FIDH is extremely alarmed about the recent events in Russia. The threat against human rights and public liberties defenders is getting worse, especially as concerns freedom to demonstrate and inform.
On 24 November, FIDH was informed by the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” that during the night of 23-24 November, Oleg Orlov, head of HRC “Memorial”, and three journalists from "Ren-TV", Artyom Vystotsky, Stanislav Goryachev and Karen Sakhinov, were abducted from Hotel “Assa” in Nazran (Ingushetia) where they were staying, by armed masked men who beat them up, threatened to kill them and then abandoned them in a field in the Sounjenski district. They managed to go to a nearby police post to lodge a complaint but were sent on to the Nazran police station where they were interrogated for several hours. Some of them were so severely beaten that they required emergency care, which they were first not given. The journalists were detained until 1 p.m. while Mr. Oleg Orlov was released at the end of the morning. FIDH reminds that Mr. Orlov and few other members of "Memorial" had been received on 10 October this year by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the French Embassy in Moscow.
This serious incident occurred a few hours before a demonstration was to be held in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia, to protest against human rights violations in this republic, where the situation has been rapidly deteriorating over the last few months.
The demonstration on 24 November was also brutally repressed by the local police, which shot at the demonstrators before violently breaking up the group. Several participants were wounded and many of them were arrested.
Furthemore, Farid Babaev, the leader of the Daghestan branch of the "Yabloko" Party, who was shot on November 21 by an unknown person when returning from his party’s headquarters, died of his wounds on 24 November. Mr. Babaev was known for his position in support of human rights and his fight against impunity in the Northern Caucasus especially with regard to forced disappearances, kidnappings, torture and violence by the forces of order, and summary executions.
The political atmosphere surrounding these events is becoming tenser every hour as the 2 December parliamentary elections get closer. President Putin called the opponents "jackals going to foreign embassies" ("They are going to take to the streets again. They learned that from Western specialists"); the peaceful demonstrators are getting beaten, opposition party members are being arrested and propaganda by government controlled media are contributing to vilifying the civil society.
On 24 and 25 November demonstrations organised by various opposition parties to denounce the monopolisation of the election campaign by United Russia, the ruling party, ended in confrontation and arrests, in particular, the arrest of Mr. Gari Kasparov, the leader of the opposition United Civic front. He was arrested on the spot and sentenced to five days administrative detention. At the demonstration in Saint Petersburg on Sunday 25 November, dozens of people were taken in for questioning, including the leaders of the liberal SPS party (Union of Right Forces), Boris Nemtsov.
During the last few weeks of the electoral campaign, the state institutions having been giving unprecedented support to the ruling party. The election, thus, has been transformed into a plebiscite, especially after the Duma adopted an election scheme that leaves practical no chance for the opposition party to get any seats in the parliament (generalisation of party list and increase of minimum threshold to at least 7% of the vote). There has also been strong tension between the Russian authorities and OSCE about the presence of international observers. Last, after the European Parliament’s Sub-Commission on Human Rights applied for – but was not granted – authorisation to go to Russia, a delegation of members of parliament from the Greens group went to Moscow but, upon arrival, was subjected to pressure. One person who was accompanying the delegation was expelled and was informed that she would not be authorised to set foot on Russian Territory for the next five years.
FIDH strongly condemns acts of violence against representatives of "Memorial" Human Rights Centre and the three journalists in Ingushetia and the repression of the demonstration in Nazran on 24 November and in other cities in Russia.
FIDH is deeply concerned about the intimidation and violence used against representatives of opposition parties and appeals to the Russian Federation:
– to carry out, without delay, a complete, impartial investigation to elucidate events in Ingushetia on 24 November and the circumstances of the death of Farid Babaev in Daghestan;
– to release, without delay, the political leaders and the demonstrators who were arrested during the demonstrations of 24 and 25 November, in compliance with the national laws and international commitments concerning freedom to demonstrate and freedom of expression;
– to accept the request of the European Parliament’s Sub-Commission on Human Rights to go to Russia.