A number of armed units formally pertaining to the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs de facto do not comply with Russian law and are not accountable to federal control bodies. This has been concluded in the analytical report f the Interregional Committee Against Torture submitted today to representatives of the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the Russian Federation.

The report summarizes the findings of public investigations into six high-profile cases about tortures and abductions in Chechnya in 2009-2010 and refers to the results of official investigations. These findings show that in all six cases servicemen and commanders of detachments of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs which members are allegedly involved in grave crimes openly and defiantly refuse to cooperate with investigative authorities – they do not provide required documents and other evidence, do not let investigators access their premises to take investigative steps, do not appear for questioning, etc. Nevertheless, they continue serving in their positions in the Chechen MIA without let of hindrance. Heads of the Investigative Committee under the RF Prosecutor’s Office and heads of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs do not want or cannot make senior officers of those detachments obey Russian law or dismiss them from office and hold accountable. “Such situation- writes the Committee Against Torture- undermines the foundation of our country’s constitutional system, demonstrates to the population of the Chechen Republic and other regions that the federal authority is not capable of ensuring respect towards the Russian Constitution on the territory of Chechnya.”

The analytical report has been signed today by chairman of the Committee Against Torture Igor Kalyapin and submitted to President Dmitry Medvedev, Prosecutor General Chayka, Investigation Committee head Bastrykin, State Duma chairman Gryzlov, Minister of Justice Konovalov, Supreme Court chairman Lebedev, chairman of the State Duma Committee for External Affairs  Kosachyov, head of the Special Investigation Department of the Investigation Administration for Chechnya Tereschenko, chairman of the State Duma Security Committee Vasilyev, head of Chechnya Kadyrov, Duma fraction leaders and other officials.