APPEAL

to the PACE
to the UN-Commission of Human Rights
to the OSCE
to the European Union

We, the Ieaders of the Union of Women of the North Caucasus and the Ingushetian (branch) of "Memorial" once more adress the representatives of the world community as we are alarmed about the destiny of Chechen children, women and men

Nazran, June 26, 2000

General statistics:

Since the end of August 1999, 45.000 people have died, 400.000 people have become refugees.

At the moment there are only about 250.000 people living in Chechnya, about 30.000 of them in Grozny. 178.000 people live in Ingushetia in refugee camps, the others have moved to countries of the former Soviet Union. About 3.000 Chechen children have become full orphans, almost 20.000 have lost one parent. The (overall) number of invalid children (approache) 16.000 (after the first Russian-Chechen war it was 5.000).

1. Large-scale military actions with aircrafts and long-range artillery continue in the mountainous regions of Chechnya: Shatoi, Vedeno, Itum- Kalinsk, the Argun Gorge. This part of the Republic is closed to journalists, representatives of Human Rights and humanitarian organisations.

2. In all villages in the premountainous regions of Chechnya - Elistanshi, Komsomolskoye, Atshchoy-chutor, Katyr-Jurt, Alchan-Kala, Roshin-Chu, Tangi-Chu, Martan-Chu, Shalashi, Gechi-Chu and others systematic and unsystematic (cleansing) are (carried) out. As a result dozens of men and women are illegally detained (they are called "snipers")
Around the villages and along the roads mines and fougasses are being laid, which kill people and cattle every day. In the summer children are especially endangered as they spend a lot of time outside the house: on June 8 in the village of Roshin-Chu a 10-year old boy was killed by a mine hidden in the bushes.
The civilian population, especially the rural population of Chechnya can only survive on agriculture, but it is impossible to take the catt!e to the pasture, to purchase hay I corncrops and wheat. People are afraid to leave their villages in order to work on the fields, they fear 1° be blown . up by land-mines orto be killed (detained and sent to commander offices and from there to filtration camps) by soldiers of the Federal army.
Thus the residents of Chechnya await a harsh winter.

3. Filtration camps
In Chechnya several types of filtration camps occupied by Federal forces exist:

a) at block stations;
b) at commander offices in every region of Chechnya and in the four districts of Grozny (overall 26);
c) in the district centres;
d) genuine concentration camps are set up in Grozny (Chankala), Chernokozovo, jn the towns of Mozdok and Piatigorsk (in order of toughness ).

As a rule all cleansing operations in Chechnya end with the arrest of men and the further detention in filtration camps. In the Staropromyslovky district of Grozny the married couple Petrosyan Arseniya Aslanovna, born in 1927 I and Sergyi Grigorevich, born in 1930 (adress: ul. Dershavina 208) were killed and burned.
The office of the Public Prosecutor refuses to consider the written request of their son Aleksandr Petrosyan to investigate the death of his parents alleging that the parents died during an air-raid on Grozny in January .
The bodies of men, detained in the concentration camp of Chernokozovo and beaten to death there, were abandoned in the village Komsomolskoye (as if they had died in combat for the village).
This is a new method of military action applied by Federal forces, in the period of 1994-1996 similar cases were not registered. At the beginning of June mass graves were found by local residents near tbe commander's office of the Savodsk district of Grozny.
Shortly after that access to the district was forbidden. After fights for the village Komsomolskoye (where 800 resistance fighters died) 69 people voluntarily handed themselves in to the Federal forces hoping for amnesty. 20 of them were tortured to death' in Mozdok. For 40 ransom is demanded from their relatives.

4. Extortion methods are daily used by soldiers of the Federal army and the Russian Interior Ministry.
This method of increasing wages is used by soldiers, officers and even generals. Not one single document is considered valid in Chechnya, only money counts. Everywhere in Chechnya -in every village, in every town -people can be detained and then freed by paying ransom. The relatives of Vacha Murtazaliev I who was detained in Urus-Martan, paid $3000.- for his release.
When released he was given a certificate stating that he was arrested and detained on no grounds in the concentration camp. Shortly after that on May 17 he was again arrested.
Now the Federals demand $5000 - for his release. The prosecutor of the Chechen Republic V.P. Kravchenko refused to meet the demands of the relatives and allow a lawyer to see V.Murtazaliev.
Furthermore for two weeks after the arrest of Murtazaliev Kravchenko was Iying to the relatives stating that he did not give the order for his arrest and that the detention of V. Murtazaliev in Urus-Martan was apparently carried out by Chechen terrorists, dressed in uniforms of soldiers of the Federal army a (!).

5. Grozny is an area of ecological and humanitarian catastrophe.
There is not one single humanitarian organisation working in the town. The Russian Ministry of extraordinary situations officially supplies the town only with flour. Since the end of Aprii the places where hot food was distributed to the people are closed. The residents of Grozny travel to Ingushetia in order to get basic food products (humanitarian aid).
The residents of Grozny take drinking water from open water reservoirs or collect it after the rain, in both cases the water must be allowed to stand off for a long time as it is extremly dirty. Water that is brought to town in tank-trucks is sold for 1,5 fouble per bucket, the water contains such a high concentration of alkali and other minerals that according to local resid.ents clothes can be bleached in this water. Everybody drinks this water, even small children.
In the precincts and outside town about 50 plants are operating, 24 hours-a-day, fumes of burning natural gas and smog are. hanging over the town. The people say: "The Federals do not need to bombard us anymore, in two years we will die of cancer and asthma anyway "
The appearance of the residents of Grozny is very alarming: they are thin, exhausted, emaciated, black from the soot.

6. Violence against women
The sexual abuse of women has taken on an extremely cruel character . You get the impression that the violence against women has become a commandment and a natural habit applied by the representatives of the Federal forces. Under the pretext of arresting "snipers" young women and girls are taken by force to commanders' posts and further to Chernokosovo or Khankala, where they are raped until the relatives find the means to pay ransoms.
The fate of 12-year old Luiza Magamadova, who was abducted from Urus-Martan in May and taken to Chernokosovo is on the conscience of all living. Every night the giri was raped by a group of guards and during the day she had to carry the burden of an arrested "Chechen sniper".
Before the relatives could hand over the ransom the girl was allowed to leave and killed on the way to Chernoskosovo. The body was found by the relatives ...
All men, women and children, who were in a filtration camp, are afraid to talk about what they had to go through. The FSB is keeping a close eye on them. These people cannot leave the area, they cannot walk away, they live in fear for themselves and for their families, among them there 'are cases of mental disorder. It is important to note that ali this is happening after the visit of international commissions to Chernokosovo

7. Looting and moral decay.
Every dwelling or its ruins can be subject to looting by soldiers of the Federal army at any time of the day. Carpets, bed-sheets, forniture, cooking utensils, domestic or electronic equipment that was taken away from the local residents, can very often be found in shelters and premises of officers and soldiers of the Federal troops. Demonstrative defiance of generally accepted norms of behaviour is one of the most typical phenomenons of Russian troops in Chechnya.
People in military uniforms, very often half-undressed, use only abusive language when talking to locals, they give way to their natural urges at any time and any piace in front of women and children, ali characteristics of an occupying army are present -not only physical but also moral and psychological.

8. Escalation of tension in the North Caucasus region and ethnic persecution in the Russian Federation.
The escalation of tension in the region can be observed since the beginning of May. It started with statements of Russian generals taking part in military actions in Chechnya. Several times you could hear groundless allegations about recreation bases of Chechens in Ingushetia, that Chechens are treated in Ingushetian hospitals, that the Ingushetian authorities are in contact with President A. Maschadov and "field commanders".
At the same time the Russian authorities in Moscow put constant pressure on the Ingushetian government, thus compelling it to take actions towards expelling Chechen refugees from the Republic. Provocative firing at Russian troops stationed in Ingushetia, accusations and direct threats by generals to undertake cleansing operations in Ingushetia, similar to the ones in Chechnya, the refusal of the Federal centre to finance the refugees in Ingushetia confirm the fears that certain forces in Moscow intend to expand the zone of military actions in the North Caucasus.
The persecution of ethnic Chechens and Ingushetians is continued in Russian regions. It is very common that people are detained, beaten up by policemen, they are denied registration at their piace of residence, employment, medical assistance, the issuing of foreign passports, children are denied the provision of general education.

We adress the international structures and protest against their non- interfering into the so-called internai affairs of Russia that turned into a police state occupying Chechnya.
The genocide of Chechens and the humanitarian catastrophe that was inflicted on this nation already took piace before the eyes of the civilized mankind!

For the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the United Nations and the European Union which allowed this catastrophe to happen in the North Caucasus and thus discredit themselves as institutes of democracy and Human Rights there is only one thing left to be done: not allow an atomic bomb to be thrown onto Chechnya, something that can easily be expected of the insane and irresponsible Russian authorities.

Chairperson of the Ingushetian branch of
"Memorial" and Co-Chairperson of the
"Union of Women of the North Caucasus"
responsible for matters concerning Ingushetia
Mariam Landieva

Co-Chairperson of the
"Union of Women of the North Caucasus"
responsible for matters concerning Chechnya
International Committee of Human Rights of Chechen Republic
Zeina Gashaeva