Chechenia: New human rights organization
Victims of the war in Chechenia are to receive juridical support
from a new Russian-Dutch human rights organization called the Chechnya Justice
Initiative (CJI). The CJI is an initiative of Human Rights Watch staff in Moscow
and Ingushetia, and is also supported by Amnesty International.
The aim is to provide free juridical advice to the victims of human rights violations
in the Chechen war. CJI strives to, through starting civil procedures at Russian
courts, ensure objective investigations into committed crimes against humanity.
The next step is to call for prosecution of the perpetrators, as well as for
moral and material compensation for the victims.
If and when these actions would fail, the CJI intends to make appeals to the
European Human Rights Court. Currently, the CJI represents the cases of ten
victims of gross human rights violations committed by Russian military forces
in Chechenia.