URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
RUS 001 / 0208 / OBS 015
Judicial proceedings / Harassment
Russian Federation
February 5, 2008
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) about the judicial harassment that the non-governmental organisation the Voice of Beslan, which gathers mothers of victims of the 2004 Beslan school hostage-taking, is currently facing.
According to the information received, on January 15, 2008, the Prosecutor's office of Ingushetia has lodged a suit against the Voice of Beslan in the Nazran District Court for "extremist activities". The charges fall under Russia's 2007 amended Law on extremism, which broadens the definition of extremist activities to include "slander of public officials" and "humiliating national pride". The legislation can be applied retroactively and, as a consequence, the operations of the organisation could be suspended.
These charges are linked with a statement made by the Voice of Beslan on November 30, 2005, accusing President Putin of refusing to launch an independent investigation into the battle ending the siege that killed many hostages in September 2004. The address was beginning with "to all who feel for the victims of the act of terror perpetrated in Beslan" and stated that "we have to acknowledge that the acts of terror have become the most efficient political tool in Russia. We are guilty for electing the president who solves his problems with the help of tanks, flame-throwers and gas ... But we do not deserve that the world's political elite should support our president who has become the guardian of criminals". More than two years after the delivery of this statement, the Prosecutor's office is now claiming that it constitutes deliberately false accusations against President Putin.
This is not the first time the authorities try to intimidate the organisation in order to put an end to its activities. Thus, in autumn 2007, the authorities of the Republic of North Ossetia made an attempt to re-register the group under a different leadership. In December, a North Ossetian court ordered the organisation to close down, claiming that Ms. Ella Kesaeva, the co-chair of the organisation, was not its leader and that a former member who claimed to be the leader of the group should replace her. That ruling was subsequently annulled by the Russian Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the Observatory has been informed with great concern that on January 20, 2008, the house of a woman who gave testimony in court to support the Voice of Beslan in the framework of these judicial proceedings was searched by members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in order to "establish evidence of illegal arms possession". During the search, the woman was warned by the FSB officers that she should "not even communicate with the Voice of Beslan".
Besides, at the end of November 2007, an administrative case was opened against Ms. Kesaeva, after she participated in a rally held in Beslan on November 7, 2007, in which participants placed a signpost reading "Putin's Course" - pointing in the direction of the destroyed school. Ms. Kasaeva was charged with "illegal mounting of a road signpost". As of issuing this urgent appeal, the case remains pending in court.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern at the judicial proceedings against the Voice of Beslan, and fears that such accusations aim at merely sanctioning its activities in favour of justice for victims of the Beslan tragedy.
The Observatory further recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia must conform with paragraph 8 of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions, which states that the OSCE Participating States recognise "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".
Background information:
On September 3, 2004, 1,128 persons were taken in hostage at Middle School N° 1 in the small town of Beslan, in North Ossetia. Subsequently, and following the storming of the school building by secret services, 186 children and 145 adults were killed.
Since then, the Voice of Beslan has repeatedly been demanding fair investigation into these events. Indeed, more than three years after the siege, many questions remain unanswered. The exact number of hostage takers has not been established. According to the authorities, 32 hostage takers seized the school and only one of them, Mr. Nurpash Kulaev, survived the assault by the federal forces. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after a trial highly criticised as it did not bring answers to essential questions concerning the course of the assault. Furthermore, although it was proved that several policemen accompanied the group into Beslan, they were all acquitted in 2006. Likewise, the investigation has failed to inquire into the usage of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, grenade launchers and flame-throwers while storming the school building, full of children, on September 3. The Voice of Beslan continues to argue that the Russian government shares responsibility for the tragedy, as the use of flamethrowers by Russian security forces and shelling from Russian tanks contributed to the death toll.
The Voice of Beslan has gone through three court proceedings in an attempt to have the chair of the investigatory team, Mr. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, replaced, claiming that his activities have been only aimed at shielding officials from prosecution. The State Duma has yet to release its own final official report on the events. But, in January 2008, Mr. Aleksandr Torshin, the vice-speaker of the Federal Assembly at the State Duma and chair of the parliamentary commission to investigate the atrocity in Beslan, appraised Mr. Solzhenitsyn and the investigation that was carried out. He also suggested that militants were responsible for the explosion that killed many of the 1,000 hostages.
Actions requested:
The Observatory urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Ella Kesaeva, as well as of all members of and supporters to the Voice of Beslan and all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
ii. Put an end to the judicial harassment against the Voice of Beslan, as it seems to merely aim at sanctioning its human rights activities;
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", Article 6.b, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms", as well as with Article 12.2, which provides that "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. 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:
- Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, Faxes:+ 7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408, Email: president@gov.ru;
- Prosecutor's office of Nizhny Novgorod, Fax: + 7 831 2 61 85 03
- Nizhegorodskiy district police office, Fax: +7 831 2 34 02 02
- Governor of the region, Vasily Shantsev, + 7 831 2 39 08 19
- Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Ustinov, 103793 g. Moskva K-31, Ul. B. Dimitrovka, d 15a, Russian Federation, Fax: + 7 095 292 88 48;
- 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;
- Minister of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, ul. Zhitnaya, 16, 117049 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Rossiia, 117049, Moskva, Fax: + 7 095 237 49 25;
- Ambassador Leonid Skotnikov, 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;
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the Russian Federation in your respective country.
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Geneva-Paris, February 5, 2008
