21:24, 10 October 2006

Prosecutor's office wants to liquidate the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society

On October 9, the prosecutor's office of the Nizhni Novgorod Region served a copy of statement of claim on liquidation to Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, executive director of the Inter-Regional Public Organization "Russian-Chechen Friendship Society" (RChFS).

Among the arguments, on the basis of which the prosecutor's office demands to liquidate the RChFS, is Dmitrievskiy's outstanding conviction under an "extremist" article in combination with the fact that the organization has not publicly dissociated away from his activities and he is still its head and one of co-founders.

On February 3, 2005, Dmitrievskiy was sentenced to two years of conditional custody for publication in the "Pravozaschita" (Protective Power) newspaper of appeals of the leaders of the non-recognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakaev. Major Russian and international human rights organizations unanimously regarded this sentence to be unfair and politically motivated.