Human Rights Watch urges Russia to end abuses in North Caucasus

Moscow - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Russia to bring about an end to torture, abductions and extrajudicial killings in the Northern Caucasus, in a report released in Moscow on Monday. Russia should begin by investigating the crimes of security forces in the region, the New York-based organization said.

HRW criticized the near daily killing of suspected Islamist rebels in the Russian republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan as "state-sponsored terror," saying suspects are often not brought to trial.

The organization accused Russia of fueling unchecked violence in the region by ignoring a series of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights on Chechnya, the organization said.

"Every crime that goes unpunished sends a clear signal to others that they can get away with equally horrific abuses," said Jane Buchanan, the author of the report.

The comprehensive HRW report describes numerous instances of families whose relatives were abducted in cases that were never solved. The perpetrators in the murder of civil rights activists like Natalia Estemirova and Zarema Sadulayeva remain at large.

The rights watchdog also noted that security forces had threatened and intimidated staff of Memorial, the human rights group for which Estemirova had worked, including suspicious visits to the homes of staff.