The New Alds massacre

In the fall of 1999, the Second Chechen War began , federal forces were introduced into Chechnya. In early October 1999, in one of the mosques in New Aldy, militant leaders Aslan Maskhadov , Zelimkhan Yandarbiev and other famous field commanders prayed, during which they swore to perform jihad ^[14] .

From the beginning of the introduction of federal forces into Chechnya, residents of New Alds began to leave the village, however, some residents remained ^[7] . According to one of the inhabitants of the village, of the 27 thousand people who inhabited the village before the outbreak of hostilities, the majority fled for fear of fighting, and by February 5, 2000, about 2 thousand people remained in the village ^[15] . According to the report of the Memorial organization, from the beginning of December 1999 to the end of January 2000 (during the siege of Grozny ), the village was subjected to massive artillery and bombing attacks , and during this time 75 graves of civilians appeared in the village cemetery. Their death occurred from bombing, shelling, as well as from exacerbation of chronic diseases caused by malnutrition and stress. All this time, there were no militant positions in the village. Local residents said that a detachment of the Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev entered the village, but, having not found places to accommodate, he left. Residents of New Alds "persuaded the militants to regret the village and not to fight on its territory." The militants are located 1.5 - 2 km from the New Alds ^[7] . Musa Mammadov, a Kommersant correspondent, wrote on January 21, 2000 that the militants controlled the Zavodskoy district of Grozny from the village of Chernorechye to the Alda microdistrict, and “the estate of the defenders of Grozny” is located between these suburbs ^[16] .

According to the Memorial organization, on February 3, about a hundred residents of the village with a white flag headed for the positions of the Russian troops, but were greeted by fire. At the same time, one of the residents, Nikolai (Russian), was seriously injured, who soon died due to the fact that the soldiers forbade him to be helped ^[7] . After that, deputies from the residents met with Russian colonel Lukashev, who was assured that there were no militants in the village, and received a promise to stop shelling the village. The shelling was stopped the next day, February 4. On the same day, Russian soldiers entered the village and checked their passports. They warned residents about the danger of tomorrow’s sweeping, but residents did not believe them or did not fully understand the meaning of the warning ^{[7] [17] [18]} .

On February 5, New Alds were cleared by two units, which behaved differently. The unit, clearing the southern side of the village, robbed the house ^{[9] [10]} , but did not commit murders. The unit that cleared the north side (namely, the OMON police department of the St. Petersburg police) killed 56 people (counting 10 people killed in neighboring areas of Grozny), including 6 women, 11 old people aged 60 and over (the oldest was born in 1924); among those killed was a one-year-old baby (Khasan Estamirov) and a woman at 9 months of pregnancy (Toita Estamirova) ^{[6] [1]} . According to Novaya Gazeta , witnesses claimed that 49-year-old Sultan Temirov had his head cut off and his body thrown to dogs ^[11] . Mostly Chechens killed by nationality, also two Russians (including Elena Kuznetsova, 70 years old). On the same day, murders were committed in the surrounding areas of Grozny ^[19] . Some managed to pay off ^[8] . Witnesses claimed that there could have been more victims if the village doctor Aset Chadayev had not run through the yards and forced people to go out and gather in a crowd ^[8] .

According to a Human Rights Watch report, there were incidents of arson and rape. ^[20]

On April 21, 2000, the military prosecutor's office of the North Caucasus Military District sent a letter to the Memorial human rights center. The letter stated that the military units of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs within the jurisdiction of the military prosecutor’s office did not conduct military operations or check the passport regime of the area at this time; The “mopping-up” operation that took place in the village of Aldy on February 5 and 10, 2000, was carried out by riot police from the Ministry of Internal Affairs from St. Petersburg and Ryazan, for which the military prosecutor’s office has no jurisdiction. In the light of the above, on March 3, 2000 the criminal case initiated by the military prosecutor's office was terminated due to lack of corpus delicti, and the materials were transferred to the prosecutor's office of the city of Grozny to take the necessary measures ^[1] .

On March 5, 2000, the Grozny prosecutor's office opened a criminal case. In the second half of April, exhumation was carried out at the request of residents. On suspicion of involvement in the crime, one person was detained - a fighter of the St. Petersburg riot police Babin (accused of killing an old man and stealing 350 rubles and earrings), but who then disappeared ^[8] .

On July 4, 2000, the Malgobek City Court of Ingushetia witnessed the death of Khasmagomed Estamirov, born in 1933, Khozhakhmed Khasmagomedovich Estamirova, born February 12, 1963, Toita Khavazh-Bagaudinovna Estamirova, born in 1971, Khasan Hasmagamedovich born on January 20, 1999, February 5, 2000 in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny, Chechnya ^[1] .

In August 2000, the registry office of the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny issued four death certificates for Estamirov’s relatives. The date of death was also indicated on February 5, 2000 ^[1] .

On August 8, 2000, R. Estamirov and Y. Estamirova filed a civil suit against the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance of Russia with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation . In their statement, they pointed out that five members of their family were killed on February 5, 2000 in their home in Grozny during a “sweeping” of the area. Their house and car were set on fire, and property was stolen. The Estamirovs referred to the decision of the Malgobek City Court of July 4, 2000, as well as to the exhumation certificate issued by the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs. According to the Estamirovs, the indicated actions were apparently committed by employees of the federal forces, since on those days Grozny was already under the control of the federal forces. On the same day, civilians were also executed in the village of Aldy, a 15-minute walk from the Estamirovs' house. The Estamirovs indicated that on February 22, 2000 they had asked the Prosecutor General of Russia to conduct a criminal investigation . However, no proper investigation has been conducted. In addition, the Estamirovs indicated that courts were not operating in Chechnya, and that many of the relevant documents burned out in the house. They demanded compensation for the material and moral damage inflicted upon them. As follows from the case file, on August 31, 2000, the Supreme Court refused to consider the claims of the Estamirovs on the basis of lack of jurisdiction. Estamirov was recommended to apply to the relevant district court ^[1] .

On October 16, 2000, Human Rights Watch , a non-governmental organization, sent a letter to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. The letter requested information on the investigation of the murders in New Aldy. In his reply dated October 31, 2000, the Prosecutor General indicated that the request he received was sent to the prosecutor of the Chechen Republic to prepare a substantive response ^[1] .

On December 4, 2000, the prosecutor of the Chechen Republic sent a response to Human Rights Watch. The response stated that on April 14, 2000, the city prosecutor's office of Grozny instituted criminal proceedings No. 12023 on the grounds of corpus delicti under Art. 105 h. 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the murder of one or more persons), as well as the fact that the investigation is carried out under the supervision of the prosecutor's office of the Republic ^[1] .

On August 8, 2001, L. Yandarova asked the prosecutor of the Chechen Republic to provide information on the investigation of the criminal case. In her letter, she asked for information on what measures had been taken to identify and prosecute those responsible for the crime. In the case of the suspension of the preliminary investigation, she asked the prosecutor of the republic to send her a copy of the relevant decision. She did not receive a response to this request ^[1] .

On August 14, 2001, the Moscow representative office of the Legal Initiative for Russia organization asked the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic to provide information on criminal case No. 12023, initiated on the assassination of five members of the Estamirov family. The Legal Initiative for Russia did not receive a response to this request ^[1] .

On October 11, 2001, L. Yandarova appealed to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. In her letter, she indicated that she had not received a reply to the letter sent to the prosecutor of the Chechen Republic of 8 August 2001. In a response dated November 16, 2001, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia informed L. Yandarova that her request had been sent for consideration to the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic ^[1] .

In a letter sent in November 2001, the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic informed L. Yandarova that the criminal investigation was carried out by the prosecutor’s office of the city of Grozny, that the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic monitored his progress, and that “investigative steps aimed at identifying those responsible for committing a crime being conducted. " The letter also mistakenly stated that the relatives of Estamirov were killed in April 2000 ^[1] .

The investigation into the death of Estamirov’s relatives was suspended and resumed several times. The investigation conducted by the prosecutor's office of the city of Grozny did not lead to any relevant results. As follows from the case file, the investigation focused on the version put forward by the Estamirovs from the very beginning, according to which the killings were committed by employees of the Russian military unit. However, it also considered other possible versions. The investigating authorities did not establish which particular unit should be responsible for the crime committed; no one was charged with these crimes. As follows from the materials, the investigation did not connect the killing of members of the Estamirov’s family with the investigation of the murders committed in the village of Novye Aldy on February 5, 2000 ^[1] .

In March 2003, H. Zaurbekova appealed to the Leninsky District Court of Grozny with a complaint about the revision of the decision of the prosecutor's office to suspend the preliminary investigation in a criminal case instituted in connection with the murder of her relatives ^[1] .

In June 2003, the Estamirovs complaint was communicated to the Government of the Russian Federation, which was requested to provide a copy of the materials of the criminal case No. 12023. In September 2003, the Government provided a copy of the materials of the case. In May 2005, the Court declared the complaint admissible and requested the Government to provide the latest information on the progress of the criminal investigation ^[1] .

In August 2005, the Government replied that the investigation was still ongoing, but no final conclusion was drawn on the identity of the perpetrators. It also indicated that the investigation had verified the materials of criminal case No. 12011, instituted in connection with the massacre of civilians in New Aldy on 5 February 2000. The Government did not obtain evidence to conclude that the killings were committed by the same persons, and therefore there were no grounds for combining these criminal cases into one proceeding. The Government further pointed out that the submission to the Court of documents received from the materials of criminal case No. 12023 received for the last period of the investigation would violate Art. 161 Code of Criminal Procedure PF. They argued that the case file contained confidential information regarding military operations and security measures, as well as the names and addresses of witnesses who had participated in the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya and other participants in the investigation ^[1] .

A judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Estamirov case alleges that the investigation into this case was resumed a total of four times. At least seven times the preliminary investigation was transferred from one investigator to another. As the Strasbourg court noted, half of the documents in the Estamirov case were compiled on July 20-24, 2003, that is, after the Estamirov family’s complaint to Strasbourg was communicated to Russia. In particular, "the results of the ballistic examination , despite the fact that they were ready as early as June 2000, were only sent to the relevant authorities in July 2003." At the same time, "requests for information related to the establishment of military units sent by the investigation in July 2003 contained references to incorrect dates of the murder, that is, at the end of February 2000, and therefore could not lead to a real result." A number of necessary investigative actions were carried out with great delay, others were not carried out at all. Relatives of the killed, contrary to the usual judicial practice and laws, were not officially recognized as victims and on this basis “were completely excluded from the investigation procedure” ^[1] .

On February 5, 2010, on the day of a decade of events in New Aldy, member of the Council of the Human Rights Center Memorial Alexander Cherkasov showed a documentary film Aldy at a press conference in Moscow. No statute of limitations ”, based on the materials of Natalia Estemirova, employee of the Grozny Memorial. Cherkasov recalled that the perpetrators of the mass murder in New Aldy and other crimes against civilians during the second Chechen war were not identified and not punished. He believes that this event is comparable to "the crimes of Hitler's punishers during the Great Patriotic War ." Human rights activists prepared a request to the Prosecutor General’s office regarding the progress of the investigation of this criminal case ^[21] .

On December 12, 2006, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg issued a verdict on the claim of the Estamirov’s family living in the USA against Russia (the case of “Estamirov and Others v. Russia”). According to the judgment of the European Court, the Russian side violated the 2nd and 13th articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantee them the right to life and effective legal protection, and awarded Russia to pay Estamirov € 220 thousand, of which € 70 thousand. in favor of the ten-year-old Hussein Estamirov, “both of whose parents were killed.”

Another lawsuit was filed by the remaining villagers in Russia (the case of Musaev and Others v. Russia) and supported by the Memorial human rights center (Moscow) and the European Center for the Protection of Human Rights (EHRAC, London ). The Russian side did not deny that on that day in New Aldy the St. Petersburg riot police carried out a “special operation”, but clarified that the riot police had not proved to be involved in the killings. The Strasbourg court rejected the arguments of the Russian side, and on July 26, 2007 issued a decision according to which the Russian authorities were responsible for the unlawful killings of the applicants' relatives and that the investigation into the massacre by Russian justice was ineffective. The court sentenced Russia to compensation to the applicants for moral damage: Yusup Musaev - 35 thousand euros, Suleiman Magomadov - 30 thousand euros, Tamara Magomadova - 40 thousand euros, Malika Labazanova and Khasan Abdulmezhidov - 40 thousand euros .; in addition, Tamara Magomadova for the pecuniary damage suffered of 8 thousand euros, as well as costs and expenses of the applicants in the amount of 14050 euros and 4,580 pounds ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

According to human rights activist Alexander Podrabinek , the ECHR’s decision is “an indication to the Russian authorities of the inefficiency of the national judicial system and an indirect charge of bias in the investigation and the court” ^[12] .

Nezavisimaya Gazeta , citing the website of Chechen separatists Kavkaz Center , reported that no-one known before Lom Ali Chechen claimed responsibility for the explosion in the Moscow metro on February 6, 2004, claiming that the explosion was revenge for the murder residents of the village of New Aldy ^[22] .

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