Hilary Swank celebrates dictator’s birthday in Chechnya

Morally bankrupt movie star Hilary Swank attended the festive birthday party of dictator Ramzan Kadyrov in the Chechen capital of Grozny on Wednesday, accompanied by a number of other celebrities including pop culture oddity Jean-Claude Van Damme and British violinist Vanessa Mae.

Reportedly, Ms Mae was paid half a million dollars to attend the party and perform for President Kadyrov, who has been accused by human rights groups, journalists, and others of presiding over a regime that routinely participates in kidnappings, killings and torture of political opponents and human rights advocates.

As reported in the US Department of State’s 2008 Human Rights Report on Russia, Mr Kadyrov’s forces have been accused by human rights groups of implementing “a widespread, concerted campaign of arson in villages and towns designed to punish families of suspected insurgents.”

A list of human rights campaigners and journalists who have been murdered or who have disappeared because of their work in Chechnya would be too exhaustive to compile here, but let’s just take note of a few of the many victims:

Natalia Estemirova was abducted in Grozny on July 15, 2009, on her way to work. A former teacher and journalist, she was best known for her involvement in “Memorial,” a Russian human rights organization. According to witnesses, Estimarova was working on something “extremely sensitive” just before her abduction. Her body was found later the same day in a wooded area, her chest and head riddled with bullet holes.

Three months later, Zarema Gaisanova, who was employed by the Danish Refugee Council, was abducted from her home in Grozny. Here is what the State Department said about her in its 2010 Human Rights Report:

“Amnesty International asserted that law enforcement officials carried out the abduction. Her whereabouts remained unknown at year’s end. The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) reported that eye-witnesses and other human rights organizations stated that a special security operation involving either Chechen leader Ramzon Kadyrov or a security unit named after him took place, in which Zarema Gaisanova was taken away in a military vehicle.”

And crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down outside her apartment in 2006, apparently by a contract killer. Politkovskaya was well known for documenting cases of torture, killings, and other abuses allegedly carried out by Chechen and Russian security forces during the long, grueling Chechen wars.

As to Kadyrov’s alleged personal taste in torture methods, Ms Swank might have gone here for this piece by C J Chivers of the New York Times. In the article, Chivers writes that Chechen exile Umar Israilov “described many brutal acts by Mr. Kadyrov and his subordinates, including executions of illegally detained men. One executed man, Mr. Israilov said, had been beaten with a shovel handle by Mr. Kadyrov…Another prisoner, the defector said, was sodomized by a prominent police officer and at Mr. Kadyrov’s order put to death. Israilov said he and others had been tortured by Mr. Kadyrov, who amused himself by personally giving prisoners electric shocks or firing pistols at their feet.”

Of course, Israilov was assassinated eventually – in Vienna, where he had been living after fleeing Chechnya.

As I say, the list goes on and on…

One assumes that Ms Swank and her celebrity pals can read. And that they have access to the internet. Thus it’s a bit of a stretch to imagine that Ms Swank was just some dumb Yank who innocently accepted a birthday invitation from that nice guy who runs this “Chechenya” place, which is how Van Damme pronounced it when he proclaimed to Kadyrov on stage, “I love you, Mr President!”

No. Ms Swank knew perfectly well of the allegations against Mr Kadyrov. And she went to his birthday party nonetheless.

I contacted her agent, one Jason Weinberg, who apparently is a major player in the creepy world of celebrity management. Actually, I left two phone messages, talked briefly to someone on his staff, and emailed him twice. And curiously, I got no reply.

Go here for a video of Ms Swank gushing to Kadyrov that “really, truly, for me this was a great honor to learn more about you and your country and what you’re building…And happy birthday, Mr. President!”

Interestingly, the Human Rights Foundation, an NGO based in New York, has reported here that they were assured by Mr. Weinberg in late September that Ms Swank had “no current plans” to attend Kadyrov’s party. Apparently, she changed her mind. Did Kadyrov offer her more money?

It should be noted that the BBC and other sources reported incorrectly that Kevin Costner attended the party. His publicist, Arnold Robinson, was quite emphatic in two email messages to me on Friday that Costner wasn’t even in Chechnya last week. As of today, it appears that the BBC has corrected the error.

My apologies to FPA colleague Vadim Nikitin – normally I don’t write much about the North Caucasus, which strictly speaking is Russia, his domain. But this wasn’t a story I could pass up.