Visit of PACE delegation to Chechnya is over

The delegation of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) that had arrived in Chechnya on June 2 left the republic for Ingushetia in the second half of the day on June 3. During their stay in Chechnya, PACE delegates met with members of the Chechen government and visited the Chechen State University, a temporary accommodation center for refugees, a school and a maternity hospital.

"We've seen a number of improvements, the advance in some sectors of Chechen social and economic life," PACE rapporteur on Chechnya Rudolf Bindig, who was one of the heads of the delegation, said to journalists in Grozny. At the same time, he noted that "holes gape in some sectors, and we see that a huge work to restore the destroyed republic lies ahead." In Mr Bindig's opinion, one of the problems that must be solved as soon as possible is the supply of water to Grozny.

Rudolf Bindig pointed out to the importance of obtaining information not only from the authorities but from other sources as well. "We will ask the Memorial society and the Committee of Soldier's Mothers to give us information we need," Mr Bindig said.

At the same time, the PACE delegation was unable to meet with representatives of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Center Memorial though the meeting had been planed in advance. As the organization's activist told the Caucasian Knot correspondent, the meeting was frustrated through the fault of Leonid Slutsky, the Russian State Duma Deputy for the LDPR (Russian Liberal Democratic Party) faction who accompanied Rudolf Bindig and Andreas Gross during their visit to Chechnya. "Mr Slutsky misled the PACE delegation by saying that the offices of the Memorial center in Chechnya and Ingushetia (in the town of Nazran) were closed," said the activist of Memorial's office in Grozny.

Nevertheless, Rudolf Bindig and Andreas Gross met with representatives of the Human Rights Center Memorial and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). But it happened not in Chechnya but in neighboring Ingushetia. The meeting was held in Memorial's office in Nazran at about 3 p.m.-5 p.m. The PACE delegation met with relatives of the killed and abducted residents of Chechnya, NGO and human rights activists, and refugees. Issues touched on during the meeting in Nazran were connected with mass violations of human rights and freedoms in Chechnya and with the state of Chechen refugees temporarily living on the territory of Ingushetia.

Editors note: See also the article "Meeting of PACE delegation with war crime victims under threat of frustration".