August 23, 2001

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On the night of August 23, Russian aircraft attacked the city of Argun. About ten houses were destroyed.

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In the Ippodromny microdistrict, in the village of Staraya Sunzha and in the Zavodskoy district of the city of Grozny, the Russian military carried out special operations to check the passport regime (“cleansing”).

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Employees of the charitable foundation "A Man in Need" (Czech Republic) appealed to the Prosecutor of Chechnya Vsevolod Chernov:

“Dear Mr. Prosecutor! The Czech charitable foundation "Man in Need" is currently working to deliver food and other supplies of the World Food Program and UNHCR to three districts of Grozny and to the destroyed villages of Chechnya (Duba-Yurt, Katyr-Yurt, Dachu-Borzoy, UlusKert, Serzhen-Yurt, Staraya Sunzha). Together with WFP and UNHCR, we deliver almost 500 tons of cargo to three districts of Grozny every month. Last year, together with the residents of the destroyed Chechen villages, we restored almost 1,100 roofs. The distribution of humanitarian cargo is carried out according to the lists of the Danish Refugee Council or the local administration and meets all the requirements that the UN imposes. Distribution is controlled by UN monitors, internal control, UNHCR partner Vesta.

We work closely with the mayor's office, the central commandant's office of Grozny and, accordingly, with the regional authorities, we always find understanding and support for concrete actions on their part.

On August 23, 2001, at 4 pm, about 20 law enforcement officers of the Chechen Republic drove up to our office, located at 119 Michurina St., Grozny, on military equipment, consisting of two BRDMs, a Ural, a UAZ-469 car, Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Without presenting any identity card, or a warrant, or a search warrant, they entered the premises of our organization and began to conduct a search. The norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (Article 168) were violated, according to which the search is carried out on the basis of a reasoned decision of the investigator and only with the approval of the prosecutor. They refused our demands to present the relevant documents for conducting investigative actions, referring to the fact that “it is enough that we know them by sight”. During the search, they seized all the documentation that was in the office. Only after the request of an employee of our organization did they draw up an inspection report. After verification, the documents were promised to be returned on Saturday at 15:00. Three employees of the foundation were verbally ordered to come to the prosecutor's office for questioning.

Prior to that, in June 2001, officers of the Leninsky District Department of Internal Affairs, on the instructions of the head of A. Tokaev, checked the sale of food products to the population through the UN WFP for two weeks. Officers of the ROVD arbitrarily, without the permission of the WFP, made copies of the lists of recipients of humanitarian aid and took them to the police department.

We turned to Yu.P. Em, Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic. upon verification, and after that such actions ceased. The Grozny Prosecutor's Office was informed about the activities, duties and rights of WFP by a letter dated July 7, 2001, signed by Koryun Alaverdyan, Deputy Head of the WFP Office in the Russian Federation. The letter states that in accordance with the agreement concluded between WFP and the NGO "Man in Need", our organization is distributing humanitarian food belonging to WFP in three districts of Grozny. It was further emphasized that the NGO "People in Need" is not authorized to provide to anyone the lists of humanitarian aid recipients, as well as any other information related to the distribution of WFP products, until specifically directed by WFP. All questions of this kind in this letter were asked to be addressed directly to the Representative Office of the UN World Food Program located in Moscow. In addition, according to an agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Part 2, Article YIII “Premises, Property, Funds and Assets of the UNHCR”), the premises of the UNHCR are inviolable. The property, funds and assets of UNHCR, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall not be subject to search, audit, confiscation, expropriation or any other form of interference by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action.

Based on the foregoing, I ask you to protect us from this kind of offense and take measures to ensure that law enforcement officers of the Chechen Republic comply with the law.”

From the book "People Live Here", Usam Baisaev, Dmitry Grushkin, 2006