Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [94]
So it seems that the right hand of the Interior Ministry, controlled by Minister Boris Gryzlov, is doing all it can to bring this unit’s crimes to court, while the left hand is simultaneously doing everything to ensure the opposite: to make it easy for those who have dared to raise their voices against a war criminal to be dealt with by their oppressors.
And what about the Grozny Prosecutor’s Office, what about Ignatenko? They are shaking with fear.
A crucial detail: nobody, neither the witnesses, nor those in the Prosecutor’s Office building the case against The Cadet, doubts for a moment that the reason the Khanties are so keen to get back to Grozny is to take revenge and to help The Cadet. The one way they can do that is by silencing the witnesses and by shooting it out with the investigators. Such things have happened in Chechnya before, and it is well known that the Russian law enforcement system has consistently failed to protect the witnesses of war crimes in Chechnya, or even to see through to its conclusion a case involving the murder of their own colleagues, members of the Prosecutor’s Office.
When the witnesses appealed to Ignatenko for protection, to ask where they should send their children and where they could find safety themselves, he just tried to laugh it off because, of course, he is himself terrified of the consequences. In Chechnya they call this “the Chechen fear,” and everybody understands that what is meant is fear of the Army. It prevents Ignatenko from raising a finger to help himself or to help people who, through no fault of their own, have been grievously wronged but have had the courage to fight back.
As if the news of the Khanty-Mansiysk Unit’s imminent arrival was not enough, the Chechen Prosecutor’s Office came under intense pressure from the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Moscow. I do not believe in coincidences or chance. Investigator Ignatenko was subjected to extraordinary pressure, as in the end he himself admitted to me. He buckled. He was frightened and gave in, transferring that pressure to the already completely defenceless witnesses, and also, of course, to me, amongst others.
Is Ignatenko capable of fighting, even though he wears the medal For Courage from the First Chechen War, even though he is a lieutenant-colonel? No, he isn’t, and that is a great pity. Regrettably this conclusion is supported by the way he has conducted other cases since he came to work in the Chechen Prosecutor’s Office. There was the case when doctors of the Ministry for Emergency Situations were murdered, which collapsed when Ignatenko chose not to dig deeper. As a result, a man who had an alibi is now in jail while the killers have walked free. Why did Ignatenko let that happen? Because he wanted to hold on to his job. He wanted to avoid “personal problems.” He was pressured by superiors who wanted the case closed and he lived up to their expectations. Chechen human rights activists characterise Ignatenko as an expert in shooting down cases brought against the Army.
Will so demonstrably tractable an investigator prove capable of conducting such a difficult case as that against the Khanties, a case which calls for great personal courage? Can we assume everything will go smoothly now The Cadet has finally been arrested, and hope that this time at least justice is going to be done? Let’s not kid ourselves.
We insist that the Khanty-Mansiysk Unit be sent back home without delay. We consider that this should have been the first priority of Investigator Ignatenko and the Chechen Prosecutor, Chernov. Always assuming, of course, they do still aspire to see the law triumph over the right of the strong to mete out their private version of justice.
We firmly believe that