The Ombudswoman of Dagestan is against "touring human rights activists"

Svetlana Alisultanova, the new Ombudsperson of Dagestan, has criticized the activity of the "touring human rights activists" who work in the territory of Dagestan, and has stated that there are no kidnappings in the Republic.

Svetlana Alisultanova has made the corresponding statements in her interview to the newspaper "Present Time" (No. 8 of November 2, 2007).

In particular, while having refused to make comments on the events in the Dokuzparinskiy District of Dagestan, where last year a meeting of local residents was shelled, she said: "I want to say nothing now on this problem. I'll wait... These touring human rights activist sometimes do not help but kindle, unfortunately. ...They shouldn't, we shall speak about it ourselves, we don't need those who workout their English and French grants here. We'll puzzle out everything ourselves."

Svetlana Alisultanova has also made a statement in relation to the law enforcement bodies of Dagestan, who deny any involvement of their employees in kidnappings. The Ombudsperson has declared that there are no reasons to accuse them, since it has not been proved yet that people were kidnapped by them.

Ms Alisultanova has refused to give a copy of the answers from the Prosecutor's Office in relation to kidnappings to the correspondent of the newspaper. Besides, it was found out that the Ombudsperson was not familiar with the report of the "Memorial" on kidnappings in Dagestan.

We remind you that Svetlana Alisultanova was appointed to the position of Ombudsperson of the Republic Dagestan on September 27, 2007, after the former Ombudswoman Umupazil Omarova became First Vice-Premier of the Government of Dagestan.