MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian president's human rights envoy to Chechnya, Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, has called reports from Western media and human rights' activists about mass killings in the republic a provocation act.
"This is a planned action that concerns a new stage in the information stand-off, aimed at discrediting the referendum and the judicial system in Chechnya and at thwarting the amnesty," he told Interfax on Tuesday.
The envoy feels that in this way, European politicians are trying to justify an initiative brought by Rudolf Bindig, a representative of PACE's judicial committee, to set up an international crimes tribunal in Chechnya.
Sultygov has denied assertions that the Chechen administration has a classified document alleging mass civilian casualties in the republic. "This is a decoy," the envoy said. He lashed out against the Human Rights Watch for claiming alleged involvement of federal forces in mass crimes against civilians. "Rather than a human rights' organization, it is an extremist organization, spreading totalitarian notions about Europe's democratic values," said Sultygov.
He described the rally held by human rights' campaigners in downtown Moscow last Saturday as "a link in the same chain of provocation acts." "However, this is the people's right to protest against a war in Chechnya that was stopped already long ago by the Chechen people," said Sultygov.
He reported to have met on Tuesday with heads of the diplomatic missions of France, Greece, and Italy who made a trip to Chechnya last week. "The diplomats told me that their impressions of the trip were favorable. They sensed tangible changes for the better in the republic," said Sultygov.