International Federation
for Human Rights

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.

New information:

According to the information received, on July 7, 2012, Mr. Igor Kalyapin was questioned by an investigator of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Southern federal territory. New criminal proceedings were initiated by the Federal Security Service of Nizhny Novgorod after one of its operative investigator, Mr. Ryabkov, sent a report to the Investigative Committee alleging that Mr. Igor Kalyapin had committed a crime punishable under Article 310 of the Russian Criminal Code (“disclosure of information from a preliminary investigation”).

The Observatory fears that the request to open these criminal proceedings merely aims at sanctioning the human rights activities carried out by the JMG, in particular the investigation into the abduction and subsequent ill-treatment of Mr. Islam Umarpashayev by members of the Chechen special militia agents (OMON). The Umarpashayev case is currently examined, and Mr. Kalyapin represents the victim.

Mr. Kalyapin is suspected of having disclosed in the press some information on the preliminary investigations regarding the Umarpashayev case. Such information was more notably reflected in articles published by Ms. Elena Milashina in independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta[2], by Svetlana Reiter in Esquire Russia[3], and in Mr. Igor Kalyapin’s own “Chechen diaries” published first on a blog and then on the CAT website, in which he narrates the story of the investigation.

The request is currently being reviewed by the investigative authorities: if charges were to be confirmed against Mr. Kalyapin, he could be fined up to six months incomes, face a sentence of up to two years of correctional work or up to three months’ imprisonment.

The Observatory condemns the ongoing judicial harassment of Mr. Igor Kalyapin since it seems to merely aim at sanctioning his human rights activities and expresses its deep concern about the ongoing attempts to hinder the peaceful activities of human rights defenders in the Russian Federation.

Background information

On January 18, 2012, Mr. Igor Kalyapin was informed by the Head of the Territorial Department for Investigating Particular Important Cases of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Mr. Igor Sobol, about the filing by the head of the Chechen special militia agents (OMON) of a request for the opening of a criminal case by the investigative authorities of the Chechen Republic for “disclosure of State secrets” against Mr. Kalyapin under Article 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which is punishable with a prison sentence of three to seven years. The request is currently being reviewed by the investigative authorities.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Russian Federation, urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Igor Kalyapin as well as of all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;

ii. Put an end to any act of harassment against Mr. Igor Kalyapin as well as against all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, and ensure in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate activities without any hindrance and fear of reprisals;

iii. Comply with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, especially:

– its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”,

– its Article 5, which provides that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels (a) to meet or assemble peacefully”;

– its Article 6 (b) and (c), which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] as provided for in human rights and other applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms and [...] to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters”,

– and 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”;

iv. Comply with the provisions of the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the protection of human rights defenders and the promotion of their activities, and in particular With Article 2.i), in which the Committee calls on member States to “create an environment conducive to the work of human rights defenders, enabling individuals, groups and associations to freely carry out activities, on a legal basis, consistent with international standards, to promote and strive for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms without any restrictions other than those authorised by the European Convention on Human Rights;;

v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Russian Federation.

Addresses:

· Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Ilinka Str, 23, Moscow, 103132, Moscow, Russian Federation, Faxes:+ 7 495 606 5173 / 630 2408

· Mr. Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister of the Interior, Ulitsa Zhitnaya, 16, 117049 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Rossiia, 117049, Moskva, Fax: + 7 495 637 49 25

· Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl, 32/34, 121200 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Fax:+ 7 495 644 2203

· Mr. Alexander Gennadievich Khloponin, Representative of the President in North Caucasus federal region, Tel: +7793) 97-34-67

· Mr. Vladimir Lukin, Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, Tel: +7 495 607-19-22 / 607-34-67, E-mail: press-sl@ropnet.ru

· Mr. Michail Fedotov, Head of the Council under the President for development of civil society and human rights, Tel: +7 495 606-41-84,Fax: +7 495 606-48-55; E-mail: president-sovet@mail.ru; fedotov_MA@gov.ru

· Mr. Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigations Committee of the Russian Federation, Building 28, house 15, Naberezhnaya Akademika Tupoleva, Moscow, 105005, Russia, Tel: + 7 495 640 10 48

· H.E. Mr. Alexey Borodavkin, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in Geneva, Avenue de la Paix 15, CH-1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland, E-mail : mission.russian@vtxnet.ch, Fax: +41 22 734 40 44

· Ambassador Mr. Alexandra Romanov, Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, 66, avenue de Fre, Brussels, 1180 Brussels, Belgium. Fax: +32 2 374 26 13. E-mail: amrusbel@skynet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the Russian Federation in your respective country.

***

Paris-Geneva, July 11, 2012

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] The JMG was formed after the murder of Ms. Natalia Estemirova, a member of the Human Rights Centre “Memorial” in Grozny, in July 2009, and has been active in Grozny since the fall of 2009.

[2] “Kadyrov’s timid guests”, “The confrontation fails”, “Vertical impotence”, “Chechnya is worth defending”.

[3] “Caucasian hounds”.