Chechen human rights activists oppose referendum on Chechen constitution
Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus – A group of representatives of Chechen human
rights organizations came out against holding a referendum on the Chechen constitution.
This announcement was presented at a conference of civic organisations in
Nazran on January 18.
At the meeting, attended by about 40 representatives of non-governmental
organisations from Chechnya, two key issues were discussed: “Referendum
in the Chechen Republic – suppression of the will of the people or free
expression of the will of the people?“ and “Seeking ways for the implementation
of a democratic approach to solving the conflict between the Russian Federation
and the Chechen Republic.”
“For the Chechens the war means mainly mop-up operations and bombardment,
rather than armies in trenches,” says chairman of the Anti-war Congress
Salambek Maigov. “And our primary task is to bring it to an end. However,
by methods such as a referendum you cannot decide on the issue of terminating
military activities in Chechnya.”
“We understand that by our boycott we cannot stop the referendum, but it
will discredit itself when half a year after the announcement of stabilisation
of the situation in the republic people will see that nothing will have really
changed,” says Maigov.
Instead, human rights activists supported an alternative project presented by
the chairman of the Chechen Committee for National Salvation Ruslan Badalov, to
carry out a referendum among Russian citizens on whether to continue or stop waging
military activities in the Chechen Republic. Ruslan Badalov was given the task
to set up an initiative group for advancing this idea.
The human rights campaigners also supported an initiative presented by Lema Shakhmurzayev,
the organiser of the conference and chairman of the political coalition “National
Unity”. In order to settle the military conflict in the Chechen Republic,
Shakhmurzayev proposed they should approach Aslan Maskhadov and Vladimir Putin
with a suggestion of holding peace talks.
“The main subject of controversy between the two fighting sides is the issue
of the status of Chechnya,” claims the activist. “Limited in their
activities by the fundamental laws of the country, Maskhadov and Putin have no
legal basis for solving this issue. However, they may forward it to the
Chechen people, so that by means of any democratic procedure they could decide
on the issue of their own sovereignty by themselves,” he explains.
Shakhmurzayev sees such a way in a multi-stage election of the National Assembly
– a non-governmental body of general nationwide authority, consisting of
200-400 delegates.
“Indirect voting rights and a multi-stage electoral system (or a multi-stage
system of delegation) are the only methods suiting the political culture, legal
notions and mentality of Chechens,” explains Lema Shakhmurzayev.
According to his plan, the Assembly would then establish a state, give it a constitution,
and elect the head of state from the members of the Assembly.
“This would help bring an end to the war in Chechnya as well as save Russia’s
face,” says Shakhmurzayev.
According to Shakhmurzayev, he has already reached a certain degree of agreement
with a number of Chechen field commanders and politicians.