23 November 2004, 23:06
Experts give their opinion on situation in Karachaevo-Cherkessia
The murder of seven businessmen was not the first crime in Karachaevo-Cherkessia connected with the redistribution of property, and people had been killed and disappeared before too, an informed source, who held office in the Karachaevo-Cherkessian Central Election Commission earlier, told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. According to the source, the number of people who have been killed and gone missing in the last few years reaches approximately 500 people. The murder of seven businessmen has deep resonance among people since it is characterized by the large number of people killed at one time and their social status — almost all of them were well-known people.
"Everything that happened in Karachaevo-Cherkessia is a natural result of the policy carried out by the federal center in national republics. The matter concerns the selection of top leaders not by their professional, moral and other qualities but first of all by their ethnic belonging. Such leaders have a sensation of being chieftains but not state employees... The Kremlin connives at many things concerning the regional leaders (the embezzlement of budget funds, corruption, and mutual responsibility) so that to hold the situation in the North Caucasus and not to get another Chechnya somewhere," the source said.
Author: Lyudmila Maratova, CK correspondent Source: Caucasian Knot
