News & Comment
“Memorial” surprised new Russian ombudsman with situation in Caucasus

News

International human rights organization “Memorial” presented a report about situation in Caucasus for last two years. According to information given by activists situation with human rights in republics of region became worse, especially in Chechnya and Dagestan.

“Memorial” councilor Svetlana Ganushkina stated, “There is no constitution in Chechnya republic, neither Russian nor Chechenian local laws are applied in Chechnya”. She mentioned several facts of tortures and abductions of people who critisized authorities of republic.

Most of information that was presented by activists was a surprise for new ombudsman Tatyna Moskalkova which also attended presentation of this report. Particularly, as she said herself, she did not know that most of those who lost their homes during Chechen war has received no compensation. (Source: www.novayagazeta.ru/news/1704109.html)

Comment

In the era of information technologies, you do not need a big staff of informers to obtain information about situation on ground. All facts that were mentioned in this report are not a secret or news for anyone who is interested with problems of people.

Attempts of authorities in Caucasus region to suppress complaints of own people obviously show that there are a lot of citizens in this region who want to declare about feudal manners of local rulers. Frequently people look for help in Kremlin corridors. But it seems that central authorities are either deaf or not interested in better future for that region. Therefore ombudsmans “lack of information” and her inaction on obvious unlawful acts seems at least strange.

What was done to protect rights of people in Vremenniy village, where Russian security forces initiated an operation which led to destruction of whole village? How can an ombusman be not informed of such facts?

Prohibition of departure to oversea and forced taking of DNA samples and fingerprints is applied only for visiting “wrong” mosques. This is reality for Caucasus for many years. How can it be that these facts are new for ombudsman?

The fact that such “wrong” mosques are destroyed or re-subordinated to certain religious organization that is determined by authorities indicates violation of constitutional rights. Is this years-long problem new for someone?

Caucasus is “known” by murders and abductions of people who criticize regional rulers or are engaged in religious activities. Is this something new?

How can federal authorities be not aware about these widely known violations of rights in this region? And if they know, why these problems are not solved for so many years and situation becomes worse?

First: Local aspect – authorities at all levels (including federal level) do not care about their own people. They use power only for their own enrichment. And today this approach is in complete compliance with dominating capitalistic world-view and its aim – maximum material enrichment.

Second: Global aspect – man-made political systems could never be perfect and could never solve problems of humanity, even if these systems are created by noble people with good intentions. The human being is limited and can not be aware of all aspects of its own life, let alone being aware of problems of a whole nation.

Humanity should understand that designing of a balanced political system that can supply prosperity of whole society is impossible task for people. But this task is very easy for our Creator, since only God can supply us with perfect political, social and economical systems. So, why we continue to oppose demands of our Creator and allow a group of people to conduct experiments on us and our lives?

(أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضِ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابٍ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ)

“Know you not that Allah knows all that is in heaven and on earth? Verily, it is (all) in the Book (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz). Verily! That is easy for Allah.” [22:70]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abu Muslim
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Ukraine