During the week of June 16th, the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus brought a group of North Caucasus human rights defenders and experts to Washington DC to inform the policy community about the current situation in the region. Magomed Mutsolgov – Head of the Ingush NGO “MASHR” (peace), Gregory Shvedov – editor-in-chief of the “Caucasian Knot” and Eliza Musaeva – former head of the Russian human rights NGO “Memorial” were hosted by the Helsinki Commission for a briefing [transcript] in Congress that focused on the increasing violence in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. During the briefing, a short film entitled “Missing Lives” highlighting the growing number of disappearances in the region, produced by Memorial and WITNESS was also shown. The group also held a number of other important meetings with the State Department, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Committee on Foreign Affairs among others. 

During the week of June 23rd, the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus in collaboration with the Council of Europe’s Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group, headed by Mr. Matyas Eorsi, brought a group of human rights defenders to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Magomed Mutsolgov – Head of the Ingush NGO “MASHR” (“peace”), Svetlana Isaeva – member of “Dagestan Mothers” and Oleg Orlov – Chair of “Memorial” Center had the opportunity to address not only the ALDE group of parliamentarians, but the Council’s Committee for Legal Affairs and Human Rights. The group also held a number of key meetings with the Council’s Secretary General Mr. Terry Davis, President of PACE Mr. Lluis Maria de Puig as well as with Mr. Dick Marty, the newly elected Rapporteur on the North Caucasus. Mr. Marty and his staff will assemble a full and independent report on the region to be released next year.

The ACPC initially invited the head of the “Dagestan Mothers” organization – Gulnara Rustaeva - to participate in the Strasbourg events. However, in spite of requests sent by both the ALDE and ACPC staff to the local authorities, Ms. Rustaeva was not given an international passport in a timely manner and was therefore unable to attend. For this reason ACPC and ALDE invited her colleague Svetlana Isaeva. Moreover, the local Dagestani government was outraged by the idea of anyone from the “Dagestani Mothers” speaking at an international gathering about the problems in the republic, as is demonstrated in the following article that come out in an independent Dagestani newspaper Chernovik prior to the Strasburg events.
'Chernovik' article

Inhabitants of Ingushetia await changes in the administration
(in Russian)
Caucasian Knot, June 15, 2008