Moscow/Agency Caucasus – Russian human rights activists expressed concern over unending violations of human rights in North Caucasian republics as they called upon Vladimir Lukin, a human rights official, and Thomas Hammerberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, to visibly react to the killings of both Magomed Yevloyev in Ingushetiya and Abdullah Alishayev in Dagestan.
Human rights defenders posted online on the website of Moscow Helsinki Group a public statement about political deterioration deepening day by day and causing violence to swell up in Ingushetiya: "The OMON units used force to disperse civilians who had gathered to commemorate the tragic ending of Magomed Yavloyev’s life. Additional armed forces are sent in to Nazran, as well. This means that the use of force was approved at federal level without consulting the local administration at all."
The outburst of violence in Ingushetiya was directly tied up with the killing of Yevloyev as somebody who opposed the government, the statement said, and it added that he was killed for purely political reasons. Human rights activists also emphasized in their statement a need not to believe in officials when they said that Magomed Yevloyev was shot dead accidentally.
The police arrested Yevloyev without being granted leave from the court to do so, the statement said, and it added that Interior Minister Musa Medoyev was responsible for Yevloyev being arrested this way.
"Simultaneously with the death of Yevloyev, charges of extremism were brought against Nadira Isaeva, editor-in-chief of Chernovik, an independent newspaper in Dagestan. A judicial inquiry was followed by police searches of the newspaper building and of Nadira Isaeva’s house," the statement said and added: "Abdullah Alishayev, a journalist, died in hospital after he was shot on September 2."
Human rights activists issued a call for officials to urgently form a committee at the Chief Prosecutor’s office which would launch a murder inquiry for Yevloyev so that chaos could be quelled in Ingushetiya. Additionally, they demanded that President Murat Zyazikov of Dagestan, along with his interior minister, should be dismissed from duty at least while the inquiry remained in effect.
And a further call was issued by human rights activists to hire new members of staff for carrying out prosecutions and maintaining security so that political turmoil could be lessened in Dagestan: "We call upon the Kremlin to enter immediately a dialogue with the civil societies of both Ingushetiya and Dagestan, where there is a clear need to summon round-table meetings between officials, security forces, the opposition and representatives of the civil societies."
The online statement was concluded with a warning that possible delays in taking action would lead to further deterioration in both aforementioned countries. Underneath the statement were signatures of Moscow Helsinki Group Chairperson Lyudmila Alekseyeva, Chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance" Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairman of the Andrey Saharov Foundation Sergei Kovalev, Chair of the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” Oleg Orlov, Head of the All Russia Movement for Human Rights Lev Ponomarev and Head of the Sakharov Museum, which is also a leading human rights group, Yuri Samodurov.
Lyudmila Alekseyeva told the Eko Moscow radio that an independent commission would be set up within this month to launch its own investigation in Ingushetiya into the murder of Yevloyev.
Vladimir Lukin and Thomas Hammerberg expect human rights organizations to send in their representatives to Dagestan and Ingushetiya so that they could observe the situation from the point of view of human rights activists.
KU/ÖZ/HT
