INFORMATION CENTER OF THE SOCIETY OF THE RUSSIAN - CHECHEN FRIENDSHIP Press release N 197, March 12, 2002 TRANSNATIONAL RADICAL PARTY ANNOUNCED SUSPENSION OF THE NONVIOLENT ACTION FOR CHECHNYA. HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS OF CHECHNYA AND NIZHNY NOVGOROD DECIDED TO CONTINUE THE HUNGER-STRIKE Last night it became known that the deputy of the European Parliament, chairman of the Transnational Radical Party Olivier Dupuis interrupted his hunger-strike for Chechnya which continued for 18 days. On March 11, in Strasbourg, the European Parliament took the decision to remove the item "Chechnya" from the agenda of the plenary session. "The decision in plenary, - today's statement of Olivier Dupuis reads, - marks a day of shame and sadness for the European Parliament. To postpone sine die a debate and a vote on a tragedy that has, in the space of a few years, already caused over 200,000 deaths and 400,000 refugees in a population originally of little over one million people is not worthy of a democratic Parliament. To do so because the EP delegation is soon to visit Moscow shows the real nature of a Parliament increasingly "strong with the weak and weak with the strong". Further the statement reads: "The President of the parliamentary delegation with Russia, Bart Staes, has fortunately confirmed his decision to receive the Chechen ministers Zakaiev, Akhmadov and Khanbiev this Thursday at the European Parliament. This first success has convinced me, after 18 days, to suspend my hunger strike for Chechnya, a nonviolent initiative of dialogue with my colleagues in the EP. Thanking them for their support, I invite Oumar Khanbiev, the Chechen Minister of Health, and Andrei Rodionov, the Secretary of the Radical Anti-militarist Association of Moscow, to end their hunger strikes. I also invite the 500 people from over 35 countries - including many from Russia and Chechnya - who had decided to take part from tomorrow evening in the two-day fast to urge the European Parliament to take action, to suspend their initiative and to be ready for an initiative of much wider scope in the next few weeks to ensure that a majority of the Members of the European Parliament decide to debate and to take courageous decisions on the issue of Chechnya." In connection with this statement the Transnational Radical Party announced about the adjournment of the action. Meanwhile, the news about cancelation of the action after the statements already made yesterday, put the human rights and anti-war organizations of the Chechen Republic and Ingushetia in a difficult position. Today, at 2 p.m., the chairman of the regional branch of the Society of the Russian - Chechen Friendship in the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia Imran Ezhiyev informed the Nizhny Novgorod editorial office of the Information Center that today, from 00 a.m., a mass two-day hunger-strike is already being carried out in the camps of refugees in the territory of Ingushetia. What is more, Imran Ezhiyev himself, the chairman of the public organization "Sintar" Sulumbek Tashtamirov and the chairman of the public organization "Chechenia" Ruslan Susayev last night took the decision to join the indefinite hunger-strike of Olivier Dupuis. "It is truth, the invitation of Zakayev, Akhmadov and Khanbiyev to the Europarliament is a big victory which became possible exclusively owing to the self-sacrifice of Olivier Dupuis. There is no border of the gratitude which is to be expressed to the courageous parliamentary on behalf of tens of thousands Chechen refugees who are now in Ingushetia. But the shameful decision of the Europarliament which turned away from the Chechen tragedy, forces us, despite the appeal of Olivier Dupuis, to carry the protest action in the form of two-day hunger-strike to its conclusion. It is our answer to the double standards of parliamentaries who in words declare their adherence to the ideals of humanism, and in practice with their inactivity silently support the genocide which brings new victims every day" - Imran Ezhiyev stated. In these conditions, the members of the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Society of the Russian - Chechen Friendship who announced yesterday their participation in the two-day hunger-strike for Chechnya, also don't find reasons to suspend the action. As a token of protest against the yesterday's decision of the Europarliament and solidarity with the Chechen friends, Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, Alexey Grafov and Maria Artemova will continue the hunger-strike till 00 a.m, March 14, as it was announced. The decision about the indefinite hunger-strike taken by Imran Ezhiyev, Sulumbek Tashtamirov and Ruslan Susayev also remains in force for the present. The Chechen human rights activists don't take meals since yesterday. Today, having discussed the situation after Olivier Dupuis ended his nonviolent action, they will take the final decision on this question. Information Center of the Society of the Russian - Chechen Friendship