The Imposition of a Fake Political Settlement in the Northern Caucasus. The 2003 Chechen Presidential Election

This book explains why Russias War on Terror shows little sign of success. It provides first-hand accounts of recent developments in Chechnya, and is supplemented with thematic summaries as well as numerous documents. In the manipulated election of October 2003, the favorite of the Kremlin, Akhmad Kadyrov, was made President of the Chechen Republic only to be killed seven months later in a terrorist attack. While a political settlement is urgently needed and Kadyrovs death is to be regretted, evidence shows that the 2003 presidential election bore no relation to a sincere political solution. The President was imposed on Chechnya and had little legitimacy among the Chechen people. The book describes how violence in the Northern Caucasus attributed to gangsters, war lords, Wahhabists, al Qaedists, and to hatred of Russia hasbeen reciprocated by law enforcement agencies with cleansing operations, disappearances, and targeted assassinations. The reciprocity of violence has maintained the scale of lawlessness, and further diminished the prospects of solution.The book is an invitation to the Russian public and the international community to launch a frank discussion on the situation in the Northern Caucasus in order to find a way out from a bloody crisis that has been lingering on for more than a decade now.

Autorentext

The editor: Tanya Loskhina, MA, is chairperson of the human rights think-tank DEMOS - Center for Information and Research (http://demos-center.ru), and a former executive director of the Moscow Helsinki Group. She is also a researcher with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and a freelance journalist. The English-language editors: Ray Thomas, BA, MSc, PhD, is a Research Fellow in Official Statistics at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. Mary Mayer, BA, is a freelance translator from Russian and French living in the UK.

Klappentext

This book explains why Russia's "War on Terror" shows little sign of success. It provides first-hand accounts of recent developments in Chechnya, and is supplemented with thematic summaries as well as numerous documents. In the manipulated election of October 2003, the favorite of the Kremlin, Akhmad Kadyrov, was made President of the Chechen Republic only to be killed seven months later in a terrorist attack. While a political settlement is urgently needed and Kadyrov's death is to be regretted, evidence shows that the 2003 "presidential election" bore no relation to a sincere political solution. The President was imposed on Chechnya and had little legitimacy among the Chechen people. The book describes how violence in the Northern Caucasus attributed to gangsters, war lords, Wahhabists, al Qaedists, and to hatred of Russia has been reciprocated by "law enforcement" agencies with "cleansing operations", "disappearances", and targeted assassinations. The reciprocity of violence has maintained the scale of lawlessness, and further diminished the prospects of solution.The book is an invitation to the Russian public and the international community to launch a frank discussion on the situation in the Northern Caucasus in order to find a way out from a bloody crisis that has been lingering on for more than a decade now.