The Chechnyan civilian population is being worn down between all fronts

One year after the murder of the last freely elected president of Chechnya, Aslan Mashadov, on 8th March 2005 the Society for Threatened Peoples draws a devastating conclusion: for the Chechnyan civilian population the human rights situation is unbearable. The people are being worn down between all fronts, since they are left without any protection from the terror of the Russian army, the Russian secret service, the death squads of the pro-Russian prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov and radicalised Chechnyan Islamists. The international Islamist scene is also gaining influence in Chechnya. The life of the civilians is stamped with the atmosphere of permanent fear of kidnapping, torture, rape and murder. In addition they are suffering under catastrophic humanitarian and ecological conditions. As a result of the wars 1994-1996 and 1999 until today about one quarter of the Chechnyan people of one million has been killed. For the survivors the prospect of a political solution to the conflict has disappeared into the far distance.

From the time of his election on 27th January 1997 Aslan Mashadov worked hard for a political solution to the Chechnyan conflict. This was worked out in the treaty of Chasavyurt, which was seen to be fair by the observers of the OSCE, with the then Russian president Boris Yeltsin. And then when the second war began in Chechnya in 1999 Mashadov did his best to reach a moderate political solution. But Vladimir Putin, who had come to power on the crest of the wave with the Chechnyan war, had no interest in this. Mashadov tried as hard as he could to hold back the Islamist forces in Chechnya and asked for help from Europe. He rejected acts of terror and showed himself ready to negotiate.

With the murder of Mashadov the Chechnyan leadership became more radical under his successor, Abdul Khamit Sadulaev. Criminals like the terrorist, Shamil Basayev, gained more influence. There were internal disputes between the moderates and the radicals in which the Islamists gained the upper hand. With Mashadov Russia disposed with the only partner for political negotiations.

Meanwhile the Russian government has filled all the important positions in Chechnya with Chechnyans who are willing to collaborate. Ramzan Kadyrov, the 29-year old head of government, is since the murder of his father, the pro-Russian president, Achmad Kadyrov, Moscow’s strong man in Grosny. He heads a bodyguard consisting of up to 5000 men, which is responsible for at least two thirds of the violations of human rights in Chechnya. Kadyrov is a war criminal, who has himself taken part in the torture and murder of civilians. He and his henchmen spread fear and terror in Chechnya. They go about night by night as death squads, kidnapping civilians, who are then locked in a torture chamber, raped and murdered.