Experts call errors in identification of killed militants typical for Chechnya

The law enforcement bodies often too early declare as militants the people they killed, human rights defenders claim. The Chechen law enforcement bodies have enough technical means to avoid identification errors, like in case of Kazbek Baidulaev, notes Reserve FSB Colonel Gennady Gudkov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 16, a counterterrorist operation (CTO) was conducted in the Achkhoi-Martan District, after which Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced the killing of militant Kazbek Baidulaev. The name of Kazbek Baidulaev was also mentioned among the suspects killed in a special operation conducted on October 11 in the Sernovodsky District of Chechnya near the border with the Sunzha District of Ingushetia.

"Law enforcers report about killed militants in order to get an award and promotion," said Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations.

Kazbek Baidulaev is not the first militant who "had been killed" many times, notes Alexander Cherkasov, the chairman of the board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". "Earlier, Movsar Baraev 'had been killed' at least three times," the human rights defender reminded.

"When they are not able to identify a person with certainty, this means a negligent attitude to the process of identification ... There are a lot of ways to identify a deceased person, including DNA tests," said Reserve FSB Colonel Gennady Gudkov while criticizing the work of the law enforcement bodies.

At once two cases of an armed attack on law enforcers in Chechnya in December do not yet prove the intensification of the armed underground activities or the intensified work of the law enforcement bodies, Ruslan Kutaev says. "This is a situation when the civilian population is driven to despair," the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations emphasizes.

According to Gennady Gudkov, in Chechnya, "a person can be captured, tortured, or even killed without any opportunity to defend oneself." The Reserve FSB Colonel believes that the region with a population of two million has turned into "a special zone where no Russian laws are applied," and that fact leads to a radicalization of the population.