On 5 February 2000 Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 people, according to researchers, in a mass killing in the Grozny suburb of Novye Aldi in the course of a ‘mopping-up operation’ (zachistka).
In a report published in June 2000, ‘Russian atrocities in Chechnya detailed,’ Human Rights Watch stated:
“On February 5, 2000, Russian riot police and contract soldiers entered Aldi and went from house to house executing civilians. Some killings were accompanied by demands for money or jewelry, serving as a pretext for execution if the amount was insufficient. Others victims lacked identity papers. Several witnesses stated that the soldiers forcibly removed the victims’ gold teeth or stole jewelry from corpses. Despite the great cultural stigma attached to rape in Chechnya’s predominantly Muslim communities, second-hand reports of the rape of women by Russian soldiers in Aldi on February 5 have surfaced. Several women spoke to Human Rights Watch researchers about six cases of rape. This suggests that the actual number of incidents could be many more. In one incident, soldiers reportedly gang-raped four women and strangled three of them, leaving the fourth for dead. Russian soldiers torched many homes of Chechen civilians in Aldi. While soldiers engaged in some pillage on February 5, the pillage on a massive scale took place during the following week. Witnesses stated that soldiers returned in large numbers on February 10 and in broad daylight brazenly stripped their homes of valuables. Because the Russian government has shown a clear lack of political will to vigorously investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the Aldi massacre, a national commission of inquiry is likely to be inadequate. Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they had withheld information from Russian investigators in Aldi for fear of reprisals.”
Sources:
‘Novye Aldi massacre, Wikipedia
‘RUSSIA/CHECHNYA; FEBRUARY 5: A DAY OF SLAUGHTER IN NOVYE ALDI,’ Human Rights Watch, June 2000
‘Russian Atrocities in Chechnya Detailed. New Information on Massacres in Aldi District of Grozny,’ Human Rights Watch, 1 June 2000
’10 лет со дня “зачистки” в Новых Алдах,’ Caucasian Knot, 5 February 2010
Aleksei Nikanorov, ‘Алды без срока давности,’ 26 January 2016
‘Зачистка Поселок Новые Алды,’ Мемориал, 2000
