Press Release, 08.09.2016

Svetlana Gannushkina, renowned human rights defender, Chair of the Grzhdanskoy Sodeystviye (Civil Assistance) Committee and candidate to the State Duma running in YABLOKO regional group in Chechnya, and Sergei Kovalyov, her representative, famous human rights defender, member of YABLOKO Federal Political Committee and Co-Chair of YABLOKO Human Rights Faction, called Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Chechnya and one of top candidates for the State Duma from the United Russia party, on the pre-election debate. Human rights defenders have made such a statement today at a press conference in the YABLOKO office on 8 September. Moderator of the conference was YABLOKO Chair Emilia Slabunova.

Gannushkina and Kovalyov identified a number of issues that they would like to raise in the debate with the head of the Chechen Republic. In particular, they focused on the situation with human rights in the Republic.

Svetlana Gannushkina told that she knows Chechnya and its problems well. Some time ago she opened the reception office of Memorial human rights society in the Republic, launch programmes for medical assistance and heath care, aid to schools, organised seminars for judges and lawyers in the years after the wars in Chechnya.

Gannushkina also stressed that “there is only one law in Chechnya – orders of Ramzan Kadyrov”. She gave the most recent examples of this: disappearance of Ruslan Martagov, a journalist who criticised Kadyrov’s regime at Radio Liberty on 23 August; apology by Ramzan Dzhalaldinov brought to the head of the Republic for his appeal to the Russian President on poverty in his native village; public “repentance” by Ayshat Inayeva for her address to Kadyrov.

Svetlana Gannushkina also noted that the overall situation with human rights in Chechnya affected her election campaign.

“My friends live in Chechnya. But I can not go there for campaigning or invite them to a public event, as I do not know what will happen to them after that,” she said.

Answering journalists’ question of journalists about the investigation of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, Gannushkina said that the murder of Boris Nemtsov had no impact on the position of citizens in the region deprived of their rights.

“The only way to push the developments [in the Republic] towards the evolutionary path is to come to the polls and support intelligent, responsible people,” Gannushkina summed.

According to Russia’s legendary human rights defender Sergei Kovalyov, the Chechen Republic became a testing ground for Russia where the latter tested how to use the administrative resource, therefore a single-mandate candidate had no chances t win there.

“I am going to tell you one thing which is normally considered unacceptable to speak about in a campaign. Svetlana Alexeyevna [Gannushkina] will not win in the elections in Chechnya, not because people in the Republic do not know Svetlana Alexeyevna,” Kovlyov said.

Kovalev stressed goal of the nomination of Gannushkina was to tell the public about the situation with human rights in Chechnya.

“We in Russia also too often find ourselves in the grip of arbitrary rule. But arbitrary rule in Chechnya is atrocious,” he said.

The invitation to the debate have been already sent to the headquarters of the ruling United Russia party. YABLOKO proposes to conduct the debate in the VGTRK-Grozny television channel on a commercial basis. According to the law, a party is not entitled to pay for the airtime of its opponents, so YABLOKO proposes participation in the discussion on a parity basis.