The Speaker of the Chechen Parliament Ruslan Alikhadjiev had been tortured to deathGovernment of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria announced today that the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament Ruslan Alikhadjiev had been tortured to death by Russian Secret Service in Lefortovo prison of Moscow. First announcement came from office of President of the ChRI Aslan Maskhadov early this morning. According to the office of the President, Ruslan Alikhdjiev’s heart failed when Russians were torturing him in the Lefotovo prison. An hour latter, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the ChRI Ilyas Akhmadov also issued an urgent statement. The Government of the ChRI has learned that the Speaker of the democratically elected Chechen Parliament Ruslan Alikhadjiev has died in "Lefortovo" prison in Moscow after being tortured by his Russian jailers, stated the Foreign Minister. According to the statement, The Russians wanted to make Ruslan Alikhadjiev to renounce President Maskhadov and declare that the Chechen Parliament supports Russia. " The government of the ChRI has appealed many times to the world community and requested its help to insure the safety of Ruslan Alikhadjiev as well as to secure his freedom", said Ilays Akhmadov. "We regret that our calls were not heard", added the FM, "we cannot understand why the Council of Europe, the OSCE, the Red Cross and leaders of democratic states failed to heed our pleas and secure safety and freedom for Ruslan Alikhadjiev." Deputy head of the Chechen Parliament Selim Beshaev also confirmed the report today. We have learnt that he died when his jailers were torturing him, said Beshaev through telephone to a reporter of Chechenpress. Chechenpress also contacted today Roman Khalilov, who heads Political Department of the Chechen Foreign Ministry. Confirming the reports, he said "we knew about the death of Ruslan Alikhadjiev a week ago, but decided not to announce the death before Ruslan Alikhadjiev’s family was informed". According to Khalilov, Chechen Foreign Minister has appealed today to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe requesting to consider a possibility of initiating an international investigation of the death of Ruslan Alikhadjiev. Khalilov also said that similar requests have been made to the OSCE and to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights.
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