Recorded for history

The institute of public observers will join the trials of the “prisoners of Bolotnaya”

The fundamental difference between this association and other human rights organizations is that non-professionals work here. Observers are not experts, but interested citizens of the Russian Federation. At the same time, they must remain impartial, apolitical, refrain from violence and discrimination at the time they perform the functions of an observer

Public observers are planning to visit the court proceedings on the May 6 case in April and June to record the course of the session. For those wishing to support this initiative, on March 9, a meeting of the Joint Group of Public Monitoring - abbreviated OGON - was held. About 20 people came to the seminar: among them were both newcomers to the human rights movement and experienced human rights defenders - MHG Executive Director Nina Tagankina, expert of the Novorossiysk Human Rights Committee Vadim Karastelev, coordinator of the Youth Human Rights Movement and OGOON Victoria Gromova, Dmitry Makarov ( MPD, OGON).

The fundamental difference between this association and other human rights organizations is that non-professionals work here. Observers are not experts, but interested citizens of the Russian Federation. At the same time, they must remain impartial, apolitical, refrain from violence and discrimination at the time they perform the functions of an observer.

At the meeting, they discussed what international human rights standards should be observed in Russian courts. It was about the openness and publicity of trials, the independence and impartiality of judges, the observance of the principle of the presumption of innocence and other fundamental standards of legal proceedings.

“If the accused sits in a cage during the trial and is handcuffed, this is a representation of him as already guilty, that is, a violation of the principle of the presumption of innocence,” the organizers explained. In addition, the observers will record how many petitions from the defense and the prosecution are satisfied by the court, whether the judge goes to the deliberation room to make a decision or makes a decision right away.

Dmitry Makarov spoke about how and why OGON appeared: “Among people there is a request for such a form of control. Some part of the population does not sympathize with either the authorities or the existing opposition; and in general they may not have any political convictions, but they have the right to demand and demand the fundamental observance of the law and rights. We pass on the results of observations and the developed recommendations to the organizers of the rallies and the administration. But in itself, the presence of observers at various public events helps to reduce the level of aggression between the conflicting parties. Moreover, I have absolutely no illusions that someone, be it the opposition or the government, will like our recommendations.”

In addition to the courts, the Ogonists are engaged in monitoring rallies and the police. Thus, the group organized Document Check Days (DPD) at the police in September-October 2012. The activists approached the police officers patrolling the area and asked if they had badges, laid down under paragraph 5 of Art. 25 of the law "On Police". “Now they are worn almost everywhere,” the group members say.

January 26, 2013 was the Day of inspection of police stations. It was held by the Youth Human Rights Movement, the Center "Transparency International - Russia" and OGON. The essence of this idea is that any citizen of the Russian Federation could come to any police department and check its openness or accessibility, the ease of finding a branch, and internal information support. For example, each police station should have posted material on the rights of detainees. Based on the results of a kind of check by the OGON, recommendations were developed to solve a number of problems - the lack of signs, suitable conditions for visitors.