Russian human rights activists asked Dmitry Medvedev to have pardon 14 people

The program is conducted by Kirill Kobrin. The radio correspondent Freedom Karen Agamirov takes part.

Kirill Kobrin: Russian human rights activists presented an appeal to President Dmitry Medvedev with a request to free people who are called Russian political prisoners. The letter was signed by the chairman of the Moscow Helsinki group Lyudmila Alekseev, the head of the Foundation Andrei Sakharov Sergey Kovalev, the director of the Lev Ponomarev and others movement movement for human rights.

Karen Agamirov: In circulation - a list of 14 people. These are the so-called “shpio scientists” Valentin Danilov, Igor Sutyan, Igor Reshetin, Alexander Rozhkin, Sergey Vizir, Mikhail Ivanov; Five defendants in Yukos affairs - Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev, Alexey Pichugin, Vasily Aleksanyan, Svetlana Bakhmina; as well as sentenced in the case of the Islamic Jamaat Rustem Shaidullin; A native of Chechnya Zara Murtazalieva, convicted of allegedly an attempt to commit a terrorist attack in Moscow, and Zaurbek Talhigov, he was convicted of aiding terrorists, expressed in an attempt to help the release of hostages from the theater center on Dubrovka.

But why did human rights activists in appeal to the President of Russia called for pardon only these people? The microphone has the leader of the All -Russian movement "For Human Rights" Lev Ponomarev.

Lev Ponomarev: If we are trying to even roughly evaluate how many political prisoners in Russia, then according to various estimates, we can calmly say that this is more than 100 people are obvious. In the Caucasus, the "Squadron of Death" works, where people are simply kidnapped. Therefore, after long and rather painful consultations, this first list was selected, and we present it to you. Dmitry Anatolyevich every day is now practically making statements about the imperfection of the judicial system. The President of Russia the day before yesterday admitted that there are political prisoners in Russia when he said that the trials are on calls. He is our supporter, as you can assume. Turning to him, we hope for some reaction. Here is the first list of the most famous people and the most egregious terms. Have mercy on them.

Karen Agamirov: Yes, there are much more political prisoners, but human rights activists who signed an appeal to the president chose those who have the highest terms and the persecution of which received the greatest public resonance.

Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki group Lyudmila Alekseev.

Lyudmila Alekseeva: People who are listed on this list are just people who are not guilty of anything. It is very important that these people who have a huge time, being not guilty, so that they are free, that they are released. And then we will achieve, of course, to be recognized as innocent. We have much more political prisoners than indicated in this list, and this caused a discussion among human rights activists: is it moral to contact some part of the political prisoners, not to mention this appeal about the rest. But here it is said: "As the first step, we ask you to pardon these people." And so, because, of course, we are obliged to seek the liberation of all political prisoners. The opponents who objected to such a shortened list put forward, in general, a reasonable consideration that any selection is subjective.

Karen Agamirov: Among the opponents - Chairman of the Council of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" Oleg Orlov.

Oleg Orlov: We have serious disagreements inside, great disputes about both the text, and the concepts of this letter, alternative concepts. Both inside the human rights center, and with our colleagues outside the human rights center, there are quite large disputes, different very points of view. We, by and large, have no doubt about the fact of an appeal to the president. Precisely because it is a matter of pardon, this is a matter of mercy. And this is normal, has the right. And then the question arises. The concept that I supported, or at least a significant part of my colleagues, we are talking about the need to revise cases. Comrade Medvedev stated there about unfinitely court decisions, here are their mass and they must be reviewed, we must return to these cases again. But Mr. Medvedev, from this huge number of non -legal decisions, should be asked to have mercy on the most vulnerable part: women, patients whose life and health are threatened, as well as if people were condemned by minors. We choose not the most famous, not the most loud. Why out of dozens of people who are sitting there, some kind of set is chosen with whom they are addressing Medvedev?

Karen Agamirov: Member of the Council of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" Alexander Cherkasov.

Alexander Cherkasov: The very fact of such an appeal is a normal matter, because, in the end, the human rights activists appealed to the authorities. Indeed, who else can release people, to mitigate their punishment? If the Bastille is not demolished, then obviously we are talking about the appeal to the authorities that acts. The appeal can be different, and with respect to different people. You can contact a pardon, and these are the competencies of the president. By the way, under Yeltsin, the mercy commission acted quite effectively, but under Putin it was reorganized, and in fact, the pardon process ceased. We can talk about amnesty, but amnesty, according to the law, is the case of the State Duma. We can talk about the revision of cases, but this is the case of the judicial system, which, as we recently emphasizes, should be independent. And it is not clear how to appeal, for example, to the president, speaking of a revision of cases.

Obviously, the topic of political prisoners itself, it is known to society from some narrow angle. There are people who have heard a lot about, which the press is talking about. Here is about Mikhail Khodorkovsky more often, and thank God, the more often they will talk about Khodorkovsky, the more often it will be known that Khodorkovsky himself says, the better. Not only because he was unfairly convicted, condemned, in our opinion, for political reasons, but because he is a smart person whose opinion should be interesting to the whole country. But, for example, about this in various regions of Russia - in the Volga region, in Siberia, about this, about this, about this, about this is known about this. People arrested and convicted for participating in separatist movements in the North Caucasus, they are also convicted by political reasons, but they are not at all in this context at this context

Karen Agamirov: Nevertheless, the appeal is accepted and today will leave with the courier at the address: Moscow, Kremlin, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. But what's next? Chairman of the Foundation Andrei Sakharov Sergey Kovalev.

Sergey Kovalev: With a high probability, this action will remain what such appeals to the authorities most often remain, that is, the next exposure of power hypocrisy. However, it was necessary to do this.

Karen Agamirov: Open appeal to human rights activists to the President of Russia on the liberation of the group of political prisoners.