Human Rights Watch Condemns Terrorist Act in Moscow

Human Rights Watch has called on Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov to condemn the hostage taking in Moscow. The organisation's executive director Elizabeth Anderson called the events in Moscow 'an unjustifiable act' and stressed that both Chechen fighters and Russian federal troops should follow the Geneva Convention.

'The inhabitants of Chechnya have suffered human rights abuses in the region,' she noted, 'but taking people hostage cannot be a reaction to this suffering and simply raises indignation.' She added that the hostages should be released as quickly as possible.

Hostage taking is a breach of Chapter 3 of the Geneva Convention, which concerns internal armed conflicts.