No referendum in Chechnya!
Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) supports the decision made by the
Russian government to conduct a referendum in occupied Chechnya. By doing this PACE claims the joint responsibility for Russia’s
crimes against human rights, which are now being committed under the guise
of a «constitutional approach». The proposal made by the Chairman of the
commission on solving the Russian-Chechen conflict, Lord Judd, concerning
the postponement of the referendum was declined. Judd stated that he would
resign even if the referendum will still be held on March 23 this year.
However,
even the postponement of the referendum is not changing anything, since its
organization fundamentally contradicts the norms of the international law.
Dictated by the invaders’ authorities and conducted on a compulsory basis,
the referendum has no legal force whatsoever. It cannot promote peace. If
necessary, the referendum must be conducted not by the authorities of the
Russian invaders, but by the legitimate government of Chechnya
with the guarantee of the people’s free and independent will. President Maskhadov
and Chechen Parliament represent the legitimate government of Chechnya and are in charge of the fight against Russian invaders.
The
referendum is supposed to result in the adoption of the Chechen «constitution».
But the Chechen Constitution already exists. This fact is ignored by the
Council of Europe, as well as by the project of Lord Judd’s resolution.
Russia’s wars against Chechnya
have always been colonial wars. They are being conducted against the Chechen
people fighting for their independence. During the war of 1994-1996, and
then starting from 1999 160,000 Chechens have been killed, thousands of children
being among them. Thousands of peaceful civilians disappeared in filtration
camps and in Russian prisons. The entire population inside and outside the
country has been turned into refugees. 80 percent of all cities and villages
have been destroyed. Chechnya
is the largest concentration camp fenced with countless checkpoints and command
headquarters vying with one another and keeping the population in fear. At
the present time there are less than 600,000 people living in Chechnya.
They are opposed by 150,000 troops of the invaders, who will also take part
in the referendum. It turns out that those who are torturing and killing
Chechens will determine the destiny of the Chechen people.
Russia’s attempts to conceal its criminal violations of human rights against its neighbor are not new. Invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan
were called «international help»; the first Chechen war was presented as
the restoration of the constitutional order, and the second war as a «fight
against international terrorism».
Russian leadership, faithful to
this tradition, is putting on a new political farce called «Referendum on
the Constitution of Chechen Republic». However, the existing Constitution
was developed with the assistance of experts from Baltic States and on March 12, 1992 it was ratified by the Chechen Parliament. The Constitution declared Chechnya
to be an independent democratic state. Based on that Constitution, under
the auspices of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
free democratic elections of the Parliament and President of Chechnya
were held. The elections were acknowledged to be legitimate by all international
organizations and by all governments, including Russia. This meant the adoption of the Chechen Constitution as well.
According
to the international law, the absence of violence or a threat of violence
is a mandatory condition for conducting free elections. In Chechnya
the population is facing a dilemma whether to go to a «polling station» or
disappear in filtration camps. Members of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) must certainly know it. And when yielding to the pressure
of the Russian delegation they are thus becoming accomplices in the violations
of human rights in Chechnya.
Back
when the war started the delegates of Chechen National Assembly were expecting
such propagandist trick and ruled that all Russia’s attempts to appoint a
puppet government in occupied Chechnya or conduct decorative elections are
a violation of the norms of the international law and a gross infringement
on the right of the Chechen people to self-determination and on the right
to free election of their governmental bodies. Therefore, those who acknowledge
the legitimacy of the upcoming referendum are thus violating the international
law, even though in their activities they are supposed to defend it.
Said-Hasan Abumuslimov,
Ex-Vice-President of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI),
Special Plenipotentiary of President of CRI
Die Welt, InoPressa.ru
www.inopressa.ru
Translated from Russian by Kavkaz-Center