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EU demands probe into Chechnya rights abuses

STRASBOURG: Accusations of serious human rights abuses in Chechnya need urgent investigation, the European Commissioner for Human Rights told a press conference in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

"I didn't see any of the human rights abuses, but I heard very serious accusations and that's enough for us to search for the truth," Alvaro Gil-Robles said on his return from a five-day trip to the Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia.

The humanitarian situation "has seriously deteriorated in the last two months," in a refugee camp in Ingushetia, he added.

Robles has visited the same camp, where 5,000 people who fled from the bitter civil war are living, last November.

The Commissioner called for urgent humanitarian aid for these "desperate people who have nothing," saying they only had food thanks to international aid, that they still needed cooked meals, baby milk and clothes.

"The emotional tension was very high," Robles said. "The Chechens shouted, cried, told stories of how they had been robbed, raped, kidnapped, tortured."

The Commissioner confirmed he had received a list at the camp of women presumed missing in Grozny.

The Russian government has named a special human rights representative, Vladimir Kalamanov, to whom the commissioner gave the list of missing Grozny women.

Robles called for a human rights office to be set up in Chechnya as soon as possible to collect the accusations made by the people, investigate them and mediate between alleged victims and the authorities.

The prime task of this office Ñ which could start working in a month's time Ñ would be to "seek the truth," Robles said. The Russian authorities have agreed that a member of staff from the Council of Europe will work in the office.

GilÑRobles hopes that non-government organisations will also be able to work with the human rights office.

Robles also described the Chechen capital Grozny as "a city that has been totally destroyed, like after the World War II."

"People go by like ghosts looking for food," he said.

There are still nearly 20,000 people living in Grozny and another 20,000 would be making their way back between now and May, even though the situation would be very unstable, according to the Commissioner.

Robles added that it was not his job to denounce or accuse Moscow, but to act to prevent abuses and promote human rights. AFP