Russian human rights defender, chairman of the society “Memorial” Sergey Kovalev (photo) urged the world community to condemn the actions of the Russian Federation in Georgia. In his opinion, the Russian Federation began its aggression against Georgia under the pretext of protecting Russian citizens. (31-AUG-08)
Written by Maria Paramonova/HRH Moscow
Link: http://www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/newstext/news/id/1227343.html
Video: http://grani-tv.ru/entries/428/; http://grani-tv.ru/entries/429/; http://grani-tv.ru/entries/73/
“Russia has lost the moral right to peacekeeping in Abkhazia and South Ossetia when it openly approached to the actual authorities of these self-proclaimed formations bypassing the sovereign leadership of Georgia – was said in a human rights defender’s statement. – Now the Russian Federation does become a party to an armed conflict having rejected any decency, having entered landing parts into Georgia, bombing territory even outside the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region”.
It is necessary to exclude the Russian Federation from the Group of Eight and impose anti-Russian sanctions at the level of UN, OSCE and the PACE, was said in Mr. Kovalev’s statement.
Lev Ponomarev, Mikhail Kriger, Stanislav Dmitrievsky, other human rights activists and public figures joined to S. Kovalev’s statement.
Human rights defenders Elena Bonner, in turn, appealed the UN to halt urgently peacekeeping mandate the Russian Federation. “The country which is adjacent to the zone of conflict never henceforth should receive the peacekeeping mandate. – Bonner said. – It inevitably becomes a party to the conflict, and often provokes its reinforcement”. Mrs. Bonner calls on NATO or the UN to enter the conflict zone in its peacekeeping force.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle publication notes that fighting the Russian Federation against Georgia actually split human rights society and political elite of the Russian Federation.
Clarifying the position of defenders at the request of the Deutsche Welle the leader of the movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev (photo) said: “We condemn a power-guided version to put the constitutional order, which applied Saakashvili. He certainly is blamed for killing innocent civilians”.
“But increasingly we condemn the Russian Federation, as we consider its responsible for all this situation. the Russian Federation provoked the conflict, the Russian Federation gave out passports to residents of Ossetia and, as it is now known, it has been preparing for offensive military actions well before the invasion. That is, tension created such that Saakashvili just lost his temper. What we are most concerned with now is how to stop military actions”- notes Lev Ponomarev.
Russian Ombudsman for human rights Vladimir Lukin (photo) meanwhile called for the establishment of an international tribunal on the events in Ossetia, offering to put on the dock accused the Georgian authorities headed by Mikhail Saakashvili, and thus recognize peacekeeping nature of actions, which the Russian militaries enabled itself.
The head of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights Alexander Brod also did not support Sergei Kovalev, believing Kovalev’s view on the Georgian-Russian conflict unilateral. “I think that Sergei Kovalev’s position is extremely unilateral, so to me is simply strange such human rights position”, – he said.
Note that previously some human rights and opposition organizations from the Russian Federation were made Anti-War manifesto which was signed by the movement “For Human Rights”, Anti-War Club, Society “Memorial” and other organizations. In manifesto they announced the extension of anti-war campaign of civil protest until a final establishment of the peace in Georgia.
The manifest’s authors calls on the leaders of the Russian Federation, Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia immediately ordered the full cease-fire and allow the effective observance, returned armies to the boundary line of 6 August 2008.
Anti-War Committee in Yekaterinburg which was established on the basis of the Memorial society in Ekaterinburg, in connection with the worsening situation in the conflict zone of South Ossetia and Georgia, began collecting signatures under the appeal to the citizens of the Russian Federation, Georgia and South Ossetia which calls on demand from their governments to immediately cease mutual provocations, to stop the fire, and come to the negotiating table. The collection of signatures at: casioqv@rambler.ru.
12 August a group of human rights defenders and public leaders called on the Georgian leadership to stop the shelling of settlements of South Ossetia and killing innocent civilians, and called on Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin to stop military actions outside the republic. They also demanded that the parties of the conflict to respect the Geneva Conventions, humane treatment of prisoners of war and immediate negotiations without preconditions.
