20000304

Rights abuses in Chechnya

European HR envoys to work with Russian team

MOSCOW: Russia's new commissioner looking into allegations of rights abuses in Chechnya said on Friday that two envoys from the Council of Europe would be allowed to join his team in the breakaway region.

But Vladimir Kalamanov, appointed recently to compile complaints of rights abuses in Chechnya, said the two Council of Europe experts would not report directly to the Strasbourg-based rights monitoring body or be allowed to talk to the press.

Kalamanov told a news conference the terms of the envoys' work in Chechnya had been agreed during a recent visit by Council of Europe rights commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles. Russia has been pressured to allow outside inquiries into allegations of rights abuses made against its troops in the militant region.

"This is the agreement we reached with Robles. They will be working as part of a Russian team there and they will not be able to speak to the press directly or communicate with the Council of Europe, bypassing me," Kalamanov said. Russian news agencies quoted him as saying the arrangements were intended to protect them and their Russian co-workers.

He said Russia's rights office under his leadership would open in Chechnya in around two weeks. He said he expected the two Council of Europe envoys to be from Switzerland and France but that this had not yet been confirmed.

Kalamanov said the experts would be free to travel anywhere with the Russian team and see whatever they wished. Their remarks would be part of a joint report to be handed to Kalamanov, who would then decide on passing it on further or discussing it with Gil-Robles.-Reuters