By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
SHALI, Russia – Police in a Shali, a small town in the Republic of Chechnya in Russia, “arbitrarily” detained three human rights activists overnight on Sunday February 7.
According to Human Rights Watch, the three men were questioned separately through the night, not given access to an attorney, and allowed to make phone calls to human rights colleagues outside of Chechnya. Although the men were never under arrest, they were not allowed to leave the Shani precinct.
According to Aleksandr Cherkasov of Memorial Human Rights Center, a rights watchdog based in Moscow, claims that activists were not provided with an explanation for the basis of their detention.
Allegedly, the activists were detained because they met with a Shali citizen who had pertinent information about a local abduction victim. But no official explanation for the detention has yet been given. Moreover, Shanli police did not officially process any of the detentions.
The three prominent activists, Dmitry Yegoshin, Roman Veretennikov, and Vladislav Sadykov, were involved in an investigation of numerous abductions and killings of Chechens over the past years. In particular, the activists were investigating the abduction and murder of Natalya Estemirova, a member of a Memorial branch in Chechnya. Ms. Estemirova was abducted by unidentified masked kidnappers. Her body was found dead in a vehicle that was shot at and struck dozens of times.
Human rights groups, including Memorial, claim that Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of the Republic of Chechnya, ordered Ms. Estemirova’s kidnapping and killing. Mr. Kadyrov has since dismissed these allegations as “slanderous”.
Human rights activists have accused Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov of ordering kidnappings and murders in the republic. Kadyrov has dismissed the allegations, calling them slanderous.
International human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Civil Rights Defenders, Front Line, and Human Rights Watch, have since released a statement to probe the detentions further.
The groups decried the detentions as continuing examples of Russian impunity. Specifically, Holly Cartner, the Europe and Central Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, said that “[t]his arbitrary detention clearly demonstrates that the Chechen law enforcement agencies continue harassing human rights defenders despite Prime Minister Putin’s recent call for a healthy working environment for human rights groups.”
For more information, please see:
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH – Watchdogs Call For Probe Into Chechen Detentions – 09 February 2010
MOSCOW TIMES – Rights Activists Detained in Chechnya – 09 February 2010
RADIO FREE EUROPE – Watchdogs Call For Probe Into Chechen Detentions – 09 February 2010
