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By Dom Rotheroe and Antony Butts On October 25, Maksharip Aushev, an
Ingush businessman and civil opposition leader, was murdered by
unknown gunmen who sprayed his car with more than 60 bullets. Shortly
before his death, filmmakers Dom Rotheroe and Antony Butts spoke with
him for their film on the conflict in the Russian republic of
Ingushetia. Recently, the Russian republic of Ingushetia has become
the most dangerous place in the Russian federation. Endemic corruption
combined with a battle between Islamic extremists and unaccountable
Moscow-backed security forces has plunged the area into violence. The
conflict has left many Ingushetians in despair; their human rights
suppressed and their faith in the authorities in tatters. It is a
cycle of bloody atrocity and counter-atrocity that seems to have no
end. While the Ingush stayed out of the Chechens recent wars for
independence from Russia, this did not prevent the violence from
finally spilling over. In June 2004, rebels attacked Ingushetias main
city of Nazran and killed scores of security officials. With Russia by
then pretty much in control of Chechnya, Chechen rebels wanted to
spread the war into neighbouring Muslim republics. And in Ingushetia
discontent had been growing ever since Vladimir Putin, the then
Russian president, installed the unpopular Murat Zyazikov as president
there in 2002. Disappeared Trapped in the middle of the decade-long
dirty war are 500,000 Ingush. Maksharip Aushev, a businessman and
civil opposition leader, told us that he carries a gun "because its
dangerous out there". "At any moment they can turn up in camouflage
and kidnap you - and then youll just be disappeared. "Although the
gun will not protect you at least youll manage to do something so
they dont torture you, dont take you away - so you dont just go
missing like most people usually do here," he said. Things changed for
businessman Maksharip three years ago when his nephew, who had refused
to become an informant, and son were snatched off a train by security
forces. They were taken to Chechnya and tortured. "As soon as my son
and nephew were abducted, I stepped out," he explained, saying that he
never wanted to be involved in politics but felt forced into it.
Maksharip blamed the Russian security forces (FSB) and rallied public
protests, which led to the release of his son and nephew. In the
process he also kicked off widespread civil opposition to the regime
and became one of the most outspoken leaders of the opposition to
Zyazikov, a former KGB officer and an ally of Putin. According to
Magomed Mutsolgov, the co-founder of the local human rights group
Mashr, it was after Zyazikov became president that anyone even vaguely
suspected of opposing the regime began getting visits from the
security forces. Mutsolgov co-founded Mashr when his younger brother
disappeared four years ago. "Altogether we have had over 500 cases of
kidnapping. Some of those people were found dead," he says. Nothing
left to lose The violence has been increasing exponentially. Mashr
estimates that 212 people were killed in 2008. By August 2009 that
number had already been reached. Yet violence by the security forces
is only one side of Ingushetias mayhem. In the last seven years,
Islamic militants have killed over 200 policemen, soldiers and
government officials. The most devastating attack happened in August
2009 when a suicide bomber drove a truck into Nazrans main police
station, killing 24 people and injuring more than 160. In recent years
religious extremists among the rebels have turned the war for Chechen
independence into a jihad for a Sharia-based emirate covering all of
Russias Caucasian Muslim republics. They have also started targeting
civilians whom they deem un-Islamic. Recently, two sisters, aged 52
and 60, were shot to death in a roadside kiosk, supposedly for selling
alcohol. "They are psychotic. Putting seven, eight bullets into women.
What Sharia law are they talking about?" the victims sister asks. "We
have nothing more to be afraid of. We have gone through all this and
are ready for anything. We have lost our parents, husbands. What else
can we be afraid of? We have nothing left to lose." Yet even this
family lay the final blame less on the militants than on the
authorities and the lawlessness and corruption they believe Zyazikov
fostered. Poverty Ingushetia is not only Russias most violent
republic. It is also its poorest. "Zyazikov declared that over 70
factories had been built in the republic, that the unemployment
problem had been solved, etc etc. We risked our lives trying to prove
to the Russian government that there were no factories, that the huge
amounts of money allocated to us were simply being fiddled away by
Zyazikov and his people," Maksharip said. By October 2008, opposition
to Zyazikov had grown to such a pitch and the violence and corruption
had become so brazen that Moscow finally replaced him with the popular
ex-general, Yunus-bek Yevkurov. The new leader set out to tackle the
corruption and violence and brought advisors from the civil opposition
into his administration. He also sacked some corrupt officials, tried
to initiate talks with the rebels and gained the publics trust. But
then, on June 22, 2009, his presidential convoy was rammed by a
suicide bomber. Yevkurov ended up in a critical condition in hospital.
Extra-judicial executions In his absence, and with the Kremlin
demanding even better results against the rebels, allegations of
extra-judicial executions by the security forces began flooding in.
Many believe it is Russias FSB, the former KGB, that is orchestrating
the cycle of violence in Ingushetia. Their agents have even been
caught firing on Ingush policemen, raising suspicions that Moscow is
deliberately keeping the fractious north Caucasus destablised in order
to justify its controlling military presence. Others believe the
motive is also the money that those in power can make from conflict.
"As the Russian saying goes, It is good fishing in troubled waters.
These kind of civil wars are started to make it easier to steal
money," Maksharip said. Suspicion Suspicion of the FSB here is
reminiscent of Soviet times. Several human rights campaigners have
been killed in the north Caucasus in the last few years. Aslambek
Paev, a human rights campaigner, told us: "Everything is monitored.
You have to be very careful and observant when you work. Probably Im
the next one. "What difference does it make for us? We know were dead
anyway, that sooner or later theyll kill us." Yevkurov recovered from
the attack on him and returned to office. He has since sacked his
entire cabinet for making problems worse in his absence. But it is yet
to be seen how far his promised reforms will go - or indeed how
effective they can be in a land which both the militants and elements
of Russias power structures seem determined to keep on the boil.
Losing control One month before his death, the security forces had
stopped Maksharips car and attempted to take him into custody after
he left a government meeting. He escaped only because a crowd of
motorists, including an aide to the governor, surrounded him. "If I
had been a half-metre closer, they would have tied me up and I would
have disappeared without a trace," he told Caucasian Knot, a website
that covers the region. Yevkurov has reached out to human rights
activists and the opposition, offering them a degree of protection,
but Aushevs killing suggests that he, and by extension the Kremlin,
may be losing control over the overlapping law enforcement agencies
fighting a growing Islamist insurgency in the region. Though deep in
mourning, Maksharip Aushevs family agreed to our film being
broadcast. His assassination highlights the continuing perils faced by
anyone who seeks to defend basic freedoms in Ingushetia, raising fears
of further violence in the region.

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