the federal troops drove away with Abubakar, a group
of women went to the commander's office of the village of
Goity in search of an explanation.
The members of the Special Police Force (OMON), who were in
the office's yard, pointed at the bodies of two of their men,
lying on the floor, and told the women that those had wives,
too, and that their death demanded revenge. Those two members
of the Special Police Force had been killed the day before
at a cafe in Goity. Abubakar was taken to Urus-Martan, to
the Temporary Department of Internal Affairs, which was located
in the premises of a former boarding school.
The relatives of the detainees began to search for a way of
freeing him via middlemen. Also via these middlemen, the members
of the Temporary Department of Internal Affairs told the relatives
that Abubakar would be released the next day. But he was not
released the next day, nor the day after. Finally, on the
fourth day after his detention Shirvan Yanurkaev was told
that his son would be released at 10.00 o'clock the next day.
However, the next morning federal troops surrounded Goity
to conduct a cleansing operation. For two days the relatives
of the detainee asked the soldiers in vain to let them leave
the village to go to Urus-Martan. Only in the evening of the
second day after this the blockade was ended were they allowed
to leave. That same evening, a resident of Goity told the
Yanurkaev family that Abubakar's body was laying in the district
hospital of Urus-Martan. His relatives went there and found
his body in the Central Hospital of Urus-Martan. The hospital
staff told them, that federal troops had taken Abubakar's
body there and had told one of the nurses that Abubakar had
stepped on a mine.
Human Rights Watch: On February 24, a dumping ground for human
remains was discovered in the village of Dachny (also called
Zdorovye), located less than a kilometer from the main Russian
military base in Chechnya. The corpses of fifty-one people
were eventually found in the vicinity; nineteen bodies were
identified, at least sixteen of which were the remains of
people who were last seen alive in the custody of Russian
federal forces. Most were in civilian clothing, some were
blindfolded, and many had their hands or feet bound. The mass
"dumping site"-the bodies were dumped along streets
in the village and in abandoned cottages over an extended
period of time-provides striking evidence of the practice
of forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial execution
of civilians by Russian federal forces in Chechnya.
Federal and local authorities denied responsibility for the
deaths of those found at the site and instead blamed the deaths
on Chechen rebel forces and criminal gangs. However, the area
where the mass dumping ground was found has been under Russian
military control since December 1999, long before the vast
majority of the bodies were deposited there.
The Russian government's investigation into the circumstances
surrounding the deaths of those found at the site has been
wholly inadequate. Russian authorities failed to provide adequate
time or information for identifying the bodies, so that the
victims' relatives often did not know that they could view
the bodies or learned about the identification process only
through word of mouth. Russian authorities also conducted
the investigation in a manner that did not preserve potentially
crucial evidence that might have led to the identification
of those responsible for the torture and execution-style killings
of the more than fifty persons found at the site. The investigation
provided further evidence of the Russian government's refusal
to take meaningful steps to identify the perpetrators of serious
human rights abuses by its forces and hold them accountable.
Dachny was not the first site of unmarked graves to be found
in Chechnya, although it is the largest found to date. In
March, Human Rights Watch issued a report, "The `Dirty
War' in Chechnya: Forced Disappearances, Torture and Summary
Executions," documenting eight mass graves and eight
other makeshift burial sites where corpses of the "disappeared"
and others had been found. Most of the people whose bodies
were found in those graves were last seen in the custody of
Russian federal forces, and most bore unmistakable signs of
torture. Injuries commonly found on the bodies included broken
limbs, flayed body parts, severed fingertips, and knife and
gunshot wounds. (70) |
Another important
matter that must be investigated is that the internal organs of
the corpses taken out of mass graves were missing. Claims of which
the organs of humans are sold to the organ mafia and Russian soldiers
are in cooperation with them, have come up. But there is not yet
an organization to investigate these claims and to bring forth
the truth.
Attacks
On People Who Defend Human Rights
Impartiality in Medical Aid
Not only Chechen civilians but also the representatives of international
organizations that bring aid to the area has become targets
of Russian. For instance, Victor Popkov, who defends human rights,
was attacked while he were bringing aid to the area on 18th
April 2001. He had been waited wounded on the control point
for hours. Then he died in the hospital in Moscov.
On 26th May 2001, the aid convoy of Danish Refugee Council was
fired. On 30th May 2001, Izrailov, who was an officer of Red Cross,
was wounded severely after the opened fire at the Russian control
point in Jaharkala. (71)
The aid organizations came to Chechenia consist of medical drugs
and basic food units of which the standarts are determined by
UN. The pressure on doctors and medical personnel, who medically
help civil public, never stops. One of the doctors who is under
threat because of the claim of medical aid for Chechen warriors
and who could not give his name for security purposes tells
to Doctors Without Borders as:
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The
Politics of Terror, Doctors Without Borders: On several
occasions, doctors and surgeons interviewed noted that victims
of abuses are too scared to go to the hospital to receive
care. The hospitals are not safe havens, and are either
occupied or surrounded by the military. Doctors themselves
are subjected to arbitrary restrictions by Russian soldiers
in their movements and their daily, medical activities.
Many have no choice but to treat patients that come to their
homes. In doing so, however, they risk being suspected of
helping the rebel forces.
"Two doctors from the hospital were arrested and spent
time at the command post. In one of the doctor's house,
they found an electrocardiograph during a 'zachistka' about
a month ago. He has been working for 30 years as a cardiologist.
He is over 60 years old. They accused him of treating the
fighters. He spent a night in a pit". Doctor, Urus
Martan District (72)
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To
not to reduce aid for people who do not act in war including prisoners
of war and to not to prevent help of people for this purpose have
been stipulated by International Human Rights conventions and
war law. In the performance of their duties medical personnel
may not be required to give priority to any person except on medical
grounds. (73)
In this respect, it should be accepted as Russian's violation
of Geneva Conventions beside the other international law principles
by stopping Red Cross vehicle to kill personnel or the attacks
made to the other aid organizations.
In the 3rd
article of Geneva Conventions, it is said that; "The wounded
and sick shall be collected and cared for. An impartial humanitarian
body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross,
may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict."
In the early periods of the war, in December 1999 Vladimir Putin,
in his declaration to The Financial Times said that Russia applied
the international war law principles strictly. But starting
with heavy bombardments for mass destruction in the beginning
of the war and continuing operations, sudden attacks, torture,
summary execution and arbitrary detentions belied Putin.
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The
Politics of Terror, Doctors Without Borders: "I worked
before the war in the Maternity Hospital No1 in Grozny - everybody
calls it the Central Maternity Hospital. I worked there until
the end of October when everything was destroyed. I was supposed
to go back to work this month, but it's still difficult to
travel. It's still dangerous.
Even though I'm not working now, people still come to my home.
Especially at night, if there's a pregnancy with complications,
they come and see me because they can't get to the hospital.
I do what I can, but sometimes nothing can be done. They need
to be in a hospital but they can't get there. People go to
the local Russian checkpoint for help to access the hospital,
but often they don't do anything. Unless the soldiers radio
ahead [to the next checkpoint] or escort you it is suicidal
to try to get to the hospital at night. They will open fire
at you before you even approach the checkpoint.
Just recently, in early September, there was a woman whom
I couldn't save. She arrived at 1 o'clock in the morning.
I knew her. She was in her 35th or 36th week, and she had
been vomiting and suffering from nausea. By the evening her
condition had become much worse. Her family took her to the
Russian checkpoint. A doctor there has often been helpful.
But this time, when the family asked for help in getting to
the hospital, the soldiers refused.
When they came to see me she had dangerously high blood pressure,
eclampsia and a partial separation of the placenta. I gave
her some medicines to lower the
blood pressure but there was nothing else I could do. By early
morning she gave birth to twins, but both were born dead.
I told her family that she needed to go to
the hospital immediately. Her relatives went again to the
Russian checkpoint in town, but by then it was too late. She
died before they could get there.
This is not the first time people come to see me at night.
They're just too scared to try passing the checkpoints. Anything
can happen.
This isn't a hospital. I have nothing here but a few medicines.
Often there is nothing you can do but sit with them until
the morning and hope the checkpoints will then re-open. Obstetrician,
Urus Martan District
"Births are the most dangerous problem. There is very
little pre-natal care now. Our women wait until there is a
crisis to go to the hospital. But who is going to risk
traveling at night? It's too dangerous. Almost all our births
used to occur in hospitals. Now women everywhere are giving
birth at home. Doctor, Urus Martan District
"The checkpoints make people's lives impossible. A man
here fell off his roof. I was worried that he had broken his
spine. I, myself, went to the checkpoint to bring him to the
hospital for an X-ray. But they wouldn't let us through. They
said the town was closed for a 'zachistka'. They wouldn't
take any arguments. We had to treat him without a diagnosis.
Doctor, Urus Martan District (74) |
...........................................
64-
MEMORIAL, 14.03.2002, REPUBLIC OF CHECHNYA, ARGUN "DISAPPEARANCES"
OF DETAINEES "DISAPPEARED" FOUND IN UNMARKED GRAVES,
http://www.memo.ru/eng/memhrc/texts/argun0203.shtml
65- Ibid
66-Ibid
67-May 2001, Human Rights Watch, (RUSSIA/CHECHNYA) BURYING THE
EVIDENCE: THE BOTCHED INVESTIGATION INTO A MASS GRAVE IN CHECHNYA,
www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya2/
68- 5/3/2001 Memorial, Bodies discovered near Khankala- irrefutable
evidence of war crimes committed by Federal Forces, http://www.memo.ru/eng/memhrc/texts/presconf.shtml
69- http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/chechnya2/P68_3849#P68_3849
70-May 2001, Human Rights Watch, Burying The Evidence
71-Chechnya Report, June 2001, Caucasus Foundation
72- CHECHNYA: The Politics of Terror, Doctors Without Borders
/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
73-Article 9/2 of the Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions
and Common Article 3 say that: "In the performance of their
duties medical personnel may not be required to give priority
to any person except on medical grounds."
The definition of the medical personnel is given under the Article
8/c of the Additional Protocol I. Various aid workers come under
this definition if they are directly linked to the medical and
other humanitarian assistance including the Red Cross and the
Red Crescent Organizations and therefore they bears a special
protection status on condition not to take part in the conflict
and carries out their ordinary mission.
Another rule is "Under no circumstances shall any person
be punished for having carried out medical activities compatible
with medical ethics, regardless of the person benefiting therefrom."
(Article 10/1 of the Protocol II and Common Article 3). Similarly,
respecting and protecting the medical units and transports at
all times and not targeting them are also the established rules
of the humanitarian law. (Article 11/1 of the Protocol II and
Common Article 3).
74- CHECHNYA: The Politics of Terror, Doctors Without Borders
/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
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