09/07/2010 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 09.07.2010 - The Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, Dick Marty (Switzerland/ALDE) has described as "unacceptable and unworthy" the words of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who publicly described the staff of Russian human rights NGO Memorial as "enemies of the people, enemies of the law, enemies of the state".
According to Dick Marty, "such words, similar to those uttered by Mr Kadyrov against Natalya Estemirova, a member of Memorial’s staff subsequently murdered last summer, are barely disguised threats". He called on the federal Russian authorities "to ask the Chechen authorities to ensure the protection of human rights defenders and further to intensify dialogue with civil society, following the example of President Medvedyev’s meeting with representatives of NGOs in May".
On 22 June 2010 the PACE unanimously approved a critical report on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus prepared by Mr Marty.