Madam, - Yet again, Russia has assassinated a president of Chechnya and displayed his bloodied corpse on national television. The killing of Abdul-Khalim Saidulayev mirrors that of Aslan Maskhadov in March 2004.
While the Russian forces are busy executing separatists, the Moscow-appointed prime minister of Chechnya is trampling over the human rights of the beleaguered civilians of Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov and his cronies have been accused of large-scale instances of murder, torture, rape and kidnapping in Chechnya, and many analysts believe that this Moscow-backed militia is responsible for most of the human rights abuses in Chechnya today. Local human rights groups estimate that between 3,000 and 5,000 people have "disappeared" since the beginning of the conflict in 1999.
While Russia is killing political opponents, and backing those responsible for human rights violations, it holds the presidency of the Council of Europe. The council was set up to defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. It seems that nobody has told Russia. - Yours, etc,
CORMAC O'BRIEN, Marina Village, Malahide, Co Dublin.