First sitting of Public Council of Grozny held in Chechnya

On February 15, Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, hosted the first sitting of the City Public Council founded with the aim to assist in ensuring human rights.

The members of the Public Council have expressed their intention to toughly oppose those who try "to stir up the public opinion," runs the statement of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The sitting was addressed by Omarpasha Khakimov, employee of the office of the Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, who supported the measures of the administration to dissolve the temporary accommodation centres (TACs) for internally displaced persons.

We remind you that not only human rights activists protested against dissolution of TACs. The prosecutor's offices of two Grozny Districts have found attributes of law violation in the actions of the administration.

The Public Council was founded in the middle of February and is headed by Mayor of Grozny Muslim Khuchiev.

The Public Council includes the employees of the mayoralty, the deputy minister of internal affairs for the city of Grozny, the head of the department of social protection of the administration of Grozny, and representatives of the clergy - cadis of four city districts.

Five places out of 14 have been allocated to representatives of public organizations. However, among them there is not a single human rights organization. One of the NGOs - the "Voice of the Mountains" - deals with a Republic's painful problem of landmines, from which peaceful people perish and become invalids. The HRC "Memorial" knows nothing about the remaining four NGOs-members of the Council.