Human Rights Watch has accused the Russian Federation of establishing a regime of terror in breakaway the Chechen Republic, with widespread kidnapping, torture and murder. According to the watchdog, Chechen civilians are being abducted at the rate of two a day by the authorities for interrogation purposes, the British Independent newspaper reported. The allegations came after Human Rights Watch carried out a two-week investigation in the Chechen Republic. (24-FEB-05)

“It’s really difficult to believe that the situation there could get any worse than it has been in the past couple of years, but that is what we heard from a number of witnesses,” The Independent quoted Anna Neistat, the head of the group’s office Moscow, as saying.

“At least during the wars [federal forces entered the republic in 1994 and 1999] they knew what to expect but now they live in constant fear because anything could happen at any moment.”

Neistat said Russian federal forces and militia loyal to the republic’s Moscow-backed Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov were to blame for two-thirds of all kidnappings.

“We’ve talked to people who have been released. Their fingers were broken, they were detained with a bag over their heads and were drugged and starved. They were severely tortured … and then dumped in a forest in a state of shock,” she said. People were kidnapped to have information beaten out of them, she added, or because they were suspected of having some connection with the separatist rebels.

The human rights group Memorial said recently that about 1,000 civilians had gone missing in the Chechen Republic in the past five years. Last year alone it recorded almost 400 abductions including those of 24 people who were later found dead with signs of torture.

The Kremlin has denied allegations of human rights abuses in the war-torn republic, and says that the situation there is improving.

But according to Neistat, many people who were victims of kidnappings or torture are too afraid to speak out.

Source: www.mosnews.com