On September 26, 2002, Roddy Scott, a reporter was killed in Ingushetia while filming fierce fighting between Chechen and Russian troops. He was born on February 23, 1971 in Huntington, UK. (23 February is a national day of the Russian Army. On 23 February 1944 the entire Chechen people were deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It was the Kremlin’s way of the final solution.).
The Times wrote: “Scott regarded the international media’s failure to report adequately on the continuing war in Chechnya as typical of its fickle attitude towards conflicts where Western interests are not immediately clear. A lack of objective reporting in places like Chechnya, Scott believed, left states such as Russia free to write their own account of complex and far-reaching conflicts.”

On October 28 & 29, 2002, in Copenhagen, Denmark, The World Chechen Congress took place. The delegates of the Chechen people and the representatives of the Chechen communities in Europe, America and Asia took part in the work of the congress. Active participation in the work of the congress also included prominent politicians, parliamentarians, human rights activists, and lawyers from the USA, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Russia and other countries. In the resolution adopted by the congress the delegates appealed for the start of political negotiations on the basis of International Law and principals.

On November 15, 2002, in The Hague, The Netherlands, representatives of the international human rights organizations together with European politicians held a debate on Chechnya. The participants condemned mass violations of human rights, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian army. They appealed to the Russian authorities to start negotiations with the legitimate Chechen authorities. (The President and Parliament of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria were elected in January 1997. The observers of the Organization for the Cooperation and Security in Europe recognized the elections free and fair.). The participants also called on the European leaders to pressure the Russian government to stop the war and to start negotiations for the political solution to the conflict.

On November 22, 2002, at the London University, the conference “Chechnya Today” was held. Among the speakers and participants were scientists, parliamentarians, politicians, journalists, military experts and representatives of the non-governmental organizations. The aim of the conference was to analyze the situation in Chechnya and to find a way for a political solution to the conflict. The participants of the conference presented numerous facts of violations of the human rights of the Chechen people. They recognized the fact that the European Union, the Council of Europe and the OSCE failed to stop the war in Chechnya and that the leaders of the world democratic countries are also responsible for that failure. The conference concluded that there is no military solution to the conflict and that peaceful negotiations without preconditions should be started with the government of the President Aslan Maskhadov.

On December 12, 2002, in Copenhagen, Denmark, a demonstration against the war in Chechnya was held. The demonstration was dedicated to the 8th anniversary of the beginning of the Russian military aggression against Chechnya on December 11, 1994. The Chechen refugees and the representatives of the Danish Committee for Solidarity with the Chechen Republic Ichkeria organized the demonstration. The slogans of the demonstrators were “Hands off Chechnya” and “Aslan Maskhadov is our President”. They called for a halt of aggression against the Chechen people and to start peace negotiations to end the war in Chechnya.