Delegates of Congress of Dagestani Nations held in Moscow offer general election of republic's head

The delegates of the Extraordinary Congress of Dagestani Nations, held in Moscow on October 26, expressed distrust the current authorities of the republic, offered to dissolve the People's Assembly of Dagestan and hold a general election of the head of the republic.

The extraordinary congress was attended by about 300 delegates. According to the organizers, more than 200 of them were delegates elected from different territories of the republic and public organizations. The forum gathered also representatives of Dagestani Diasporas in other cities of Russia, 40 Dagestanis from Moscow and a large number of journalists.

The congress was held under the slogan: "Don't let war in Dagestan!" The initiators of the event were the managers of the foundation "Our Dagestan"; Amuchi Amutinov, the former head of the Dagestani Branch of the Russian Pension Fund; and Gadjimurad Omarov, the leader of the Dagestani Branch of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party.

According to Mr Amutinov, the situation in Dagestan cannot be tolerated any longer. Speaking about the crisis of power in Dagestan, he mentioned the election of the head of the Akhvakh District, where only 7 percent of the voters of the district centre came to vote; and in the Dakhadaev District, "where the only alternative to the previous head of the district was his driver."

The main report on the socio-economic and public-political situation in the republic and the ways out of the crisis was made Gadjimurad Omarov. "Earlier, the republic was a donor to the Russia's budget; and now we are in the 72^nd place among the regions by the amount of subsidies directed to Dagestan," said the leader of the regional branch of "Spravedlivaya Rossiya". "Every year dozens of Dagestanis are killed. Violence has become commonplace."

Kazikhan Kurbanov, Deputy Chairman of the Public Anti-Corruption Council of the Tabasaran District, reported how the delegates from the Tabasaran District reached Moscow. "We moved in three groups via Grozny, Stavropol and Astrakhan. Dagestani buses were not let through block posts," he said in his description of the situation in the republic.

According to Mr Kurbanov, the authorities of the Tabasaran District had stolen about two billion roubles from the Russian state budget. "The say correctly: 'Stop feeding the Caucasus!', but we need to correct it into 'Stop feeding Caucasian bureaucrats!' Out of the money allocated to Dagestan, half is stolen here, in Moscow, as bribes; and the rest is embezzled by corrupt officials in Dagestan," Kurbanov said. The delegates welcomed these words with applause and cries: "Right!"