"Expert Commission of Outstanding Lawyers" discusses war on terror issues

In Moscow today the public hearings held by the "Expert Commission of Outstanding Lawyers" have continued; the conference has considered the issues of fighting terrorism and the problem of non-observance of human rights in Chechnya.

Representatives of the Human Rights Watch public organization, engaged for many years in monitoring the situation in North Caucasus, made their presentations.

"People do not see any prospects, they have lost trust for the authorities, but are scared to meet representatives of human rights organizations, feeling fear of the authorities," Andrei Richter, director of the Institute for Information Law Problems, has noted. He raised the issue of the threat to the freedom of speech and inadequate use of terrorism definitions.

Alexei Levinson, an employee of the Independent Research Organization "Levada Centre," has emphasized that 90 percent of the population of Russia are feeling the "vulnerability syndrome" against the acts of terror.

Sergey Nikitin from the Amnesty International has told that in the territory of Chechnya power agencies continue, on the massive scale, breaking the rights of peaceful population, which results in hampering the democratic process over the entire Russia.

Author: Natalya Ivanchenko, CK correspondent