Chechens Reportedly Being Tortured

Chechens trying to leave their war-ravaged republic are being tortured in Russian detention camps and subjected to severe beatings, rape and other brutality, refugees and human rights groups say.

The allegations come on the heels of other complaints of human rights abuses in Russia’s offensive in Chechnya, including reports of summary executions of civilians in Grozny, the Chechen capital.

Russian officials deny the allegations, but Chechens who have fled into neighboring republics tell similar grisly accounts of their detention in camps, which Russia says it set up to filter out rebels who are trying to escape disguised as civilians.

A 21-year-old Chechen, lying in pain in a bed in Malgobek in neighboring North Ossetia, said his ordeal began Jan. 22 when police dragged him off a bus of refugees and took him to a camp in the Chechen village of Chernokozovo.

The man, who asked that he be identified only by his first name, Ruslan, said he was forced to run a gantlet of masked policemen who were swinging truncheons, had his clothes torn off and was forced to stand naked in a cold storage room.

“I asked what they were detaining me for, but they didn’t answer,” he said. He said he was released only after his mother paid a bribe to the camp directors.

At least three such camps are operating, according to Peter Bouckaert, a researcher for the Human Rights Watch group in the region.

“Russia appears to have declared any Chechen male to be a suspected rebel, subject to arbitrary arrest and brutal treatment,” he said.

The allegations were echoed by the World Organization Against Torture, which issued a statement in Geneva on Thursday saying, “We cannot ignore that the filtration camps are indeed concentration camps where Russian soldiers are committing the worst atrocities, in all impunity, against their prisoners.”

In Washington, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Thursday that “Russia has a clear obligation to investigate the numerous credible reports of civilian killings and alleged misconduct by its soldiers promptly.”

Sergei V. Yastrzhembsky, who is acting President Vladimir V. Putin’s aide for Chechnya information, on Thursday reiterated denials of torture at Chernokozovo.