Çàÿâëåíèå ïðîãðàììû «Íàáëþäåíèå çà çàùèòîé ïðàâîçàùèòíèêîâ» (ñîâìåñòíàÿ ïðîãðàììà Ìåæäóíàðîäíîé Ôåäåðàöèè ïðàâ ÷åëîâåêà (FIDH) è Âñåìèðíîé Îðãàíèçàöèè ïðîòèâ ïûòîê (OMCT)) (íà àíãëèéñêîì ÿçûêå)
December 5, 2008
The Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture
(OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian
Federation.
Brief description of the
situation:
The Observatory has been
informed by reliable sources, including Memorial Saint-Petersburg, about the
thorough search into the offices of the Memorial Research Centre of Saint
Petersburg.
According to the information
received, on December 4, 2008 in the morning, a group of unidentified men, some
of them masked, broke into the offices of the Memorial Research Centre of Saint
Petersburg, and showed Memorial representatives who were already in the
premises a search warrant issued by the Prosecutor’s office of Saint
Petersburg, in connection with an investigation against the New
Petersburg newspaper, for publishing “extremist” articles. The warrant read
the following: “case related to the publication of an article titled “Here
is the real candidate” published in the New Petersburg newspaper”,
although Memorial and its members are not linked in any way to this newspaper and know nothing about the case against it. The Observatory was further
informed that the search warrant would be based upon Article 282 of the
Criminal Code (“incitement to racial and religious hatred”, leading to the
accusation of extremism), even though the newspaper article in question had led
to a decision issued on October 21, 2008, in which the Court of Saint
Petersburg had ruled that such document did not contain anything of an
extremist character.
Throughout the day of December
4, the doors of the Memorial office were blocked, and telephone lines did not
function. Memorial members and other individuals trying to enter the premises were
prevented from doing so and were threatened by the masked men, who would include police, special forces and members of the investigative
committee of the Prosecutor’s Office.
Furthermore, a lawyer
contacted by Memorial was prevented from being present during the search, in
violation of the Russian legislation. A local police officer was also denied
access.
According to the information
received, all the digital material of the office - hard drives, USB keys and
other data supports, including 20 years of archives on Soviet
repression and gulags - as well as
computer processors and some documents were seized. The door of the bureau of
the Director of the Research Centre, which was locked, was broken.
The Observatory was also
informed that among the unidentified men were one investigator, two members
from the special rapid reaction unit (SOBR,
which usually works on issues involving dangerous criminals or armed groups),
and two police officers, assisted with two “eye witnesses”.
The Observatory expresses its
deepest concern about these acts of harassment against Memorial Saint
Petersburg, all the more than confiscation of digital data always bears a risk
of falsification by confiscators and of consequent data loss. The Observatory
denounces the procedural irregularities that marred these events, and fears
that such actions aim at sanctioning Memorial’s human rights activities or to
access their documents.
In addition, the Observatory
recalls that the Russian Federation was
elected to the Human Rights Council in June 2006 for three years and is
committed, in this regard, to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion
and protection of human rights”. In addition, as a participating State of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Russian
Federation acknowledges that “the [1998] UN Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders [... places] a responsibility [...] on states to adopt and implement
adequate legislation and administrative procedures that would provide for a
conducive environment for human rights defenders to promote and strive for the
protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the
national and international levels”, and recognises “the need for particular
attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the OSCE, its
Institutions and field operations, as well as by participating States”[1].
The Observatory also points
out that under the terms of the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of
the Council of Europe for enhanced protection of human rights defenders,
adopted on February 6, 2008, member-States are required to “create an
environment conductive to human rights defenders, to take effective measures to
protect, promote, and respect them, to ensure their access to effective
remedies, to take action to prevent attacks and harassment against them, and to
ensure their effective access to the European Court of Human Rights”.
Actions requested:
The Observatory urges the
authorities of the Russian Federation to:
i.
Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of the members of Memorial
and more generally of all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
ii. Order a thorough and impartial
investigation into the above-mentioned events, in order to identify all those
responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and
apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;
iii. Put an end to all acts of
harassment against all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, and
ensure in all circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without
unjustified hindrances;
iv. Comply with all the provisions
of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with
Article 1, which provides that “everyone has the right, individually and in
association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and
realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and
international levels”, as well as with Article 12.2 (“the State shall take all necessary measures
to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually
and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any
other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of
the rights referred to in the present Declaration”);
v. Comply with the provisions of
the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd Conference on the
Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in Europe (CSCE)
(1990), and uphold in all circumstances the principles and provisions enshrined
in the international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the
Russian Federation and which, in particular, guarantee freedoms of association,
demonstration, expression and opinion, in particular the European Convention on
Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
vi. More generally, ensure in all
circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the
Russian Federation.
Addresses:
·
Dmitri Medvedev, President of the Russian
Federation, Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, Faxes:+ 7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408, Email: president@gov.ru;
·
Mr. Yuriy Chaika, General Public Prosecutor of Russian Federation,
125993, Moscow, GSP-3, 15a B. Dimitrovka str. RUSSIA, Fax: +7 (495)
692-96-00
·
Mr. Sergey Romanyuk, Public Prosecutor of Leningrad region, 194044,
Saint Petersburg, av. Lesnoi, str. 20, kor. 12, RUSSIA. Fax: +7 812 542 00 15
·
Chairwoman of the Presidential Human Rights Commission of the Russian
Federation, Ella Pamfilova, 103132 g. Moskva, Staraya ploshchad, d 8/5,pod 3,
Russian Federation, Fax:+70952064855;
·
Vladimir Lukin, Russian Federal Ombudsman for Human Rights, Fax: +7
495 207-53-37;
·
Minister of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, ul. Zhitnaya, 16, 117049
Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Rossiia, 117049, Moskva, Fax: + 7 095 237
49 25;
·
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl,
32/34, 121200 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Fax:+ 7 095 244 2203;
·
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in
Geneva Av. de la Paix 15, CH-1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland, e-mail :
mission.russian@ties.itu.int, fax: +4122 734 40 44;
·
Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, 31-33 boulevard du
Régent, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 513 76 49.
Please also write to the
diplomatic mission or embassy of the Russian Federation in your respective
country.
***
Geneva-Paris, December 5, 2008
Kindly inform us of any action
undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The
Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human
Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French
Republic.
To contact the Observatory,
call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43
55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
[1] See OP 6 & OP 8 of the
Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and
National Human Rights Institutions, adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
on July 10, 2007.