After
collecting enough signatures to allow the controversial vote to go
ahead, Russia decided to defy those who say the poll will serve little
purpose.
Chechnya's
electoral commission chief Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov said his officials had
confirmed 12,000 valid signatures required for the referendum, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
referendum, set to formalize a constitution that will fix the Muslim
republic's place in the Russian Federation, is widely seen as a chance
for the Kremlin to argue that it has established a political settlement
to its war with Chechen independence fighters, now in its fourth year.
Approval
of the referendum is set to pave the way for presidential and
parliamentary elections in the Caucasian republic in late 2003 or early
2004.
No
Substitute for negotiations
However, critics argue that the Russian authorities have failed to
impose their control on the republic or "normalize" the
situation there, and that the proposed constitutional arrangements will
be no substitute for negotiations with Chechen independence seekers.
The
estimated 80,000 Russian troops present in Chechnya since October
1999 still suffer daily losses to the independence fighters who have
succeeded in maintaining a guerrilla campaign even in the capital
Grozny, notably with a stunning bomb attack on government headquarters
last December 27, in which 72 people died.
Human
Rights Abuses
 |
Mother of
strangled schoolgirl, Kheda Kungayeva, lost her girl, and any
sense of justice
|
Meanwhile, Chechens continue to complain of human rights abuses by
Russian military forces, with a constant climate of fear and frequent
disappearances radicalizing young Chechens.
"In
the present conditions the population cannot express any free choice,
(and) the referendum will not be valid," Svetlana Gannushkina of
the Memorial human rights group told AFP Friday.
She
noted that Russian troops stationed in the republic would also be
entitled to vote, a decision she described as "absurd".
A
senior U.S. diplomat in Moscow said last month that Washington
"shared in the skepticism" regarding the credibility of the
referendum.
The
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Chechnya representative
Jorma Inki said this week he believed it was "still too soon to
hold a referendum in Chechnya."
Some
observers argued that having ruled out talks with Chechen elected
President Aslan Maskhadov and yet failed to resolve the situation
militarily, the Russian authorities are acting to keep up appearances.
"Since
(President Vladimir) Putin has ruled out negotiating with the
separatists, this is the only course of action left," Aslambek
Aslakhanov, Chechnya's deputy in the State Duma (lower house of
parliament) said.
"The
authorities are counting on weariness among the population, who are sick
and tired of the federal troops but also fed up with the rebels. They're
hoping that a referendum will legitimize the status quo and lead to
pacification," independent analyst Yury Korgonyuk claimed.
For
Galina Kovalskaya, of the weekly Ezhenedelny Zhurnal, the
Russian measure was "born of despair and powerlessness."
The
referendum was being conducted "because something had to be done at
least to give the impression to observers that things were changing for
the better," she said.
The
exercise will be pointless, and the long-awaited normalization will
remain elusive, if the new constitution is simply a "Potemkin
village" - a facade for the benefit of outside observers - and
unaccompanied by a serious attempt to raise Chechnya from its
current ruined situation," she noted.
Killer
Colonel's Acquittal Challenged
In
a separate related development, a Russian prosecutor has challenged the
verdict in Russia's highest profile case against an officer charged with
crimes in Chechnya, reported the BBC News Online.
Colonel
Yuri Budanov was found in December not to be responsible for his
actions, when he strangled an 18-year-old Chechen girl in March 2000.
The
trial was widely seen abroad as a test of whether Moscow was willing to
clamp down on human rights abuses by its army in Chechnya.
The
military court's verdict suggested that it wasn't - but it was widely
welcomed in Russia.
Many
Russians see the colonel as a hero, who was simply doing his duty when
he served in Chechnya.
Though
he admitted strangling the schoolgirl, Kheda Kungayeva, he claimed to
have done so in a fit of rage, an excuse the court accepted.
After
several psychiatric evaluations, the court agreed that Colonel Budanov
was temporarily insane at the time of the killing.
He's
currently undergoing psychiatric treatment and will be kept in custody
while the court considers the appeal.
It's
not clear whether the prosecutor has any chance of getting the verdict
quashed.
However,
human rights activists remain concerned that the original verdict sent
out the wrong message, and that Russian soldiers will feel they can
commit crimes in Chechnya and go unpunished.
