Chechnya puts on music festival

Security was tight outside the stadium hosting the event

Chechen rock fans have been listening to their favourite bands at a music festival in Chechnya, four months after it was called off amid security fears.

Billed as the region's first major rock concert, the event in Gudermes, east of the capital Grozny, had tight security.

Correspondents say the Kremlin-backed authorities wanted the event to show that the North Caucasus was recovering from years of bloody conflict.

The line-up included Russian bands Dead Dolphins, Night Snipers and Prezident.

About 7,000 people attended the all-day Phoenix - Rebirth event on Monday. Thousands of tickets for the concert had been given away free.

Some 3,000 police were on guard at the stadium venue.

Elections

The concert had been due to take place in July but was cancelled after the authorities said security could not be guaranteed.

Ramzan Kadyrov (right) wanted Chechnya to be seen as "calm"

In 2003, a bomb exploded at a rock festival in Moscow, killing 16 people - an incident blamed on Chechen separatists.

But Chechnya's Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, whose president father was assassinated in a bomb attack by rebels in Grozny last year, said: "We will start holding these festivals against the enemies of the republic.

"We would like to show the world that Chechnya is a calm region where large-scale music concerts could be held."

He opened the concert, along with Chechen Prime Minister Sergei Abramov.

Mr Kadyrov's militia has been accused by human rights organisations of widespread abuses.

The BBC's Emma Simpson, in Moscow, says the forthcoming parliamentary elections will also be used to persuade people that Chechnya is getting back to normal.

But she says the continued violence and turmoil in the republic still leave many unconvinced that the vote will result in anything meaningful.

Nationalist separatists and Islamic militants have been fighting Russian and pro-Russian local forces in Chechnya for more than five years.