Chechen prosecutor's office conducts additional check on the information about torture in the secret prison

Chechen prosecutor's office employees are conducting an additional check on the criminal cases initiated in the past against officers of Khanty-Mansijsk riot squad, suspected of illegal detentions of citizens and the use of torture with regard to them.

This has been reported by a source from the republic's law-enforcement agencies. According to him, the additional check with regard to the riot squad officers is primarily connected with revealing a number of documents in the basement of the temporary detention facility (TDF) in the building of the former TDIA (temporary department of internal affairs) of October district, Grozny.

"On May 26, after the officers of the Russian MIA Operation Group vacated the building of the former Deaf Asylum which they had occupied in October district of Grozny, the place was visited by representatives of human rights organizations, journalists, officers of MIA and FSS department. The building was inspected, "Memorial" employees handed a number of documents they had found over to the prosecutor's office employees, in particular, an album with photographs of 104 persons who, it seemed, had been held there at different times. There is a testimony of a former prisoner," said our interlocutor.

"A check is currently under way on the criminal cases initiated previously against officers of СМU (combined militia unit) from Khanty-Mansijsk autonomous okrug. Most crimes with regard to individuals were committed in 2000-2001, when Khanty-Mansijsk officers worked in the TDIA of October district. In the course of investigation of these criminal cases, information is checked on torture used with regard to detainees. Also, we check the lists of lost persons against the lists found in the building of the former TDIA," he said.

"It is quite possible that the new information may shed the light on certain criminal cases connected with disappearance of civilians in Grozny. This mainly covers the period from winter 2000 up to 2001. The relatives of some of the lost persons thought (and continue to think) that they might have been detained by officers of October district TDIA, following which they vanished," related our source.

On May 26, officers of the Russian MIA Operation Group (previously, TDIA of October district, Grozny) vacated the building of the former Asylum for deaf children which they had occupied. The "Memorial" HRC employees who visited the building discovered in the building basement some cells for holding prisoners and a number of documents, including the "Photo album of people of operational interest for units of RF MIA in October district, Grozny" started on July 26, 2002. It contained photographs of 104 individuals (some of them had been photographed after torture), among whom there were women.

The discovery of a prison in the building where Russian militiamen dispatched to Chechnya were dislocated caused a wide public resonance in the republic. A video on the basement where detainees and arrested persons had been held, and on the documents found there, was broadcast on May 29 night over the republic's TV.

Several days later, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, claimed in an interview to the "Interfax" news agency that "There is nothing of the sort, no documents or other evidence connected with torture or shooting of people in the building previously occupied by a Russian MIA operation group in the October district have been found." He regarded the disseminated information as "provocation arranged with the purpose of disturbing people and aggravating the situation in the Chechen Republic."

Valery Kuznetsov, the Chechen prosecutor, simultaneously announced that, due to revealing material evidence in the building of the former Asylum for deaf children in the October district of Grozny, a check was started "by the results of which appropriate measures will be taken."