MOSCOW, September 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Most Chechen lawmakers have not signed a petition to overthrow Aslan Maskhadov from his post as president of Chechnya, one of the lawmakers said Sunday, September 21.

"None of the deputies who live on the territory of Chechnya and Ingushetia have signed a document relieving Aslan Maskhadov of his duties," Ibragim Akhmatov told Agence France-Presse (AFP) near the main Russian military base in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia.

Akhmatov was referring to claims made in Moscow earlier this month by Chechen parliament deputy speaker Issa Temirov.

Temirov claimed Chechen deputies had appealed to the republic's supreme court to "impeach" Maskhadov and that a judge approved the move, which was immediately hailed by a Kremlin that refuses to recognize Maskhadov's rule.

However, Temirov’s claims and the Chechen lawmakers’ reaction show that the Chechen president, believed to be hiding in the Chechen mountains, still enjoys some support among Chechen officials.

Maskhadov, who is not taking part in presidential election scheduled for October 5, was elected to a five-year term in 1997 after the republic won de facto independence from Russia following a brutal 1994-96 war.

That vote was recognized as valid by both Moscow and Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

But Russian President Vladimir Putin has branded Maskhadov a "terrorist," disavowing his right to rule the republic even before his term had officially run out in 2002.

The Chechen parliament, elected in 1997, has been all but non-existent since Russian troops poured into the predominantly Muslim republic in the north Caucasus to stamp out Chechen fighters in October 1999, a campaign styled by Russia as an "anti-terrorist" operation.

Russia, which has called for the presidential election, backs the head of the pro-Moscow administration Akhmad Kadyrov who is disliked by many locals and remains Chechen fighters' public enemy number one, said AFP.