Said Alaskhanov, Abdul-Wakhab Satabaev, Shakhban Bakhaev, Khamzat Tuburov, Zainap Dzhavatkhanova and Dzhamlail Musaev (sometimes referred to as Magomed Musaev), six civilians from Chechnya, died on 11 January 2002 after being shot by members of a special unit of the Russian Military Intelligence (GRU). In April 2004 Captain Eduard Ulman, Lieutenant Aleksander Kalaganskii, Sergeant Vladimir Voevodin and the deputy commander of the unit, Major Alexei Perelevskii, were acquitted of the charge of premeditated murder, premeditated destruction of property, and exceeding official duties.
In 2004, the court had heard hat while checking cars on the road between the villages of Shatoi and Dai, Captain Eduard Ulman ordered his men to open fire on a civilian car after the driver ignored a request to stop. One passenger, Said Alaskhanov, director of a village school, was killed immediately from the gunfire, and two of the five passengers were wounded. According to the prosecution, the men under the command of Captain Eduard Ulman took the five surviving civilians, Abdul-Wakhab Satabaev, deputy director of the local school, Shakhban Bakhaev, a forester, Khamzat Tuburov, the driver of the vehicle, Zainap Dzhavatkhanova, a pregnant mother of seven and Dzhamlail Musaev, to a nearby abandoned farm building. They administered first aid to the wounded, and detained them there while Captain Ulman reported the incident to Major Alexei Perelevskii by radio, who forwarded the report to the commander of the military unit, who remained unidentified. The court found that Major Aleksei Perelevskii then passed back to Captain Eduard Ulman a message by radio from the commander of the military unit, ordering him to eliminate the detained civilians. Captain Eduard Ulman passed on this order to his subordinates. According to the prosecution, Captain Ulman ordered his subordinates to tell the five individuals that they were free to leave, and then to shoot them as they walked away. Aleksandr Kalaganskii and Vladimir Voevodin carried out the order and shot and killed Abdul-Wakhab Satabaev, Shakhban Bakhaev, Khamzat Tuburov and Zainap Dzhavatkhanova, put their bodies in the car and set it on fire. Dzhamlail Musaev reportedly escaped but died later from his injuries. In May 2004 Captain Eduard Ulman, Lieutenant Alexander Kalaganskii, Sergeant Vladimir Voevodin and the deputy commander of the unit, Major Alexei Perelevskii, were acquitted of the charges of premeditated murder, premeditated destruction of property, and exceeding official authority. Following an order for retrial from the Military Collegiate of the Supreme Court, on 19 May 2005 the men were again found not guilty by a jury at the same court. Despite admitting that they had shot the unarmed civilians in May 2004, Eduard Ulman, Alexander Kalaganskii, Vladimir Voevodin and the deputy commander of the unit, Alexei Perelevskii, were acquitted of the charges of premeditated murder, premeditated destruction of property, and exceeding official authority. Following an order for retrial from the Military Collegiate of the Supreme Court, on 19 May 2005 the men were again found not guilty by a jury at the same court. Following protests from human rights organizations and authorities in the North Caucasus, the Military Collegiate of the Russian Supreme Court in August 2005 quashed the acquittal for the second time. Recommended Action:
Please continue to send appeals in Russian or your own language:
- expressing deep concern about the repeated acquittals of Captain Eduard Ulman, Lieutenant Aleksander Kalaganskii, Sergeant Vladimir Voevodin and Major Alexei Perelevskii; - expressing deep concern that the commander of the unit, who reportedly gave the order to kill unarmed detained civilians, was never prosecuted for this crime; - stating that wilful killing, and the order that there shall be no survivors, constitute serious breaches of the laws of war according to the Geneva Conventions and its Protocol II and that the Russian Federation, as a High Contracting Party, has an obligation to prosecute all persons suspected of commissioning or committing these crimes; - stating that international human rights law as well as Russian law, including Article 42 of the Russian Criminal Code, does not relieve a person of her or her criminal responsibility even when the crime has been committed pursuant to an order; - pointing out that the killings of Abdul-Wakhab Satabaev, Shakhban Bakhaev, Khamzat Tuburov, Zainap Dzhavatkhanova and Dzamlail Musaev are in violation of Article 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the right to life), to which Russia is a party, and that the use of lethal force in the death of Said Alaskhanov raises serious concerns under Article 2; - condemning the ongoing grave and systematic human rights abuses in the Chechen Republic, and calling on the Russian authorities to take immediate steps to end such violations, including extrajudicial executions, unlawful killings, arbitrary detention, "disappearances" and torture, including rape, and ill-treatment. - urging that all judges, in particular judges in military courts, are made fully aware of international human rights and humanitarian law principles, and the rules that apply to it. APPEALS TO: (Fax machines may be switched off outside office hours – GMT+3)
President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN
Kreml, Moscow, Russian Federation Fax: +7 095 206 85 10 / +7 095 206 51 73 / +7 095 230 24 08 (if someone answers say "fax please") e-mail: Please go to the website of the President of the Russian Federation and paste your letter into the space provided: http://president.kremlin.ru/eng/articles/send_letter_Eng1a.shtml Salutation: Dear President Putin Procurator General of the Russian Federation, Vladimir USTINOV Ul. B. Dimitrovka 15a, 125993 Moscow, GSP-3, Russian Federation Fax: +7 095 292 8848 (if someone answers say "fax please") Salutation: Dear Procurator General Chief Military Procurator of the Russian Federation, Let.-Gen. Aleksandr SAVENKOV pereulok Khulzunova, 14, 103160 Moscow, Russian Federation Fax: +7 095 247 50 19 (if someone answers say "fax please") Salutation: Dear Chief Military Procurator COPIES TO: Vladimir Lukin, Ombudsman of the Russian Federation Fax: +7 095 207 76 30 Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Presidential Council for the development of civil society institutions and human rights Fax: +7 095 206 48 55 Maj.-Gen. Anatolii Petrochenkov, Chairman of the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court Fax: +7 095 293 55 84 Sergey Borisovich Ivanov, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Fax: + 7 095 293 83 98 and to diplomatic representatives of the Russian Federation accredited to your country. ******** Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 0DW, London, United Kingdom
The state of the world's human rights
Read the full report online
