I. Akhmadov calls on democratic governments to condemn "referendum"

H. E. Ilyas Akhmadov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ChRI calls upon all democratic governments and organizations in the world to strongly condemn Russia’s plan to stage the so called ‘referendum on constitution’ in Chechnya.

“The international community must strongly reject this travesty of free will”.

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
# 03-06

March 14, 2003

The Chechen Foreign Ministry resolutely protests Russia's plans to stage the so-called "referendum on constitution" in Chechnya while holding the entire Chechen nation at gunpoint in the state of terror and impunity that she has deliberately created, and calls upon all democratic governments and organizations in the world to strongly condemn it.

As Olivier Dupuis, a member of European Parliament, put it, the so-called referendum will in fact be a "farce of democracy in which tens of thousands of Russian soldiers will vote in place of the very people they murder, imprison and torture every day, in place of the hundreds and thousands of Chechens who have been driven into exile." No self-respecting democratic government can endorse this unparalleled charade, which makes a mockery of democratic values and principles.

Russia's intention to fake referendum in Chechnya, in fact, is an attack against the free world. It is not only a blatant denial of a nation's right to master its destiny but also an attempt to use the most sacred principle of humanity, the right to choose, to legitimize a crime against it - the genocide. It is in fact a crime against democracy.

Clearly, closing eyes to Russia's plans to fake referendum, while Russia, for the fourth year, continues a policy of genocide, expressed in concentration camps, massacres, extra-judicial executions, tortures and rape, would be a gross failure to prevent a crime against democracy. The international community must strongly reject this travesty of free will.

Signed

Ilyas Akhmadov
The Foreign Minister