Translated material
Raise your voice
A group of American analysts and leaders of human rights organizations sent an open letter to US President Barack Obama, in which they harshly condemned the detention of people on July 31 at a rally in defense of the article of the Constitution that ensures freedom of assembly, and other recent actions of the Russian state that restrict civil liberties and human rights. Here is the full text of the letter:
«August 11, 2010
Dear Mr. President!
In recent weeks, attempts by Russian citizens to organize peaceful demonstrations have been met with the use of force and arrests. Newspapers report dozens of detainees. Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and leader of the Russian opposition movement Solidarity, whom you met during a trip to Russia in July 2009, was detained by authorities in Moscow. In footage of the July 31 demonstration, government officials can be seen planning to capture Nemtsov as he calmly walks toward the demonstration. Mr. Nemtsov was released but charged with obstructing the police from carrying out their duties.
Mr. Nemtsov tried to take part in an opposition demonstration, the purpose of which was to use the right of the Russian people to freedom of assembly, guaranteed by Article 31 of the Russian Constitution. Previous rallies were dispersed in exactly the same way by the police, who brutally beat participants and harassed representatives of the opposition and human rights organizations, including long-time human rights defender Lyudmila Alekseeva. In the future, such demonstrations must certainly be allowed, and harassment and arrests must end.
Mr. President, you have spoken about the relationship between democracy and security, stating that “states that protect these rights are ultimately more resilient, more successful, and more secure.” Mr. Nemtsov argued that the relationship between the United States and Russia is one of important values and that “to ignore the problems of human rights and democracy means failure ... in strategic terms.” The signatories to this letter support your efforts to improve relations with Moscow. We also agree that improving relations cannot be achieved at the expense of democracy and human rights.
We believe that these detentions, the adoption of a new law expanding the powers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and other anti-democratic steps represent a worrying trend. American policy must proceed from the premise that a productive and successful relationship requires respect for human rights and democratic freedoms on the part of the Russian government. And the Russian government itself cannot hope to achieve its modernization goals while it oppresses its own citizens.
The ongoing violation of democratic freedoms and human rights in Russia should lead the United States to be even more supportive of courageous Russian citizens attempting to exercise their own freedoms. We commend the actions of your administration, which has expressed concern about the arrests in recent weeks and reiterated that the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly must be respected. We urge you to continue to make clear to the Russian government that the American people condemn these attacks on universal human values in Russia today and that continuing this policy can only harm relations between our two countries.
Sincerely yours,
Ellen Bork, Leon Wieseltier, R. James Woolsey, Carl Gershman, Bruce Pitcairn Jackson, Robert Kagan, Rachel Kleinfeld, William Courtney, Larry Cox, David Kramer, Irina Krasovskaya, William Kristol, Tod Lindberg, Eliza Massimino, E. Wess Mitchell, Joshua Muravchik, Crifford D. May, Sep Patten, Danielle Pletka, Arch Paddington, Steven Rademaker, Dan Senor, Gar E. Smith, David Satter, Kenneth R. Weinstein, Damon Wilson, Jamie M. Fly, Morton Halperin, Michael Haltzel, Robert Herman, Randy Scheinemann, Gary Schmit, Paula Schriefer, John Shattuck, Eric Edelman, Elliott Abrams, Leon Aaron"