Representatives from 50 human rights organizations warned Sunday that the referendum
due to be held in Chechnya this month risked being mired in corruption and fanning
the flames of war.
"If the people vote for the Kremlin's draft constitution, the war will not stop,"
warned Ruslan Badalov of the Chechen Committee for National Salvation.
Voters are set to vote March 23 on a new constitution aimed at solidifying the
breakaway republic's status as part of the Russian Federation, but the plan has
been widely criticized as coming to soon in the war-torn republic.
"To talk about a referendum while the population is living in such horrible conditions
is amoral," Badalov charged at the meeting in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia,
a republic neighboring Chechnya.
"The referendum should only be organized after military action has come to an
end," he said.
Federal forces and separatist rebels continue to battle almost daily, more than
three years after fighting broke out in October 1999.
Memorial, a respected Russian human rights group, warned that authorities were
aiming to manipulate the results of the referendum to ensure the draft constitution
would pass.
Authorities overcounted the Chechen population during a recent census and came
up with 200,000 "dead souls" to vote in the election, warned Usam Baysayev.
"Memorial decided not to participate in the referendum's organization, even as
observors," he said, calling for the referendum to take place only after security
and proper voter lists had been established.
The Kremlin has promoted the referendum as proof that the war in Chechnya is coming
to a peaceful end, but observers and rights groups have urged President Vladimir
Putin to first open peace talks with the separatist leadership which he refuses
to recognize.