CE RIGHTS COMMISSIONER POINTS OUT RUSSIAN MILITARY PROSECUTORS' ACCESSIBILITY








MOSCOW, March 1. /From RIA Novosti's Natalia Byrkina/. Russian military prosecutors are easily accessible, pointed out Alvaro Gil-Robles, Council of Europe human rights commissioner, as he met with Mikhail Kislitsyn, Russia's top military prosecutor, tonight after an inspection trip to Chechnya.


	The CE officer was enthusiastic about prosecutors' unexpected openness, he said during the conference which lasted longer than an hour, report the Chief Military Prosecutor's office PR.


	Mr. Gil-Robles received all information he needed in Chechnya on investigation of crimes perpetrated by soldiers against civilians.


	Mr. Kislitsyn informed the visitor about a check on facts offered by Anna Politkovskaya in a recent sensational contribution to the Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta. The check will finish by March 8.


	Preliminary investigation is over on 12 cases on which 18 soldiers are accused of crimes against the Chechen population since the start of anti-terror action. The files have been forwarded to military courts.


	Seven soldiers have been convicted. Some of them will serve long prison terms, says Mikhail Kislitsyn's press service.