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10. 02. 12. - 20:00

AI Austria condemns 'naive' FPÖ

The head of Amnesty International’s (AI) Austrian representation has made aware of hardship and continuing violation of human rights in Chechnya.

Speaking on a news programme by radio broadcaster Ö1 yesterday (Thurs), Heinz Patzelt said the Chechen regime may have invested great sums into rebuilding the country’s infrastructure after the latest military conflicts but also stressed that the apparent stabilisation of the situation was "deceptive". Patzelt stressed that human rights were still broken on a regular basis in Chechnya.

The AI Austria head was interviewed after it emerged that a delegation of Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) members travelled to Chechen capital city Grozny to meet with the country’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov. The FPÖ team also held talks with other government officials and businesspeople. The Austrian opposition party confirmed the trip after newspaper Die Presse wrote about it. The FPÖ said that Johann Gudenus and Johannes Hübner were part of the delegation.

Gudenus represents the party’s far-right branch. He heads the FPÖ’s faction in the Viennese city hall parliament. Hübner is a member of the federal parliament (MP). He acts as the FPÖ’s foreign affairs spokesman. Furthermore, Hübner is the lawyer of FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache.

Hübner said on Chechen TV he was "impressed" by the country’s various improvements following the various armed confrontations of the past years. Patzelt said Hübner must be "naive" since many people’s life was still endangered. The AI Austria president pointed out that especially people interested in getting politically active in the opposition were at risk of being persecuted and killed.

Die Presse reported that the Office for the Protection of the Austrian Constitution was informed about 300 agents operating for Kadyrov in Austria. They are allegedly assigned to track down and intimidate refugees and asylum seekers – an accusation a spokesman for the autocratic political leader of the Caucasian country labelled as "fairytales" following the meeting with members of the FPÖ.

The Austrian foreign ministry said it had not been informed by the FPÖ at any stage about the delegation’s journey. The ministry said the trip was "absurd" and "politically irrelevant" while Peter Pilz of the Green Party said the right-wingers acted "irresponsibly".

Non-government organisations (NGOs) and human rights groups from all over the world accuse Kadyrov of various breaches of human and citizen rights by keeping on his strict course against political opponents and critics. He is also suspected of having masterminded the murder of one of his former bodyguards in Austria.

Umar Israilov was shot dead in Vienna in 2009. Three Chechens were given jail terms for their involvement in the crime by a Viennese court. Patzelt stressed yesterday that judges still wanted to question Kadyrov. Prosecutors consider the former prime minister and incumbent president of Chechnya as a suspect in the Israilov murder case. The chairman of AI Austria also accused Kadyrov of trying to fight all attempts of accounting for the political crimes and war crimes in his country.

FPÖ officials justified their disputed trip to Grozny by making aware of an agreement about the creation of a cultural organisation in Austria. The institution should motivate asylum seekers to return to Chechnya, Gudenus said. He added: "We were able to convince ourselves that Kadyrov would not persecute them."

Austrian Times

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