HE Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
President of the Russian Federation
Via Facsimile: +7 095 206 07 66
17 March 2003
Your Excellency,
On Saturday 15 March the well-known human rights defender Imran Ezhiev was kidnapped in the Chechen Republic. The circumstances and the background of the abduction, as well as the high number of disappearances in the Chechen Republic, give rise to serious concern for the fate of Mr. Ezhiev. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee appeals to the President of the Russian Federation to do Your utmost to find and to free Mr. Ezhiev. Specifically, we would like Your assistance to establish whether Mr. Ezhiev was detained by federal servicemen and, if so, on what charges.
On Saturday 15 March, at about 19.30, Imran Ezhiev was driving on the road between Shali and Serzhen Yurt in the Shalinskiy region of the Chechen Republic when two vehicles, a Niva jeep and a Zhiguli, forced his car to make a stop. A group of masked men, who did not identify themselves, came out of the vehicles. They asked to see the identification documents of Mr. Ezhiev and his driver, Zaur Kharipov. The masked men forced Mr. Ezhiev into one of their cars at gunpoint and drove away to an unknown destination. Mr. Kharipov, the driver, was left behind unharmed.
Imran Ezhiev is a distinguished human rights defender of the Russian Federation. He is one of the leaders of the Russo-Chechen Friendship Society, and the regional coordinator of the Moscow Helsinki Group. Mr. Ezhiev is also a spokesman for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Chechen Republic currently residing in the neighboring Republic of Ingushetiya. Mr. Ezhiev is the head of a refugee settlement near Karabulak in Ingushetiya, the Yandariye camp, where he lives with his family.
As a human rights defender, Imran Ezhiev has faced persecution and harassment since the start of the current war in the Chechen Republic. He has been detained and maltreated by police and federal forces on a number of occasions. He was detained and tortured for a week in September 2000. He was arrested in Ingushetiya on 13 October 2001 and held for a month in Grozny without any charges filed against him. In two incidents in December 2001, Ezhiev’s brother and a colleague in the Russo-Chechen Friendship Society, were killed in the Chechen Republic. There was an attempt to abduct Mr. Ezhiev in his home in the Yandariye camp on the night of 2 November 2002. The IDPs came to his assistance and forced the masked men to identify themselves. They turned out to be policemen working for the local administration in Grozny. On two occasions on 4 March 2003, when Mr. Ezhiev was in Argun in the Chechen Republic, unknown persons fired at his car.
The abduction of Imran Ezhiev takes place in the context of the preparations for the controversial Referendum on the Draft Constitution of the Chechen Republic which will take place on 23 March 2003. The abduction of Imran Ezhiev illustrates the danger faced by human rights defenders in the Chechen Republic. The abduction of Imran Ezhiev underlines the fact that federal Russian authorities are either unable or unwilling to establish order and security in the Chechen Republic. The abduction of Imran Ezhiev is consistent with the systematic and grave human rights abuses that continue to occur in the Chechen Republic, and which make the war in the Chechen Republic the worst human rights crisis in Europe today.
As a member of the United Nations, the Russian Federation is bound by the UNs General Assembly Resolution 53/144, “Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” (Declaration on Human Rights Defenders) which states that:
everyone is entitled, individually and in association with others, to be protected effectively under national law in reacting against or opposing, through peaceful means, activities and acts, including those by omission, attributable to States that result in violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as acts of violence perpetrated by groups or individuals that affect the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. (Art. 12.3)
If the Russian government is to maintain credibility and legitimacy in its campaign against terror, it must start with establishing rule of law in the Chechen Republic. A priority is the protection of human rights defenders. The Norwegian Helsinki Committee appeals to all relevant institutions to do their utmost to find and to free Mr. Ezhiev. Specifically, we would like Your assistance to establish whether Mr. Ezhiev was detained by federal servicemen and, if so, on what charges.
Sincerely,
Bjørn Engesland
Secretary General
