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TORTURE AND SUMMARY EXECUTION

If they're not yours, I'll give you back your money.

- A soldier's promise to the parents of the "disappeared" Musaev brothers, who sold them a map to the burial site.

By carrying out forced "disappearances," federal forces in Chechnya attempt to conceal the torture and summary execution of those in their custody, and therefore benefit from impunity for such crimes.154 With thediscovery throughout the year of the corpses of dozens of the "disappeared" in unmarked graves or at dump sites, it has become evident that federal forces have used "disappearance" as a cover for torture and summary executions. The February 2001 discovery of a mass grave containing at least sixty corpses near the Khankala military base created a sensation in the Russian and international media. It was by far not the first of its kind. Human Rights Watch has documented eight unmarked graves, all found in 2000 and 2001. Memorial Human Rights Center has documented at least one more unmarked grave.155 Human Rights Watch has also documented eight cases when dead bodies were simply dumped by road sides, on hospital grounds or elsewhere. The Memorial Human Rights Center has documented numerous additional cases. The majority of the bodies showed signs of severe mutilation, including flaying or scalping, broken limbs, severed finger tips and ears, and close range bullet wounds typical of summary executions. Examinations by medical doctors of some of these bodies have revealed that some of the deliberate mutilations were inflicted while the detainees were still alive.

Mass Dumping Site at Dachny Village, near Khankala

At least sixty dead bodies had been recovered from the abandoned summer cottage village of Dachny, less than a kilometer from Khankala military base, as of mid-March 2001. The overwhelming majority of the corpses-mostly male and ranging in age from eighteen to fifty years-were dressed in civilian clothes, had their hands tied behind their backs and had gunshot wounds. At least thirteen of the bodies belonged to people who were known to have been detained by Russian federal forces and subsequently "disappeared."

Rumours that bodies had been discovered at Dachny started to circulate in Chechnya as early as late January or early February 2001. However, as the village is located in the immediate vicinity of the main Russian military base in Chechnya, at Khankala, travel in the area is restricted. Also, many relatives of missing people told Human Rights Watch they were reluctant to conduct extensive searches so close to the military base because of fear of being shot at or detained.

As far as Human Rights Watch is aware, the first of the bodies, that of Adam Chimaev, was recovered from the village on February 15, 2001. According to Memorial Human Rights Centre, Chimaev was detained at a checkpoint between Shali and Germenchuk on December 3, 2000. His detention was witnessed by an acquaintance of the family. In early February 2000, a military officer told Chimaev's relatives-who had been actively looking for him-that his body had been dumped in a cottage at Dachny village. The relatives subsequently paid U.S.$3,000 to be allowed to remove Chimaev's body from the village. Chimaev's body had clear signs of torture and he had been shot three times in the chest.156

On February 24, 2001-after three more bodies had been removed from Dachny with the help of mine clearers-the discovery of the mass dumping site became generally known, both in Chechnya and elsewhere. That day, Chechnya procurator Vsevolod Chernov visited the site and procuracy officials confirmed that they had found numerous dead bodies in the village.157 They also announced that many of the bodies had been booby trapped with mines and that the area would be closed to people seeking missing relatives.

In subsequent weeks, procuracy officials and mine clearers started recovering bodies from the village and brought them to a hangar used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the October district police department in Grozny. On March 3, Chernov announced that forty-eight bodies had been found.158

Over a period of two weeks in late February and early March, Human Rights Watch researchers in Ingushetia spoke to nineteen eyewitnesses who viewed corpses discovered at the village. These eyewitnesses said they had seen over sixty corpses in the hangar. They said that the overwhelming majority of the corpses were dressed in civilian clothing, and that they were between approximately eighteen and fifty years of age. There were at least eight women. The hands, legs, and eyes of most were bound with wire or cloth, and most also bore gunshot wounds in the stomach and chest area, and in the head. Several had been scalped. Eyewitnesses also confirmed that the state of decomposition of the corpses showed that they had been deposited on the dumping ground over a period ranging from one year to as recently as several weeks ago.

As of March 14, Human Rights Watch had confirmed that at least thirteen of the bodies found at Dachny belonged to people who had previously been reported by witnesses to have been detained by Russian forces and then "disappeared." In five of these cases, there was convincing evidence that the men were taken to Khankala military base while still alive. Human Rights Watch also received detailed information on one other person whose body was found at Dachny. However, relatives of this person had not been able to find concrete evidence that Russian troops had detained him.

The Bodies of Magomed Magomadov, Said-Rakhman Musaev, and Odes Mitaev

On February 21, 2001, relatives of three "disappeared" men from Raduzhnoe and Dolinskii villagers identified three of the corpses at Dachny village as Magomed Magomadov, Said-Rakhman Musaev and Odes Mitaev. One of the relatives who traveled to Dachny village told Human Rights Watch:

On February 20, 2001, a woman from Shali came to our home to tell us that the description of the clothes on one of the three missing matched the clothes of a corpse that she had seen in Dachny village. Mitaev's mother had met this woman in Shali while looking for her son. This woman from Shali was looking for her own son and of course Mitaev's mother described to her how her son was dressed on the day of his "disappearance."

On February 21, 2001, we went to visit the place she had told us about, and we straight away found the three corpses lying uncovered on the ground. We were accompanied by around twenty mine-clearers, as the area had been mined. They cleared a specific area, and in that area we found two of the corpses, Magomed Magomadov and Musaev. They were lying in Dachny village, fifty meters away from the Khankala military base. Mitaev was one kilometer from the road across from the Khankala military base.

The corpses were in pretty good shape, given the cold weather. But it was clear that they had been tortured, their bodies were blue with marks of beating, their heads had been beaten, I think with rifle butts, bones on the extremities of their arms and legs were broken. Two of Mitaev's fingers had been cut off. All had been shot in the stomach area, there were wounds on their shoulders, in the heart area, and all had been shot in the head. The hands of all three were tied behind their backs and their eyes were bound.159

The search was halted when two mines exploded.

The Bodies of Nura Lulueva, Raisa Gakaeva, and Markha Gakaeva

On March 4, 2001, relatives of three "disappeared" women-including the wife of Judge Said-Alvi Luluev-identified three more dead bodies from the Dachny site as Nura Lulueva, Raisa Gakaeva, and Markha Gakaeva. As noted, the three women had "disappeared" on June 3, 2000.

According to Said-Alvi Luluev, when his wife's brother learned of the bodies at Dachny village on March 4, 2001, he immediately went to the village to look for his sister.160 The same day, the brother went to the hangar at the Ministry for Emergency Situations in Grozny, where bodies that had been recovered were laid out, and identified his sister and their two cousins among the sixty corpses. He then took the bodies to their family's home village and buried them.

Luluev told Human Rights Watch that, according to Nura Luluev's brother, the three bodies were in an advanced stage of decomposition and were identified by earrings and clothing. He said that the women had blindfolds over their eyes. He said he did know the exact cause of death.

Bodies at the Novye Atagi Quarry (Discovered: January 26, 2001)

On January 26, 2001, a stone cutter discovered two corpses in the quarry at Novye Atagi. The relatives of Akhmed Zaurbekov and Khamzad Khasarov, who had "disappeared" in custody twelve days earlier, heard about the discovery the same day, and Khasarov's brother went to the quarry and identified the two men. Procuracy officials and a photographer were also present, and after completing the necessary documentation, the brother brought the bodies back to Starye Atagi.

The relatives told Human Rights Watch that the Zaurbekov and Khasarov's bodies bore signs of severe torture: the extremities of the fingers of both men had been cut off or severely pounded.161 Both ears were missing from both bodies. The bodies had burn marks-possibly from cigarette butts-above their eyes, on their cheeks and on their necks. Khasarov's body also had burns in the area of his right thigh. Their arms, elbows, and shoulder blades were broken. There were ten to fifteen centimeter long black bruises on the fronts and backs of their rib cages, as if they had been hit with a long blunt object. Zaurbekov's right cheek and the right side of his neck had been skinned. He had a bullet wound above his left eye with an exit wound at the back of his head. His hands were tied behind his back with wire, so tightly that the wire cut into his flesh.

Dumped Body at Abandoned Farm near Alkhan-Yurt (Discovered January 21, 2001)

On January 21, 2001, local villagers from Alkhan-Yurt found the remains of a body at an abandoned farm between Alkhan-Yurt and Gekhi. They brought the corpse to Alkhan-Yurt, where the local grave digger buried it, but kept the clothes that they had found on the body. When Adam Davletukaev's relatives learned of the discovery of the body, they travelled to Alkhan-Yurt and recognized the clothes as Adam's. Razet Mishaeva told Human Rights Watch that she and other relatives later exhumed the remains of the body, seeking further confirmation. However, she said, the body's head was missing and very little else was left of it.

We thought maybe we would find out something, if there was something to find out. Well, it turned out that there were some spinal bones left, parts of a leg, of the right arm, parts of the shoulder, the wrist but without the little finger. We thought that if the little finger is there . . . There should be a wart on Adam's little finger. It was cut off.162

Mishaeva had no idea as to the cause of her son's death. She said no forensic examination of the remains had been carried out.

Unmarked Grave at Jalka (Discovered September 16 and 20, 2000)

On September 16 and 20, 2000, Jalka villagers discovered two unmarked graves not far from the village with five bodies. The bodies belonged to people who had "disappeared" in the custody of Russian troops earlier that month. According to a report by the local civilian administration and eyewitness accounts, all of the bodies wereseverely mutilated.163 The official report also alleged that a total of nine civilians from Jalka "disappeared" in the custody of Russian troops in September 2000, four of whose corpses were not found in the unmarked graves. Human Rights Watch has not been able to establish the names of the four.

Grave No. 1, three dead bodies, found September 20, 2000

On September 15, 2000, Jalka villagers, Adam Vagapov (age twenty-seven) and Magomed

Taimaskhanov (age thirty-two), and an internally displaced person from the Vedeno region, Sharpudi Usuev (age forty-five) "disappeared" while in the custody of Russian troops. Vagapov and a friend were walking home from the funeral of an acquaintance when three soldiers motioned them to come over and asked to see their documents. Vagapov's friend had his passport with him and was allowed to go but Vagapov-who had left his documents at home-was taken away.164 Magomed Taimaskhanov left his home-without his documents-to buy spare parts for a broken television just after midday, and several villagers told his relatives they saw soldiers seize him.165 The circumstances of the detention of the third man are not completely clear. However, several Jalka villagers told Human Rights Watch that Usuev had been to the mosque that day and was on his way home when soldiers detained him.166

The next day, after news of these new detentions had spread throughout the village, villagers received an anonymous tip to look for the men in a strip of forest nearby. Human Rights Watch has not been able to establish who received the tip or from whom it came. The local administration apparently warned villagers that the forest was mined, but on September 17, 2000, the regional military commander, groups of soldiers, and a large number of villagers went into the forest to look for the bodies. Villagers told Human Rights Watch that two local men indeed stepped on mines and were wounded, one seriously.167

Eventually, the search group came upon two graves, containing the bodies of the three men. According to one eyewitness:

Two [Taimaskhanov and Vagapov] were in one hole. They had levelled it up, put grass on it so that nobody would notice and on top of that they put a dead dog to make the smell less noticeable. . . . The other was twenty meters [further]. My neighbor, who dug them out, told me. They [the soldiers] had killed a cow, eaten it there and put the head on the other hole.168

All three had been shot and their bodies showed clear signs of torture.

Grave No. 2, Two Dead Bodies, Found September 16, 2000

On September 8, 2000, Kalbek Pashaev and Vakha Kamilov, two cousins, left Jalka for Grozny to find work. They had told their relatives they would stay over night in Grozny. When Pashaev and Kamilov did not return the next two evenings, relatives started to search for the men. Near Minutka Square, relatives found a woman who said she had witnessed their detention, shortly after a shootout on the square. According to the relative:

She told me: "I looked out on the street [and saw] two men running." She recognized them and told them to run "over here" to hide in the basement. They ran over but, as it turns out, federal soldiers were after them, contract soldiers. . . . The federal soldiers ran up . . . and forced them to come out.169

The men were taken toward the October district temporary police station. When the relatives went there to inquire about Pashaev and Kamilov, they were told that the men indeed had been detained at the police station but were released one-and-a-half hours later. However, Pashaev and Kamilov never came home.

On September 16, the relatives of the men were informed that villagers from Berdakel had found an unmarked grave with the bodies of two mutilated men on a road near Khankala. The next day the relatives travelled to Berdakel and identified Pashaev and Kamilov-whom Berdakel villagers had buried in a temporary grave-by their half-destroyed and burned clothes. The relatives later found a man from Berdakel who said he had worked near the site of the unmarked grave when soldiers brought Pashaev and Kamilov there. The man said that soldiers had severely beaten the men and thrown a grenade at them. Finally, the soldiers had emptied canisters of petrol over the men and set them on fire. The relative interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that she, as a woman, had not seen the bodies of the two men when they were exhumed for reburial in their home village. However, she said that one man who did see the body of Pashaev gave her the details: "He said that half the skull was missing. As I understand, as a result of the grenade explosion. One arm was missing, an ear had been torn away. The body had wounds. . . ." Kamilov's body was apparently in even worse condition.

Unmarked Grave of the Musaev Brothers in Gekhi (Discovered September 12, 2000)

After the Musaev brothers "disappeared" on August 8, 2000, their parents regularly went to the military encampment in Tangi-Chu, among other places, to search for them. On September 12, soldiers at the base introduced Aminat and Alamat Musaev to a thirty-five or forty-year-old soldier they had never seen before.170 The soldier offered to sell them information on the location of their sons' grave, asking 5,000 rubles for each son (about U.S.$178). The Musaevs negotiated the price down to 2,000 rubles each (about U.S.$75), and the soldier gave them a small, hand-drawn map with a cross near the apparent burial site.171 They said he promised that "If they're not yours, I'll give you back your money."172

After warning the local administration, the military commander, and the procuracy, the Musaevs went to the site of the grave. The local head of administration came as well and brought a doctor and a forensic expert. They then uncovered two holes-one containing three bodies, another containing one. Alamat Musaev told Human Rights Watch about the condition of the bodies:

I saw [the bodies] only later, not during the exhumation but when they were brought to the cemetery. I saw my elder son, Ali, and fainted when I did. The others were impossible to recognize as they had been eaten by dogs; only bones remained. . . . We recognized [Umar] only by his teeth.173

The body that was found in the separate grave was identified as the man who was shot dead in the courtyard of the Musaev family. Alamat Musaev believed that the fourth body belonged to a man by the last name of Madiev. Human Rights Watch has no further information on his case.

Three Unmarked Graves at Starye Atagi (Discovered April or May 2000, June 15, 2000 and September 13, 2000)

Local villagers, farmers, and shepherds have found at least ten bodies in three mass graves in the immediate vicinity of Starye Atagi. At least eight of the bodies were those of people who had previously "disappeared" in the custody of Russian troops. Human Rights Watch has no further information on the two others buried there.

Each time an unmarked grave was found, local villagers-especially those whose relatives had gone missing-rushed to the site to excavate the grave, anxious to gain closure on the fate of their loved ones. Sultan Saidaev was one of these people. His son, Adam Saidaev, brother Imran Kuntaev, and nephew, Abnan Abdurzakov March 16, 2001 "disappeared" after detention at a checkpoint near Starye Atagi on December 20, 1999. Anxious for any news of their fate, Saidaev helped dig every time news spread that a new unmarked grave had been found near the village. Eventually, Saidaev found his relatives when he and others went to excavate a grave that was found on September 13, 2000.174

Grave No. 1, At Least One Body, Found in April or May 2000

Sultan Saidaev told Human Rights Watch that he was among the first to see the body of a young man who was dug up by local farmers:

We found him in the following position. There is a canal there and usually the Sovkhoz canal is cleaned out in the fall with an excavator. The excavator dug up a chair with a young man tied up and shot, as if he were a target. I was the first one to come across that dead body, they told me a body had been found and I went there. He was in a sitting position as I am sitting here now. The upper part of his body had been buried, the upper part-above his waist was above the ground. His legs were hanging. When I came, his lower parts (the male parts) were full of worms. He was dressed in sneakers, "Adidas" jogging trousers, and a coat.175

The man's last name was Sarmurzaev, but Human Rights Watch has no further information on the circumstances of his death.

Grave No. 2, Four Bodies, Found on June 15, 2000

On June 15, 2000, a shepherd accidentally discovered the shallow grave-not far from a federal troop encampment-when it was unearthed by his dog. When local villagers started excavating the grave, they found the bodies of four men-including three brothers-who had been detained by federal troops during a sweep operation on January 27, 2000 in Starye Atagi. Their names are: Arbi Giriev (age thirty-two), Said-Emin Giriev (age thirty-seven), Said-Hussein Giriev (age thirty-seven), and Musa Sugaipov.

Relatives of the Giriev brothers told Memorial that they were present during the exhumation. They said that all four bodies showed signs of terrible torture. The hands of all of the victims had apparently been cut off, their knee caps had been smashed, and their ribs broken. The arms of the deceased had been tied behind their backs with wire. All of the men had been shot through the head. Relatives said that Said-Hussein Giriev had also been strangled with a scarf.176

Several other people from Starye Atagi, including Sultan Saidaev, also told Human Rights Watch about this mass grave and confirmed that the four bodies that were found had been severely mutilated.177

Grave No. 3, Four Bodies, Found on September 11, 2000

On September 11, 2000, a local villager was collecting fire wood from a nearby strip of forest when he suddenly fell into a pit that contained several dead bodies. That evening, as the news spread through Starye Atagi, Sultan Saidaev heard from the villager who made the discovery that one of the dead was in sneakers and a black coat. He then understood that the grave contained the bodies of his son, Adam Sadaev, his brother Imran Kuntaev, and his nephew Abnan Abdurzakov.178

The next morning, Saidaev tried to go to the grave but was stopped on the way and told that mine clearers had to clear the way through the forest. On September 13, 2000, Saidaev did go to the grave. He was accompanied by the head of the Starye Atagi administration, procuracy officials, FSB officials, and a forensic examiner. Saidaev told Human Rights Watch:

They buried them right in the middle of a strip of forest. They dug out a fifty centimeter deep hole, put in the three bodies and put some sand over it. . . . We started digging and immediately found my brother's golden ring. We extracted only bones. . . We could only identify them by their personal belongings and the crowns on their teeth.179

Saidaev said that the grave was found a mere 1,500 meters from the place where the three had been detained, on December 20, 1999, close to the monument to A. Sheripov just outside Starye Atagi. A death certificate signed by the forensic examiner for all three men and dated October 4, 2000 stated that they had been shot through the head.180

Excavators extracted the body of Edilbek Isaev, who had been detained at the Starye Atagi hospital just a week earlier, from a separate grave. Several people who saw Isaev's body, including his sister, confirmed to Human Rights Watch and Memorial that Isaev's body had been severely mutilated. Local people informed Human Rights Watch that the forensic examination of Isaev's body showed that Isaev had been scalped, two of his ribs had been cut out of his body, and several finger tips had been cut off while he was still alive.181

Unmarked Grave in Tangi-Chu (Discovered May 10, 2000)

On May 10, 2000, villagers from Tangi-Chu unearthed the bodies of three men at the local cemetery. There was clear evidence of torture on the bodies as all three had their ears and noses cut off and had nooses around their necks. The bodies were given a proper reburial at the same cemetery.

Several days later, relatives of people who had "disappeared" at the checkpoint near Duba-Yurt on January 13, 2000, came to Tangi-Chu. They were able to identify the personal belongings of Visit Arsanukaev, Vakha Titaev, and Said-Magomed Delmukhanov.182

A Dumped Body in the Assa River (Discovered April 1, 2000)

On April 1, 2000, villagers from Arshty, Ingushetia, saw a young man thrown from an army helicopter as it hovered over the nearby Assa river.183 That same day, the victim's dead body was recovered from the Assa river, later to be identified as that of twenty-four-year-old Rustam Temirsultanov.

Human Rights Watch interviewed the forensic expert who had examined Temirsultanov's body and the procuracy investigator who conducted the initial investigative steps.184 According to the investigator, Temirsultanov had been alive when he was thrown out of the helicopter. He said Temirsultanov's back was one huge bruise and said that dead bodies do not bruise. According to the investigator, Temirsultanov died of shock caused by the pain and internal bleeding.

The forensic examiner told Human Rights Watch that when examining the body he found Temirsultanov's left eyeball in his throat. Human Rights Watch researchers were shown a photograph of the eye, which showed signs of cutting. According to the forensic examiner, Temirsultanov's captors tore his eyeball out of its socket and put it in his mouth before throwing him out of the helicopter.

According to the investigator, Temirsultanov was most likely a civilian. He did not have callouses on his hands or shoulders that are considered characteristic of combatants.

A Dumped Body at the Urus-Martan Hospital (Discovered March 10, 2000)

On March 10, 2000, relatives of seventeen-year-old Said Visaev discovered his body in a hospital building in Urus-Martan. Russian troops had detained Visaev on the morning of March 9, 2000 in a field outside the village of Komsomolskoe, where large numbers of civilians who fled Komsomolskoe prior to the Russian assault had been stranded. On March 10, Said Visaev's mother and two aunts traveled to Urus-Martan to ascertain whether he was being held in a detention facility in the abandoned orphanage there. Visaev's aunt, Fatima, described to Human Rights Watch the finding of Visaev's corpse in a hospital building in Urus-Martan, beaten almost beyond recognition. She said his left eye was missing, his face swollen and that a large hole had been smashed in the back of his head.185

154 Memorial, FIDH, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, "Chechnya: A Joint Statement by Human Rights Groups," Strasbourg, January 24, 2001, http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/EUR460022001?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\RUSSIAN+FEDERATION (March 14, 2001); Human Rights Watch, Welcome to Hell; Human Rights Watch, "Field Update on Chechnya," January 22, 2001; Physicians for Human Rights, Endless Brutality: Ongoing Human Rights Violations in Chechnya (Physicians for Human Rights, Boston, January 2001); Memorial, "Human Rights Situation in the Republic of Chechnya, fall 2000," address given by Oleg Orlov, at the Meeting of the Committee for Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe in Paris, December 2000, http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/northkavkaz.htm (February 1, 2001); Amnesty International, "On Human Rights: Bridging the Gap Between Rights and Realities," December 2000, http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/IOR410142000?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\RUSSIAN+FEDERATION (March 14, 2001); Medecins du Monde, "Le Desespoir des civils tchetchenes," November 2000; Maura Reynolds, "War Has No Rules for Russian Forces Battling Chechen Rebels", Los Angeles Times, September 17, 2000. 155 Memorial has documented the discovery of another unmarked grave in Mesker-Yurt containing the bodies of eight persons whom Russian soldiers had previously detained. See <www.memo.ru>.

156 See Memorial press materials, "Bodies Near Khankala: Unrefutable Proof of War Crimes by Federal Forces," March 5, 2001, (www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/N-Caucas/hankala/app2.htm, accessed March 2001).

157 Robyn Dixon, "Chechen Bodies Found at Mass Dumping Site," Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2001.

158 Andrei Kuzminov, "On the Territory of the Gardening Collective `Zdorovye' Outside Grozny Forty-Eight Dead Bodies Were Found," ITAR-TASS news agency, March 3, 2001.

159 Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of Magomed Magomadov who requested to remain anonymous, Nazran, March 9, 2001.

160 Human Rights Watch interview with Said-Alvi Luluev, Moscow, March 12, 2001, Moscow.

161 Human Rights Watch interview with Ali Zaurbekov and Aina Khasarova, Nazran, March 1, 2001.

162 Human Rights Watch interview with Razet Mishaeva, Nazran, March 8, 2001.

163 German journalists Thomas Avenarius and Florian Hassel obtained a copy of this report which they shared with Human Rights Watch. The report (in Russian: spravka) was written by Sh.B. Abdurakhmanov, leader expert of the department for law enforcement agencies. It is dated September 21, 2000.

164 Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of Adam Vagapov who talked to the friend, and who requested to remain anonymous, Nazran, November 23, 2000.

165 Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of Magomed Taimaskhanov who requested to remain anonymous, Nazran, November 23, 2000.

166 Human Rights Watch interviews with relatives of Adam Vagapov and Magomed Taimaskhanov who requested to remain anonymous, Nazran, November 23, 2000.

167 Human Rights Watch interviews with relatives of Adam Vagapov and Magomed Taimaskhanov who requested to remain anonymous, Nazran, November 23, 2000.

168 Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of Adam Vagapov who requested to remain anonymous, November 23, 2000.

169 Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of the two men who asked to remain anonymous, Nazran, November 23, 2000.

170 Human Rights Watch interview with Alamat and Aminat Musaev, Nazran, November 24, 2000.

171 Human Rights Watch has a copy of this map on file.

172 Human Rights Watch interview with Alamat and Aminat Musaev, Nazran, November 24, 2000.

173 Ibid.

174 Human Rights Watch interview with Sultan Saidaev, Assinovskaia, November 30, 2000.

175 Ibid.

176 See: Letter dated October 27, 2000 from chairman of the council of Memorial, Oleg Orlov to the Special Presidential Representative for the protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of the Citizens of the Republic of Chechnya, V.A. Kalamanov.

177 Human Rights Watch interview with Sultan Saidaev, Assinovskaia, November 30, 2000; Human Rights Watch interview with "Ruslan Amirov" (not the witness's real name), Nazran, November 17, 2000.

178 Human Rights Watch interview with Sultan Saidaev, Assinovskaia, November 30, 2000.

179 Ibid.

180 Human Rights Watch has copies of each of these certificates on file.

181 Human Rights Watch interview with "Ruslan Amirov" (not the witness's real name), Nazran, November 17, 2000.

182 See: Letter dated October 27, 2000 from chairman of the council of Memorial, Oleg Orlov to the Special Presidential Representative for the protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of the Citizens of the Republic of Chechnya, V.A. Kalamanov.

183 Eyewitnesses to the incident identified this as an MI-8 helicopter and said it was painted khaki. Several said they had seen the helicopter's number but could not remember it.

184 Human Rights Watch interviews with Rashid Aushev, Ingush Republican Hospital, Nazran, November 15, 2000 and Ruslan Tsetoev, Republican Procuracy of Ingushetia, Nazran, November 15, 2000.

185 Human Rights Watch interview with Fatima Umarova, Nazran, March 16, 2000.

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