Action devoted to 60th anniversary of deportation of Chechens takes place in Kazan

An action devoted to the 60th anniversary of the deportation of the Chechens took place in Kazan on February 21, 2004. The Center for Peacekeeping and Human Rights Actions jointly with the All-Tatar Public Center arranged a demonstration of films from the program of the international Chechnya Film Festival. The day before, the chairman of the All-Tatar Public Center, Rashid Yagafarov, was summoned to the Kazan Interior Department to give explanations. Representatives of the law-enforcement agency asked who the organizers of the festival were, whether the films had passed through censorship, and whether they contained illegal calls. Over 100 people crowed into the 50-seated hall. Before the demonstration of the films, the audience were told about Akhmadov's Peace Plan, leaflets calling to help the Chechen University with books were distributed. No signatures in support of the UN interim administration in Chechnya were collected as there were no technical means for it. The Kazan media have ignored the action. Only one local newspaper published an announcement about it. A RIA Novosti correspondent said information about this action was not interested for his agency.

Editors note: See also the articles "Meeting in Petersburg in commemoration of 60th anniversary of deportation of Chechen people", "Films of international Chechnya Film Festival shown in Ryazan" "Attack on participants in antiwar picket in Izhevsk", "Over 200 people in Prague stage rally for peace in Chechnya", "International Helsinki Federation condemns break-up of meeting in Moscow to oppose armed conflict in Chechnya".