On January 23, 2007, the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the Regional Court of Nizny-Novgorod, which had decided, on October 13, 2006, to close down RCFS on the ground that Mr. Stanislav Dmitrievsky, RCFS Executive Director, had been sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence for “incitation to national hatred” in February 2006. Indeed, according to article 15 of the Law on the Fight Against Extremist Activities, “if the head or a member of the leadership of an NGO makes a public declaration in which he or she calls for an extremist act or if he or she was sentenced for an extremist act, his or her organisation must publicly declare its disapproval within five days [...]; the failure to do so by an organisation will be considered as an extremist act on the part of this organisation”. Moreover, the judge based himself on article 19 of the Federal Law on NGOs, according to which “a person who was sentenced on the basis of the Law on the Fight Against Extremist Activities cannot be co-founder of an organisation”. On October 19, 2006, RCFS had appealed this decision to the Federal Supreme Court in Moscow.
RCFS announced that they will appeal this decision before the European Court of Human Rights.
The Observatory strongly condemns the closure of the RCFS, which represents a further step into the muzzling of civil society, and blatantly contravenes the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly on December 9, 1998, which guarantees every person’s right “to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” (article 1), and “to form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups” (article 5).
The Observatory urges the Russian authorities to put an end to any act of harassment against human rights NGOs and their members, as well as to revise their legislation so as to conform with international and regional standards relative to freedoms of association and expression, and to guarantee, in any circumstances, the independence of the judiciary.
Finally, the Observatory calls the Russian authorities to conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually or 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”.
For further information, please contact:
OMCT : Delphine Reculeau, + 00 41 22 809 49 39
FIDH : Gael Grilhot, + 00 33 1 43 55 25 18