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Chechen Refugees Left without “Imedi” (“Hope”)

November 24, 2005

Chechen Refugees Left without “Imedi” (“Hope”)

On the 6th of September 2005, the staff of the General Prosecutor’s Office raided the flat of Chechen Muhamed Makhaev. They took away computers and humanitarian documents prepared by him. Based on information provided by the financial monitoring department, a criminal investigation procedure has started on the 20th of September.

No accusation has yet been brought against Makhaev and some doubts exist on what the special Department on the Legalization of Illegal Income of the General Prosecutor’s Office is actually working. According to one version, the investigation procedure concerns the legalization of illegal income. According to another, the Prosecutor’s Office believes that the partner organizations of Makhaev’s centre might be connected to the “Al-Qaeda” and “Taliban”.

The Chechen Muhamed Makhaev established and registered the humanitarian aid organization “Imedi” (“Hope”) in April 2003. For 3 years his organization was assisting refugees from Chechnya living in Georgia and providing them with humanitarian aid. He was sending food and wood to them, financially supported orphans, organized free computer courses for refugees, was covering their medical insurance and so on.

“Imedi’s“ partners were solid European humanitarian organizations as “Muslim Helfen” from Germany and “Muslim Hands” from Britain. These organizations are also partners of the “Red Cross and Red Crescent”.

On the 6th of September 2005, the staff of the General Prosecutor’s Office raided the flat of Muhamed Makhaev and told him that a criminal investigation procedure was started against him. They took away the computers and all documents which had any connection to the activities of “Imedi”.

After the raid, the organization was not able to continue its work. “Imedi’s” activities have been stopped for a month and a half. At the end of October, the Special
Department on the Legalization of Illegal Income of General Prosecutor’s Office returned all the documents to Makhaev. Nevertheless, the investigation is still going on and no official accusation against the director of “Imedi” has been raised.

The Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre has contacted the above mentioned special department of Georgia’s General Prosecutor’s Office. However, in the interests of investigation, inspector Kvicha Begiashvili refused to make any comments on this case.

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