Dick Marti promises Ingush residents to inform PACE about situation in Northern Caucasus

On March 24, Dick Marti, Rapporteur of the PACE on Human Rights in Northern Caucasus, met activists of public organizations of Ingushetia, President Yunus-Bek Evkurov and heads of power agencies. In his voyage, Mr Marti was accompanied by Gunter Schirmer, secretary of the delegation and secretary on legal issues and human rights of the PACE, Ilyas Umakhanov, member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Valery Levitskiy, deputy head of the office of international cooperation of the State Duma, and Victor Solodov, officer of the MIA of the Russian Federation.

"Europe knows about Ingush problems," said Mr Marti, "but at the same time the new President of the republic Yunus-Bek Evkurov enjoys high respect and trust."

A spokesman on behalf of public organizations was Musa Zurabov, Chairman of the Coordination Board of Ingush NGOs. He said that one should not embellish the real situation in the republic, since it is a special subject of the Russian Federation, where many problems have accumulated.

Timur Akiev, head of the Ingush branch of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", said at the meeting: "We can't defeat terrorism by terrorist methods; respect of the law is a must. The Chechen problem is now the country's problem; situations arise when peaceful residents perish in the opposition of the federal centre with the bandit underground, when special operations, on the one hand, and terror act, on the other, are undertaken. Ingush leaders try to take the situation under control, but power agents are mostly uncontrolled by our local bosses."

On March 24, at 3-5 p.m., in the office of the HRC "Memorial" in Nazran, Dick Marti had a meeting with relatives of assassinated, kidnapped and convicted persons, who, in the opinion of their relatives, suffered from forged criminal cases. About 40 persons came to the meeting.

A time limit was set, to give chance to all who wished to speak out. Mr Marti listened to everybody and was sincerely surprised by the amount of misfortunes that had fallen on the people, having advised them to continue their searches.

People complained of power agencies' dumbness; however, Dick Marti emphasized that he could render no essential help, and that all the problems should be addressed exclusively by the Russian Federation. "We can only report the current situation to international public," said the PACE Special Rapporteur.

On that very day, Dick Marti had a meeting with the republic top leaders. At departing, Mr Evkurov presented the visitor with traditional Caucasian gifts - a fur cloak ("burka") and a Cossack hat.

In the course of the meeting, the President of Ingushetia assured that the authorities of Ingushetia would run an uncompromising war on extremists and terrorists, but human rights will be protected.