State Duma MP demands to check legality of installing a monument in Chechnya to girls who died in Caucasian War

Alexei Zhuravlyov, a Russian MP and the chairman of the party "Rodina" (Motherland) has sent an inquiry to the Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika asking him to check the legality of opening a monument to girls who perished in the 1817-1864 Caucasian War period in the Chechen village of Khangish-Yurt.

According to Zhuravlyov, the memorial "is an anti-Russian action of Chechen authorities and "will become another Mecca for radical ethnic groupings of Chechnya."

The MP sees here a violation of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code: "inciting hatred or enmity, and humiliation of human dignity".

In his turn, Alexander Cherkasov, the Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", has noted that the initiators of the monument cannot be accused of extremism, because "in order to apply Article 282, an act of violence should be committed, or a call to direct violence should be announced."

"All the rest is an arbitrary interpretation of the law," Mr Cherkasov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He added that it would be wrong to hold back the information about the opening of the monument. "This is a significant event, an ambiguous one, which changes people's views. Without highlighting it, is remains to take a vow of silence and ban any public statements," Alexander Cherkasov has concluded.