RUSSIAN TROOPS USING RAPE AS A WEAPON

April 10, 2002 – (Scotsman News – Chechnya) RUSSIAN forces have raped and sexually assaulted women during winter operations in Chechnya, Human Rights Watch charged yesterday.

During so-called "sweep" operations, when Russian forces conduct house-to-house searches for those believed to be involved in Chechen rebel activity, male relatives often leave their villages for safer locations. Without men in the house, women become more vulnerable to soldiers intent on sexual assault.

"The Russian government is telling the world that life is returning to normal in Chechnya," said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. "But it hasn’t brought anyone to justice for these terrible crimes of sexual violence."

Aset Asimova (not her real name), a 43-year-old widow, told Human Rights Watch that she was at home with her eight-year-old son when drunken soldiers came in early February. Three of them took her into a separate room while others looted the house.
"They tore my dress. They asked me where the men were, they asked me how long I had been without a husband."

The soldiers told her to undress, and when she fought them off they beat her with the butts of their rifles, and raped her. "I don’t know how many of them raped me. I lost consciousness, when it was happening. When I came to, they were pouring water on me ... then they left."

Ms Asimova did not report the rape to authorities. Many women are reluctant to report crimes of sexual assault, fearing stigma and retaliation, Human Rights Watch said.

Ms Asimova’s first action after the soldiers left was to hide what had happened, so her elder son would not learn of the rape. "I smeared the blood on my nose and mouth, as if I had been beaten there. I cleaned everything, and hid my dress and put on a clean one."

During a sweep on 29 January, soldiers sexually assaulted Madina Magomedova (not her real name) and her sisters in their parents’ home.

Soldiers had come to Ms Magomedova’s house earlier in the day. "They wanted to touch me, they said I had pretty lips and that they would kiss me," she told Human Rights Watch. "I knew what they wanted to do and started to resist. One of the soldiers said ‘Wait bitch until I f*** you’."

Ms Magomedova was not raped, but was badly beaten. Soldiers also threatened her sisters in her presence and tried to coerce one of them to perform oral sex.

Ms Magomedova filed a criminal case with the prosecutor’s office for sexual assault despite warnings from the soldiers against it and from a local prosecutor. Fearing retribution, she fled to a different town.

In another case, two sisters detained in early March suffered sexual assault while in custody. Relatives persuaded the two women to come forward to report their ill-treatment to state authorities.

Luiza Larsanova (not her real name), 27, was detained on 4 March, 2002, and held in two locations before being released the same evening. Soldiers threatened her with rape to force her to give information about Chechen fighters.

She told Human Rights Watch: "In the first place they beat me, and that was bad. But in the second place, they said they would rape me. That was worse. I was sitting on a chair, and one of them grabbed me from behind, and started to caress me.

"I was wearing woollen long underwear under my skirt, and he told me to take them and my skirt off. I was crying, and said I had nothing to tell them and to leave me alone, I was practically on my knees, begging him not to touch me."

Ms Larsanova told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers groped and fondled her, they did not rape her.

Ms Larsanova’s 21-year-old sister, Tsatsita Timurova (not her real name), detained the previous day, also told Human Rights Watch that while detained she was beaten, groped, and threatened, but not raped. The soldiers who released the sisters warned them not to file any complaints about their treatment.

Ms Larsanova approached local police officers she knew personally. "When I tried to tell them what happened, they said I should name where I was held and who detained me," she told Human Rights Watch.

Ms Larsanova had been hooded when she was detained and transported, as are many detainees in Chechnya.

From: http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=610&id=384622002