Filing a complaint

According to several sources, authorities actively threaten persons who assert their rights against the

(⁸⁰³) OMON is a special police unit operating in the Russian Federation.

(⁸⁰⁴)DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 134.

(⁸⁰⁵)DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 134, see also p. 18.

(⁸⁰⁶) ICG, Chechnya: The Inner Abroad, 30 June 2015, p. 30.

(⁸⁰⁷)Memorial, Counter-terrorism in the North Caucasus: a human rights perspective. 2014 – first half of 2016, 2016, pp. 36-38; NZZ, Tschetschenische Mörder und Hetzer, 27 February 2016.

(⁸⁰⁸)France 24, 10 years on, Anna Politkovskaya murder still unsolved, 7 October 2016.

(⁸⁰⁹)Memorial, Counter-terrorism in the North Caucasus: a human rights perspective. 2014 – first half of 2016, 2016, pp. 37-38.

(⁸¹⁰)US DoS, 2015 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, Russia, 13 April 2016.

government or influential persons (⁸¹¹). The Danish Immigration Service learned from Memorial that

‘people are deterred from filing complaints’ with the European Court of Human Rights (⁸¹²), and their lawyers are threatened (⁸¹³).

According to one sources, an obstacle to access justice is the poverty of ordinary Chechens. There is also social pressure against asserting one’s rights in court, in the sense that no one wants to be responsible for bringing misfortune to one’s family (⁸¹⁴).

As reported by Norwegian COI unit Landinfo, families of the disappeared are in a particular dilemma:

they desperately want to find their relatives, but turning to the authorities or filing a complaint might actually put them at risk (⁸¹⁵). HRW mentions under‐reporting of cases of abuse against local critics as abuses may never be reported due to the overwhelming climate of fear, and residents ‘have been largely intimidated into silence’ (⁸¹⁶). Several sourcestold Landinfo that they will not go public with information where the family fears repercussions (⁸¹⁷). The tools of the government to subdue victims of human rights violations into silence are manifold: reports mention death threats, threats to rape female relatives (⁸¹⁸), denunciation as prostitute or drug addict (⁸¹⁹), fabricated charges and physical assault (⁸²⁰). In one case, the Chechen Ministry for Internal Affairs filed and won a complaint for libel against a victim of torture, a verdict that was ultimately upheld by the Chechen Supreme Court (⁸²¹).

According to Amnesty International, human rights organisations have become extremely careful about reporting on the situation in Chechnya (⁸²²). The only organisation that, in 2014, was still able to provide effective legal assistance to human rights victims in Chechnya was the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) which conducts mobile team visits into the territory of the republic. After its office was attacked in June 2015, JMG briefly closed its operations in Chechnya (⁸²³). Two JMG staff travelling with a group of journalists were assaulted in March 2016, on the road between North Ossetia and Chechnya, and

(⁸¹¹)DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 177; UK Parliament, Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) Report, Chechnya Fact-Finding Mission, 10 June 2010, p. 24; RFE/RL, Fearing Reprisals, Chechnya Whistle-Blower Keeps Family's Location Secret, 18 May 2016; Caucasian Knot, Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of May 9-15 May 2016, 16 May 2016.

(⁸¹²)DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 177.

(⁸¹³) Lapitskaya, J., ECHR, Russia, and Chechnya: Two Is Not Company, and Three Is Definitely a Crowd, 2011, pp. 503-519.

(⁸¹⁴)Historian who specialises in Chechnya and has conducted field research in Chechnya, email response, 2 November 2016.

(⁸¹⁵)Landinfo: Tsjetsjenia: Familiemedlemmer til personer med tilknytning til opprørsbevegelsen, 4 October 2016, pp. 8-9.

(⁸¹⁶) HRW, "Like Walking a Minefield"; Vicious Crackdown on Critics in Russia’s Chechen Republic, 30 August 2016, p. 3.

(⁸¹⁷)Landinfo: Tsjetsjenia: Familiemedlemmer til personer med tilknytning til opprørsbevegelsen, 4 October 2016, pp. 8-9.

(⁸¹⁸)DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, pp. 175-176.

(⁸¹⁹)ICG, Chechnya: The Inner Abroad, 30 June 2015, p. 35.

(⁸²⁰)DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, pp. 134, 177, 180; UK Parliament, Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) Report, Chechnya Fact-Finding Mission, 10 June 2010, p. 24; Memorial, Counter-terrorism in the North Caucasus: a human rights perspective. 2014 – first half of 2016, 2016, p. 29.

(⁸²¹)Caucasian Knot, Judge of Chechen SC disagrees with verdict on MIA's lawsuit against rights defenders, 19 October 2015.

(⁸²²)AI, Amnesty International Report 2015/16 - The State of the World’s Human Rights - Russian Federation, 24 February 2016.

(⁸²³)CoE-PACE, Human rights in the North Caucasus: what follow-up to Resolution 1738 (2010)? [Doc. 14083], 8 June 2016, p. 10.

its office in Ingushetia broken into (⁸²⁴).Igor Kalyapin, chairperson of the JMG, said he was convinced the attack was due to the JMG’s relentless efforts to pressure the authorities to investigate disappearances and other crimes where the evidence pointed to Kadyrov’s close circle (⁸²⁵).

According to Amnesty International, defence lawyers and lawyers bringing human rights cases are also at risk of repression(⁸²⁶). Lawyers who agree to represent clients bringing a case against the government or asserting rights against persons linked to the government are reportedly threatened with losing their licence (⁸²⁷). As reported by the Danish Immigration Service, the ubiquitous risk of retaliation by the Chechen government makes it almost impossible to find a defence lawyer in certain cases, in particular insurgency‐related accusations (⁸²⁸). Lawyers have also been abducted and subjected to ill‐treatment; six lawyers have disappeared since 2002 (⁸²⁹). Only JMG provides meaningful legal assistance in Chechnya (⁸³⁰).

According to the Central Asia‐Caucasus Institute, victims of human rights violations or their families who do go to court rarely prevail as law enforcement and judicial authorities are equally afraid of upsetting Kadyrov or any of his men (⁸³¹). This is not limited to claims of murder, disappearance or ill‐

treatment but also to claims related to social and economic rights, issues which in other parts of the Russian Federation are reportedly still relatively well enforced (⁸³²). A human rights activist talking to the DIS mentions two examples where owners of houses or shops that were demolished to make way for development projects in Grozny and Achoi Martan failed to receive any compensation. ‘The court system is not able to intervene and provide protection under the laws to ordinary Chechens’, the activist is cited. In one case the judge reportedly said that ruling against the authorities was dangerous for him (⁸³³).

As noted by Memorial and ICG, the prevalence of impunity contributes to fear and a feeling of futility of seeking legal remedies (⁸³⁴). International observers note that the families of the disappeared would usually stop pursuing their claim once the body of their relative has been returned to them (⁸³⁵).

According to the Swiss State Secretary for Migration, Chechens would not seek help with the Office of

(⁸²⁴)AI, Urgent Action: 57/16 [EUR 46/3643/2016], 31 March 2016; CPJ, Attackers beat group of journalists covering human rights abuses in North Caucasus, 9 March 2016; FIDH, Russian Federation: Members of the Joint Mobile Group and journalists attacked in Ingushetia, 14 March 2016.

(⁸²⁵)The Russia Reader, Igor Kalyapin: “Kadyrov Said He Would Not Let Us Work in Chechnya”, 19 March 2016.

(⁸²⁶) AI, Amnesty International Report 2014/15 - The State of the World's Human Rights - Russian Federation, 25 February 2015.

(⁸²⁷) Memorial, Chechens in Russia, 2014, p. 5; DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 150.

(⁸²⁸) DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 150.

(⁸²⁹) DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 150.

(⁸³⁰) CoE-PACE, Human rights in the North Caucasus: what follow-up to Resolution 1738 (2010)? [Doc. 14083], 8 June 2016, p. 9.

(⁸³¹)Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program: Chechen authorities raise pressure on human rights organizations, 23 July 2016; ICG, Chechnya: The Inner Abroad, 30 June 2015, pp. 29-30.

(⁸³²) See chapter on courts above.

(⁸³³) DIS, Security and human rights in Chechnya and the situation of Chechens in the Russian Federation – residence registration, racism and false accusations, January 2015, p. 129.

(⁸³⁴)ICG, Chechnya: The Inner Abroad, 30 June 2015, pp. 34-35; Memorial, Chechens in Russia, 2014, p. 2.

(⁸³⁵) CoE-CommDH, Missing persons and victims of enforced disappearance in Europe, March 2016, p. 21; UK Parliament, Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) Report, Chechnya Fact-Finding Mission, 10 June 2010, p. 26.

Chechen Commissioner for Human Rights as he was not perceived as independent. One would risk an unpleasant call from the authorities in such a case (⁸³⁶). Amnesty International concluded in its Annual Report for 2014 that there was a ‘near‐total lack of legal remedies for victims of human rights violations’ in Chechnya (⁸³⁷).

A historian and expert on Chechnya explained that officials who refuse to follow the instructions of their superiors are removed from office and subject to a prohibition to work in their profession (⁸³⁸).

A journalist told the Norwegian COI unit Landinfo in February 2016 that Kadyrov also has stated that he would pursue Chechens abroad who have voiced criticism against his regime, and threatened to go after their families. It is unclear whether he has actually delivered on these threats (⁸³⁹).

According to a Chechen human rights defender living abroad, Chechens who leave the republic and Kadyrov’s rule ‘find there are few places where his security forces cannot reach them’. The author, who writes in cooperation with Civil Rights Defenders, adds that:

‘Kadyrov uses both traditional strong‐arm tactics and electronic surveillance to keep tabs on Chechen refugees, economic migrants, journalists, and political exiles (…). Those accused of committing real or imagined crimes against the state ‐ as well as their friends and families ‐ find that international borders are not significant impediments to Kadyrov's ability to terrorise, torture and murder Chechens with seeming impunity’ (⁸⁴⁰).