Authorities keep on 'extruding' refugees out of Ingushetia to Chechnya

The press conference titled "Chechnya, Ingushetia: the Safety of the Population and State of IDPs [internally displaced persons]" was held at the Independent Press Center in Moscow on April 20. Its participants were Svetlana Gannushkina, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Commission, and Aleksandr Cherkasov of the Memorial Society. They repeatedly stressed during the press conference that the state of the Chechen refugees in Ingushetia kept on worsening. They are being "extruded" to Chechnya in fact. Such a return can be called free-will nowise: strongest psychological pressure is being put on the people, they are being blackmailed and threatened. According to Svetlana Gannushkina and Aleksandr Cherkasov, being not able to provide security in Chechnya and to settle the problem of refugees, the government is just trying to remove its visible part - to close refugee camps.

The case is that the people are just afraid of returning to their homeland since it is impossible to talk about peace in the Chechen Republic for the time present. Crying facts were presented at the press conference as evidence. The village of Rigakhoy was bombed from the air on April 8. A woman and five children were killed as a result. But the air force command referred to the prosecutor's office and reported there had been no bombardment of the village. Nine bodies with signs of violent death were found in the area of the Serzhen-Yurt village on April 9. These reports are confirmed by the footage shot in Chechnya. And it was shown to the journalists. Aleksandr Cherkasov commented of these facts, "I don't understand what those who kill people think about. In such a way, they cause a new wave of terror."

Editors note: See also the articles "Criminal investigation launched into bombing in Rigakhoy village", "Chechen NGO denies functionaries' statements on situation in Satsita refugee camp".