Human rights activists tell President of France about situation in Northern Caucasus

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about the meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy by Svetlana Gannushkina, member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and member of the Board on Human Rights under President of Russia, and Oleg Orlov, Chairman of the Board of the HRC "Memorial."

Oleg Orlov has told President of France about the current much narrower opportunities for the historians, who study violations of human rights during the Soviet time, to work in Russian archives. He said that revision of history is now undertaken in the country towards heroization of its Soviet era including Stalin's period.

"I told Sarkozy about the freedom of speech in Russia. About the ban on certain topics, in particular, violations of human rights in Northern Caucasus, and on certain names on television. That the TV is practically inaccessible for human rights activists and oppositional politicians, in any case - for 'Memorial' activists it is closed for sure. That the HRC 'Memorial' once had its broadcast at the federal radio channel, but in 1999 - the year of Putin's advent to power - it was stopped," Svetlana Gannushkina said.

"At that time (when meeting Russian President in 2005, - note of the "Caucasian Knot"), we told Putin about what was beginning in Ingushetia and what could be the result of the state policy of violence against citizens (extrajudicial executions, 'disappearances' and tortures), which was then practised there. The outcome was the continued course in the Republic, and the things against which we had warned began. The response actions started. While earlier the Republic had been absolutely loyal to the federal power, now the situation is quite different and some local residents have even taken the way of armed struggle against the authorities," Ms Gannushkina said.

Having listened to his guests, President of France expressed his support to Russian NGOs and thanked the members of the "Memorial" for coming to meet him.