On 17 June, four employees of the Human Rights Center “Memorial” were detained while photographing a building in the Chechen Republic where, according to human rights defenders, kidnapped people were illegally. The Human Rights Center “Memorial” intends to address this incident to the Prosecutor and the Court. (28-JUN-08)
Written by Maria Paramonova/HRH Moscow
Links: http://www.hro1.org/node/2534; http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/news/id/1224186.html; http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/news/id/1224074.html; http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/news/id/1223407.html
Photo: www.hro.org
The settlement Goyta prison
Attention turned to the settlement Goyta prison in the autumn of last year following an investigation into the kidnapping of the Aushev brothers. One of the brothers, Magomed Aushev, was illegally detained and tortured by the FSB in June 2007 following a special offensive in the village of Surkhakhi in Ingushetia.
Detention of human rights defenders
On 17 June, Shakhman Akbulatov, Milana Bakhaeva, Zarema Mukusheva (photo) , Yrady Gayrbekov were detained in the settlement Goyta of the Urus-Martanovsky region of the Chechen Republic and were taken to the local Regional Department of Internal Affairs. People in civilian closers who participated in these detentions declared that this illegal prison is a “classified object” which cannot be photographed without special permission. The employees in civilian closes refering to themselves as “employees of the Service”, seized the human rights defenders’ documents and video camera, then took them to the Urus-Martanovsky Regional Department of Internal Affairs.
The threat of execution
According to Shakhman Akbulatov, the people who interrogated him did not give their names. The reason for his detention was also not given. Their belongings were confiscated without a report. During interrogation moral pressure was put upon the human rights defenders, which included the threat of execution. The “employees of the Service” took photos of Shakhman Akbulatov and then Zarema Mukusheva despite their objections. The people in civilian closes then searched, without any clear reason, the human rights defender’s car which was driven to the territory of the Urus-Martanovsky Regional Department of Internal Affairs. The employees of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs stated that the human rights defenders had no right to film without permission from the local authorities. References to an article of the Constitution of the Russian Federation on the right of a citizen to “freely search for, receive, transfer, make and distribute information in any lawful way” did not make any impression.
The lawyer was not permitted to the detained human rights defenders
Their lawyer, Doka Itslaev (photo) , came to the detained human rights defenders at the Regional Department of Internal Affairs but was not permitted to see them in spite of the fact that he had a legal warrant. 2 hours later, at 17:30, the detained employees of the Center “Memorial” were released from custody.
“Memorial” intends to address this incident to the Prosecutor and the Court
The Human Rights Center “Memorial” considers the detention of its employees in the settlement of Goyta, and the destruction of the video made there, illegal. “Beside this, militiamen from the Urus-Martanovsky Regional Department of Internal Affairs broke the criminal-procedural legislation, in particular, by not allowing a lawyer to see the arrested persons. Finally, the repeated stated threats of murder contains the structure of a criminal offence”, – the Human Rights Center “Memorial” said in a message. The Center “Memorial” intends to address this incident to the Prosecutor and the Court.
