CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Calendar of Events - April 2002

This schedule of major events related to the conflict in Chechnya is continuously updated and completed. Announcements for planned or expected events or any other suggestions are most welcome (e-mail: mail (at) watchdog.cz)

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty starts broadcasting in the Chechen language. Originally, the broadcasting was scheduled for February 28 but due to a request of the USA administration it was postponed.

Two Danish MPs interpellate Danish Foreign Minister about the country's reaction to human rights abuses committed by the Russian Federation in Chechnya.
More info is available at the website of the Danish Support Committee for Chechnya (only in Danish).

The Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe holds its regular meeting, during which Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer should present his 17th interim report on the presence of the Council's experts in Chechnya.

Presidential elections in Ingushetia.

A two-day world fast for Chechnya, organised by the Transnational Radical Party, originally planned for March 12-14, takes place from 1 p.m. April 8 till 1 p.m. April 10 to coincide with the European Parliament debate and resolution on Chechnya.
More information is available on the website of Transnational Radical Party.

German human rights organisation Society for Threatened Peoples ("Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker") holds a vigil at 5 p.m. on the north side of the Goether square in Weimar on the occasion of the talks between German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Weimar.
More information is available on the website of GfbV (in German).

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation reviews an appeal of Chechen field commander Salman Raduyev against his life sentence passed by the Supreme Court of Dagestan on December 25, 2001.

Vladimir Kalamanov, the Russian President's special representative for human rights in Chechnya, will be in Strasbourg to discuss continued cooperation between the Council of Europe and his office.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Walter Schwimmer, visits Moscow to have discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and other Russian political figures, in particular on the future presence of the experts of the Council of Europe in Chechnya.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) holds its plenary session (the second part of the 2002 session).
The draft order of business is available at the website of PACE.

The second round of presidential elections in Ingushetia, in which Alikhan Amirkhanov, Ingush deputy to the Russian State Duma, and Murat Zyazikov, former Deputy of the Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the Southern Federal Region, will compete.

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Ongoing, long-term activities or events:

March 18 - April 26, Geneva, Switzerland

The fifty-eighth session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
The draft report on Chechnya is available here (a PDF document).
More information on the whole session is available at the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights..

January 20 - May 10, the Czech and Slovak Republics

Travelling photograph exhibition "Before the War I Had Toys". Through photos taken by Czech photographer Iva Zímová you can meet young inhabitants of Grozny who suffered during the “anti-terrorist” operation: children who witnessed the bombing of the city, children who saw the killing of their neighbours, children who lost their parents, children who lost their homes and their toys.

For more information see the website of the organiser - Berkat - or send an e-mail to dada@ora.cz.

February 21 - August 4, Amsterdam

Photos from Chechnya 1868-2002 - An exhibition of photographs from Chechnya takes place in the Dutch Resistance Museum, Amsterdam. More information in English is available here.

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