On Thursday, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles returned to Moscow from a trip to Chechnya and told Interfax that he believes it is necessary to “use the full force of the law against human rights violations in Chechnya.”

At the same time, Gil-Robles noted that he calls for a fight against crimes “related to the violation of human rights in Chechnya both against the civilian population and military personnel” of the federal forces.

According to the CE representative, this is the main conclusion that he made based on the results of his trip to Chechnya.

Gil-Robles also believes that in Chechnya “the law must be equal for everyone and applied against everyone who has committed brutal crimes, including against representatives of the federal forces.”

As the CE Commissioner noted, during his visit to Russia, which began last Monday, he had negotiations with Russian representatives on the situation with human rights in Chechnya. According to Gil-Robles, the negotiations "were not easy, difficult at times, but we spoke with all frankness, and I expect that the results of these negotiations will be positive."

On Friday, Gil-Robles plans to meet with the leadership of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, as well as with the head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Dmitry Rogozin.

On Saturday morning, the CE Commissioner plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

After returning to Strasbourg, Alvaro Gil-Robles plans to present "a detailed report on the situation in Chechnya to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which will also be considered in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe."

Council of Europe Commissioner calls for protecting the rights of Russian military personnel in Chechnya