RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No.
119, Part I, 25 June 2003
PACE Namens new rapporteur for Chechnya.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has named Swiss parliamentarian
Andreas Gross as its new rapporteur for Chechnya, succeeding Lord Frank Judd who
stepped down earlier this year after the PACE declined to support his demand that
the planned referendum on a new Chechen constitution be postponed (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 30 and 31 January 2003). Gross, who earlier served as PACE rapporteur
for Azerbaijan, described his new duties to Interfax as "the hardest mission"
anyone could be tasked with in Europe today. He praised Judd's impartial approach
to Chechnya and vowed that he will attempt to emulate
it. LF