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), expresses its deepest
concern over the defamatory declarations made by General Valerii
Kraev, the Head of the General Direction of Sentence Enforcement of
the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation (GUIN), accusing
human rights organisations of being financed by criminal networks.
On May 7, 2004, during a press-conference on the situation of Russian
prisons, General Kraev said that "according to the information of the
Ministry of Justice, NGOs were financed by criminal organisations".
In particular, General Kraev accused some human rights organisations,
"criminal authorities", inmates’ families and lawyers of
destabilizing the activities of the Ministry of Justice by pressuring
the administration of the prison system and by disseminating false
information in the media. According to the information received,
General Kraev declared that his accusations were based on information
obtained through "phone tapping" and "found on the Web".
According to Kraev, there are 163 "so called" human rights
organisations financed by oligarchs. He was in particular referring
to Boris Berezovsky, a well-known Russian businessman currently
living in exile. In his statement, Mr. Kraev implicated the following
NGOs: Tchelabinsk Amnesty, Ural Amnesty, Irkutsk Civil Information
Initiative and All-Russian Public Movement "For Human Rights", and
the Committee in Support of the Detainees. He added that with this
money "the Russian criminal structures wish to organize drug
trafficking in the detention places and to destabilize the
situation". He also mentioned that there are "more than 360" other
human rights organisations with whom "it is possible to reach a
constructive co-operation. Without their help, it would be impossible
to create a civil society." Amongst those organisations he named the
Moscow Helsinki Group, who led monitoring activities in the prisons
with the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, as well as the
Committee for Civil Rights, which aids the rehabilitation of
prisoners after their release.
The Observatory recalls that General Kraev, then the head of the
Sverdlovsk branch of the Interior Ministry, ordered the violent
repression of students protests on April 16, 1998. In 1999, he was
dismissed from his position following accusations of corruption and
links to organized crime.
The Movement "For Human Rights" indicated that neither it nor the
Committee in Support of the Detainees received money from the
Foundation of Boris Berezovsky, which in any case has existed legally
in Russia since 2001. Ural Amnesty received some money in 2001-2002
from this foundation but all financial reports were transmitted to
the Ministry of Justice and approved by it.
Lev Ponomarev, the leader of the Movement "For Human Rights", lodged
a complaint against General Kraev to the Moscow Court for slander.
According to Mr. Ponomarev the accusations of General Kraev show a
"fantastic image of a global plot with the participation of Human
Rights Defenders, oligarchs and criminals". He also demanded to see
the judicial decision which led to the "phone tapping" on which
General Kraev based his declarations.
In a press-conference held in Moscow on May 14, where both Ponomarev
and Kraev participated, the general denied that he ever made
accusations against Ponomarev or his NGO.
The Observatory fears that the declarations of General Kraev are
linked to the recent activities and protests of human rights
defenders against the deplorable conditions of
detainees.
In April 2004, a wave of protests and collective hunger-strikes
engulfed Russian prisons, especially in Tchelabinsk, Ural and
Irkutsk. On May 6, according to the information
received by the Observatory, the inmates of Irkusk prison Sizo-1
started a hunger strike, which was followed on May 7 by the inmates
of two other Irkusk prisons:
UK2727/15 and UK272/19.
Human rights defenders have played a critical role in bringing to
justice those responsible for torture and ill-treatment of inmates.
Last year, as a result of their activities,
three prison employees accused of beating inmates, were brought to
justice. However, several fact-finding commissions sent by the
Ministry of Justice as a result of recent
protests and hunger-strikes concluded that "criminal leaders led this
protests and hunger strikes in order to establish their influence
zones".
Finally, the Observatory notes with concern that the division made by
General Kraev between the "good" and the "bad" human rights NGOs may
be an attempt to divide the
community of human rights defenders and to weaken its impact and
credibility.
The Observatory is specially concerned by the fact that these
statements are another illustration of recent acts of intimidation
and harassment against the development of
an independent civil society in Russia.
The Observatory urges Russian authorities to acknowledge the
important role played by human rights defenders in the development of
democracy and the rule of law, and to
promote their work. More generally, the Observatory urges Russian
authorities to comply with international and regional instruments for
the protection of human rights,
especially with the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by
the General Assembly of United Nations on December, 9 1998.
The article 1 of this Declaration states 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", while
the article 12.2. states 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".
Sidiki KABA President of the FIDH
Eric SOTTAS Director of the OMCT