The imprisonment of the Chechen couple Khadizat and Malik Gataev was continued by three months in Lithuania. The grounds for the imprisonment, presented by the Lithuanian prosecutor Nomeda Oskutyte, were that the couple might destroy gathered evidence and flee to the Chechnyan capital Grozny. Following the court session in Kaunas were the Finnish film director Pirjo Honkasalo, the PEN exile writer Oksana Chelysheva and Hannu Paloviita, the Finnish publisher of Anna Politkovskaya's books.
According to Honkasalo, the court's decision was on total mental annihilation. The court was called in session after only two day's notice for the defendants, who were under the impression they would be released. Also, they were defended by substitute barristers since their own lawyers were out of town. "The Chechen couple have served an inconceivable sentence, that has no relevance to what has actually happened. The court put up a show that seems to contradict the European law system", said Honkasalo.
Khadizat and Malik Gataev, who have built homes for child victims of the Chechen wars, have been held in a Kaunas prison for already ten months. They were suddenly arrested in October 2008 and sentenced to imprisonment for domestic violence in June 2009. Both the Gataev couple and the prosecutor have filed a complaint to the Lithuanian court of appeal, which is bound to assemble on August the 25th. The trial is estimated to last for three months, during which the Gataevs remain imprisoned. After the trial they may be expelled back to Russia.
Gataevs are known from Pirjo Honkasalo's documentary The 3 Rooms of Melancholy, that depicts the life of the couple and the orphan children in their care in Grozny. Also the Norwegian writer Åsne Seierstad has written about the Gataevs in her book The Angel of Grozny.
Film festival demands justice for the Chechens
Finnish filmmakers have taken a stand on the Gataev case and the human rights violations in Russia. The Cinema for Human Rights festival was held in Vilnius on August 1st to 7th in order to gain attention to the Gataevs' situation. The festival was organized - among others - by film directors Aki Kaurismäki and Pirjo Honkasalo and the Finnish peace organization Rauhanpuolustajat. The organizers demanded that Khadizat and Malik Gataev should be set free and granted permits of residence in Lithuania, and the war orphans returned to their care. Honkasalo, who has followed the couple's life for ten years, said: "We all agree that this is some kind of a political manhunt of individuals, who do not support the present Chechnyan government. The Chechen culture is a culture of honour, and president Kadyrov has openly declared that he will take revenge on those who have opposed him. Almost all fighters for human rights have already been killed. The time for revenge seems to have come."
Enraged by the treatment of the Chechen couple, Aki Kaurismäki has supported them by funding their move from Grozny to Kaunas. "If your only crime is to love your children and even many children that are not your own, and if you're punished for this with ten month's imprisonment, the whole thing is far from fair play", says Kaurismäki. According to Kaurismäki, the Gataevs are victims of a political game: "Behind it all are partly Lithuanian politicians who hate Russia and use Chechnya as an instrument against it, Gataevs being pawns in this game. Malik Gataev saw through this game, and the politicians felt humiliated by his refusal to have anything to do with them. And, in a Soviet republic, revenge means the minimum of one year in prison."
The case linked to Russian human rights violations and refugee problem
Heidi Hautala, the Finnish MEP and the chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, has been following the Gataevs case and sees it as a political game as well. During the process, the prosecutor denied the Gataev couple's residence permit, and the trial was held behind closed doors. "I find it obvious that there is some kind of a political manhunt in the background, probably under the pretence of internal problems of the orphanage. They have turned every stone to find a cause for holding them in prison", commented Hautala. She believes that Lithuania, being a constitutional state, will mend the mistakes made in the lower court: "Lithuania still has a chance to prove that it is a state governed by law".
Hautala connects the Gataevs' case with Russia's huge refugee problem. North Caucasus has been a virtual war zone for at least 15 years, since the first Chechen war, and the war has spread to the neighbouring republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia. According to Hautala, even the highest Russian leaders have enforced the image of the Caucasian peoples as its enemies, first and foremost the Chechens. "The Caucasus region is not safe. In Chechnya, the law of the mountains is applied. The despotic leaders of the region want to bring their refugee opponents to their home country to be condemned. It is certainly not safe for the Gataevs to return to Chechnya, where the risk is they will be imprisoned and tortured."
The family of the imprisoned Khadizat and Malik Gataev is also in trouble. Malik's younger brother Zaur and his wife Julija now care for the couple's children in Kaunas with the help of the Red Cross. Zaur and Julija say that they have been blackmailed and accused of child trafficking, among other things, and Zaur has been interrogated in a prison. Julija fears for actions by the prosecutor and the Russian security police FSB. Zaur and Julija believe that their harassment in Kaunas will continue, and point out that they cannot return to Chechnya either.
Grant program for human rights activists?
As the chair for the European Parliament's Subdivision on Human Rights, Heidi Hautala assures that the change is possible. When journalist and human rights activist Natalija Estemirova was killed in Chechnya, the EU finally awoke. The regular human rights discussions between the EU and Russia need to be brought into more public forums, and results of them must be presented to leading politicians, who have to pay heed to these issues while negotiating energy agreements. "When negotiating with the Russian leaders, the EU countries must not keep silent on human rights simply because of their hunger for energy", Hautala emphasizes. She goes on to propose an EU-financed grant program for NGOs in order to protect human rights defenders i.e. journalists, lawyers and other activists who defend the victims of human rights violations and political persecution. In Norway this policy seems to work. EU countries should also without delay grant visas for those in danger.
Hautala takes a moderate view on the Finnish refugee policy. "I know several Chechen refugees who have been starting a new life in Finland. I cannot imagine such a great change in the policy, that these people would be returned to Chechnya. The immigration authorities need to be kept aware of the dangers they would face." Hautala stresses that all refugees have the right for individual handling of their asylum application, and that no one should be sent to a country in which they may be inhumanly treated or even in danger of their lives.
The Russian journalist Yelena Maglevannaia asked for asylum in Finland in the spring of this year. She has written about prison torture in North Caucasus and was brought to trial in Russia for damaging the authorities' reputation. "It is very interesting to see how the Finnish immigration authorities will handle the situation. The need for Maglevannaia's protection is evident", says Hautala.
Päivi Nikkilä
English translator Petri Griinari
Källa: Kansan Uutiset