|
SATYAGRAHA FOR CHECHNYA: THE TWO-DAY HUNGER STRIKE TO TAKE
PLACE FROM MONDAY 8 APRIL TO WEDNESDAY 10 APRIL
Dear friends,
Following the decision of the President of the EP Delegation for relations
with Russia, Bart Staes, to allow the three Chechen ministers to speak
to the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the decision taken by various
parliamentary groups to include the question of Chechnya on the agenda
of the next session of the EP, I have decided to end my hunger strike
and have invited Andrei Rodionov, the Secretary of the Radical Anti-militarist
Association in Moscow, and Umar Khanbiev, the Chechen Minister of Health,
to do likewise.
At the same time we have invited all those who have announced their intention
of joining the two-day hunger strike from 12 to 14 March to postpone their
action to April, to coincide with the next session of the European Parliament.
In the last few hours, in fact, there have been positive signals from
various parliamentary groups, in particular from the PPE, the Liberals
and the Greens, who have promised to include the question of Chechnya
on the agenda of the plenary session of the EP in April. These positive
signals follow the decision of the President of the EP Delegation for
relations with Russia, Bart Staes, to arrange the audition of the Chechen
ministers Akhmed Zakaiev, Ylias Akhmadov and Umar Khanbiev, attended by
about a dozen deputies including the two co-Presidents of the Green group,
Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Monica Frassoni, Bernd Posselt of the PPE group,
and Harlem Désir of the PSE group, as well as a meeting between the Chechen
delegation and the President of the PPE group Hans-Gert Poettering and
the President of the Liberal group Graham Watson.
These important signs of interest, and the commitment made by various
parliamentary groups to include the question of Chechnya on the agenda
of the plenary session of the EP in April, must lead us to redouble our
efforts to ensure that the European Parliament finds the strength and
courage to adopt a bold, wide-reading text, committing itself to a series
of concrete initiatives such as:
- the audition in the near future of two Russian and Chechen negotiators;
- an audition in the EP of the Russian and Chechen authorities and
of various individuals and organisations who have, over the last few years,
witnessed the systematic violation of the fundamental rights in Chechnya;
- the launch of a large-scale humanitarian operation for Chechnya in
Chechnya itself, as well as the provision of hospitality for thousands
of Chechen refugees, beginning with the sick and the wounded, within the
European Union.
For this reason, we invite you to join the two-day hunger strike which
will take place from 13.00 hours on 8 April to 13.00 hours on 10 April,
to coincide with the EP debate and resolution on Chechnya. In the meantime
we also invite you to send urgent messages to MEPs, asking them to take
up a strong stance on the tragic situation in Chechnya. You can find their
e-mail addresses on the home page of the TRP website . On 8, 9 and 10
April our friends from the Comité Tchètchénie of Strasbourg will be organising
rallies outside the European Parliament.
Thank you for your support,
Olivier Dupuis
|
