Three HRC members state cancellation of travel to Chechnya

Andrei Babushkin, Igor Kalyapin and Maxim Shevchenko have reported about the final decision of the members of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC) not to go to Chechnya within a series of outreach meetings in Northern Caucasus. Chechen officials treat the situation around the rights defenders' arrival as provocative.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a series of travel sessions of the HRC in Northern Caucasus should be held from May 30 to June 9. Today, it became known that the acting head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov refused to meet the HRC delegation due to the fact that Igor Kalyapin, the head of the "Committee for the Prevention of Torture" (CPT), is a member of the delegation.

The decision that the members of the HRC will go from Dagestan to Ingushetia, bypassing Chechnya, was made last night, said Andrei Babushkin.

He also expressed support to Igor Kalyapin, noting the importance of his work in Chechnya.

In his turn, Nikolai Svanidze, a member of the HRC, believes that Ramzan Kadyrov's unwillingness to meet rights defenders will greatly complicate their work in the region.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.