FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Glen E. Howard +1 202.364.2466
Washington, DC — The American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) today strongly condemned Sunday's parliamentary elections in Chechnya and called for a return to political negotiations in the war-torn Russian republic.
"Chechnya's parliamentary elections were a farce," observed ACPC Executive Director Glen Howard, "They were not free, they were not fair, and they will do nothing to improve human rights in Russia or resolve the humanitarian crisis in Chechnya."
The elections—the first held in more than six years—saw over three hundred candidates competing for fifty-eight seats in Chechnya's regional parliament. Candidates backed by pro-Moscow Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party, won by a broad margin.
"This vote tightens Ramzan Kadyrov's grip on power and deprives ordinary Chechens of the right to express their political will," Howard noted, "It is ironic that President Putin has embraced parliamentary elections in Chechnya while eliminating direct elections in most other Russian republics. This so-called "managed democracy" policy will only reinforce the abuses and alienation that feed the Chechen insurgency."
International monitors and human rights groups eschewed the elections, citing continued abductions, beatings and disappearances by Russian security forces, as well as the dangers the ongoing separatist insurgency. With most of Chechnya still under martial law, many observers were surprised by the Council of Europe's decision to send a small delegation to the region.
"We were disappointed that Andreas Gross of the Council of Europe and other Western representatives were not more critical of this election," continued Howard, "At a time when the west needs to encourage Moscow to return to the negotiating table, Mr. Gross's presence could lend a troubling measure of credibility to the Kremlin's flawed policies in the North Caucasus."
Founded in 1999, the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC) is a bipartisan coalition of distinguished Americans dedicated to promoting a peaceful end to the war in Chechnya.
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