Freedom in the World 1998 - Chechnya

1998 Scores

Status: Not Free
Freedom Rating: 6.0
Civil Liberties: 6
Political Rights: 6

Overview

Kidnappings and hostage-taking of foreign nationals (including Russian servicemen and a special envoy of Russia's President Boris Yeltsin), assassination attempts against Chechnya President Aslan Maskhadov, and the murder and decapitation of three Britains and a New Zealander in December, underscored the pervasive lawlessness that marked 1998 in this secessionist Caucasus republic in Russia.

The year also saw an ongoing power struggle between President Maskhadov, radical field commander Salman Raduyev, and former acting prime minister Shamil Basayev, who accused the president of being too conciliatory to Moscow. In September, Basayev, Raduyev, and a third former field commander, Khunkar-Pasha Israpilov, called on parliament to impeach the president. When parliament declined to do so, the field commanders referred their appeal to the Chechen Supreme Sharia court. Maskhadov retaliated by calling for Raduyev's arrest, and on November 4, the Supreme Sharia Court sentenced him in abstentia to four years' imprisonment. He was stripped of his rank of general, but security forces did not apprehend him.

Throughout the year, states of emergencies were imposed, then lifted, then re-imposed, as kidnappings, political murders, and hostage-taking pervaded.

Chechnya declared sovereignty in November 1991 in the final days of the Soviet Union. In 1992, under the leadership of Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechnya declared independence. When Dudayev clashed with parliament in June 1992, he announced the introduction of direct presidential rule. Parliament was dissolved in June 1993, sparking a battle between parliamentary supporters and Dudayev's national guard. Dudayev's rule was marked by corruption and the rise of powerful clans and criminal gangs.

In 1994, Russia began to overtly assist the opposition with the hope of overthrowing Dudayev. Low-intensity conflicts developed in July, and fighting escalated in September. In December, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree authorizing the army and security forces to attack Chechnya. In 1995, as Chechen resistance stiffened, Russian forces intensified the shelling of Grozny and other population centers, and civilians became targets. The war was marked by brutality and gross human rights violations. Some 500,000 people were displaced. Chechen forces regrouped, and made significant gains against ill-trained, undisciplined, and demoralized Russian troops. In 1996, President Dudayev was killed by a Russian missile.

In May 1997, Russia and Chechnya agreed to a cease-fire, similar to the one brokered by Russia's Gen. Alexander Lebed and Maskhadov in August 1996. Maskhadov, who was elected in January, sought to maintain Chechen sovereignty while pressing Moscow to help rebuild the economy and infrastructure destroyed by war. More than 120,000 civilians were killed in the conflict.

In 1998, the situation in Chechnya remained unstable. In July, Maskhadov survived an assassination attempt by a car bomb, believed to be the fifth attempt on his life since he became president. Kidnappings of foreigners became endemic, some by criminal gangs and others by militia groups hoping to discredit Maskhadov. In November, President Maskhadov announced that Chechnya was building a Muslim state with Islamic ideology. He said the Sharia courts would supersede the constitutional court. In December, parliament voted to introduce a state of emergency, but turned down the president's request for partial mobilization of reservists. The move was aimed at curbing crime and at militant warlords opposed to the government.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Residents of Chechnya have the political means to change the government. The 1997 presidential elections were reasonably free and fair. Parliament remains weak and ineffectual. In 1993, then-President Dudayev suspended parliament, and though it was eventually restored, power remains in the hands of the president, and there were indications in late 1998 that President Maskhadov would dissolve the body again.

The media is subject to government control and persecution. Newspapers have been arbitrarily closed. In December, the government announced that Russian and foreign journalists had to re-register. In November, the Kavkaz independent TV company was banned by the prosecutor-general's office, but the ban was suspended by the Sharia Court. According to the republican law on mass media, TV, radio, and newspapers may only be closed by court order, though the government has flouted the law. In August, the first issue of Sotechestvennik, the republican newspapers for the Russian-speaking population, was released.

There are serious restrictions on freedom of assembly and association, though several demonstrations took place in 1998.

Political parties are allowed to form and several have coalesced around popular leaders. Most have no broad popular base. The few trade unions that exist are small and powerless.

The lack of rule of law remains a serious problem. In October, the Sharia Court said it was opposed to the return of a constitutional court, which was disbanded in 1993 after it sided with parliament in its conflict with President Dudayev. The Sharia Court has shown some independence from the executive. Lower courts are corrupt. Citizens face threats from government forces, criminal gangs, powerful clans, and warlords, many of whom operate with impunity.

Only about 50,000 ethnic Russians remain in Chechnya, most of them pensioners or the infirm. Most face severe financial hardship as well as intimidation and harassment.

Muslims enjoy religious freedom, though the Wahhabi sect was banned in July. In March, Chechen lawmakers extended women's suffrage to bring women's voting rights closer to men's. However, women face societal discrimination in a traditionally male-dominant cultural milieu.