The daily Estonian newspaper “Posttimees” has reported that Estonian parliamentarians have created a group called, “In Defense of Human Rights in the North Caucasus” which aims to draw attention to the increasingly expanding human rights abuses in the region.

Andres Herkel, member of the Estonian Parliament, was elected as a chairman of this group. In addition to Herkel, Juku-Kalle Raid, Väino Linde, Liisa-Ly Pakosta, Indrek Saar, and Urmas Reinsalu are among the members of the group.

Juku-Kalle Raid, vice-president of the group has pointed out that today the problem is much broader than Chechnya, thus they would like to draw attention to those people who are victims of these expanded problems.

“The date of the parliamentary group’s establishment is not a regular day, for they have founded it on the 15th anniversary of Dzhoxar Dudaev, first President of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria’s death,” said Andres Herkel.

“In 1999, the second Russian-Chechen war started and the human rights situation became worse. Now lawlessness and impunity have spread throughout the North Caucasus. In addition to Dudaev, during the war in Chechnya, the second legitimately elected President Aslan Maskhadov was killed too,” said Herkel.

Andres Herkel said that Rait Maruste, one of the former judges of the European Court of Human Rights, is also a member of the group and he is glad to see him. Many human rights violations in Chechnya reach the ECHR and as a judge, Rait Maruste is very well aware of the situation.

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco