TRP/O.Dupuis: THE AD HOC
EP DELEGATION SETS OUT (SELLS OUT) FOR THE RUSSIAN DUMA
CHECHNYA: THE AD HOC EP DELEGATION SETS OUT (SELLS OUT) FOR THE RUSSIAN DUMA,
LEGITIMISING THE PARODY OF DEMOCRACY IN THE NAME OF THE WHOLE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Strasbourg, 4 June 2003. In accordance with article 28 of the Rules of Procedure,
the Radical MEP Olivier Dupuis has lodged a written question to Mr Pat Cox, President
of the European Parliament, on the conduct of the Ad Hoc EP Committee on Chechnya.
"In a letter dated 10 April 2003 to Mr Helmar Brok, President of the EP Foreign
Affairs Committee, Mr Reino Paasilinna, President of the Ad Hoc EP Committee on
Chechnya, asks on behalf of all the members of his delegation that Parliament
should decide immediately to send observation missions to Chechnya for the "presidential
and parliamentary elections" due to take place in the near future. According to
Mr Paasilinna and the members of the Ad Hoc Delegation, these elections are part
of the constitutional process in progress in Chechnya, the first stage of which
is said to have been the so-called constitutional referendum, which was,
however, considered by numerous independent observers in Moscow and by much of
the international press as a veritable farce and a parody of democracy.
This position is not only completely scandalous in that it legitimises the policy
of terror of the Russian authorities in Chechnya, but also completely unacceptable
politically in that it is in total contradiction with the official and oft-repeated
position of the European Parliament that calls for the commencement of negotiations
between the Russian authorities and the legitimate Chechen authorities, that is
the government of Mr Maskhadov.
Moreover, in an e-mail dated 28 May, Mr Paasilinna tells us that the visit to
Chechnya of the Ad Hoc Delegation (expected for almost two years!) will last less
than 36 hours in all and that the Duma will be taking care of the organisation
of the visit.
What steps do you intend to take to prevent the participation of the European
Parliament and thus the legitimisation of the parody of democracy constituted
by the so-called constitutional process organised by the Kremlin in Chechnya?
Do you not believe, moreover, that the (grotesque, to say the least) programme
of the visit of the Ad Hoc Delegation to Chechnya should lead Parliament simply
to cancel the whole visit?"
You can support the Akhmadov Plan for a provisional UN Administration on Chechnya
by signing the appeal for peace and democracy in Chechnya on www.radicalparty.org
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Olivier Dupuis
Member of the European Parliament
http://www.radicalparty.org/
tel. +32 2 284 7198
fax +32 2 284 9198