Others were missing ears, eyes and teeth. Sergei Kovalyov, a Russian lawmaker and former human rights commissioner, said the bodies found at the Zdorovye settlement amounted to the largest human dumping ground discovered in Chechnya's decade-long struggle for independence from Russia. Kremlin officials said it is wrong to assume Russian soldiers were the killers just because their headquarters is 165 feet away. Human rights groups and journalists, among others, have documented repeated cases of looting, rape, torture, unlawful detention and summary execution of Chechens since the start of the second conflict in October 1999. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report last month that it had documented the cases of 113 Chechens who disappeared after being detained by Russian soldiers.
Prosecutions are exceedingly rare.
Military prosecutors have brought charges in only eight alleged crimes against Chechen civilians. Twenty-nine other cases are under investigation. E-mail this story to a friend. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the expressed written consent of the Lexington Herald-Leader is prohibited.