Picket against war in Chechnya staged in Moscow after long break

An officially authorized picket against war in Chechnya was staged on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow on April 15, for the first time after a long break. To remind, the picket on Pushkinskaya Square has been existing for four years already. Its participants were detained on March 11, the picket was banned, and its organizers stood trial. They say their cases were presented in court very roughly from the procedural point of view. Thus, overt pressure was put on the attorney, and the papers were drawn up in bad faith. Despite of it, the court ruling was to close the case in the absence of signs of an administrative offence. Nevertheless, the organizers have succeeded in getting official permission for the holding of the picket only know. Elena Batenkova, one of the permanent organizers of the antiwar action, agreed to give her comments to the Caucasian Knot correspondent:

- This is the first official picket since March 11. Before that, we received unsubstantiated denials from the prefecture. We are currently appealing against all these denials to the Constitutional Court. By the way, the ban on our picket made us sort of brace up. Support from all those organizations that had singed an agreement on counteraction to war in 1994 began to work again. These are Memorial and the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Andrei Sakharov Museum. And all the same, we went to Pushkin Square on Thursdays, even though without placards. All the rest was as usual: people had antiwar badges and distributed leaflets. Besides, the number of people has doubled. Every time I see new faces here. It is also important picketers have started to show initiative, which was absent for a long time. People now bring their own propaganda, they invent new placards.

- What else has changed in connection with the most recent events?

- The picket dispersal incident received a very wide resonance. The press was the first to respond: Novaya Gazeta, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russkii Kurier and a lot of other media outlets. Also, a letter was sent with respect to the ban on the picket to Vladimir Lukin, Commissioner on Human Rights, signed by well-known human rights advocates, in particular Sergei Kovaliov. To the best of my knowledge, Lukin's inquiry has presently already been forwarded to the Luzhkov administration.

- What was the official reaction to your standing without permission for a whole month? Were there some conflicts with police?

- Well, no. People in uniforms approached us during our last picket, though, and they told us literally they were ordered to press us. And I am sure that's how it is. Yet in this case, we've just made government obey their own orders. Our task was not to aggravate the situation, but bring it in line with the law. After all, no permission or notification is required by the law to picket without placards.

- Your organizers have changed, haven't they?

- Well, yes. Neither me, nor those detained on March 11 are among the organizers. After all, the situation is still somewhat in limbo: every time they can refuse to allow us to picket. In reality, it is not so important who organizes the picket. We decided to be organizers in turns.

- I saw passers-by come up to you asking questions. What do they ask most often?

- The question has lately been asked more and more frequently: what exactly do you propose? Many just come up and say war in Chechnya has long been over, so we don't need to stand there. But unfortunately, they are wrong: extrajudicial executions, abductions and local combats are still on in Chechnya. So proceeding from well-known information in the press, we bring home these facts to our fellow citizens. And this won't stop until the warring parties sit to negotiation table. This is the answer to the question what exactly we propose. We continue to insist on talks, but not those decorative talks that suit our government. Each of us sees this situation differently with respect to politics, though.

- It has been a custom to combine the Chechen resistance problem with the international terrorism problem. To what extent do you think it correct?

- It seems to me incorrect to combine these issues. Chechen resistance should not be explained with international terrorism expansion. To me, it is obvious the sources are different here. And it's clear these trends will be more and more close to each other as long as we proceed with this imperial, aggressive war.

- What do you think about a resolution on Chechnya submitted for a vote at the UN?

- We've been long waiting for that. Pressure on our leaders on the part of European states is a very important line in the political settlement of this conflict. Besides, we welcome the so-called "Akhmadov Plan" already signed by 145 European parliament members, by the way. The plan suggests withdrawal of our troops and involvement of UN forces or some other international contingent with disarmament of both parties.

Editors note: See also the article "Elena Batenkova: authorities want to ban antiwar picket".