SPECIAL RUSSIA-UKRAINE: For the first time in the last three years a report on the conditions of Chechen people was presented in Russia

Civic Assistance Committee and Memorial Human Rights Centre unveil translation of the report “Chechens in Russia” (originally in Russian, translation into English).

Such reports have been prepared and issued by these organizations since 2002. Their main purpose is to analyze the reasons why Chechen people seek asylum in other countries.

Despite all the precautions taken and the anonymization of individuals mentioned in the report, these last years we did not unveil it to the public. It seemed that by 2014 the situation in Chechnya had steadied, and we decided to organize a presentation (of the Russian text).

We were planning to set the date for the 11th of December – which is the 20th anniversary of the First Chechen War beginning.

However, the reality changed our plans. On the 4th of December militants attacked Grozny, 14 law enforcement officers were killed, 36 injured, more than 10 militants were annihilated. After these tragic events Ramzan Kadyrov basically gave an order to persecute militants’ relatives, and soon 12 houses belonging to them were destroyed (today we know already about 15 cases. - data by the beginning of January, 2015), families (and the majority of these families have very young children), ran away from the republic. In connection with these events Human Rights Watch, Civic Assistance Committee, Novaya Gazeta and HRC Memorial held a press conference. This is where the report “Chechens in Russia” was presented.

“We told in this report about the level of fear in Chechnya, about local people’s state of mind. I have already mentioned many times, that this is the kind of fear that becomes a part of your personality, when a person starts “loving his own dragon,” - says the report editor Svetlana Gannushkina, head of Civic Assistance Committee, member of the Board of the HRC Memorial. – It seems to me, that today we saw the confirmation of the actual state of affairs (on the 11th of December during the press-conference some strangers bombarded human rights activists with eggs, showing in such a way their support to Chechnya’s authorities – HRC Memorial’s note). These young people demonstrated us the support of something that may become a tragedy for them as well, if one day Mr. Kadyrov wants that. Russian Constitution does not work in Chechnya, there is the only law there – and it consists of two words: “Ramzan’s order”.