Endless Brutality

War Crimes in Chechnya

The findings of this report reveal widespread war crimes against thousands of civilians. The crimes include summary executions and other killings, torture, forcible expulsion, and violations of medical neutrality, committed by Russia's federal forces under the command of President Vladimir Putin, in this second war with the republic of Chechnya. Civilians are arrested on flimsy pretexts, interrogated, tortured, and sometimes thrown into pits in the ground, only to be released after relatives pay significant bribes. Russia's military units still sweet through cities and villages ostensibly in search of fighters on the Chechen side, arrest civilians, shoot into homes, take property, and leave. Hospitals and health workers have been under attack. Russia has not yet been held accountable for these crimes nor has it held accountable those individuals, officials, soldiers and others who perpetrated abuses.

PHR conducted two investigations in the region, including a random survey conducted in February 2000 of 1143 persons displaced from Chechnya by the war. Respondents and members of their households alone witnessed almost 200 killings of non-combatants. Almost half of the 1143 surveyed respondents reported more than fifty instances of torture. PHR returned to the region in December 2000 and interviewed many more witnesses to abuses.

The only way to end the brutality is for the international community to insist on Russia's compliance with demands to allow international human rights monitors to have access to Chechnya and for the Putin government to discipline Russia's forces and hold perpetrators accountable for war crimes.

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