Hey Gustave, What do you make of Yeltsin's impeachment??
According to one of the charges, they are accusing him of unleasing a devastating war against Chechyna, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.
It should be interesting to see the reaction of the Russian people to all of this, given their support for Milosevic.
Here are the charges:
The Impeachment Trial of President Boris Yeltsin
The impeachment drive has been pushed by the Communist majority in the Duma. The five charges are that the president:
• Illegally conspired to destroy the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Overthrew the constitutional order and violently dispersed the elected parliament in 1993.
• Launched a two-year civil war in Chechnya that cost tens of thousands of lives.
• Undermined Russia's national defense by ruining its armed forces.
• Committed genocide against the Russian people by pushing market reforms that led to failing birthrates and plunging life expectancy.
According to most political observers, the count most likely to get the required 300 votes is the charge on Chechnya, which is backed by the centrist Yabloko faction, among others.
Conditions of impeachment:
• Under the 1993 constitution, Yeltsin can only be impeached on the basis of "charges of high treason or another grave crime."
• Charges must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the 450-member Duma -- 300 votes.
• Supreme Court must uphold the charges, examining whether a crime was involved.
• Constitutional Court also must uphold charges, checking the impeachment process.
• The parliament's upper house, the Federation Council, must approve.
All three bodies are generally favorable toward Yeltsin, and many experts have assumed that impeachment cannot succeed. But the threat of it and the beginning of the debate in the Duma today have angered Yeltsin.
washingtonpost.com |
