Board of NGOs: MIA forbids militiamen to resign

Militiamen of Chechnya, who decide to resign, are at risk of beating, and their bosses refuse to sign their dismissal applications. The "Caucasian Knot" was told about it in the Information Centre of the Board of NGOs of Chechnya.

According to employees of the Centre, there was even a case, when one of special fighters was beaten, when he declared his intention to still retire, in spite of anything.

"We've received information that employees of some subdivisions of the Republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) wanted to leave service after cancellation of the counterterrorist operation (CTO) regime in Chechnya, because of lower salary, but could not do it. Their direct commanders refuse to sign their applications," said a source in the Information Centre. "Human rights defenders also know about it."

He has added that after April 16, when it was officially announced about termination in the territory of the Chechen Republic of the CTO regime that had existed there for a decade, the salaries of law enforcers went radically down, and in some MIA subdivisions will make some 8-10 thousand roubles.

"Just a year or six months ago, one had to give a bribe of some 3-4 and even more thousand US dollars for getting employed by the militia," a member of a local NGO asserts. "Now, the process has reversed: they enrol free of charge, but those who want to resign have to pay. Anyway, a nephew of my close friend, who is now serving in one of militia subdivisions, asserts that the young man was promised to have his dismissal application signed, if he pays three thousand US dollars."

A source in the Republic's MIA refused to give any comments, having stated that there is no mass flow of dismissal applications filed by Chechen militiamen. He also named the rumours that militiamen have to bribe for their dismissal from service "fiction and ravings."