Mikail Ezhiev not approved as head of Public Council under Grozny Mayoralty

Mikail Ezhiev, a well-known public figure of Chechnya and the Chairman of the Republic's Human Rights Centre, has refuted the information about his appointment to the position of the head of the Public Council under the administration of the city of Grozny. Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the press service of the city mayoralty that the Public Council would be headed by Mikail Ezhiev.

"Indeed, at the meeting in Grozny on June 30 NGO representatives nominated my candidature to the position of the chairman of the Public Council created under the administration of Grozny," Mr Ezhiev said.

"The participants voted, and my person was supported. What was left - to officially approve by powers (it should have been done by Muslim Khuchiev, head of Grozny's administration), but it never happened. Then I learnt that the post was granted to Adlan Dinaev (head of the public organization 'Laman Az' (Voice of Mountains)," he added.

An employee of one of local human rights organizations asserts that the decision to appoint Ezhiev as chairman of the Public Council under the administration of the city of Grozny was cancelled under request of Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic.

"I don't know what sort of 'Public Council' it is, if public activists are in fact deprived of the right to elect their head?" another NGO member is indignant. "Power bodies 'recommend' their people to these or those positions in public organizations, and they are approved without delay."