DATE=3/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHECHNYA RIGHTS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-260727
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Human rights groups from Russia and the West
are asking the U-N Human Rights Commission to condemn
the Russian military for what they say are gross human
rights violations against civilians in Chechnya. Lisa
Schlein in Geneva reports the groups also are calling
for an international investigation into the human
rights situation in Chechnya.
TEXT: The human rights groups charged that Russian
troops in Chechnya are guilty of systematic and
widespread abuse, including severe beatings, torture
and rape.
The executive director of the Memorial Human Rights
Center in Moscow, Tatiana Kasatkina, said Russian
authorities learned some lessons from the first war
they fought in Chechnya in 1994. And by applying
these lessons, she said they have been more successful
in covering up their bad deeds.
/// KASATKINA ACT ///
Now, they practically don't permit to enter
Chechnya other journalists or any
representatives of human rights or humanitarian
organizations. And, that means the Russian
population is denied of its constitutional right
to receive objective and full information about
what's happening.
/// END ACT ///
Since November, the U-S based Human Rights Watch has
been present in neighboring Ingushetia where more than
200-thousand Chechen refugees have fled. The group
has been interviewing Chechen refugees and said it has
been documenting evidence of abuse by Russian forces.
Holly Cartner of Human Rights Watch said the Russians
have done little to protect civilians and have refused
to give safe conduct to people fleeing the fighting.
Ms. Cartner said that after the fall of the Chechen
capital, Grozny, rights workers noted what she called
a different kind of abuse during so-called mop-up
operations by Russian troops.
/// CARTNER ACT ///
At that point, there are very intentional and
systematic attacks on the civilian population
that has been left behind. When the soldiers
then enter -- having probably lost a number of
their own colleagues in combat -- they then use
the opportunity to take revenge on the civilian
population. And, we have actual testimony from
witnesses, from victims who talk about how
Russian soldiers say "this execution, this
murder was in retaliation for the death of my
colleague, another soldier."
/// END ACT ///
Human Rights Watch said it has documented at least 130
summary executions in Chechnya. Ms. Cartner said
rights workers have seen the bodies, have attended
autopsies, and have evidence that these people were
killed at close range and not in combat. She said
most of the victims were elderly men and women and
children.
Meanwhile, a top Russian official has told the U-N
Human Rights Commission that Moscow was fighting a
defensive war in Chechnya. He said Russia had a right
to eliminate threats to its existence from
international terrorism. He said Russia had shown
unprecedented openness. And he said efforts at the U-
N Human Rights Commission to criticize Russia's
actions are completely unfounded. (Signed)
NEB/LS/JWH/JP
29-Mar-2000 10:44 AM EDT (29-Mar-2000 1544 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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