• Sheet of paper Report

The Circle of Injustice: Security Operations and Human Rights Violations in Ingushetia

Ingushetia, like other republics in the Russian Federation’s North Caucasus region, faces genuine threats to its security. Armed groups carry out deadly attacks on officials and civilians. The failure of the law enforcement response to respect the rule of law is adding to the insecurity in the region. police and other security forces are committing serious human rights violations with impunity, including enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions.

Victims of these violations and their families find themselves in a vicious circle in their search for justice. The security forces deny any involvement in human rights violations; official investigators fail to identify the perpetrators; the Russian courts offer no redress; while the victims and families are left vulnerable to further abuses by security officials.

Using Ingushetia as a case study, this report explores the system which enables members of the security forces across the North Caucasus to act outside the law. Perpetrators of human rights violations, past and present, must be identified and brought to justice. The system which allows these recurring abuses should be reformed, and conditions for their effective and genuinely independent investigation put in place.