Press Release Parliamentary Assembly – Communication Division Ref: 557a10 Tel. +33 (0)3 88 41 31 93 Fax +33 (0)3 90 21 41 34 Internet: http://assembly.coe.int e-mail: [email protected]

47 member States Dick Marty strongly critical of the Chechen President’s

Albania new threats to the staff of Memorial Andorra Armenia Strasbourg, 09.07.2010 - The Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Austria Council of Europe (PACE) on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan Dick Marty (Switzerland/ALDE) has described as "unacceptable and unworthy" Belgium the words of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who publicly described the Bosnia and Herzegovina staff of Russian human rights NGO Memorial as "enemies of the people, Bulgaria Croatia enemies of the law, enemies of the state". Cyprus Czech Republic According to Dick Marty, "such words, similar to those uttered by Mr Kadyrov Denmark against Natalya Estemirova, a member of Memorial’s staff subsequently Estonia murdered last summer, are barely disguised threats". He called on the federal Finland Russian authorities "to ask the Chechen authorities to ensure the protection of France human rights defenders and further to intensify dialogue with civil society, Georgia following the example of President Medvedyev’s meeting with representatives of Germany NGOs in May". Greece Hungary Iceland On 22 June 2010 the PACE unanimously approved a critical report on the Ireland human rights situation in the North Caucasus prepared by Mr Marty. Italy Latvia Resolution 1738 (2010) Liechtenstein Lithuania Recommendation 1922 (2010) Luxembourg Malta Report on "Legal remedies for human rights violations in the North-Caucasus Moldova Monaco Region" Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom

The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 318 members from the national parliaments of the 47 member states. President: Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (Turkey, EDG) – Secretary General of the Assembly: Mateo Sorinas. Political groups: EPP/CD (Group of the European People’s Party); SOC (Socialist Group); EDG (European Democrat Group); ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe); UEL (Group of the Unified European Left).