Kalyapin: inquiry bodies hamper investigation into Chechen kidnappings

The investigation of human rights violations in Chechnya is sabotaged by local inspectors. This was stated by Igor Kalyapin, Chairman of the Nizhniy Novgorod Inter-Regional Committee against Torture and Coordinator of the Public Commission on Chechnya, on June 20 in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mr Kalyapin coordinated in Chechnya the work of the Mobile Group, which tried to find out, why the investigation of regular human rights violations and murders of rights defenders committed in this republic gives practically no results. Three lawyers from different human rights organizations were permanently present in Chechnya and represented victims' interests in several criminal cases.

According to Igor Kalyapin, until a certain moment the work of his group in Chechnya was calm; the lawyers managed to win several cases; however, then, its members were detained by the Chechen militia "to get acquainted." After that, Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin had to interfere.

Then, Igor Kalyapin was called to a meeting with President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, where he asked the President about the cases, which were investigated by human rights activists, and said that unsolved resonant crimes blur the reputation of the Chechen President. In Kalyapin's opinion, Mr Kadyrov should tell his power agents publicly that such cases must be investigated, as Kadyrov's word is decisive in the republic.

Igor Kalyapin noted that local inquiry bodies fear to take risk to interrogate officials from Kadyrov's retinue on resonant cases, to what the Chechen leader said "that he is not guilty that cowards work in the prosecutor's office," and he personally had never forbidden them to interrogate anybody.

Mr Kalyapin also met the Republic's Public Prosecutor and Minister of Internal Affairs and told them that inspectors of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic had repeatedly told him in unofficial conversations that people from Kadyrov's "close retinue", like Daudov, supervisor of the Chechen power block and vice-premier of the republic, and Deputy of the Russian State Duma Delimkhanov, are untouchable for law enforcers.

However, the Public Prosecutor said that "in fact all is not as bad as you say."

In reply, Igor Kalyapin demonstrated a pile of non-fulfilled orders, in particular, on the case of Zarema Gaisanova who disappeared in the course of a special operation. However, all the orders issued by the Prosecutor's Office, in particular, a request to report on who was in command of the special operation, were ignored by militiamen.

Kalyapin said at the meeting that Ramzan Kadyrov was personally commanding the operation; and the latter then made a demonstrative "roast" of one of his subordinates. However, the situation saw no changes since.

Mr Kalyapin believes that inspectors of the prosecutor's office are sabotaging their direct duties in the cases, where human rights are broken. In his opinion it is done either of fear or due to some "conscious policy."