Delivered by Ambassador Jeroen Boender, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the OSCE, at the OSCE Permanent Council on 17 December 2020
I
have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Moscow Mechanism
invoking participating States: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway,
Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the following
countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.
Mr.
Chairperson,
In
November 2018, our delegations took the important step of invoking the OSCE
Moscow Mechanism to look into multiple allegations of serious human rights
violations and abuses in the Russian Federation’s Republic of Chechnya that
allegedly were committed during January 2017 to November 2018 against LGBTI
persons, human rights defenders, members of the independent media, lawyers and
others.
In
December 2018, the Report resulting from the Moscow Mechanism found that
“harassment and persecution, arbitrary or unlawful arrests or detentions,
torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions” had indeed
occurred. The Report also found “a climate of impunity” surrounding such
violations and abuses. We called on the Russian Federation to make full use of
the report and to implement all recommendations contained therein, in order to
address the issues raised in a constructive manner and to stop the human rights
violations and abuses in its Chechen Republic under the leadership of Ramzan
Kadyrov.
Mr. Chairperson,
Two
years have passed since the report resulting from the Moscow Mechanism was
issued. Still, there has been no constructive response to the report or its
recommendations from Russian federal and local authorities. Meanwhile, new
information has come to light about additional allegations of serious human
rights violations and abuses in Chechnya.
Reports of abuses against
LGBTI persons continue to emerge. A young woman, Aminat Lorsanova, has come forward and alleges that in 2018 her relatives had
her institutionalized successively in two separate treatment centers where she
was beaten repeatedly in an attempt to change her sexual orientation. Chechen authorities have created an
atmosphere that normalizes and condones such despicable acts of violence
against LGBTI persons, while federal authorities continue their deafening
silence. In January of this year, Aminat
Lorsanova filed a complaint with the Russian Investigative Committee, which
still has taken no action.
We also are alarmed by
reports of a sharp increase in enforced disappearances in Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov’s security forces continue to
routinely engage in appalling acts of violence to punish any form of
dissent. The Chechen authorities appear
to be targeting primarily young persons who have engaged with content on the
Internet criticizing the Chechen authorities.
According to the human rights group Memorial, at least twenty two
individuals have been unlawfully detained in recent months. Some reportedly remain in incommunicado detention
under the control of Chechen authorities.
We are particularly
concerned by credible reports of the recent disappearance of nineteen-year-old
Salman Tepsurkayev, a moderator for the Telegram
social media channel 1ADAT.
He was allegedly kidnapped by Chechen security officials on September 6
and taken to the Terek Special Rapid Response Police Compound in Grozny.
Subsequently, Salman Tepsurkayev appeared in a video that showed him under conditions of
extreme duress for allegedly helping to “spread lies” about Chechen
authorities.
We also are deeply troubled
by the case of Movsar Umarov, who was arrested at his
workplace in Grozny on July 18, allegedly for watching a video blog produced by
Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a popular critic of Chechen
authorities. In late August, Movsar Umarov’s family was informed that he had
“escaped” from detention and was no longer in custody. His family has not heard from him since. In October, local authorities opened a murder
investigation at the request of Movsar Umarov's mother, who fears he may have
been extrajudicially killed.
Mr.
Chairperson,
Multiple
times over the past two years, we have called on the Russian Federation to put
an end to the human rights violations and abuses in its Chechen Republic, to
protect the victims, and to respect the dignity and human rights of all
individuals without discrimination. We have repeatedly called on the Russian
Federation to conduct prompt, effective and thorough investigations into all
reports of such violations and abuses, in order to ensure that anyone
responsible or complicit is held accountable.
Despite
these calls the climate of impunity described in the Moscow Mechanism Report
continues to prevail in Chechnya.
We
renew our call on the Russian Federation to pursue investigations and to act
without further delay on the recommendations of the Moscow Mechanism rapporteur
to:
1.
“Open an inquiry into the actions of the government of the Chechen Republic
towards LGBTI people”;
2.
“Express a commitment at the highest level of the executive branch of the
Russian Federation to fully investigate the allegations and to bring to justice
the alleged perpetrators, including those belonging to the local security
forces”;
3.
“Make sure that all Chechen authorities, including law enforcement and security
agencies, fully comply with Russia’s domestic legislation and international
human rights obligations”;
4.
“Assure that the pre-investigation in politically sensitive cases in the
Chechen Republic is led by investigators from the federal and not the regional
level”;
5.
“Reform the pre-investigation (pre-check) mechanism in a way that fully ensures
its independence and effectiveness; in the case of investigating alleged human
rights violations in Chechnya the Federal Investigative Commission and its
investigators should be used”;
6.
“Open a new pre-investigation/pre-check on the federal level into the case of
the 27 persons allegedly killed by Chechen security forces or undertake a
special investigation with the inclusion of international experts.”
We
will continue to monitor the situation in Chechnya and to raise our concerns
until we receive a substantive response from the Russian Federation and observe
tangible progress in Chechnya.