http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/article.php?id=10751

Chechen deputy exposes provocation

The chairman of the committee for foreign relations of the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria [CRI], Akhyad Idigov, has made a revelatory statement about the Kremlin's fraudulent attempt to declare the so-called "impeachment" of CRI President Aslan Maskhadov. Idigov states that Moscow's actions cannot be viewed as anything but  forgery. However, the Chechen parliamentarian thought that there is a positive side to the Kremlin's clumsy attempts to remove the powers of the CRI president - by their actions and statements the Kremlin regime has de facto recognized the legitimacy of President Maskhadov and the CRI bodies of power.

Statement on the attempt to remove President Maskhadov from his post by a group of deputies of the CRI parliament

STATEMENT

The so-called "elections", scheduled by the Kremlin in Ichkeria, which is occupied by foreign troops, and the so-called "impeachment" of CRI President Maskhadov announced by a group of former CRI parliament deputies, are absolutely illegitimate and contradict the CRI Constitution. These actions also contradict international law.

All these attempts by Moscow are cynical and simply strengthen the people's hatred for the killers - the occupiers and their henchmen.

The false campaign of constant attempts to remove President Maskhadov, elected by the Chechen people on the basis of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, and to elect a puppet on the basis of a foreign constitution, the Constitution of the Russian Federation, are an attempt by the Kremlin, which has not achieved military victory, to snatch political victory from the hands of the Chechen people.

The bankruptcy of the idea of dismissing President Maskhadov from his post lies in the fact that all the reports of the holding on 5 September 2003 of a "sitting" of the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria are in actual fact not correct and are blatant forgery and fraud.

Under the law on elections to the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, in 1997 63 deputies should have been elected to parliament. The CRI Central Electoral Commission had been able to complete the election of deputies in only 53 constituencies when war began (July 1999).

Two deputies of parliament, Sh. Kaliyev and Dakalov, were deprived of their deputies' powers and only one deputy was elected in their place. As a result, there were only 52 elected deputies, rather than the necessary 63.

Under the regulations, parliament passes resolutions only when no fewer than half of the overall number of deputies are present, which means 32 deputies. And a resolution is passed only when no fewer than 32 deputies vote in favour.

When resolutions of a constitutional nature are passed, such as impeachment of the president, the regulations and Constitution of the CRI make the presence of at least two-thirds of deputies at the parliament sitting mandatory, which is 42 deputies. And at least 42 deputies must vote in favour of a resolution on a constitutional issue.

It is common knowledge that as of today seven CRI parliament deputies have died in battles with the occupying Russian troops, who invaded our country, one deputy died in a car crash and one was blown up by the occupiers. These are R. [Ruslan] Alikhadzhiyev, V. [Vakhid] Bamatgiriyev, R. [Rizvan] Lorsanov, S. Daudov, R. [Ramzan] Akhmarov,  N. Mintayev and S. Gairbekova.

It is also common knowledge that nine CRI parliament deputies are outside the borders of Russia and Chechnya. On 5 September 2003 they certainly could not have taken part in passing the resolution on impeaching the president. These are deputies A. Magomadov,  Dozhidayev, B. Beloyev, A. [Akhyat] Idigov, R. Islamov, T. Kaimov, S. Bustayev, S. [Selim] Beshayev and B. Izhiyev.

As a result, when no fewer than 42 CRI parliament deputies needed to be present at the notorious sitting of parliament, only 36 deputies could physically have been present, even assuming that they had all gone over to the occupiers' side. However, more than half of the remaining 36 deputies, with whom we managed to get in touch, confirmed that they knew nothing about any sitting of parliament and could not have taken part in it anyway.

This proves that the so-called "resolution of the CRI parliament" on dismissing President Maskhadov from his post is wide of the mark, it is illegal, it is false, it is slanderous and is blatant fraud. All the attempts by a separate handful of former CRI parliament deputies, who fixed themselves up with [Russian presidential aide Sergey]  Yastrzhembskiy, to refer to the legality of the permissive changes in the quorum of a sitting of the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, and also of the changes in the clauses of the regulations of the CRI parliament by the collection of signatures, which are known to be largely fictional, or via a telephone poll on the issue, are absurd and inherently illegitimate. These actions crudely violate the clauses of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the regulations of the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

In this regard we remind the international community yet again about the criminal nature of the actions of the Russian occupying troops against the Chechen people and state and call on the world to listen to our calls. We also call on all people of good faith to cast off their conventionality and join the defence of the Chechen people.

The Kremlin's latest attempt to divert us from our chosen path has already met with failure and they will fail in future too. However, there is a positive aspect to all this unsightly story.

By their clumsy political provocation the Kremlin regime have confirmed that at the highest level they de facto recognize the legitimacy of the powers of CRI President Maskhadov and the entire CRI state system of power and, as a consequence, the legitimacy of the independent Chechen state.

Akhyad Idigov, chairman of the committee for foreign relations of the parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.


2003-09-15 00:35:54