Human Rights Ombudsman for Chechnya Abdul-Khakim Sultygov described the
fact that the European Court for Human Rights had accepted for consideration
the complaints of six residents of Chechnya as an attempt to put political
pressure on Russia.
The complaints, accusing the Russian army of unfounded executions and other
violations of human rights, were accepted on January 16.
"Unfortunately, some officials in the Council of Europe make a political
game out of regular court deliberations," Sultygov told Interfax on Thursday.
He said he knows about many similar situations, in which Chechen residents
launched complaints to the Strasbourg-based court, and the Western press
inflated the issue. "Such things usually happen before a PACE session. They
simply want to tell the world, See how everything is bad in Russia," Sultygov
said. He remarked that PACE will hold its next session on January 27.
"Despite the abundance of such cases, I cannot recall a single ruling of
the Strasbourg-based court in favor of the plaintiffs. In addition, the
fact that some of our citizens appeal to that court does not mean that they
have used every chance to solve their problems at home," he said.