HC Deb 30 January 2003 vol 398 c1103

6.2 pm

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham)

I wish to present a petition on behalf of Anthea West of Norreys Avenue, Wokingham and nearly 5,000 signatories, principally from the Berkshire area, which was collected by Amnesty International Reading group.

The petition states: The UK has been silent in the face of wide scale serious human rights violations in the Republic of Chechnya; that forces of the Russian Federation are reportedly continuing to commit these crimes. The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Prime Minister to publicly condemn, and call for an end to, all human rights violations in the Republic of Chechnya; to make it clear that human rights violations may not be perpetrated and justified under the pretext of an international "war against terrorism"; to urge the Russian authorities both to set up impartial, comprehensive investigations into those violations and to ensure that those guilty of committing them be brought to trial and sentenced appropriately. And the Petitioners remain, etc. To lie upon the Table.