Ruslan Shamilevich Alikhadzhiev (russian: Руслан Алихаджиев) was a
parliamentary speaker
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerfo ...
of the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria who was
forcibly disappeared
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...
by
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n forces in 2000.
Life
Alikhadzhiev was born in 1961 and fought in the
as a field commander. In the years 1997-1999 he was the Chairman of the Parliament of the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. During the
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russia, Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from Augus ...
he did not take an active part in hostilities and instead sought a negotiated end to the war on behalf of Chechen President
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (russian: Асла́н (Хали́д) Али́евич Масха́дов; ce, Масхадан Али-воӀ Аслан (Халид), Masxadan Ali-voj Aslan (Xalid); 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was ...
.
[DECISION AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF Application no. 68007/01 by Zura ALIKHADZHIYEVA against Russia]
/ref>
Forced disappearance
On 17 May 2000, Alikhadzhiev was detained by a large group of uniform
A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...
ed Russian soldiers who arrived by armoured vehicles and helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s at his home in Shali. Alikhadzhiyev, who was with his four minor children and was caring for a sick mother, did not resist; he was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken by an armoured vehicle to a location nearby, which is where he was last seen. Five more men were detained with him at the other locations in Shali this night, but they were all released the next day. On 25 May, Colonel General
Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...
Valery Manilov
The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...
confirmed the arrest during a press conference, and on 1 August the state news agency RIA Novosti
RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asse ...
announced that "Ruslan Alikhadzhiev, one of the closest allies of Maskhadov, was captured in a special operation by the FSB."[
In September 2000, Maskhadov's ]Chechenpress
State News Agency Chechenpress (SNA Chechenpress) is the news agency of the Chechen separatists who proclaim themselves to be the representatives of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. It used to be the official press agency of Chechnya.
As of 200 ...
service claimed Alikhadzhiev was torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
d to death in the Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
's Lefortovo prison; AFP, citing sources close to the Chechen leadership, reported that Alikhadzhiyev had died of a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
in the Lefortovo. However, the FSB, which operates Lefortovo, denied that it is holding Alikhadzhiyev. On 21 September 2000, Yuri Biryukov, the Senior Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, said answering to a question asked in the Russian State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
regarding the whereabouts of Alikhadzhiev that he was killed in August by "the same group of unknown armed people" that had abducted him.[ A Shalinsky District's ]prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
's office said it opened a case for kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
, but "the steps taken to identify the individuals responsible for this crime have been unsuccessful" and the investigation was suspended on 12 December 2000. The case of disappearance and presumed death of Alikhadzhiyev was used by Sergei Kovalev in his defense of Akhmed Zakayev, Maskhadov's envoy on Europe, before the British extradition court in 2003; Zakayev was soon granted a political asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...
in Britain.
In July 2007, in the case Alikhadzhieva v Russia, the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
found Russian authorities responsible for the "disappearance" and presumed killing of Alikhadzhiev and ordered the government to pay his mother 40,000 euros ($54,500) in damages.Strasbourg Court Again Rules Against Russia in Chechnya-Related Case
The Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...
, July 12, 2007
References
External links
Russia May Be Charged with the Abduction of Ichkerian Parliament Speaker
'' Kommersant'', 21 December 2005
Russia Found Guilty of Murder
'' Kommersant'', 6 July 2007
Russia 'ordered murder of Chechen moderate'
'' The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', 7 July 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alikhadzhyev, Ruslan
1961 births
2000 deaths
Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Chechen field commanders
Chechen murder victims
Chechen nationalists
Chechen politicians
Chechen victims of human rights abuses
European Court of Human Rights cases involving Russia
People of the Chechen wars
Politicians of Ichkeria
Prisoners who died in Russian detention
Russian torture victims
Chechen warlords
Russian people of Chechen descent
Chechen people
North Caucasian independence activists