Don't give it away

Representatives of the Russian public published the text of an appeal to Western politicians, lawyers and public figures with a call to promote the introduction of a moratorium on consideration of requests for the extradition of Russian citizens. The initiator of the appeal, the text of which was published on the website www.noextradition.info , was Russian journalist and human rights activist Grigory Pasko, who was found guilty by a Russian court of espionage for Japan. Among those who signed the letter are writers Nina Katerli, Grigory Chkhartishvili, Viktor Shenderovich, human rights activists Lyudmila Alekseeva, Sergei Kovalev, Lev Ponomarev, Alexei Simonov, Ernst Cherny, Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, actress Natalya Fateeva.

As Pasko explains, the suspension of cooperation between Western countries and the Russian criminal justice in terms of the extradition of suspects, which is called for by the signatories of the letter, is “a forced, temporary, but necessary measure”, since “the Russian law enforcement system has compromised itself with corruption, arbitrariness, participation in ordered political and economic reprisals. Therefore, it is impossible to be sure that by satisfying an extradition request, Western governments are promoting justice and not participating in a brutal reprisal against a victim of political persecution or raider takeover. Our appeal is an attempt to warn citizens of legal countries who are inexperienced in Russian realities from complicity in illegal and inhumane reprisals.”

“We call on all countries of good will to develop mechanisms, both at the interstate and national levels, that would reliably prevent their national legal systems and mechanisms of international legal cooperation from abuse by the Russian authorities. Until such effective mechanisms are developed, a complete moratorium should be introduced on all types of legal cooperation with Russia, including the execution of requests for extradition, for the provision of legal assistance, and for the execution of orders within the Interpol system,” the appeal says.