(24 Jan 2003)
1. Lord Judd enters press conference
2. Cutaway journalists
3. Press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Lord Judd, EU Parliament Human Rights envoy:
"If we are going to have a lasting solution in Chechnya, I think there is a widespread agreement that there has to be a political solution. And, therefore, my report will obviously concentrate on the issue of political solution, and in that context the issue of the referendum on the 23rd of March and the proposed constitution will obviously feature in my report."
5. Cutaway journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Lord Judd, EU Parliament Human Rights envoy:
"In the camps of displaced people in Ingushetia yesterday, none of us could find a single person who had seen the draft constitution about which there is to be a referendum, not a single person had been invited to a meeting to discuss what was being done."
7. Cutaway journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Lord Judd, EU Parliament Human Rights envoy:
"We must ask our Russian colleagues, the Russian government to think again about the timing of this referendum even at this stage, to think again about the time, to think again about what needs to be done to prepare the ground for a successful referendum. Because we want a solution, we want it for Russia because we believe Russia needs a solution, not just Chechnya, Russia needs a solution. The world needs a solution because if we do not get a solution that lasts, it will be one more step towards global confrontation between terrorism and the rest of the world."
9. Press conference
STORYLINE:
A European human rights envoy said on Friday that Russia should put off the planned referendum on a new constitution for Chechnya.
He said poor security in the region made it impossible for residents to be adequately informed of the issues they would be asked to vote on.
Lord Frank Judd, who spent three days this week in Chechnya and surrounding regions, told a news conference in Moscow that he would recommend that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the continent's top human rights watchdog, ask Russia to reconsider the timing of the plebiscite.
The vote is scheduled for March 23.
Lord Judd added that, at one of refugee camps in Ingushetia, members of the PACE delegation could not find one person who had seen the draft constitution and was ready to express his opinion during the referendum.
In his opinion, a referendum could be merely a "formality" and would not immediately produce a political solution to Chechnya's problems.
Russia's first war in Chechnya from 1994-96 ended when Russian forces pulled out after a failed 20-month campaign against separatist rebels.
Russian troops returned to Chechnya in 1999, after rebels launched an incursion into a neighboring republic and after a series of apartment house bombings in Russia, that left some 300 people dead.
The war has settled into a pattern of small-scale skirmishes, military sweeps for suspected rebels, frequent land mine explosions and occasional large rebel attacks such as the simultaneous car-bomb explosions outside the Chechen government headquarters last month.
These explosions killed at least 72 people,
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
