Translated material
There is contact!
State and public human rights defenders agreed on cooperation
What seemed impossible just recently has come true. At the end of last week, a protocol on interaction was solemnly signed between the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Oleg Mironov. Until some time, non-state rights defenders and the “rights” official were on opposite sides of the human rights fence. Oleg Mironov was irritated by the uncontrollability of human rights activists; they were offended that the ombudsman did not want to make contact with them. And now - there is contact! Moreover, according to Lyudmila Alekseeva, chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, this cooperation is clearly beneficial. It should only be noted that all this protocol fraternization is taking place against the backdrop of a scandal unfolding around Mironov himself, as the Vremya Novostey newspaper wrote about on November 30.The Duma of the last convocation, two and a half years ago, approved the communist Mironov as a defender of human rights. Oleg Orestovich began his activities by equipping offices and recruiting a staff of 160 people. And now ten of them are writing slander and denunciations against him, which mention overspent currency, mental pressure on employees and even connections with the CIA. And the main ideological accusation is “mimicry towards the supranational doctrine of human rights.”
And human rights activists are watching the “mimicry” of the Ombudsman with obvious pleasure. And they call it Oleg Orestovich finally realizing his destiny. Human rights activists even wrote a letter to the president about the persecution of Oleg Mironov. The ending of which, however, is somewhat pathetic. “We call on you,” they write, “to support the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation in this difficult hour for him.” The costs of style can also explain the mention of the names of Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn next to Mironov. But the fact remains: human rights activists are dramatically changing their attitude towards the Commissioner for Human Rights Oleg Mironov.
“Yes,” says Lyudmila Alekseeva, “we had conflicts and a complete lack of understanding. When I came to him, he simply did not listen to me. But it turned out that over time this person is capable of both changing and learning. His latest reports on Chechnya are strikingly different from the statements that he allowed himself at the beginning of the war. And he prepared a report on torture in the police, relying, in particular, on our data. We have been collaborating for several months now. They have just formalized this in the protocol so that it can be heard publicly. After all, one way or another, everyone who deals with the protection of human rights has to communicate with the authorities. And here only two ways are possible: either fight them or negotiate. We prefer to negotiate. Moreover, it was Oleg Mironov himself who proposed signing this very protocol, which for some reason now raises so many questions.”
Human rights activists believe that by cooperating with the government official, it was not they who lost ground - it was he who suddenly changed for the better. And they only reacted to these changes in time.