European Parliament resolution on the case of Andrei Babitsky, freedom of the media and violations of human rights in Chechnya
Date: 2000-02-17
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Russia, communications profession, freedom of the press, human rights, political prisoner

29.11.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 339/277

Thursday 17 February 2000

Calls on the US Government not to proceed with the Accommodation Agreement until the US Con-

3.
gress mandates formal congressional hearings to re-assess the impact of mining in the region;

Calls on the US authorities to organise integration programmes for the Dineh people who have been

4.
relocated;

5.
Calls on its delegation for relations with the United States to discuss, at its next meeting, the Dineh
(Navajo) and Hopi people’s human rights, development, cultural and religious rights and their treatment by
the United States;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the US Govern-

6.
ment, the US Congress, the Navajo and Hopi Tribal Councils and the Governor of the State of Arizona.

16. Human rights: Human rights: Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky

B5-0153, 0155, 0156, 0172 and 0177/2000

European Parliament resolution on the case of Andrei Babitsky, freedom of the media and viola-
tions of human rights in Chechnya

The European Parliament,

/ having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Chechnya, in particular its resolutions of

18 November (1) and 15 December 1999 (2) and 20 January 2000 (3),

/ having regard to Article 2 of the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation between the Russian
Federation and the European Union which states that ‘respect for the democratic principles and
human rights’ constitutes an essential element of the partnership,

/ having regard to the Common Strategy of the European Union on Russia, adopted by the Council on

4 June 1999,

/ having regard to the conclusions of the General Affairs Council of 24 January 2000,

A. deeply concerned about the fate of the Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky who had been covering the
war in Chechnya for Radio Liberty before he was detained at a Russian checkpoint on 16 January
2000 and then supposedly handed over by the Russian authorities to Chechen commanders in
exchange for two Russian prisoners of war,

B.

deeply perplexed by the conflicting declarations about the whereabouts of the Russian journalist,

C. deploring the thousands of war victims among the civilian population of Chechnya killed during the
totally indiscriminate and disproportionate military attacks by the Russian Federal Forces, and deeply
concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian situation of hundreds of thousands of displaced per-
sons in and outside Chechnya,

D.

aware of allegations concerning the ill-treatment of Mr Babitsky by Russian Federal and Security
Forces as well as of allegations that thousands of civilians are being arbitrarily detained, tortured and
humiliated in detention centres, namely Chernokozovo and Mozdok, under the control of the Russian
Federal Forces,

E.

alarmed by many similar cases of detained, threatened or disappeared journalists, casting a bleak sha-
dow on the increasingly battered freedom of the press in the region,

(1) Texts adopted of that Sitting, Item 15.
(2) Texts adopted of that Sitting, Item 23.
(3) Texts adopted of that Sitting, Item 6.

C 339/278

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.11.2000

Thursday 17 February 2000

1.
Expresses its deep concern about the fate of Andrei Babitsky, whose work is a model of free and
independent information in a difficult situation such as the war in Chechnya, and about the conditions
of work for journalists trying to supply information direct from the conflict;

2.
Calls upon the Russian and the Chechen authorities for immediate clarification of this journalist’s
disappearance; calls on the Council, the Member States and the High Representative for the CFSP to inter-
vene with the Russian Government and the Chechen authorities for an immediate clarification of his dis-
appearance;

3.
Calls upon the Russian authorities for immediate clarification of the conditions of detention in the
detention centres, or so-called ‘filtration camps’, of Chernokozovo and Mozdok, reminding them that
everybody responsible for arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and killing of civilians, exposes him- or herself
to the accusation of war crimes and of crimes against humanity;

4.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Council of
Europe, the OSCE, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Russian State Duma and Federal Coun-
cil, the Government of the Russian Federation and the authorities in Chechnya.

17. Human rights: Cambodia

B5-0154 and 0161/2000

European Parliament resolution on the need for an international trial of the Khmer Rouge

The European Parliament,

/ having regard to its previous resolutions on Cambodia,

A. whereas on 8 February 2000 the UN Secretary General wrote to the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun
Sen calling for urgent steps towards establishing a special tribunal to prosecute former Khmer Rouge
leaders,

B. whereas the UN has reacted with great reservations to Cambodia’s final draft of a law to establish a

court to try former Khmer Rouge leaders in which a majority of judges would be Cambodian,

C. whereas the UN is sending a team of legal experts to Phnom Penh soon to try to resolve differences

with Cambodian officials,

D. whereas the UN Secretary-General has identified four key issues having far-reaching implications for
the nature of the tribunal and eventual UN endorsement, namely that those indicted would surrender
or be arrested, that there would be no amnesties or pardons, that international prosecutors and an
investigating judge would be appointed and finally that the majority of judges would not be Cambo-
dian and would be appropriately appointed,

E.

F.

G.

considering the need to try those leaders of Democratic Kampuchea who were responsible for the
deaths of almost two million Cambodians in the 1975-1979 period,

disturbed at the climate of intimidation which seems to be developing against the opposition, which is
openly favourable to this process,

recalling that the democratic process in Cambodia, the stability of the new institutions and the reha-
bilitation of civil society can only become reality if those responsible for the genocide face a fair trial
conducted by an independent court,