For the attention of Minister of Foreign Affairs Brussels, 1 June 2000

Dear Minister, The Transnational Radical Party, to which I belong, and which since 1995 has enjoyed 1st category consultative status at the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, has learned that the Russian Federation has asked for the withdrawal of said status after the TRP gave the floor at the last session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission to Mr. Idigov, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chechen Parliament and representative of the Chechen President, Mr. Maskhadov. Contrary to the statements of the Russian Federation, the Transnational Radical Party has in no way infringed the rules in force nor undermined the sovereign rights of the Russian Federation. Mr. Idigov is the legitimate representative of a legitimate institution of the Russian Federation and is not the subject of any legal proceedings on the part of the Russian Federation, nor of any international arrest warrant. He is, in fact, the holder of a Russian passport and was therefore able freely to leave th

e Russian Federation in order to visit the various countries of the Union, including your own, as well as to speak before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. As for the other complaint formulated by the Russian Federation, concerning our position on drugs, I would like to draw your attention to the memorandum which you will find enclosed. I am convinced that this question, which may at first sight seem marginal, threatens to establish a serious precedent if the NGO Committee of the United Nations were to support the request of the Russian Federation. I am equally convinced that this interpretation of sovereignty, and of freedom of speech, is certainly not that which is upheld in your country, and would thus like to invite you, if the need arises, to urge your representative on the Committee to oppose it with suitable firmness. It would in fact be serious if an NGO - the one I have belonged to for 25 years - were punished by expulsion on the very question of Chechnya, for having taking th

e responsibility to give the right to speak to a representative of a people whose past and present history is particularly tragic. Thank you for your kind attention. Yours faithfully, Emma Bonino Tel. +32-2-2845288 Fax. +32-2-2849288