Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [47]
“Yes, that is my testimony.”
“You said then that Mr Zakayev gave orders to kidnap two priests?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Is that the truth?”
“No, it is not true.”
“So why did you do that?”
“I was forced to.”
“But why? What preceded this?”
“I lived in Grozny. Some time in November 2002 I and a comrade were stopped at a checkpoint. We showed our documents. Two armoured military vehicles were standing nearby. Armed men in masks jumped out of them, pinioned us, not explaining anything, handcuffed us, put bags over our heads, and threw us into the vehicles. One of the soldiers sat on me and they took us off. We drove for 20 to 25 minutes.”
“Where did they take you?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I think it was Khankala. There I was lifted by the arms and dragged for some 30 metres. They told me to raise my legs, threw me into a pit and sealed it with a metal lid. They kept me there for about six days.”
“Were you interrogated during this time?”
“Yes, every day.”
“By whom?”
“I do not know exactly – I had a hood on my head the whole time – but they were Russians. Then I discovered they were from the FSB. I was dragged out of the pit and led to some premises. At the first interrogation they warned me that I should not use the words, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘No’ because if I did they would immediately kill me.”
“Did they know you were acquainted with Zakayev?”
“Yes. They told me to tell them how I had fought with Zakayev in Dagestan, and also in the Islamic Jamaat battalion which Zakayev commanded. ‘You cut the heads off Russian soldiers!’ When I said that had not happened, they said, ‘What difference does it make?’ and began their torture.”
“How were you tortured?”
“With electricity, and they kicked me, and probably used truncheons. I could no longer see what with. At one of the interrogations they asked whether I knew Zakayev’s telephone number. I said no. Zakayev was at that time already under arrest in Denmark. They told me that they had telephone equipment and the telephone number. They tied me to the chair, attached something to my feet, one dialled a number saying this was a call to my friend in Copenhagen, and the electricity started. That went on every day. When this procedure ended they threw me back into the pit, and I was there the whole time.”
“In November?”
“Yes, it was already winter. It was cold. The pit was too small to stand up in. Your head was pressing against the metal hatch, and you also couldn’t sit – there was water on the ground. Eventually I told them I would do anything they wanted. I could no longer stand the torture. You have to understand, I am human. Please understand.”
There is a shocked silence in the court. Everybody is motionless. The judge is no longer shuffling papers in front of him and, like everybody else, is looking directly at Duk-Vakha. Does he not believe him?
“They told me to sign a statement that Zakayev had ordered his bodyguards to kidnap priests. I told them, ‘I didn’t know Zakayev then and I don’t know what he did then.’ They said, ‘That doesn’t matter. We know. All you have to do is sign.’ They warned me that if I should ever think of withdrawing my testimony, ‘We will skin you alive.’ Then they drove me to the FSB’s Chechen headquarters in the center of Grozny. There, for the first time, they took the handcuffs off and the hood off my head. I signed what they gave me.”
“Including the bit about the Pope?”
“Yes.”
“While you were signing were you being filmed with a video camera?”
“They told me beforehand to learn by heart the text they gave me to sign. They warned me not to hesitate in front of the camera when they started asking questions. I would be pretending to reply. They led me into a room. There were seven or eight soldiers there and two civilians. One of them introduced himself to me as being from NTV, from the program Top Secret.”
“All this took place in the FSB building in Grozny?”