RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No.
43, Part I, 6 March 2003
MORE OFFICIALS CRITICIZE PROPOSED CHECHEN WAR-CRIMES TRIBUNAL.
A proposal by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Legal Affairs
and Human Rights Committee to set up an international tribunal to investigate
alleged war crimes in Chechnya is "absurd," Foreign Ministry official Yevgenii
Voronin told journalists in Moscow on 5 March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 March
2003). Acknowledging that the proposal is still at the draft stage, Voronin nonetheless
condemned its "spirit and tone," saying it is "openly anti-Russian," according
to ITAR-TASS. Also on 5 March, State Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev rejected the
proposal as superfluous, Interfax reported. Seleznev suggested that its author,
German Bundestag deputy Rudolf Bindig, is unaware of the number of criminal cases
brought against both Chechen fighters and Russian military personnel suspected
of committing war crimes.