18:58, 6 October 2004

Chechen president appoints commissioner for human rights

President of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov has singed an order to appoint acting commissioner for human rights. Lawyer Lema Khasuyev, who was a deputy of former presidential envoys for human rights in Chechnya Vladimir Kalamanov and Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, has become a new ombudsman in Chechnya.

The post of commissioner for human rights in Chechnya was in fact eliminated last year, after Akhmad Kadyrov had been elected president. Now this post is introduced again.

"I think it's just another "democracy game" played by our authorities. Alkhanov is going to Strasbourg, where the Chechen problem will be touched upon. The order to appoint Lema Khasuyev is timed exactly to that day. Neither "Kalamanov's bureau" nor "Sultygov's committee" took measures to stop the wave of murders, abductions and abuses of civilians. They just wrote formal replies and imitated feverish activity," 54-year-old Umar Musayev, a resident of Grozny who worked in the system of the Interior Ministry in the time of the USSR, said.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot