Police torture suspects and disregard a rising tide of nationalist violence, while abuse of Chechen civilians rages unchecked – and Western governments are partly to blame for ignoring the problems, The Moscow Helsinki group said July 9. (30-JULY-02)

The respected human rights watchdog criticized the West’s silence following Putin’s backing to anti-terrorism operation after September 11 as a cynical exchange, living activists in the Russian Federation without powerful Western supporters.

“The integration of the Russian Federation into the anti-terrorist coalition became a pardon of violations by Western democracies”, said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki group. “This ally that we had in Western governments, the United States, European Union, Canada, is immeasurably less of an ally now.”

In one example, she said, German colleagues have reduced support for Russian human rights groups since September 11, saying it is no longer the priority it once was. The war in the breakaway republic occupied a large chunk of the Moscow Helsinki Group’s 470-page annual report on human rights released 9July. It accused federal troops of forming death squats that target Chechen men with no proven rebel ties, torturing civilians and ransacking Chechen homes. The Helsinki group dismissed Russian officials’ stance that they are fighting terrorists in the Chechen Republic – a position that US officials started backing after September 11. “In fact … the opponents are separatists”, the report said.

Beyond Chechen borders, the report said, the most alarming new trend over past year was the rise of racist and anti-Semitic violence. The report said racist violence is “the result of a sense of impunity for this type of behaviour”, and accused police of overlooking – and in some cases taking part in – such attacks.

Alekseeva2The report also accused police of continued torture of crime suspects, and outlined government pressure on outspoken journalists.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva (picture) slammed a new anti-extremism law, saying that it is so broad that even the Moscow Helsinki Group could qualify as “extremist” and be prosecuted for it’s opposition views.