CHECHNYA - Sixteen years ago - on October 27 1999 - open and democratic presidential and parliamentary elections were held for the first time in the Chechen republic's recent history. 47-year-old Soviet Air Force General Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev was elected Chechen President. Then, as now, there were varying assessments of his personality and achievements.

According to the official statistics of the republic's central electoral commission, 72% of voters took part in the presidential and parliamentary elections. Of these, more than 90% voted for Dzhokhar Dudayev. However, those who opposed the holding of the elections claimed that less than half of the registered voters had taken part in them, and that voting had taken place at only a very small number of polling stations.

"Dudayev was Moscow's protégé, and that shouldn't be forgotten. At the time there was a fierce struggle going on between Gorbachev and Yeltsin, with each of them trying to attract the largest possible number of regional leaders to his side. That was when Yeltsin made his famous declaration that the Russian autonomous republics could have 'as much sovereignty as they can digest'," says 58-year-old Grozny resident Movlady Tovsultanov, who in those days worked in the USSR's law enforcement system."For me the name of Dudayev is connected with pages of the Chechen people's history that not among its best. He, like Russia's President Boris Yeltsin, was responsible for unleashing that bloody war here."

"It was in the years of Dzhokhar Dudayev's government that the almost universal looting of the Chechen economy began. All kinds of criminal gangs appeared, and citizens began to flee the republic. People didn't get their wages for months on end, and they were asked to forget about such things as pensions and benefits. Chechnya turned into a kind of settling tank for criminal elements from all the republics of the former USSR. The tragedy of Chechnya began not in 1994, after the outbreak of the 'first' war, but 1991, when its people, believing empty promises of 'golden taps overflowing with camels' milk' which were soon to appear in Chechnya, decided to follow Dudayev and his supporters," he believes.

However, this is the view of only a small part of the population. For the vast majority of Chechens Dzhokhar Dudayev has been and remains a symbol of freedom and independence, an uncompromising leader who was able to unite the nation around him and lay the foundations of statehood for the republic of Chechnya.

In 1991 the Chechen newspaper Svoboda ("Freedom") wrote of Dudayev: "... he is not like the rest of us. He doesn't have a single cent behind him, there is no powerful family clan supporting him and, most important of all, he is honest." This view of the President who was also a general still prevails among the majority of the population.

"When they tell me how good life was under Zavgayev and the Communists (Dokku Zavgayev was leader of Checheno-Ingushetia from the late 1980s until 1991), and how bad it all became under Dudayev, I find it simply laughable. For some reason no one remembers that in those days a Communist Party membership in Chechnya 'cost' five thousand roubles, corruption and bribery flourished at all levels of government. That thousands of ordinary residents of the republic were forced to leave Chechnya in search of employment, and that Communism existed here only for a 'narrow circle of people' who could do anything they wanted (actually, the same thing is going on today)," says Sayd-Khamzat Masayev, another Grozny resident. "Dudayev was a true patriot of his people, a brave and honest man who did not hesitate to give his life for the ideals he believed in. And I can assure you that, for the overwhelming majority of Chechens he was and remains a national hero whose memory will live on for centuries."

"I know a great many people who are still convinced that Dzhokhar is alive, and will return to the republic sooner or later. People simply refuse to believe that he could have been be killed in a missile attack during the spring of 1996. At all events, I'm constantly being asked to 'tell the truth' about what happened to him, though to be honest, I don't believe he's dead, either," Alvi Tsechoev, the nephew of the first Chechen president, said in an interview with Prague Watchdog's correspondent.

According to one of the general's former bodyguards, Dzhokhar Dudayev was very concerned by the grave situation in the republic and constantly tried to establish a dialogue with both the Moscow-funded "anti-Dudayev opposition" and the Kremlin directly, but all his attempts invariably met with failure because the opposing side was unwilling to make compromises."Nowadays it's fashionable to curse Dzhokhar, to condemn him and accuse him of all manner of mortal sins. But as someone who was constantly at his side in a few years, I can say with certainty that he was a sincere and honest man who was deeply concerned not only about the situation in republic, but also for all its citizens. Even those who were in the camp of his enemies. As an example I would like to cite an incident that occurred in Grozny during the spring of 1993," the man says.

"At that time, the so-called 'opposition' used to hold rallies on Teatralnaya Square demanding Dzhokhar's resignation, the dissolution of Parliament and so on. There were armed men among them, and in order to avoid an armed confrontation and bloodshed the President forbade the use of force against the rally participants. One evening Dudayev was returning home from his residence in the city centre. The weather was dank and rainy, but the 'oppositionists' were crowding in front of the Drama Theatre . We were in two cars, and suddenly Dzhokhar told his driver to stop on Teatralnaya Square. "I want to talk to these people. Look, how cold it is outside, it's sleeting, but they're standing there freezing. Why do they need to do that?" he said. "We tried to dissuade him from this precipitate step, as there were armed men in the crowd, and many of the demonstrators were, let us say, 'in a state of mild alcoholic intoxication'."

"But Dzhokhar wouldn't listen to us. He got out of the car and strode quickly up to the several dozen men on the square. There were only a few of us, and we began to move in the direction of the improvised podium. But at that point one of the 'dissidents' recognized Dzhokhar and started yelling "He's here! Dudayev's here! Shoot him! Kill him!" As he did so he tried to aim his sub-machine gun, but one of our guys kicked him in the face and threw him on his back. They started to grab us by the arms, and 'oppositionists' came running from all directions, many of them reeking with vodka."

"We formed a solid ring around Dzhokhar and began to fight our way through to our cars. When we were almost there, they started to fire at us from the roof of the building. I still don't know how how we managed to get out of there alive. Only two of our guys were slightly wounded. Dzhokhar was very depressed by this incident, the fact that he'd been unable to convince those people to stop their senseless confrontation," the former bodyguard continues. "I remember how he stared ahead of him all the way, and then said: "Those poor people! They just don't understand that we want to draw them in, and that all this may have consequences for our republic!" Unfortunately, those words of his were prophetic ones. It was thanks to the so-called "opposition" that Moscow was able to unleash the war here in 1994."

"Dzhokhar Dudayev was a great man and a charismatic personality, an uncompromising leader of the nation and I am sure that sooner or later our descendants will give him his due. His name stood and will stand alongside those of such legendary Chechen leaders as Sheikh Mansur, Baysangur Benoyevsky, Alibek Khadzhi-Aldanov, and many others," 70-year-old Minkail told Prague Watchdog. "No matter how hard Russian propaganda may try, no one will ever succeed in removing the name of the first President from our people's memory."

On April 21 1996 Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed by a missile strike launched by Russian combat aircraft on the outskirts of the village of Gekhi-Chu in the Urus-Martanovsky district of Chechnya. After the end of the "first Chechen war" the Ichkerian parliament posthumously awarded Dudayev the title of generalissimo. The republic's capital was renamed "Dzhokhar" in his honour.