Boycott of acting President of Chechnya

Representatives of several leading human rights organizations stated that they wouldn’t take part in a human rights conference, which would be organized by acting president of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov on March, 1st in Grozny. Human rights activists have been repeatedly accusing Kadyrov of corruption and violence against innocent civilians, of spreading his cult of personality and of acting as an absolute ruler. (25-FEB-07) 

Text: HRH/Moscow, by Yanina Savenko. Sources: kavkaz-uzel.ru, newsru.com, demos-center.ru. Photos: axisglobe-ru.com , kavkaz-uzel.ru, voinenet.ru

On February 15th, notorious Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was appointed acting President of the Chechen Republic. Human rights activists have been repeatedly accusing Kadyrov of corruption and violence against innocent civilians, of spreading his cult of personality and of acting as an absolute ruler. His portraits are hanged everywhere in the Republic and official mass media has been drawing rosy pictures of him. Many independent analysts claim Ramzan Kadyrov is similar to President Putin. Meanwhile, former President of Checnya Alu Alkhanov was practically forced to send in his resignation, in spite of the fact that he had done much for rebuilding of the destroyed Republic and for stabilization in the region.

Flagrant violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic
“We consider impossible to take part in the human rights conference ordered by Ramzan Kadyrov”, said a statement distributed on February, 21st in Moscow and signed by leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseeva, leader of the movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev and other human rights activists. Human rights activists won’t go to Grozny because “they as well as international human rights community know many facts of violations of human rights by the present authorities of the Chechen Republic. Nowadays territory of the Chechen Republic remains place of mass and flagrant violations of human rights, including killings without court, kidnapping and tortures, corruption and misappropriation of humanitarian aid and indemnity funds”. So this conference will serve as pretence of Chechen authorities’ fight for human rights, while in reality they don´t care about human rights at all.        

Authorities refuse to negotiate even for the sake of peace in the Chechen Republic   
First of all representatives of federal armed forces, Kadyrov’s special soldiers and administration of the Chechen Republic are to blame for unceasing armed conflicts and the fault lies mainly with them. And in the second place – it’s the fault of separatists who chose a way of armed struggle and committing acts of terrorism against representatives of civil administration of the Chechen Republic and its innocent civilians. Leaders of the Russian Federation and Chechen authorities haven’t responded to any appeal of human rights activists to enter into negotiations with separatists. Furthermore, legitimately elected President of the Chechen Republic Maskhadov, who called on Russian authorities to wage negotiations, was killed.

Dialog is possible – but not with Kadyrov         
Leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseeva received an invitation to take part  in the conference in Grozny, but she will not go there, because she doesn’t believe that it’s possible to discuss human rights with Ramzan Kadyrov. “I don’t want to stand beside Kadyrov on TV, lest people would think human rights activists have acknowledged Kadyrov”, said Alekseeva. “Nowadays there is an acute political situation in the Chechen Republic because of change of leaders, and I don’t think I should take part in such conference. However, I believe that cooperation with authorities in the sphere of human rights, concerning concrete questions, is absolutely necessary, including cooperation with Kadyrov. But now the conference won’t solve any real problem, it will work for the personal benefit of Kadyrov in a PR campaign. If it had been Alu Alkhanov’s idea I would go”, said Chairperson of the committee “Civil Assistance” Svetlana Gannushkina.   

Disappearing of people remains the main problem in the Chechen Republic
Meanwhile, disappearing of people remains one of the main problems in the Chechen Republic. “Once again I was surrounded by women with photos of their children and husbands, who had been kidnapped, – said Alekseeva in autumn 2006 after her visit to the Chechen Republic. – Law-enforcement bodies don’t fight against problem of kidnapping”. Leader of the human rights committee “Civil Assistance” Svetlana Gannushkina in her latest report about the situation in the Chechen Republic stated: 80% of Chechen population are afraid of reporting about disappearing of their relatives to law-enforcement bodies and to human rights organizations, trying to solve the problem themselves.