russia, russia, russia...now i get how you could think that was intoned to "sound" like marsha, marsha, marsha but uh uh...it's just that one woulda thought that after the whole break up of the soviet union thing that russia might get some perspective...sadly not...russia has been held responsible for human rights violations committed during the second chechen conflict - leading to renewed demands that it investigates all abuses in the north caucasus...
in the court case magomadov and magomadov v russia, the european court of human rights judged russian law enforcement agencies responsible for the enforced disappearance of aiubkhan magomadov - the second ruling of its kind against the country so far this month...
you see, aiubkhan magomadov was detained by russian federal forces on 2 october 2000, on suspicion of a "serious crime"...the authorities claimed he was released the next morning - but his family have not seen him since...the european court held that he must be presumed dead, with the russian authorities liable...amnesty international has campaigned relentlessly for a full investigation into the case...
yakub magomadov filed an application with the european court in 2001 about the disappearance of his brother...he then embarked on a search for the truth that led to him going missing, sparking fears that he too had been forcibly disappeared...
then amnesty international met with yakub in march 2004, when he spoke about the search for his brother...a couple of days later he left for moscow...on 16 may 2004, the family received information from acquaintances that yakub had been abducted...they were told he was being held in an army base at khankala, chechnya, where he had been tortured...they also received a note – apparently written by yakub - confirming that he was in chechnya...the family have not heard from him since...
"For three years and eight months, Yakub looked everywhere for his brother," their sister Eliza told Amnesty International. "After he appealed to the court, they [the federal forces] came looking for him every day. He was not convicted and he had not committed a crime. When someone dies, that is not as bad as when someone disappears."
this ruling comes just a week after the european court found russia responsible for the enforced disappearance of ruslan alikhadzhiev, a former speaker in the chechen parliament...
my grandfather was a teenager on guard duty for the czar's white army sometime in 1915 when he told his army mate that he thought he heard something out there and was going to investigate...he kept walking, and walking, and walking and one day finally made it through ellis island (not by walking)...i'm thinking that teenager was one smart young man for getting the hell out of that place...
peace out <3
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