Human Rights Center "Memorial" urges Chechen PM Kadyrov to punish all security agents guilty of abductions

Last Saturday, April, 15th, the Chechen prime-minister Ramzan Kadyrov demanded that the Operative and Search Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia's Southern Federal District (known as ORB-2) be removed from the Chechen Republic. Kadyrov has accused agents of ORB-2 of the law infringement and ill-treatment of the detainees.

Journalists covering this event have suggested that the Chairman of the Chechen republic government is trying to remove all the law enforcement agencies that are not under his direct control; as reported in a statement of the Human Rights Center "Memorial", received by the Caucasian Knot.

The human rights activists point out that this initiative of Ramzan Kadyrov, whether successful or not, will raise his popularity among the population of the republic. He has been correct, when accusing ORB agents of false arrests (actually abductions) of people and tortures of detainees; the "Memorial" statement says.

Human rights organizations including human rights center "Memorial" have reported several times during last three years about violation of human rights by the ORB-2 agents. However, unlike Ramzan Kadyrov, human rights experts have never demanded liquidation of the ORB-2 unit. Human rights activists have demanded investigations of the facts of possible law enforcement violations, punishment of those guilty and the closing down of the illegal prison, located on the premises of the ORB-2.

Human rights activists emphasize also that it is impossible to solve the problem of abductions, disappearances and tortures of arrested persons in Chechnya only by stopping the illegal actions of the ORB-2 agents. "The law enforcement structures that are under Ramzan Kadyrov's control (most of which are included formally into the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as well as of the Vostok (East) battalion commanded by Sulim Yamadaev) are also responsible for the situation to varying degrees, - the Memorial statement says.