Chechens claim Russian troops blowing up corpses

MOSCOW -- Aslan Dzhabrailov says he wasn't supposed to be seen again, dead or alive.

He says Russian troops in Chechnya dragged him from his bed last month and tortured him, then ignited explosives under him and his dead brother, apparently to erase the evidence. Had the explosives gone off, the men's remains would have been unrecognizable.

In what would be a grisly twist to the pattern of alleged military abuses in Chechnya's 3 1/2-year war, residents and human rights campaigners say fragments of blown-up bodies are being found all over the war-ruined region. Rather than put a stop to human rights violations, the military appears to be doing its best to hide them, critics say. Some even see signs of a coordinated campaign of killing Chechens.

"Lately, near a pipeline not far from our village, Chechen policemen have been finding people's blown-up remains," said Murzabek Saidulayev of Belgatoi, about 18 miles south of Grozny, the capital. "That's where the federals troops like to blow up corpses. They drive there in armored personnel carriers."

Lawmaker and rights campaigner Sergei Kovalyov theorizes that the intent is to make it difficult for independent investigators to connect the corpses to the soldiers who allegedly arrested them. Bodies blown up beyond recognition can more easily be blamed on the rebels, he says.

Kovalyov traveled to the United States and Britain last month to press for action, but was told "quiet diplomacy" was preferable. He says that isn't working.

Ordered to obey the law

President Vladimir Putin and other officials have repeatedly called on troops to obey the law during security sweeps that civilians say often lead to disappearances.

Last year the military ordered arresting troops to fully identify themselves and inform relatives of detainees' whereabouts. But rights advocates say the order is ignored and most likely meant to appease critics.

The pattern of blown-up bodies, and the fact that remains of people from different parts of Chechnya are found in the same place, point to a centralized system of violence, Kovalyov said.

"What comes to mind immediately are death squads. ... The question of genocide could be raised," he added.

Igor Botnikov, a Kremlin spokesman on Chechnya, scoffed at the charges, saying he would "leave those words on Mr. Kovalyov's conscience."

Asked if the charges were worth checking, he said all allegations of military abuse are investigated.

Independent verification is impossible because violence and government restrictions prevent Western journalists from working unimpeded in Chechnya.

Dzhabrailov, 23, spoke to The Associated Press on condition his location not be revealed because he feared reprisals. The details of his story match the patterns Kovalyov's allies at the Russian human rights group Memorial have documented.

His head bandaged and his face covered in bruises, Dzhabrailov said masked troops stormed his house in the village of Pobedinskoye, 9 miles west of Grozny, at dawn on Feb. 16. They pulled him and his brother Valid, 30, from their beds, and -- ignoring the pleas of their mother and sister -- handcuffed them, put sacks over their heads and drove for about an hour until they heard gates opening.

He said he heard helicopters and believed he was at Khankala, the military's main base in Chechnya.

Dzhabrailov was separated from his brother and brought to a basement, where he remained chained to a pipe for a day and a half. Masked men visited him periodically, jabbing his kidneys with guns and breaking his nose with flashlights.

They demanded Dzhabrailov confess to having fought with the rebels. Dzhabrailov said he was never involved in fighting.

In the evening, he said, an unmasked man came, silently put a bag over Dzhabrailov's head and led him to a vehicle.

"A cold body lay under me," he said.

After a long ride, the men removed the corpse from the truck and dragged Dzhabrailov onto the ground, his head still covered. He said he heard a shot and a bullet took off some skin above his ear.

Dzhabrailov said he heard the men put something underneath him and the corpse and light it with a cigarette lighter.

Then the truck left, and Dzhabrailov freed himself and extinguished the lit fuse.

He looked at the corpse next to him and recognized his brother's mangled body by his clothes.