Oleg Orlov: experience of Northern Caucasus is spreading militia's violence all over Russia

Beatings, tortures and other illegal actions of Russian militiamen against their fellow citizens are in many aspects provoked by their experience gained in the course of "counterterrorist operations" in Northern Caucasus, Oleg Orlov, Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" asserts.

"Violent, sometimes inadequate, behaviour of militiamen is directly provoked by their former experiences obtained in Northern Caucasus. This is confirmed by many facts, which we witness not only at dispersal of meetings and marches, but in general, during their actions, when they resort to illegal methods," Mr Orlov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on May 15, at the 400-persons-strong rally in the Pushkin Square of Moscow against militia arbitrariness.

Quite a lot of militiamen from all, or almost all, Russian regions were at war in Chechnya, they were sent for their service work to the North Caucasian republics.

The leader of the HRC "Memorial" is convinced that, having felt their full impunity in Northern Caucasus, employees of law enforcement bodies "are transferring their knowledge and way of action received there back to those regions of Russia from where they had been sent to the Caucasus."

The rally "against illegitimate actions of law enforcement bodies and inactivity of the prosecutor's offices" was organized by the Civil Movement against Militia's Arbitrariness, where the members are the Moscow Helsinki Group, Movement "For Human Rights", Liberty Initiative against Militia's Arbitrariness and the Legal Team for Legal Support of Activists.