Russia’s Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has handed the Russian President a note prepared by the Committee Against Torture on the real situation with investigations into abductions in Chechnya.

On February 28 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met with Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin. The Russian Ombudsman informed the President about the statistics of applications alleging human rights violations in 2011 and presented his Yearly Review.  During the meeting Vladimir Lukin handed the president an analytic report prepared by the Interregional Committee Against Torture. 

The report describes the progress of investigations into disappearances of Chechen residents in 2009-2012 and is based on the data obtained by the Joint Mobile Group of Russian human rights organizations in Chechnya.

Among other things, the report mentions numerous violations committed in course of investigations. It emphasizes the lack of cooperation between investigative and internal affairs authorities, and namely, non-execution of investigators’ requests by policemen in charge of operational investigative activities.

The conclusion of the report is that the chances of effective investigation into Chechen residents’ abductions are almost nil at the moment.  

We believe that the current situation strikes at the foundation of the constitutional system in Russia demonstrating the incapacity of federal authorities to ensure compliance with the RF Constitution in the territory of Chechnya.

The report published on our web-site was also submitted to the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council.