Who is Responsible for the Crimes in Chechnya?

Moderator: Ondřej Soukup

Guest: Oksana Chelysheva

 

 

Oksana Chelysheva, writer for the PEN Center and activist of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, dedicated her presentation to the two Chechen wars and the current situation in Chechnya under president Kadyrov’s regime.

 

The audience were shown the first part of a documentary co-produced by Oksana Chelysheva, based on videos collected in Chechnya over the past two years, which attempt to visualize the feelings of five families for whom murders are a part of everyday life. Chelysheva noted that the late Anna Politkovskaya was initially supposed to take part in research for the film before her sudden death. The film should be completed and ready for release in December 2010.

 

Chelysheva raised the issue of war crimes committed during the two Chechen wars, further described in the book "Who is responsible? War crimes in Chechnya," of which she is a co-author. She presented evidence for the responsibility of Russian military generals in perpetrating most of the crimes, adding however, “Putin made statements removing any guilt from generals,” and that “those who were guilty didn’t even try to hide.” In the second part of the documentary the names of those who perpetrated the criminal acts will be made public.

 

Chelysheva also emphasized the role of Russian political authorities in triggering the second Chechen war, naming Boris Berezovsky as one who has allegedly played a leading role in initiating the conflict.

 

According to Chelysheva, Moscow today provides help to the current Chechen leader Kadyrov whose regime Chelysheva refers to as an "absolute dictatorship.”

 

Working with the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, Oksana Chelysheva has faced mounting pressure from the Russian government, which has proscribed the NGO and accused it of leading extremist activities. Chelysheva concluded by highlighting the danger associated with this kind of research and explaining the situation of other people involved. “Three of them are political prisoners,” she pointed out, “with Yuriy Staroverov under particular threat, as he is also involved in the Russian opposition movement.”