Memory therapy. Electric shock

Remembering Stalin's deportation in Chechnya has become life-threatening

On February 25, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, criticized Igor Kalyapin, a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, on the local state television channel Vainakh. Once again (in my opinion, the sixth) time, Kadyrov accused Kalyapin of being a “traitor to the people” and “protecting bandits and drug addicts,” including Chechen human rights activist Ruslan Kutaev

On February 23, Russia was supposed to honor the memory of the victims of Stalin's deportation. 70 years have passed since this terrible crime: when entire peoples were recognized as “enemies of the people”.

However, a much more important event fell on February 23 - the closing of the Sochi Olympics. In advance, a command passed through the Caucasus to “mute” commemorative events, postpone them to another day (which was done, for example, in Ingushetia) and categorically not to hold mass rallies.

In Chechnya, the command was fulfilled and even exceeded. The topic of deportation is a problematic one for Ramzan Kadyrov. A year after he was appointed president of the republic, he tried to move the memorial to the victims of deportation. The author of the memorial is a stone hand with a dagger, Honored Artist of Russia Darchi Khasanov, the author of the inscription on the wall of the monument is Dzhokhar Dudayev.

"Duhur dac!" Dllhur dac! Dic deir dac!'

"Let's not break! Let's not sob! Let's not forget!

In 2008, the public was strongly indignant at attempts to move the monument, and 32-year-old Kadyrov has not yet entered his full strength. But in 2012, he proclaims February 23 as Defender of the Fatherland Day, and orders commemorative events dedicated to the deportation to be celebrated on May 10 (the day of his father's funeral).

On February 12, 2014, bulldozers began to dismantle the Dudayev memorial. Kadyrov explains his logic in this way: “February 23 is a tragic date in the history of the Chechen people, but proven facts must be conveyed to the younger generation. Many still continue to blame only the Stalinist regime for the deportation of the people, while not having reliable information. But history says that some representatives of our people are partly to blame for that tragedy ... This is how the history of entire peoples and even states is distorted.

The demolition of the monument and the transfer of gravestones (churts) to a new place silently and mournfully watched the inhabitants of Grozny. The only protest the people have decided on today is the scientific and practical conference organized by the Grozny intelligentsia. The conference was held in the Central Library of Grozny. One of the sharpest was the speech of the President of the Assembly of Caucasian Peoples, 57-year-old Ruslan Kutaev. His speech essentially boiled down to the fact that today, if the government orders, the Chechens will put on crosses and go to church. And then the people will be forgotten, because they themselves have forgotten that they are Chechens. The conference was attended by FSB officers, one deputy of the local parliament and, probably, the one who accurately informed the Chechen authorities about a small ideological revolt in the center of Grozny.

On the same evening, all the organizers of the conference received a call from the administration of the head of Chechnya and were invited to a conversation with Ramzan Kadyrov on February 19. Ruslan Kutaev was personally called by Magomed Daudov, the head of the administration of the head of the republic, an influential Chechen politician-silovik, who is a close associate of R. Kadyrov. Ruslan Kutaev refused to come to the meeting on 19 February. After this conversation, Ruslan Kutaev left his home in the village of Achkhoy-Martan.

On the morning of February 20, Ruslan Kutaev made many calls, mostly to his Moscow acquaintances. Novaya Gazeta interviewed these people, some of them well-known Russian politicians, State Duma deputies, human rights activists (Kutaev is widely known outside of Chechnya). All the respondents confirm that Kutaev told them about the problems that arose after the conference with the leadership of the republic, about the threats received and about his decision to leave Chechnya for a while so as not to expose his relatives.

Kutaev repeated to each of his interlocutors that he was currently in Pyatigorsk. Although he never left Chechnya and stayed in the village of Gekhi with his distant relatives. I believe Ruslan Kutaev specifically mentioned Pyatigorsk every time, as he was afraid of wiretapping phones and thus tried to throw the police off the trail. The fact that they were looking for him (up to the fact that retractable posts were installed at the entrance to the village of Achkhoy-Martan) became known from his wife, who stayed with her children at home, near which cars with government numbers were constantly on duty (EEE series). Ruslan's brother was taken away in one of these cars on February 19, but was soon released (when they realized that he really did not know where Kutaev was).

... The last call to Ruslan Kutaev's phone came from his Moscow friend Vyacheslav Izmailov (military observer for Novaya Gazeta). It was February 20 at 13:15. In 45 minutes, at 14:00, from 5 to 7 cars drove up to the house of Kutaev's relatives in Gekhi (all black Toyota Camrys with EEE series numbers). Up to 30 people got out of the cars, mostly they were in black camouflage uniforms, which are worn in the republic by employees of the Akhmat Kadyrov regiment (protects Ramzan Kadyrov, it is the employees of this regiment that are colloquially called "Kadyrovites"). There were also people in civilian clothes and ordinary police officers. Kutaev was taken out of the house in what he was - in home clothes and slippers. They brought him to the car, put him in the back seat, forced him to bend his head to his knees, put on a jacket. During the detention, physical force was not applied to Kutaev.

After 30-40 minutes, Kutaev was taken to the center of Grozny. Kutaev's lawyer's questioning mentions the building of the administration of the head of the Chechen Republic, which he recognized. They took him out of the car and immediately began to beat him. Here are the exact quotes from Ruslan Kutaev's lawyer poll. It was a silent poll. The lawyer wrote the questions, Kutaev wrote the answers. They were afraid of listening. Each answer by Kutaev is dated and signed.

“Tomorrow they will definitely appear and beat!!!

Is there psychological and physical pressure? Who is hitting? (lawyer - E.M.)

Yes! Alaudinov and Daudov were there. Here is the head of the UGRO and someone else. They tortured me, they beat me every minute with threats from the beginning. Urus-Mart. District Department of Internal Affairs and the beginning. UGRO and other people with him. Tortured with electric current in Grozny... Help! They threaten my family and my relatives.”

In the recorded (repeatedly and not only by lawyers) testimony of Ruslan Kutaev, two names constantly appear. "I know them well!" Ruslan says.

The head of the administration of the head of Chechnya, Magomed Daudov, and the deputy minister of the Chechen Interior Ministry, Apti Alaudinov, judging by Kutaev's testimony, actively participated in the beating of Kutaev. Then he was placed in the basement, where he was stripped naked. A man came to him with a cleaver and a shocker and, putting the cleaver to his throat, tortured him with electric current, poking the shocker all over his body. Who this person is is known to a wide range of people, up to the employees of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation. At our request, this information was transferred to the Internal Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration by a respected politician, a close friend of Kutaev. He conveyed with the words: “We have lived to the point that now they are being tortured with electric shockers right in the presidential administration. No, not yet in your administration. So far only in Chechnya.”

In the process of torture, Ruslan Kutaev lost consciousness several times. As a result of the beating, Kutaev suffered a concussion, extensive hematomas, possibly broken ribs, and a damaged jaw. Partially, traces of beatings were documented when Kutaev was admitted to the TDF. But a full medical examination was not carried out.

Ruslan Kutaev was taken to the Urus-Martan District Department of Internal Affairs (the village of Gekhi belongs to it) at one in the morning on February 21. By that time, he had already signed a confession that a bag with three grams of heroin was found in his possession. Which is a complete absurdity for everyone who knows Ruslan. There are also testimonies in the case that during the detention Kutaev was not searched, investigative measures with the participation of attesting witnesses in order to detect drugs were not carried out.

On February 22, before a preventive measure was chosen in the court of Urus-Martan, Ruslan Kutaev retracted his confession, but when he was taken to the courtroom surrounded by Kadyrovites, he again admitted that he had found heroin in a taxi (heroin is not the most typical drug in Chechnya, where cheap narcotic drugs are in use) and mechanically put it in the back pocket of my trousers. The court, having committed gross procedural violations, sanctioned the arrest.

In the Urus-Martan IVS, Kutaev was regularly visited and intimidated. For example, he was shown very recent photographs of his nephews (including those who live in Moscow). From the photographs, it was clear that surveillance was organized for Kutaev's relatives. Kutaev was threatened that if he retracted his confession and wrote a statement about torture, his relatives would be prosecuted on charges of terrorism and imprisoned for 15-20 years.

Nevertheless, human rights activists from the consolidated mobile group headed by prominent Russian human rights activist Igor Kalyapin , members of the Public Monitoring Commission of Chechnya, and lawyers managed to obtain Kutaev's testimony, in which he details the kidnapping and torture.

On Friday, February 28, Kutaev's lawyers had to get acquainted with the materials of the criminal case, since the investigation into the serious crime of possession of narcotic drugs on an especially large scale (up to 12 years in prison) was completed at lightning speed - in five working days. Russian record! However, at the last moment, the investigator refused to provide materials for review, arguing that the investigation would last another week.

On February 25, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, criticized Igor Kalyapin, a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, on the local state television channel Vainakh. Once again (in my opinion, the sixth) time, Kadyrov accused Kalyapin of being "a traitor to the people" and "protecting bandits and drug addicts." Crossing his fingers, Kadyrov listed a number of high-profile cases being conducted by Kalyapin's consolidated mobile group in Chechnya, including the case of the "shaitans" Islam Umarpashaev and Ruslan Boltiev.

Who would explain to the head of Chechnya that these "shaitans" are protected not even by Kalyapin, but by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation? Umarpashaev and Boltiev were officially recognized as victims in criminal cases against Chechen police officers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, abuse of power, in other words, torture). The case of Ruslan Kutaev was also mentioned. Kadyrov did not press charges of possession of drugs and, in fact, made it clear that the conference on the 70th anniversary of the deportation became the reason for the criminal prosecution of Kutaev.

On February 26, Kadyrov, in the same mode on the Vainakh TV channel, harshly reprimanded the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Chechnya for the verdict of acquittal, issued the day before by the jury. The head of Chechnya demanded that acquittals against "shaitans" should not be repeated. “If such a thing happens again in the republic,” said a representative of the executive branch to a representative of the judiciary, “we will cease to be comrades.” To the Russian ear, this phrase sounds almost affectionate, but the face of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic, Karataev, became distinctly white.

But the face of Apti Alaudinov, who was sitting to the left of Ramzan Kadyrov in both stories, was pleased. He even nodded in time with Kadyrov's menacing words. One got the impression that the director of this scene was not the head of Chechnya at all. And that he was simply misled and did not even explain what enchanting nonsense his promise to apply to Moscow for a ban on a jury trial in a single Chechnya looks like.

Actually, the habit of the Chechen security forces to hide behind Kadyrov's broad back is well known. But maybe it's time for Ramzan Akhmatovich to think about why Vladimir Putin firmly removed himself from the conflict between the head of the RF Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, and the Novaya Gazeta journalist? Maybe it’s not a royal thing to wipe up after each of your security officials?