Last week, shortly after Politkovskaya was gunned down in the entrance to her apartment building in Moscow, Russian prosecutors invoked part of the country´s new NGO law to shut down the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, a group that opposes the ongoing conflict in the region. A few days later, on October 16, a rally in memory of the slain journalist held in the main city of Ingushetia, a region neighboring the Chechen Republic, was broken up violently by local authorities. A number of activists were detained and some were beaten. (18-OCT-06)

Based on  press release from Freedom House, this article has been prepared for publication here by HRH-F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.

Freedom House is distressed by recent crackdowns by Russian authorities against activists who are drawing attention to human rights abuses in the Chechen Republic and to the likely related murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. 

“We´ve known that the space for free expression and association in the Russian Federation is declining, but these recent crackdowns are particularly disturbing in light of Anna Politkovskaya´s murder,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. “Especially when the Chechen Republic is the subject, it seems that authorities will go to many lengths to block a real examination of the issues.” 

Western governments have also been shamefully remiss when it comes to speaking out on abuses related to the Chechen Republic.  Freedom House strongly encourages the U.S. government to condemn actions by the Russian government restricting individuals freedom of speech and association. The organization also urges for increased pressure in calling for a serious investigation of Ms. Politkovskaya´s death, and for greater scrutiny of human rights abuses occurring in the Chechen Republic and surrounding regions.

“Since 9/11, the United States has virtually ignored the massive human rights abuses taking place within the Chechen Republic and the ongoing conflict occurring there,” said Ms. Windsor. “While a number of international human rights groups are working hard to publicize what´s going on in the region, their work has little use if our government condones the Putin administration´s attempts to limit knowledge of activities in the area,” she added.

Freedom House´s program, the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus, highlights issues in the region and seeks to expand international support for human rights defenders and local organizations at risk of being isolated from the international community.

Freedom House, an independent non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, has monitored political rights and civil liberties in the Russian Federation since 1991 and specifically in the Chechen Republic since 1998.