 More false testimonies against Zakayev being extorted by torture
CHECHENPRESS, 6 October 2006
Rizvan Elbiyev, captured by Russian invaders in April 2006, is hospitalised in critical condition in late September, after four months of severe tortures. His lawyer told his relatives that Russian chastisers have tortured Mr. Elbiyev to make him give false testimonies against Akhmed Zakayev, the ChRI Foreign Minister now living in London. Moscow wants to use such false testimonies in order to continue its attempts to have Mr. Zakayev extradited to Russia.
Mr. Elbiyev, resident of Achkhoi-Martan District, served under President Djokhar Dudayev during the First Russian-Chechen War, with responsibility for Russian prisoners of war. His job was to collect the POWs from various Chechen units who had captured them, and to ensure they were kept in special camps and treated according to the principles of international law.
Only now, after Mr. Elbiyev was hospitalised, his relatives have learned he was still alive. According to the information of "Memorial" human rights centre in Russia, after four months of cruel tortures and beating, Mr. Elbiyev has become nearly blind, hardly can walk, and suffers from severe headache. His requests for medical aid were repeatedly rejected before. Concerned with his condition, Mr. Elbiyev's relatives have applied to the "Memorial" centre asking to make the case public. The Russian human rights activists are now preparing a relevant statement.
It is not the first time when the Russian chastisers, following the Kremlin's instructions, are preparing a false witness against Mr. Zakayev by means of torture and beating. A similar case became known in 2003, when Duk-Vakha Dushuyev, "the key witness for the prosecution" at the court hearing of Mr. Zakayev's case, went out of control of Russian special services. Mr. Dushuyev sensationally turned into the key witness for the defence, telling the court how a false testimony against Mr. Zakayev had been extracted from him under torture.
The following is an account of that event by Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya:
…A witness for the prosecution came before judge Timothy Walkman as Zakayev's witness for the defence. He was supposed to be "a victim of Zakayev".
The man's name is Duk-Vakha Dushuyev. In the case materials, which had came from Moscow and had been prepared by investigator Mednik, Dushuyev is referred to as "Zakayev's personal bodyguard". In December 2002 Dushuyev testified that in January 1996 Zakayev's bodyguards, on Zakayev's orders, kidnapped two Orthodox priests, who had been in Chechnya with a "peace-making mission"– Father Anatoly Chernousov, who later died in captivity, and Father Sergy Zhigulin (Father Filipp in monkshood), who testified in the court on 10 July…
Duk-Vakha Dushuyev, a short Chechen, walks towards the witness box on unnaturally straight legs, throwing forward his unruly feet. He avoids everybody's eye and tries his best to conceal how hard it is for him to walk. In spite of London environment, an eye-witness of the Second Chechen War can quickly understand what is the matter. Many men in today's Chechnya walk in a similar way to Duk-Vakha, – those who have survived the "anti-terrorist operation", but whose legs were broken and then failed to knit well.
'On what should I swear?' asks the witness to the interpreter once he has reached the box. His smile is unnatural like a mask. 'On the Bible? On the Quaran?'
'It is up to you.'
The oath is sworn, and now Duk-Vakha explains he was born in 1968. So, he is only 35, although he looks 50.
Edward Fitzgerald, Council for the defence, opens the examination:
'Did you testify against Mr. Zakayev on 2nd of December, 2002?'
'Yes.'
'Is this your testimony?'
The case materials, which Russian General Prosecutor's Office has sent to London, are now shown to Duk-Vakha. He must confirm to the court the transcript of his own interrogation, conducted in Grozny by Junior Justice Advisor K. Krivorotov, the investigator for cases of special importance in the Prosecutor's Office of Chechen Republic:
'…Approximately in October 1996, I found out it was possible to get a job of a guard in the Ministry of Culture of Chechen Republic. For about four months I worked by relays, guarding the Ministry of Culture building. Approximately in February 1997, ...[the name is blackened] offered me to become a personal bodyguard to Zakayev. I agreed. From February 1997 to February 2000 I accompanied Zakayev practically all the time. During one of Zakayev's tripts to Urus-Martan, I accompanied him together with… [the name is blackened]. Before that, I noticed a chain, made of some white metal, which hanged on… [the name is blackened]'s trousers. I asked him where this chain had come from, and… [the name is blackened] replied he had took it from an Orthodox priest, who wore it with an Orthodox cross...
…[The name is blackened] told me that in 1995 two Orthodox priests came to Urus-Martan to arrange a release of Russian militaries from the captivity. Zakayev ordered to kidnap the priests, in order to get a $500,000 ransom for them and to use it to purchase weapons and ammunition for the rebels. To fulfil Zakayev's order, he involved some 5 or 6 of Zakayev's personal bodyguards in the conduct of kidnapping... In order to implement this plan… [the name is blackened] put on a police uniform, and disguised his subordinates similarly. I asked… [the name is blackened] who could pay such a big money for the release of the priests. He replied that the Pope was prepared to pay 1 million dollars, and Patriarh Alexix II would pay another 500,000.
As I understood, Zakayev did not succeed in getting the ransom after all.
Since the beginning of the counter-terrorist operation, i. e. since 1999, Zakayev headed the so-called Chernorechinsky Front, which exercised armed resistance to the Russian federal forces advancing to Grozny. I was constantly near Zakayev in that period. We fought the Russian troops until February 2000, when there was a mass retreat from Grozny. At that moment, Zakayev was paralysed. That was the last time I saw Zakayev...'
'Yes, this is my testimony.'
'Did you testify that Mr. Zakayev ordered to kidnap the two priests?'
'I did.'
'Is that true?'
'No, that is not.'
'Why did you make this testimony?'
'I was forced to.'
'Why? What happened before that?'
'I lived in Grozny. Once in November 2002 I and a friend of me were stopped at a check-point. We showed our identification papers. There were two military armoured vehicles nearby. Masked, armed people jumped out of them and seized us, with no explanation. They put handcuffs on us, put plastic bags on our heads, and threw us into the cars. One of the militaries sat on me, and so we went. We travelled for about 20 or 25 minutes.'
'Where did they bring you?'
'I do not know for sure. I suppose, that was Khankala. I was taken by my arms, dragged about 30 metres aside, ordered to lift my feet, thrown into a pit, and it was closed with a metal lid. I was kept there for about six days.'
'Were you interrogated during this period?'
'Yes, every day.'
'Who interrogated you?'
'I do not know for sure, because there always was a bag on my head. They were Russians. Later I found out they were from the FSB. They would take me out of the pit and lead me to some room. At the first interrogation they told me I must not use such words as "no" or "I don't know". If I do, I would be killed immediately.'
'Did they know you were an acquaintance of Zakayev?'
'Yes. They told me to testify on how Zakayev and I were fighting in Dagestan. Also, how we fought in a "Jamaat" Islamic battalion under Zakayev's command. "You cut Russian soldiers' heads off!" When I told them this did not happen, they replied "why does that matter?" and began their tortures.'
'How did they torture you?'
'By electric shock, and they also kicked me, and probably beat me with truncheons - well, I did not see with what they beat me... At one interrogation session they asked me whether I knew Zakayev's telephone number. I said no. By that time, Zakayev was already arrested in Denmark. They told me they had a telephone, and they knew the number. They tied me to a chair, connected some wires to my legs, one of them dialled the number and told me it was my call to a friend in Copenhagen, and then I felt electric shock. This would happen every day. When the procedure was over, they put me in the pit again. I remained there all the time.'
'Was that in November?'
'Yes, that was already winter. It was cold. The pit was very narrow, I could not stand up because my head would meet the metal lid, and I could not sit down because there was water on the bottom. In the end I told them I would do anything they want. I could not sustain the tortures anymore. Do understand, I am a human. Do understand...'
The courtroom is in shocked silence. Nobody moves. The judge does not look through his papers anymore - like everybody else, he constantly looks at Duk-Vakha...
'They told me I must sign a testimony about Zakayev ordering his bodyguards to kidnap the priests. I told them "But I did not know Zakayev at that time, and I do not know what he was doing." They replied: "It does not matter, we know what he was doing. You only must sign that." They warned me that if I ever try to change my testimony, they would "tear the skin off" me alive. Then they brought me to the FSB Directorate for Chechnya in the centre of Grozny. Then they removed my handcuffs and the bag from my head for the first time. Then I signed what they gave to me.'
'That bit about the Pope, too?'
'That bit about the Pope, too.'
'Did they film you while you were signing it?'
'First, they told me to learn the text which I signed by heart. They told me they would ask me questions on camera, and I would have to pretend I am answering them. I would have to speak plainly. Then they brought me to a room, where were some 7 or 8 militaries and 2 civilians. One of then introduced himself, saying he was from an NTV "Sovershenno Sekretno" programme.
'Did all of that happen in the FSB building in Grozny?'
'Yes.'
'Where were you moved after the filming?'
'To the prison in Grozny. Before that, I was brought to [Staropromyslovsky District] Court, so that they could prepare some papers. I was in a very hard condition, severely beaten, all covered with bruises. But the judge, without asking anything, ordered I should be arrested for 10 days, before my bruises would cure. Then they brought me to a prison, but the prison would not accept me, saying I could die and they would be responsible... In the evening they brought me to another prison, which accepted me. I spent two months there.'
'Did you know that your testimony against Zakayev was broadcasted on the television?'
'Yes, the prison guards told me it was shown at all the TV channels. Two months later they brought me to the court again. There was one FSB man, a Chechen - I knew him, we had been schoolmates. He asked me "Do you know why are they releasing you now? They are going to kill you, and to blame Zakayev for the murder, as if he was destroying the evidence against himself. If you want to survive, run away from Grozny immediately." I did exactly that.'
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