- Russian-Chechen Friendship Society
Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) is a
non-governmental organization that monitors situation withhuman rights inChechnya and other parts of theNorth Caucasus . RFCFS produces daily press releases on serious human rights violations. The Society has its main office inNizhny Novgorod , where it produces newspaper "Rights Protection" jointly with the Nizhnii NovgorodHuman Rights Society . RFCFS received the 2004 Recognition Award by theInternational Helsinki Federation for Human Rights . [http://www.watchdog.cz/index.php?show=000000-000008-000004-000084&lang=1]The director of the RCFS,
Stanislav Dmitrievsky , was convicted in February 2006 for "inciting of ethnic hatred" by publishing an appeal written byAslan Maskhadov who called for the international community to facilitate negotiations to stop the Chechen conflict. In another article,Akhmed Zakayev asked Russian voters not to reelectVladimir Putin and alleged that the war was in only Putin's interests. [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/02/04/russia12604.htm] The Society was closed by Russian authorities in October 2006 [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=416&issue_id=3894&article_id=2371558] but it continues its work.In January 2007, RCFS proposed to start a tribunal on
war crime s andhuman rights abuse s in Chechnya, based on historical precedents, such as theNuremberg Trials , theInternational Court of Justice of theUnited Nations , theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia , theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , theSpecial Court for Sierra Leone , and theSupreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal . [http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2007/01/russian-chechen-friendship-society-rcfs.html]In September 2007 the
United States boycott ed anOSCE conference in Vienna on the victims ofterrorism after RCFS was not allowed to participate. A U.S. representative referred to the group as "reputable" and lodged a formal protest over its exclusion. [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/13/europe/EU-GEN-OSCE-US-Protest.php]External links
* [http://www.uic.nnov.ru/hrnnov/rus/friend/2003e/indexe.htm Official site of Russian-Chechen Friendship Society]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/13/ap/europe/main3260159.shtml US Protests Exclusion Of Rights Group]CBS
* [http://www.hrvc.net/htmls/srcf2.html Russian Federation: Russian Chechen Friendship Society closed under new NGO law] 10/13/2006
* [http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR460172005?open&of=ENG-RUS Appeal Case: The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society under threat]Amnesty International
* [http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=409&issue_id=3211&article_id=2369154 FSB TARGETS RUSSIAN-CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY]Jamestown Foundation
* [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/13/russia14391.htm Russia: Court Orders Closure of Russian-Chechen Friendship Society]Human Rights Watch
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