13 January 2007, 22:59
Ms. Alekseeva, human rights defender, is happy for not taking part in meeting with Putin
Liudmila Alekseeva, a human rights activist for over 30 years, one of the most influential and respected human rights defenders of the country, for a long time was among the most active members of the Board for Human Rights under the President. However, she was not present at yesterday's sitting of the Board attended by Vladimir Putin, which happens extremely seldom.
"I shall not say that I intentionally boycotted the meeting with Putin, but I am now happy that my visit to Lithuania on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, a much more meaningful event for me, had been planned in advance right on the date of this meeting," Ms. Alekseeva said in answer to the question of the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" whether her absence at the meeting with the head of the Russian Federation was an expression of disagreement with the policy pursued by Mr. Putin in North Caucasus and Russia as a whole, about what the MHG (Moscow Helsinki Group) leader often speaks in her public presentations.
Ms. Svetlana Gannushkina, an active member of the Board for Promoting Development of Civil Society Institutes and Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation, a well-known defender of victims of armed conflicts in the Caucasus, Chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee for Helping Refugees, also failed to appear at the meeting with the president of Russia.
Author: Vyacheslav Feraposhkin, CK correspondent
