Torture of detainees, theft of mattresses and murders: how Russian instructors behave in the king

At the end of May, a group of experts in the Central African Republic introduced the Committee of the UN Security Council for war reports on war crimes during a recent military crisis in this republic. Basically, they analyzed the actions of the rebels, the problems of observing the embargo for the supply of weapons, but experts also drew attention to the activities of Russian military instructors in this country, who helped the officials. It follows from the document that they can be involved in violence, murders and robberies.

The report itself has not yet been published, but on the eve it was quoted by The New York Times, and the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov has already named the conclusions of experts in the lie. “Novaya Gazeta” managed to get acquainted with the UN report - these are the main excerpts from it.

How it all started

A group of experts worked in the country from September last year to mid -May. Specialists visited 12 of the 16 prefectures of the republic, and also attracted to the preparation of the report of experts in Libya, South Sudan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In December, the departed year in the Central African Republic, where a civil war has been going on since 2012, another military crisis erupted. After the election candidate was not registered by ex-president Francois Bosiz, a coalition was created from diverse armed groups that began an attack on the position of government forces.

This association - the Coalition of Patriots for Changes - planned to disrupt the presidential elections in the country scheduled for December 27, 2020.

Boziz convinced his supporters that he was supposedly supported by the West. According to experts, he considers the conflict in his country as an indirect war between world powers. He promised supporters that significant support would be provided only after the rebels will demonstrate their potential and capture the banks - the capital of the TsA. Analysts emphasize that all this was "empty promises."

Against the backdrop of a tense situation, Moscow, according to official figures, on December 22, additionally sent about 300 military instructors to Africa, who were supposed to organize the training of military personnel of the National Army. Ruanda also provided assistance to the authorities.

Already in mid -January, the government troops with the support of the Russian forces began a counterattack: gradually they managed to conquer part of the cities captured by the rebels, including Boil, Bohar, Bosangoa and Bambari. Sometimes the rebels surrendered cities without a fight - inside the movement, disagreements and problems with subordination began. In addition, they were faced with a lack of weapons and ammunition.

Russian mentors and big goals

Arriving, government troops and their formally naked instructors from Russia were involved in violations of human rights.

Initially, it was assumed that 300 instructors from Russia, who came to the republic under the agreement between the countries, will prepare the infantry and motorized forces of the National Army at the Berengo estate, which was once the residence of the dictator of Jean-Baucass. The coordinator of Russian instructors told a group of experts that all of them are Russian citizens who were recruited by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The main and formal goals of the group of Russian instructors were

• preparation of police and gendarmeries, transportation of soldiers of the national army,

• advisory assistance in operational planning,

• Delivery of ammunition, food, water and fuel,

• assistance in organizing medical evacuation,

• First aid to the wounded during hostilities.

However, the UN experts say, Russian instructors soon began to go beyond the tasks. A group of analysts gathered evidence of a large number of local officials, employees of the National Army and the forces of internal security: they argued that

Russian instructors actively participated in combat operations and sometimes even headed combat detachments.

Non -compliance with numbers

Russian representatives argued that the number of military instructors in the country does not exceed 550 people. However, UN experts came to the conclusion that there could be four times more. “This figure is much higher and is from 800 to 2100 people ,” the document says.

The use of force

Experts who prepared a report for the UN say that Russian instructors were involved in excessive use of force against civilians. In particular, residents of Grimari (UAK Prefecture) reported on such an episode.

They said that on December 28, 2020, at the checkpoint on the road to Bangs, the military, together with Russian instructors, tried to stop the truck. However, even before the stop, the military opened shooting: three people died, another 15 were injured, including six women and a child.

Local authorities in Grimari confirmed that no evidence of the connection with armed groups was found in the truck. It is worth noting that the coordinator of instructors denies the involvement of Russians in this story.

In addition, on February 5, 2021, soldiers of the National Army and Russian instructors, with the support of the gendarme and police units, began a two -day operation against rebels near the city of Bambari. At the beginning of the operation, according to the certificates of local residents, several Russian instructors, along with the military tsar, entered the Al-Tsva mosque, where the rebels tried to hide. There were also civilians.

According to eyewitnesses with whom there were a group of experts,

No effort was made to distinguish civilians from militants: as a result of shooting, 17 people were killed, including one woman.

At least six of the dead were civilians, the UN experts say.

In response to a request for this case, the coordinator of Russian instructors assigned all the responsibility to the rebels, who, according to him, intentionally placed civilians there. He denies that the Russians entered the mosque and opened fire on civilians.

The report claims that Russian instructors showed similar neglect of international humanitarian law during other operations in Bambari: for example, on February 16, a shootout occurred in the medical department of the élevage displaced persons. As a result, 36 people were injured, among them - eight women and nine children.

Experts also report the indistinct murders of civilians committed by Russian instructors. So, one unarmed man died in the city of Ipppi on February 21, two more people with disabilities were shot by Russian instructors in Bodol and Grimari. According to eyewitnesses with whom the experts communicated, they were all without weapons or uniforms.

Among other things, local residents reported cases when national security forces and instructors detained citizens, after which they disappeared without a trace.

Theft, hens and mattresses

UN experts have collected certificates of numerous cases of thefts and robberies from the soldiers of the National Army and Russian instructors.

“A group of experts received reports of plundering houses and buildings. Theft took various forms:

Cattle (chickens and goats), household items, mattresses were taken from residents.

In Bambari, Boire and Berberati, local authorities and community members confirmed that the soldiers and their instructors during the searches seized valuable objects, including money and motorcycles, ”the document says.

The atrocities of the rebels

Capturing cities, rebels, experts say, also committed war crimes. The cluster of militants provoked food problems and massive human rights violations, local residents had to escape from their houses. Experts report 12.5 thousand refugees from Boire.

Experts describe cases when the rebels killed civilians: for example, once they shot two shepherds and stole their livestock. The UN group also reports torture by the military detained at the bases. In addition, they recorded

The growth of sexual violence by militants, attacks on schools, requisitions, as well as the creation of a parallel system of justice, including the police, which carried out arbitrary arrests, killing civilians and recruiting into their ranks of minors.

Among other things, experts recorded cases of rebel attacks on employees of international missions: so, the Minusca patrol fell under their shelling.

In July 2018, Russian journalists Orhan Dzhemal, Kirill Radchenko and Alexander Rastorguev were killed in the CAR on a checkpoint on the way in Bambari. They went to the shooting of a joint with the Center for the Office of Investigations of the film about the work of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner PMC. According to the SK, a car of journalists was stopped by a “group of armed people of a non-senior race who spoke in Arabic” who demanded to give photo and video equipment. After the refusal and attempts to resist the attackers, the Russians shot, the driver managed to leave the scene.

According to the investigation of the Dossier Center, Rastorguev, Jemal and Radchenko, from the moment of arrival in the TsAD, have been under the control of the Central African gendarme, which coordinated his actions with employees of Prigozhin’s structures (which the media is associated with the “Wagner PMC”) and controlled the driver of the group Bevveny Davokam, the investigators say. According to Dossier, he is a former employee of the gendarmerie. Father Radchenko Alexander said that the clothes of the dead were burned without coordination with the Russian authorities.