Feared Security Chief to Govern Chechnya (AP)

[Eugene]

Feared Security Chief to Govern Chechnya

By MUSA SADULAYEV
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 1, 2007; 8:56 AM

GROZNY, Russia -- President Vladimir Putin nominated a widely feared security
chief as the new president of Chechnya on Thursday, while Europe's human
rights chief denounced torture and other rampant abuses in the war-battered
region. Ramzan Kadyrov, who previously had served as Chechnya's prime minister,
has run a security force that is accused of abducting and abusing suspected
rebels and civilians believed to be connected to them.

Speaking at a rights conference in Chechnya on Thursday, Thomas Hammarberg,
the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, said he had found
widespread evidence of torture and other rights abuses on his trip to the region,
RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Kadyrov had been widely expected to seek the presidency after turning 30 in
October _ the minimum age for presidents under local law. His nomination follows
Putin's dismissal of regional President Alu Alkhanov earlier this month and needs
to be approved by the local legislature _ a mere formality given Kadyrov's clout.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030100369.html

Also: New Chechen leader may destabilise region-analysts - Reuters