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Chechen amnesty serving political PR campaign?

The loudly promoted amnesty so “generously given” by the Russian authorities has slowly began to bring its “fruit”: The number of terrorist acts increases not only within Chechnya but also far beyond its boundaries, spreading even Moscow.

Who needs amnesty?

Who actually needs this amnesty and why? For such an analysis, one should start with one specific book - the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

A note to Article 208, dealing with punishment for participation in an illegal armed formation, reads: “A person who has voluntarily left an illegal armed formation and laid down weapons shall be excused from criminal responsibility unless another criminal act pertains to the person’s activities.”

This leads to one simple conclusion: for a fighter who has not stained himself with other crimes (terrorist acts, killing, attempts to kill police members and local officials), the “long-awaited” provision on amnesty issued by the State Duma is absolutely redundant, since the right to voluntarily leave an illegal armed formation without being put behind bars is provided for by the law. Hence another question: if not in armed fighting, what else should be an illegal armed formation be involved in? Picking mushrooms and berries in the woods?

Pursuant to the resolution of the Russian State Duma, those who already face criminal charges initiated by law enforcement agencies are not relieved from their responsibility. To put it simply, once arrested, no amnesty can get you out.

Who gives up?

Another interesting line in the amnesty resolution: “Amnesty is declared for each person individually.” In other words, the fate of an individual lies in the hands of numerous commissions, mainly comprising people eager to reveal the enemy anywhere and any time. Similar cases have already occurred. Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic, Vladimir Chernyayev, who heads the operational amnesty center, “we have discovered several fighters who had committed severe crimes and tried to use the amnesty to their advantage.” Does it mean that dangerous criminals were misled by somebody if they gave themselves in? Or is it that the work was performed on a sufficiently low level?

“Some fighters do not leave their formations, fearing revenge from their former fellow combatants” is the popular explanation of the representatives of Russian forces. But this is quite routine - traitors switching to the other side have always been unwelcome anywhere.

Russian TV channels successfully showed footage of fighters laying down their weapons and their presence in the local police headquarters. Watching this spectacle, one might have thought that the “fighters” were brought in from the neighboring sanatorium. Young, healthy guys, all in trendy civil clothes. It was clear from their well-kept appearances that they have never experienced the strains of guerilla life in the mountains or forests. However, all of them were carefully taught to put on guilty faces.

An interesting fact on top of all is that former fighters can join the Russian police. “Each of them has to go through a thorough check“, claim the authorities. And what are the first results? A new police worker has been discovered in Chechnya who…has been wanted for several years for committing crimes in the Tambov region. The man has been nicknamed the “werewolf”, but nobody seemed to ask how could have he passed the “thorough” check? Most likely he just took his uniform and resorted to a time-honored method of bribing an official reviewing his credentials. Thus we arrive at the conclusion that this amnesty is totally useless. Who needed this anyway?

Amnesty in the light of pre-election campaign

Let’s not be so naive. Elections to the Russian State Duma are approaching in December this year, while the fight for political points has already started. The act of “good will” is nothing more than another attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the voters. The state shows its mercy to those who do not need it.

During four years of military actions in Chechnya, amnesty and campaign to voluntarily lay down weapons was announced by the authorities more than once. Those who wanted to hand in their sub-machine guns did that long before. Another amnesty only shows that today’s leadership cannot solve problems by military actions and got lost in the “powwows” around the republic. There is a lack of courage today to sit at a negotiation table with people who gained power in connection with the Chechen war that they started themselves. Or is it the lack of wisdom?

(P/W,T)