“The Chechnya crisis is the worst humanitarian crisis in the region,” said Rhodes

SOFIA , September 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - An international rights group on Saturday, September 25, accused Russia of encouraging terrorism through its human rights abuses in Chechnya and rejected Moscow 's claims that the decade-long conflict was an internal affair.

“The Chechnya crisis is the worst humanitarian crisis in the region,” AFP quoted Aaron Rhodes, the head of the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation, as telling a press conference in Sofia , Bulgaria.

There have been “hundreds of thousands of murder and deaths during the last 10 years,” he added.

The small mountainous republic pf Chechnya has been ravaged by conflict since 1994, with just three years of relative peace after the first Russian invasion of the region ended in August 1996 and the second began in October 1999. 

At least 100,000 Chechen civilians and 10,000 Russian troops are estimated to have been killed in both invasions, but human rights groups have said the real numbers could be much higher.

‘Not Terrorists’

The vice president of the International Helsinki Federation, Uli Fischer, said that “democratic process simply does not exist” in Chechnya.

“Chechens are not terrorists as a whole, there is a tragedy of long suppression,” he said.

Rhodes added that there were war crimes being committed in Chechnya.

“The responsibility is with the Russian government,” he said, warning that “the implications of this crisis are major, first of all terrorism.”

“Human rights violation is not an internal affair. Encouragement of terrorism reflects on Europe, on all civilized countries,” Rhodes said.

On Friday, September 24, pro-Russian Chechen officials joined with rights campaigners in slamming widespread abuses against civilians in Chechnya at a conference held in the Chechen capital Grozny .

Human rights groups have frequently accused Russian soldiers of committing aggressions and abuses in Chechnya in the two invasions. 

International human rights watchdogs said in a joint statement released in April that rape, torture and extrajudicial executions by Russian troops have become everyday occurrences in Chechnya.