|
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 18:30:13 GMT Open letter from RussiaDistributed by Christopher Lazzo, U.S. Swiss Bank, and Ryszard Sidor, Institute for Nuclear Studies, Warsaw, 15 March 1995Dear friends, We are compelled to write to you from the feeling that the terrible crimes committed by Russian authorities and armed forces in Chechnya are not accidental and that we are all responsible for them. These crimes (according to the testimony of the journalists, defenders of human rights and mothers of the soldiers fighting there) include not only bombing towns and villages inhabited by civilians but also the capturing of hostages, robberies, organization of filtration camps where people,incarcerated on the basis of their race, are cruelly beaten, tortured, maimed and murdered. All these actions should be characterized as GENOCIDE and Crime against Humanity. And they can not be consideredmerely as an internal affair of Russia. Chechen crisis is not accidental. It reveals the criminal essence of the political regime that is being formed in Russia. The most dangerous aspect of the present situation is the absence of a clear appreciation of this fact. Instead in the public opinion, especially in the West, there still exists the myth that Russia is moving towards democracy and reforms and unless Yeltsin is supported fascists of the type of Zhirinovsky will take over. We consider this opinion as deeply erroneous. Supporting democracy and human rights by words the regime is persecuting them in the cynical and brutal way. Many facts give evidence about this. Such as beatings and killings of the honest journalists and human rights defenders who get and publish information dangerous for the regime, as criminal and corrupted methods of the privatization and many other things. Now there is an attempt of annihilation of a whole nation. Acting by fascist methods the regime uses Zhirinovsky and the threat of fascism for manipulating public opinion. Russia is not moving by the path of democracy and human rights. A new regime, unusual in its cruelty and falsehood,is being born. Whether the criminal regime or democracy with human face will take over in Russia will in the first place depend on people in Russia, our ability to understand the danger and take responsibility, our courage and will to stand against evil. However the realization by people in the West of the true state of affairs in Russia and the support of democracy, not Yeltsin, are also crucial. We ask your help in spreading our letter.
A.Belavin, E-mail: belavin@cft.sherna.msk.su
Ryszard Sidor| Internet: ricky@fuw.edu.pl |
![[Documents menu]](../bin/arrow.png){kind=icon}