B4-1525/95

Resolution on the arrest of the German citizen Georg T. Kunta in Daghestan (Russian Federation)

The European Parliament,

A.indignant that Mr Georg Tamerlan Kunta, a German citizen of Chechin origin, has been imprisoned in Makhachkala (Daghestan, Russian Federation) for three months, and that his family in Germany found out about this only a month ago by indirect means,

B.incensed that the German Embassy, contrary to international agreements, has hitherto been refused direct contact with the prisoner,

C.whereas Mr Kunta, who has officially only been charged with a minor visa offence, is also charged in the Public Prosecutor's indictment with collecting information for Western newspapers - which he would in any case be perfectly entitled to do under the CSCE Final Act and other international agreements with which Russia has undertaken to comply,

D.concerned that human rights organizations in Moscow suspect that the Russian military are taking revenge on Mr Kunta for reporting in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Stern and many other Western media, following his most recent journey to the Caucasus, on the slaughter in Chechnya, as well as intending to set up a Chechnya information office in the European Union,

E.whereas Russia has still not yet repealed the Soviet criminal code, and Mr Kunta therefore runs the risk of being sentenced to several years imprisonment following his trial, which is just beginning,

F.concerned at the Public Prosecutor's intention to hold the trial in a remote town in Daghestan which has no telephone or fax links, thus effectively rendering observation of the trial impossible,

1.Calls on the competent authorities in the Russian Federation to grant the German Embassy immediate permission to hold a conversation with Mr Kunta;

2.Reminds the Government of the Russian Federation that imposing a prison sentence on an EU citizen for a very minor offence would contravene the spirit of the partnership agreement;

3.Calls for Mr Kunta's immediate release and for the trial to be moved to Moscow or some other place in which international observation is possible;

4.Calls on the Council and the Commission to make representations in this matter to the Government of the Russian Federation;

5.Instructs its President to forward this Resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.