OPENEDITION SEARCH
The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies
Recherche
Index
Auteurs
Mots-clés
Pays
Chronologique
Champs de recherche
Numéros en texte
intégral
Issue 22 | 2021
Oral History: The Russo-
Ukrainian War Through the
Eyes of Ukrainian Military
Chaplains
Issue 20/21 | 2019
Soviet & Post-Soviet Wars:
An Oral History Project
Issue 19 | 2018
The Evolution of Prisons and
Penality in the Former
Soviet Union
Issue 18 | 2017
Defining and Defending
Borders in the Post-Soviet
Space
Issue 17 | 2016
Women in Arms: from the
Russian Empire to Post-
Soviet States
Issue 16 | 2014
Military Journalism in Soviet
and Post-Soviet Russia
Issue 14/15 | 2013
War Trauma in Post-Soviet
Russia & Military Reform in
Russia and the CIS
Issue 13 | 2012
Police Brutality & Police
Reform in Russia and the
CIS
Issue 12 | 2011
Contemporary Uses of the
Second World War in Russia
and the Former Soviet
Republics
Issue 11 | 2010
“Security and Defense
Reform in Central Asia”
Issue 10 | 2009
The Integration of Non-
Russian Servicemen in the
Imperial, Soviet and
Russian Army
Issue 9 | 2009
NGOs and Power Ministries
in Russia
Issue 8 | 2008
Military Justice in Russia
Issue 6/7 | 2007
The Social and Political Role
of War Veterans
Issue 4/5 | 2006
Military and Security
Structures in/and the
Regions & Women in/and
the Military
Issue 3 | 2005
The Military and Society in
Post-Soviet Russia
Issue 2 | 2005
Reflections on Policing in
Post-Communist Europe
Issue 1 | 2004
Dedovshchina : From
Military to Society
Tous les numéros
Introducing pipss.org
Our Project
Editorial Board
Who We Are
Scientific Board
CERSIPS
Creative Commons
Licence
How to Search the
Journal
PIPSS Voluntary Editors &
Translators
Informations
Contact us
Credit
Institutional Support
Partners
Politiques de publication
Call for Contributors
Guidelines for Article
Submission
Issue 23 - Spring 2022
(The creation and re-
creation of national
armies in post-Soviet
and post-communist
countries)
Issue 24 - Spring 2023
(Oral History of Soviet
and Post-Soviet Wars
Project – Issue n°3)
Syndication
Fil des numéros
Fil des documents
Lettres d’information
La Lettre d’OpenEdition
All OpenEdition
Issue 14/15 | 2013 : War Trauma in Post-Soviet Russia & Military Reform in Russia and
the CIS
Book Reviews - General (5 titles)
Emma Gilligan, Terror in Chechnya: Russia and
the Tragedy of Civilians in War. Human Rights
and Crimes Against Humanity
Princeton & Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2010, 271 pages
Laurent Vinatier
https://doi.org/10.4000/pipss.4028
Référence(s) :
Emma Gilligan, Terror in Chechnya: Russia and the Tragedy of Civilians in War. Human Rights
and Crimes Against Humanity, Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2010, 271
pages
Index | Texte | Citation | Auteur
Entrées d’index
Keywords : Chechnya, Chechen Wars, War Crimes, Violence against Civilians
Pays : Russia, Chechnya
Champs de recherche : History
Dédicace
Pipss.org is grateful to Shaun Luong who edited this book review.
Texte intégral
Les
PDF formats PDF et ePub de ce document sont Signaler
ce
disponibles pour les usagers des institutions
abonnées à OpenEdition freemium for Journals. document
Votre institution est-elle abonnée ?
1 Even in academic works, moral positioning is sometimes strongly required.
When it comes to the issue of Chechnya, particularly to the two atrocious
successive wars occurring respectively from 1994 to 1996 and from 1999 to an
unknown end, the expression of a moral judgement can hardly be avoided. To
some extent, it cannot be any other way. That is the clear and courageous
stance of Emma Gilligan’s Terror in Chechnya. In an unambiguous fashion and
with strength, accuracy and application, the author lays out the abominable
responsibilities of the Russian state, its military and police forces, as well as of
its Chechen auxiliaries, in the mass and horrific crimes which awfully stamp
the first, but mainly the second, Chechen wars. She explicitly points out who
are the bad guys in those sad stories. It is not about disclosing hidden truths;
any informed person would have heard about the horrors and abuses in
Chechnya. It is more about the author’s commitment itself. As unscientific as it
may appear, it proves in reality to be fair and needed. That’s important.
2 No one today really doubts the pains suffered by the Chechen population
resulting from the monstrosity of the Russian counterinsurgency tactics. For a
decade, thanks to the work of several committed Chechen-Russian human
rights organizations, such as Memorial, the Society of Russo-Chechen
Friendship or Echo of War, whose daily and constant reports of horrors have
been relayed to the outside world by leading Western Non-Governmental
Organizations, facts-based, exhaustive and reliable information has spread
about the closed Chechen warzone. Gilligan’s book adds visibility and authority
to the account of the crimes, going beyond however the temptation of a
general description. It is likely anyway that by sticking only to a broad
explanation, she would have been short of words. The synonym of “terror”
would not have been sufficient to illustrate the random bombings of cities
(Chapter 1) or fleeing refugees (Chapter 4), the sweep operations (best known
as Zachistka in Russian, Chapter 2), the disappearances and night-time
abductions during the first years (Chapter 3). Her narrative approach, focusing
upon a few victims’ testimonies, makes the inhumane torments of the Chechen
population more real and proves to be quite disturbing for the reader. But, no
worries: tragically in Chechnya, those single cases can be generalized.
3 Emma Gilligan is fully aware of the abuses committed by the other side, the
rebels quite rapidly turning into “terrorists” at some point. She tries to be
balanced and to draw attention also to their horrific actions, such as the
hostage takings in Buddennovsk and Kizliar (1995), in the Dubrovka Theatre
(2002) and at the Beslan School (2004) with threats of suicide bombings.
However, her chosen title for Chapter 5 – “Chechen Retaliation” – clearly
indicates a biased assessment. For her, those operations are only a response
to the Russian behaviours previously detailed. Interestingly, she even quotes a
Russian victim, expressing her hate for the Chechens whilst understanding
them. To some extent, it does indeed make sense. Who has talked about the
40,000 Chechen children, left as amputees or dead during the years of war?
Once again, it also fits very well with the overall committed militant tone of the
book.
4 She could not then avoid also targeting the international community (Chapter
7) whose cowardice on the Chechen issue has reached extraordinary levels. It
is hard to say whether the UN Commission on Human Rights, The Council of
Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
have neglected the issue only out of fear of Russia or, through simple
disinterest in such a small disappearing nation. Let’s put aside the UN
Commission on Human Rights that had already shown its extensive
weaknesses in other cases, and the OSCE, which at a minimum could be
considered a political actor owing to its political strategies. However, as the
sole pan-European structure more morally-oriented than politically-
determined, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE)
dismissive attitude is unforgivable. It could have shown itself to respect its
own values by not having restored Russia’s voting rights too quickly in 2001.
Symbolically, this would have been a strong gesture. PACE’s further relevance
can thus now be questioned. Fortunately, the European Court of Human
Rights’ multiplying verdicts on Chechen cases against the Russian state
compensate for the European moral humiliation. At least a European institution
has expressed and implemented a moral judgement.
5 Emma Gilligan should have kept to her moral stance. It is hard to switch from
moral commitment to political analysis. That is probably the main weakness of
this book. It is quite impossible, for example, to place the Council of Europe’s
and USA’s reactions on the same level. It is difficult to charge the latter, which
has high and vital political interests, with moral neutrality, unless you consider
that politics should be essentially morally-driven (which can prove to be
dangerous). There is an underlying confusion in this book between what is
moral and what is political, leading to approximations and short-cuts.
Regarding the international role that is not really prejudicial. The harm is more
serious on Russian and Chechen features. One of the author’s main arguments
regards the Russian state’s racist motivation to destroy the Chechen people.
She makes Russian racism a decisive factor of its policy and cruelty in the
Caucasus, using this ideological concept as a political determinant. But that is
too moralistic a simplification. She seems, furthermore, to confuse nationalism
and racism or state honour and racism. She does not see the permanent
historical Russian oscillation, ongoing until today, between nation and empire.
She would have better tackled what role ethnic divisions play in Russia’s
political organization and identification. That’s probably why she partly missed
the understanding of the “Chechenization” process, which should have caused
her to question her racist prism.
6 Most likely, Gilligan’s main problem lies with her sources, which are essentially
secondary. Chapter 6 is telling in this respect. It reports the mobilisation of
several Russian and Chechen journalists and activists: Andrei Babitskii, Anna
Politkovskaia, Mainat Abdulaeva, Timur Aliev, Oleg Orlov, Alexander
Cherkassov, Ludmilla Alekseeva and Sergei Kovalev. All of them are
undoubtedly highly esteemed professionals and individuals, but they are also
simply the most widely publicized figures in the West to whom anyone had
already talked. Emma Gilligan would have greatly benefited from diversifying
her sources. She might have then discovered the Committee of Soldiers’
Mothers and its unique experience of the Chechen War from the Russian point
of view. She would have understood more accurately that the second war in
Chechnya was a blank cheque given to the Russian army to re-impose state
authority on Chechnya and to take revenge for 1996. She would then have felt
that reason is not the only tool employed in Russian (and Chechen) decision-
making processes, as well as in decision-implementations; a sense of honour
is as important, if not more so. She is relaying stories, but it would have been
perfect if she herself had had the opportunity to have direct experience of
Russia and Chechnya.
Pour citer cet article
Référence électronique
Laurent Vinatier, « Emma Gilligan, Terror in Chechnya: Russia and the Tragedy of
Civilians in War. Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity », The Journal of Power
Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies [En ligne], Issue 14/15 | 2013, mis en ligne le 25
mai 2013, consulté le 21 avril 2022. URL :
http://journals.openedition.org/pipss/4028 ; DOI :
https://doi.org/10.4000/pipss.4028
Auteur
Laurent Vinatier
Thomas More Institute, Paris
Droits d’auteur
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
ISSN électronique 1769-7069
Voir la notice dans le catalogue OpenEdition
Plan du site – Credit – Institutional Support – Flux de syndication
Politique de confidentialité – Gestion des cookies
Nous adhérons à OpenEdition Journals – Édité avec Lodel – Accès réservé