Humanitarian Appeal on the Arrest of Salambek Khachukayev

Dear Colleagues,

Dutch human rights activists are extremely concerned at reports of the arrest in Lithuania of our fellow author, lawyer and Chechen patriot, Salambek Khachukayev. We have the manuscript of Salambek Khachukayev’s book on the history of Chechnya and are preparing it for publication. Knowing the author’s frequent public comments on the freedom of his homeland, we have no doubt of the injustice of his arrest and also that the arrest is to the advantage of the fascist Russian government.

We urge Lithuanian and international human rights activists to take on the case of Salman Khachukayev. The reason for his arrest is political. His wife and son have been arrested too.

Dutch human rights activists fear that the situation of Chechen refugees in Lithuania might be stirred up and a Chechen village created. Every personal case should be checked, but the refugees include many people who in the not so distant past suffered torture or the repression of the communist regime, who lost their families, and the attitude towards heroes of the Caucasus should above all be attentive and in line with the commonly accepted norms of international human rights.

We call on the Lithuanian authorities to observe these norms and not to give in to the provocations of inter-state relations. Little Lithuania itself suffered under the pressure of socialism and is only now achieving a European level of development, overcoming the serious consequences of many years of Russian occupation.

Such internationally well-known human rights activists as ecumenist Jaras Valiukenas are working in Lithuania – he is a political refugee, a witness to Russian crimes, whose opinion counts with international campaigners for peace and freedom. Jaras Valiukenas has been published in different countries, telling the truth about the situation of refugees in the world, about the Baltic countries, about the danger of terrorism and the decline in morals, which today threatens all of us, and about how to overcome it. We once more call on humanitarians and pacifists to listen to us: we are all responsible for the future of children wherever we may live.

Larisa Volodimerova

Marexa Dutch human rights movement

The appeal is supported by:

Mayrbek Taramov

Chechen Human Rights Centre

Nadezhda Banchik

Amnesty International, California branch

Irina Smith

Journalist, Great Britain