Chechnya: Raid on refugee camp Satsita

Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - A large-scale search was carried out early this morning at the Satsita refugee camp Satsita in Ingushetia, one of the two remaining Chechen tent camps in the republic.
According to Satsita residents, the camp was surrounded by four tanks and eight armoured personnel carriers. The operation was carried out by federal soldiers as well as members of some unknown Chechen law enforcement units who arrived in 17 UAZ jeeps.

Despite the early hour, many refugees were out for morning prayers, all of whom were detained. Meanwhile, searches were carried out throughout the camp.

According to residents, soldiers entered tents and began checking documents, claiming they were looking for guerrillas and weapons.

"They kept one barely clad girl on the street during the search," said one resident Malika Tovsultanova, whose 5 year-old daughter was so frightened that she nearly fainted.

One local policeman tried to protect the refugees and was beaten.

Seventeen men were herded onto a bus that was parked behind the camp, and according to Ruslan Dzhamsayev who was among them, they were told that a computer was needed to properly check all our papers. "But no computer was on board; only one man was in there, carefully observing us, " said Dzhamsayev.

However, these men were eventually released due to the clamor and insistence exerted by their wives.

The search ended around 10 a.m. And by mid-day Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the special Russian presidential human rights commission, was airborne from Moscow to find out all about this incident in Satsita.

Pamfilova said this search was intentionally carried out by the local officials. "Such an order could not have come from above," she said.

According to Chechen human rights defenders, there was no specific reason for the search. "It was simply an act of intimidation aimed at forcing people to leave the camp, and carried out according to a usual scenario," stated Ruslan Badalov, chairman of the human rights organization Chechen National Salvation Committee.