Federation council speaker: raising issue of "international tribunal on Chechnya"
illegitimate
Federation Council (the upper house of Russia's parliament) Speaker Sergei Mironov
has said it would be wrong to raise the issue of the so-called international tribunal
on Chechnya. The very issue provokes perplexity at least, the speaker said when
meeting Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer in Strasbourg
on Thursday.
According to the Federation Council speaker, the now applicable system of law
in Russia "meets the ideals of the Council of Europe" and requires no "interference
from the outside." "All the necessary legal structures have been established in
Chechnya, courts and the prosecutor's office are functioning and criminals are
held responsible on a compulsory basis," Mironov said. He stressed that the recent
referendum on the Chechen constitution had given the process another impetus.
"That's why any appeals to set up a tribunal cannot but provoke perplexity," the
Federation Council speaker said.
Walter Schwimmer replied that as secretary general of the Council of Europe he
"cannot comment on the decisions taken at the session of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe." However, in his personal opinion, PACE's recent resolution
on the international tribunal is "of a conditional nature." According to him,
everything possible should be done "not to damage the confidence in the process
which was launched by the successful referendum and may lead to comprehensive
political settlement." The Council of Europe, for one, is ready to render any
assistance to the process of stabilisation in Chechnya, Schwimmer said.