The appeal of human rights activists to the chairman of the OSCE

Chairman of the OSCE

Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Mr. Jaap de Hop Scythra

Dear Mr. Chairman!

The processes that are currently undergoing in Russian society cause serious concern of Russian human rights organizations. We regard the policy of Vladimir Putin as a purposeful destruction of democratic institutions in the Russian Federation.

From January 1, 2000 to October 25, 2003, when the famous Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested, the regime of Vladimir Putin passed the evolution from “controlled democracy”, using democratic institutions created in the previous decade in the Russian Federation, to an authoritarian regime, many features of which resemble their repressive politics by the traditional Russian autocracy of 90 years of pressure. Over the past four years, the basic principles of constitutional democracy were dismantled or emasculated. At the same time, both legal and quasi -law, or even not legitimate, even violent techniques were used.

1. War in Chechnya and anti -terrorism processes

1.1. Events in Chechnya

The main event of these years was a non -international conflict in Chechnya, accompanied by mass and gross violations of human rights committed mainly by federal forces. The main actions that violate human rights in Chechnya were and remain: the massive and unreasonable use of force in the areas where the civilian population lives; “Stripping” - raids and out -of -court arrests (while the raids were accompanied by looting, and arrests - torture and torture, the bodies of many detainees were subsequently discovered with traces of torture); The actions of the “death squadrons” - the abduction and murder by the hands of Russian special units or police formations of the ruler of Chechnya Kadyrov, loyal to the Kremlin. The degree of violation of humanitarian law significantly exceeds the level of the first conflict of 1994-96, when the degree of knowledge of the Society about the war was significantly higher, and the vast majority of political forces sharply criticized the continuation of hostilities.

The next in scale violation of human rights during the Chechen conflict is pressure on forced immigrants (internal displaced persons), many tens of thousands of which are in the Republic of Ingushetia, neighboring Chechnya. The camps of displaced persons are destroyed by the authorities, the construction and settlement of new houses is blocked under various pretexts, refugees are constantly deprived of food, heating and electricity. It was the war in Chechnya that became a substantiation of the policy of establishing censorship, strengthening the role of special services in socio-political life and the formation of targeted state propaganda. The war satellite was mass ethnic discrimination and the growth of xenophobia.

In Chechnya, the principles of free will most rudely were violated when, according to the decrees of the Russian Constitution, the President Putin’s presidential referendum (March 2003) and the “Elections of the First President of the Chechen Republic” were held (October 2003). At the same time, observers noted a huge discrepancy between the number of people who had the opportunity to vote and published by official data. The “presidential election” in Chechnya was noted by the elimination of all Kadyrov’s influential competitors. All these facts of violations of rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as calls to renew the OSCE mission were repeatedly contained in the documents of human rights organizations, including the Moscow Helsinki group, the Human Rights Association “Memorial”, the movement “For Human Rights” and others.

1.2. Closed processes for terrorism

The justification of tough measures in Chechnya was terrorist attacks that Russian state bodies directly connected with Chechen radicals and terrorists. The first events of September 1999 were the first in this series, when, as a result of the explosions of houses in Moscow and Volgodonsk, as well as mysterious events in Ryazan, when the FSB officers who laid the mules of charges in the basement of a residential building were detained (later this was declared exercises). The FSB refused to publish the “teachings” plan in violation of the law. The process of persons accused of organizing these terrorist attacks is now in the Moscow City Court. In violation of the law, he is closed in nature, and the victims were not invited to him. After the arrest of the lawyer of the injured Mikhail Trepashkin, who announced the falsification of the FSB of evidence, the court did not allow the new lawyer to get acquainted with the case materials.

At the end of October 2002, tragic events took place in Moscow in the theater hall on Dubrovka. Despite the success of the negotiations of the authorities with the Chechens, the authorities suddenly began the assault on the building. During the assault, gas was used (as recently recognized in the FSB) - on the basis of a potent synthetic drug Fentanil. As a result, 125 people from among hostages were killed, and hundreds of people were seriously disturbed in their health. During the assault, the special forces shot about 40 sleeping Chechens who took part in the hostage capture. Forensic experts distorted the opening data so as not to indicate the consequences as the causes of death, as indicated in a number of epicrisis, the impact of the “substance of the narcotic action”.

Despite the requirements of human rights activists, the prosecutor’s office and the court categorically refuse to initiate the case of the commission of crimes by officials.

Examples of formally legal, albeit contrary to the spirit of democracy and federalism contained in the current Russian constitution, are the following most important measures of President Putin.

2. The demonstration of the system of federalism.

The transformation of the Federation Council replaced the elected chapters of regional executive and legislative power in the upper house of the parliament with appointed representatives (officials and businessmen). At the same time, the president divided the country into 7 administrative districts, led by the officials appointed by him, mainly retired officers of the FSB. Changes in tax legislation led to a serious reduction in the share of the regions in collected taxes and condemned the vast majority of them to fully dependent on the central government. After these measures, supported by the lower house of parliament, Russia returned 10 years ago - to the state of a unified centralized state.

3. Closure of freedom of speech, restriction of civil and political freedoms

Other formally “legitimate” steps were the amendments to the laws on political parties, the elections and the media. As a result of this, political and journalistic activities became largely controlled by the state, extremely regulated and almost completely dependent on the arbitrariness of the bureaucracy. The internet per lustration, the law enforcement agencies of anonymous denunciations and the tests of the under investigation or persons shown “suspicious” on the “lies detector” is practically legalized.

Where these methods were not sufficiently, quasi -law receptions were applied, i.e. The use of regulatory acts and actions that have the appearance of legal, but contradicting the law.

The most famous quasi-law shares are: the change of leadership on the largest private NTV channel, subsequently recognized as unlawful, the disconnection of the Opposition TV channel TV-6 and the disconnection of the TVS channel. The suppression of the Kremlin’s opposition to the Kremlin has created a general atmosphere of pressure on the press, especially in the province. As a result, the Institute of Independent Media has actually disappeared in the country, in all federal sources of information there is a clear tendency of propaganda of the existing regime and criticism of opposition parties. The combination of the monopoly position of the authorities in the media and the artificial creation by the authorities of political organizations that rely on the administrative resource creates discriminatory conditions for organizations that really reflect the position of civil society, both in the left part of the political spectrum (Communist Party) and in the right (“Union of Right Forces” and “Apple”). The statement of the opposite point of view is suppressed by using the actually returned censorship, abuse of administrative and judicial power, and power structures. There are cases of physical reprisals, including murders, objectionable journalists and editors.

The next point of active use of quasi -baccines was the election. The most scandalous elections in former autonomies - the Republic of Yakutia, the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic were the most scandalous. In these cases, methods such as withdrawing from the elections by the decision of the court of opponents, and the factory of cases, including searches and arrests, against the opponents of the favorites of the central government were used. But the factory of elections began in March 2000. Many reputable political scientists and sociologists questioned the fact of Putin’s victory in the presidential election in the first round.

At the moment, the election campaign in the Russian parliament is going on with gross violations of the law: opposition candidates are removed from the elections, and the media monopolized by the state are conducting direct campaigning for the party in power and against opposition associations.

With Putin’s advent of power, the so -called “spy processes” resumed. Moreover, in the summer of 1999, Putin - then the head of the FSB (and even the unnecessary successor of Yeltsin) called a number of victims of “spy processes” traitors. As a result, the ecologist and journalist Pasko was convicted of the year of prison. A diplomat of Moiseev was also convicted of frankly fabricated charges. For 3 years, expert Sutyan has been in custody, they have been accused of espionage of Professor Danilov.

Ethnic discrimination was widely used, especially it is widespread in the Krasnodar Territory, where, with the help of discriminatory regional legislation, tens of thousands of representatives of ethnic minorities are not only devoid of civil rights, but are constantly subjected to persecution, the authorities consider them illegal residents and call for their forced deportation. At the same time, despite all the protests, the federal authorities ignore these lawlessness.

The greatest alarm is the real attack on civil society, when, with the help of abuse of justice, reprisals are organized with those who challenged the central or local authorities or law enforcement agencies with their fundamental position. The persecution of lawyers became especially frequent. Therefore, we want to pay attention to several episodes illustrating these trends.

4. Processes against representatives of civil society

In Russia, the processes of systematic violation of human rights in relation to representatives of civil society have actively began. Interrogations, searches for falsification of cases against lawyers; The frequent cases of obvious falsification of criminal cases with a political background, the persecution of human rights activists, politically motivated persecution of entrepreneurs indicate the intensification of the work of the repressive apparatus already in relation to the public figures of Russian society. These processes occur in conditions of ineffective and biased prosecutorial supervision of the legality, the increasing degree of dependence and engagement of the judicial system. In the summer of 2003, the so -called “Yukos case” began - a series of criminal cases initiated against shareholders and employees of the largest Russian oil company, which carried out a number of charitable projects in the field of education.

Natives of law enforcement agencies came to the country's leadership. Most of the leaders in the center and in the field are directly related to the army, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB and other law enforcement agencies. Having come to power, they eliminate competitors, political opponents who are objectionable to the use of power non -legal methods, persecute entrepreneurs, deciding economic disputes by power methods.

4.1. Pursuit of lawyers and human rights activists

Violating their international obligations on guarantees of the safe professional activities of lawyers acting as defenders of citizens in criminal proceedings, the authorities of the Russian Federation launched the campaign of the persecution of lawyers occupying a fundamental position. Power departments, first of all, FSB falsify criminal cases against the lawyers themselves. The new law on the advocacy largely made lawyers dependent on law enforcement agencies and the court.

4.1.1.

For more than 6.5 years, it has been in imprisonment, and without the court decisions that came into force, lawyer and human rights activist Sergei Brovchenko, to whom the special services threw 4.5 kg of cocaine. In a package with a tossed drug, a police tank used to seal material evidence was discovered. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in his case issued three protests. The verdict was canceled due to the lack of any evidence of the guilt of the lawyer and due to numerous violations of the law. Each time, the case was sent for a new trial to the district court, where the conviction was repeated. Power actively affects the court in order to prevent the acquittal. In the case of Brovchenko there are numerous evidence of corruption and committed by employees of special services of criminal crimes. In the case of Brovchenko there are documents testifying to his persecution by the FSB precisely in connection with the fulfillment of his professional duties to protect citizens, on the involvement of special services in drug trafficking. An example of criminal prosecution of Brovchenko is used by special services to intimidate other lawyers.

4.1.2.

The expert of the public commission for the investigation of explosions of residential buildings in the cities of Volgodonsk and Moscow (chairman - deputy Sergei Kovalev) to lawyer Trepashkin was thrown out weapons and sent to prison to exclude his participation in the trial. Trepashkin, possessing evidence of the involvement of the special services in these explosions, actively opposed the condemnation of the innocent and advocated the establishment of the truth in the case. Previously, he was accused of disclosing state secrets in connection with his interview to journalists on events related to the capture of hostages in the theater center at Dubrovka (the Nord-Ost case).

4.1.3.

The lawyer Anton Drev, the defender of the leaders of Yukos Lebedev and Khodorkovsky, the prosecutor’s office tried several times to interrogate according to the circumstances that became known to him in connection with the defense, a search was illegally conducted in his absence in his office.

On October 30, 2003, lawyer Vyacheslav Patskov was called by the investigator to conduct an interrogation of his client contained in the FSB investigative insulator. He was announced that they were going to interrogate himself. The lawyer Patskov refused to testify, citing the fact that all the information interested in the investigation was received in the exercise of his duties as a defender. Investigators of the prosecutor's office threatened Patskov with initiation of a criminal case and detention. Only after the intervention of Patskkov’s colleagues, the lawyer was released from the building of the General Prosecutor's Office. Lawyer Patskkov illegally lingered in the investigator’s office from 9-00 to 16-00.

On November 11, 2003, the defender of Mikhail Khodorkovsky lawyer Olga Artyukhova was detained by the employees of the Sailor Silence of the Sailor Silence and was illegally searched.

We are convinced that the criminal prosecution of lawyers Sergei Brovchenko, Mikhail Trepashkin, Anton Drevl and Vyacheslav Patskov are directly related to their lawyer and human rights activities. Repression and intimidation of lawyers threatens the effectiveness of the advocacy as an institution of civil society and an integral part of independent justice. The independence of Russian justice without independent lawyers is impossible.

At the All -Russian Conference of Civil Organizations held at the end of October 2003, an appeal was accepted to the organization of the International Amnesty with a request to recognize the human rights activist of lawyer Sergei Brovchenko, a prisoner of conscience, and the lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin - political prisoners.

The lawyer in the exercise of his professional duties is not the subject of the application of coercion, since it is in the process of the equal party and the application to the lawyer of procedural coercion violates Russian legislation, the rights of the client and the lawyer himself.

The lawyer community shares the alarm of the situation, as evidenced by the resolution of the conference of the Russian Bar Chamber, adopted on November 22, 2003. This resolution draws attention to the pursuit of lawyers by law enforcement agencies and is called to apply to international legal organizations.

5. Presence of human rights activists

The active and fundamental position of human rights defenders, who are in defense of the environmental and other rights of citizens, causes a wave of repression and law enforcement structures against them. In relation to human rights activists, criminal cases are falsified, methods of repressive psychiatry are applied, and human rights organizations in the regions are subjected to various kinds of pressure and repression.

5.1. Human rights activist Mikhail Kostrestinidi

The head of the Novorossiysk human rights organization Mikhail Konstantinidi was convicted by the verdict of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Territory, to 5 years in prison. The public took this sentence as revenge for a fundamental position in matters of environmental protection and protecting human rights. Konstantinidi actively opposed the authorities of the Krasnodar Territory, leading the movement of citizens who protested against the construction of the sea oil terminal in a place that did not allow guaranteeing the environmental safety of the project, while the opinion of independent environmental examinations was not taken into account. Law enforcement agencies falsified evidence of the commission of fraudulent actions.

5.2. Human rights activist Rafael Usmanov

Rafael Usmanov is a human rights activist with 15 years of experience. Since 1997, he was repeatedly arrested for slander and insulting the court, 5 times the Magadan judicial authorities sent him to a psychiatric examination.

In 2000, Rafael nominated his candidacy for the post of governor of the Magadan region. During the election campaign, he made a lot of negative facts from the biography of the then governor and candidate for a new term - V. Tsvetkov.

Unable to win the court, the authorities recognized Usmanov as insane and sent to the St. Petersburg Psychiatric Hospital (hospital) of a specialized type with intense observation, where he was exposed to potent drugs. Since May 2003, the defender has not been allowed to Usmanov. Nothing is known about the state of his health.

6. Politically motivated and electoral criminal prosecutions

6.1. Government campaign against Yukos

The persecution by the authorities of the leading of the largest oil company Yukos has attracted attention to the fact that these events have highlighted the whole picture of violation of the law and electoral application of justice. The campaign began with the emergence of an analytical report on the conspiracy of the “oligarchs”: the main accusation is the establishment of a parliamentary republic in Russia. Then a series of arrests and criminal proceedings against the leaders of the Yukos company took place. Against the backdrop of these events, the leadership of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation makes statements that grossly violating the principle of the presumption of innocence of Yukos managers and impose responsibility for them for the plight of Russia. Under the pressure of the authorities, the representative of the Yukos rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University Leonid Nevzlin resigned. Since the Yukos case was widely covered, we will list his episodes very briefly.

6.1.1. The case of Alexei Pichugin

Anatoly Pichugin was arrested at the end of June 2003. The reason for the arrest was criminal charges of relations from his recidivist in prison. Pichugina was interrogated in a semi -conscious state using psychotropic drugs.

6.1.2. The case of Plato Lebedev

In early July 2003, under investigation for evasion of taxes, the chairman of the board of Menatep Platon Lebedev, which is included in Yukos, was delivered to prison directly from the hospital. The court leaves him in a rude violation of the European Convention.

6.1.3. The case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky

On October 25, 2003, upon returning from a meeting of non -governmental organizations and entrepreneurs in Nizhny Novgorod, the FSB special forces captured the aircraft with the head of the Yukos oil company Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The court authorizes his arrest in a rude violation of the European Convention. In response to public protests, President Putin demands to “stop hysteria” and makes it clear that, arresting Khodorkovsky, the prosecutor’s office acted with his knowledge.

6.2.1. The case of Anatoly Makarenko

Anatoly Makarenko - ex -governor of the Smolensk region, is persecuted by the current governor Maslov, General of the FSB. In the case of Anatoly Makarenko, the property of publicity was the numerous evidence of fusing the local FSB figures with crime. The prosecutor’s office issued decisions on the refusal to initiate criminal cases, while recognizing the facts of the unlawful actions of the Chekists, to the numerous statements of Makarenko on the commission of crimes by officials of the FSB department in the Smolensk region. The involvement of some UFSB employees to disciplinary liability is not a measure of prosecutor’s response on reports of the crime. Makarenko continues to be detained on charges of committing a number of economic crimes, while reasonably fearing for his life. One of the main reasons for the persecution of Makarenko was his intention to run for governors.

6.2.2. The case of entrepreneur Dmitry Zapoznov

The dispute between the authorities of the city of Elektrostal of the Moscow Region on the right of ownership of the premises of the factory with the company, which belongs to Rulfinov, was subject to consideration in arbitration courts. Having lost several claims against the entrepreneur, the city authorities decided to influence the unypable entrepreneur with a power method. The mayor of the city sent a statement to the head of the city Ministry of Internal Affairs, in which he accused Ruznov of delaying the trial and arbitrariness. The mayor considered the arbitrariness the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region, executed by the ranging. The police opened a criminal case against Ruznov. There was nothing about this to the entrepreneur himself until he was informed at one of the road police posts that he was wanted. The allegedly located in the “wanted” rang several times made foreign trips, and the services of the border, passport and customs administration did not have any data on the search. After the intervention of human rights activists, the callouses were released from the imprisonment, but the investigation continues and the work of his enterprise is caused by serious damage. One of the main reasons for dissatisfaction with the resonation authorities was his participation as an opponent to the current mayor in the mayor’s previous elections and the intention to participate in the new elections. The current prosecutor of the city takes part in the new elections of the mayor. The example of Ruznov indicates the power, unlawful use by the power structures of the method of criminal prosecution of objectionable entrepreneurs in solving a dispute about property, as well as the elimination and intimidation of competitors in the elections.

Conclusions

In our opinion, democratic institutions and, including one of the most important conquests of Russian democracy - free and independent elections of representatives of the legislative and executive branch - are threatened with complete liquidation. This will directly lead to the formation of an authoritarian system in Russia, which deprives ideological and political opponents of the possibility of expressing their position. The falsification of the elections by the authorities is significantly facilitated because the system of automatic accounting “Elections” is now in the direct management of the FSB. At the same time, the system of justice is destroyed, since it is corrupt and acquires an openly manipulated nature, including in a conflict of interests of entrepreneurs with a business related to power. In general, the general logic of the evolution of Russian justice creates a system in which almost any socially active person is at risk of persecution.

Problems of violation of civil freedoms in Russia were presented by representatives of Russian non -governmental organizations in 2003 at the OSCE conferences and meetings of the UN Human Rights Committee. The UN Committee on Human Rights by Russian Human Rights Office submitted an alternative report on compliance with the Russian Federation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The preparation of the report was coordinated by the Moscow Helsinki group. Based on this report, the recommendations of the Committee on Russia were drawn up.

During the OSCE conference, dedicated to the prevention of torture (Vienna, November 6-7, 2003), the representative of the delegation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands under the OSCE was reported on the facts of the use of torture in Russian investigative insulators.

The Russian delegation initiative to send the special representative of the OSCE to Moscow for direct observation of the legality of the actions of law enforcement agencies and courts within the framework of criminal cases in connection with the so -called case of “Yukos”, criminal cases against lawyers and human rights activists. We also insist on the new OSCE mission in Chechnya.

We believe that the fundamental position of international institutions and, first of all, is so authoritative as the OSCE, should be immediately expressed in relation to negative processes that are currently taking place in Russia.

We ask you to consider the participation of the delegation of Russian non-governmental organizations in a meeting of the OSCE Ministry of Office on December 1-2 in Maastricht with a report on the situation with human rights in Russia.

Sincerely

Lev Ponomarev, All -Russian Public Movement "For Human Rights"

Andrey Babushkin, public charity committee “For civil rights”

November 25, 2003