UN CaT points to human rights violations in Northern Caucasus

The situation in Northern Caucasus is a matter of serious concern: extrajudicial executions, torture, kidnappings are fixed there but remain non-investigated, Claude Heller, a member of the UN Committee against Torture (CaT), has stated. Russian human rights defenders have called on the UN to pay special attention to human rights violations in Chechnya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on the International UN Day in support of victims of torture, rights activists predicted an increase in the number of complaints from Northern Caucasus, although residents of the region are reluctant to report such crimes. Lawyers treat the cases related to torture that reached trials as an exception.

On Wednesday, June 25, Russia submitted a country's report on torture to the UN CaT.

"In 2012-2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its decisions on 124 complaints about violent disappearances in Northern Caucasus (in Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia-Alania and Dagestan) and kidnappings of 195 people," the report says. According to rights defenders, none of these crimes have been solved.

It is also noted that the status of rights defenders, lawyers and journalists in the Northern Caucasus has worsened.

The authors of the report remind about the cases of Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, and Zarema Bagavutdinova, an employee of the Dagestani organization "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy), who were recognized to be political prisoners, as well as about the attempt to remove the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" away from Northern Caucasus, and about the case of Oyub Titiev.

Human rights defenders have pointed to the absence of adequate inquiries into disappearances of 27 people in Chechnya after the attack on policemen in Grozny.

The international Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reminded about persecutions for criticizing the Chechen authorities, and about detentions of LGBT activists.