WRITTEN QUESTION P-1100/01

by Olivier Dupuis (TDI) to the Council

(28 March 2001)

Subject: Chechnya

On 25 February of this year, a mass grave containing 60 bodies was discovered in Khankala, on the outskirts of Grozny, less than a kilometre from the headquarters of the Russian forces in Chechnya. According to

human rights organisations and various press reports, 16 of the bodies have been identified as those of Chechen civilians who had been missing since their arrest and detention by Russian troops. These people were in all probability victims of extra-judicial execution. Statements were taken from people who had reported a relative or close friend as missing and identified the body at the morgue set up by the Ministry for Emergency Situations in Grozny. Of the 16 bodies thus identified, 12 were of civilians arrested since last December while four others had been arrested the previous June or August.

Is the Council aware of the serious nature of these developments? If so, what action has it taken - or does it intend to take - to ensure that an international commission of inquiry ascertains the truth about this affair and all the cases of missing persons that have been reported? More generally, does the Council not consider that its policy in relation to Russia is increasingly coming to resemble a form of complicity in the criminal policy being pursued in Chechnya by the Russian authorities?

Reply

(27 September 2001)

It was with both sorrow and revulsion that the Council learnt the distressing news of the discovery of sixty bodies in a Grozny suburb. As in all such cases, the Council followed reports of the find, and the conflicting accusations that surrounded it.

The EU has spoken out loud and clearly against all attacks on human rights and dignity in Chechnya, whoever may be their authors. While recognising the difficulties Russia is facing along its Southern borders, the EU has been particularly vocal in criticising the Russian government for its role in the Chechen republic of its country. Time and again, the EU has raised this issue at the very highest level with the Russian authorities. It was brought up at the meeting between the European Council and President Putin in Stockholm on 23 March, at the EU-Russia Cooperation Council in Luxembourg on 10 April and most recently at the Summit with President Putin in Moscow on 17 May.

Ever since the beginning of the conflict, the EU has given its full support to both the OSCE Assistance Group and the Council of Europe (CoE). The EU recognises that these institutions can play a certain role in improving the human rights situation in Chechnya, including by helping to investigate all the cases of missing persons that have been reported. The EU therefore regrets the delays experienced by the OSCE in returning to the region, and has called on Russia to remove its objections. On a more positive note, the EU welcomes, however, the setting up of a joint working group between the offices of the Russian Prosecutor General, the Chechen Prosecutor, and that of Mr Kalamanov, Russian Presidential Special Representative for human rights in Chechnya, assisted by CoE experts.

The EU has consistently adopted an outspoken and principled stand, at no small cost to its immediate relations with Russia. This position has been fully in line with the EU's general stance on human rights, as laid out recently in the resolution that it presented to the 2001 session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (2001/24). The EU continues to put pressure on Russia with a view to bringing the Russian authorities to rapidly take the necessary steps to improve the situation in Chechnya.

Nonetheless, it is the firm and considered conviction of the Council that engagement is the best path by which the EU may work to improve the situation in the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation. Without dialogue there would be no way for us to present our views to Russia, and they would be able to ignore the strength of European feelings concerning this important issue. The Council believes that the fact that Russia has been taking steps in the right direction - albeit belatedly and not going far enough - vindicates this approach. At the recent EU-Russia Summit in Moscow, President Putin acknowledged that Russia had not done enough to win back the trust of the Chechen population. He agreed that the humanitarian situation in Chechnya was serious. He invited the EU to put forward guidelines for the improvement of the work of humanitarian aid organisations active in the region. President Putin also suggested to restructure the ongoing assistance efforts in order to create conditions and incentives for the IDPs to return.

The work of Mr Kalamanov's office, in which staff from the Council of Europe participate, the setting-up of a civil judiciary, initial charges for human rights violations and the adoption of some reconstruction measures are all first steps in the right direction, even though they are still inadequate. However, the Council will continue to insist that the Russian authorities bring to justice all those responsible for human rights violations.