Chechnya's status can't
be determined without de Gaulle
Oleg Mironov
Moscow, RUSSIA. A constitutional referendum in Chechnya is in breach of
European norms and principles. Many provisions of a proposed Chechen Constitution
are contrary to both the Russian Constitution and federal legislation, declared
Russia's human rights ombudsman Oleg Mironov, speaking at a press conference
in Moscow on February 7. However, he stressed, that he still supports the
idea of calling such referendum.
Explaining his position, the ombudsman said: "Every single citizen of Chechnya
should know that his opinion counts." When asked why not hold a referendum
on Chechnya's independence, he replied that would contravene the Russian
Constitution. A PRIMA correspondent recalled in this connection that Chechnya,
which practically broke away from Russia in 1991, did not participate in
the 1993 referendum on theRussian Constitution, and asked why Russia could
not follow France's example that had held a referendum on Algiers in the
early 1960s following a long war. Mironov responded that "we don't have
a de Gaulle to do that." Summing up the work of his office, the human
rights ombudsman noted that they receive over 3,000 complaints a month.
Over 50% of them are usually related to "criminal matters" such as refusals
to open criminal proceedings, maltreatment in places of detention, police abuse,
etc.