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.
Description of the situation:
According to the information received, on November 23, 2007, around 11.30 p.m., Mr. Olev Orlov, Head of Memorial Board, as well as Ms. Karen Sakhinov and Messrs. Artem Vysotsky and Stanislav Goryachikh, journalists from REN TV, were abducted by about fifteen men men in masks and camouflage uniforms, as they were staying in "Assa" Hotel in Nazran. They were about to cover and to take part in a demonstration that was to take place the day after.
The men in masks, who presented themselves as "anti-terror officers", pointed guns at the staff of the hotel, forced all men on the floor, including unarmed hotel security guards. All women were put next to the wall with their hands up. The men then carefully read the registration book of the hotel guests, and divided them into two groups, one of which went up to the first floor and the other one to the second floor. They ordered Mr. Orlov, Ms. Sakhinov and Messrs. Vysotsky and Goryachikh to follow them and pushed them into their mini-bus.
Mr. Orlov and the REN TV journalists were driven to a place they did not know (located in the countryside), where they were beaten and threatened with death, before being abandoned in a field in the district of Sounjenski. Dressed only with underwear and barefooted, they nonetheless managed to reach the police station of the village of Nesterovskoye. One of the journalists still had his cell phone, which Mr. Orlov used to contact the press and his colleagues.
They were then taken to the Sunzhenkoye Police Station where they made a formal report of what had happened.
In the morning of November 24, 2007, Mr. Orlov, Ms. Sakhinov and Messrs. Vysotsky and Goryachikh were taken to the Nazran Police Station where they further reported the human rights violations they had been subjected to. The police reportedly refused to release the four defenders, saying that they had received an order not to do so. Mr. Orlov was released around 11.30 a.m., following an intervention of his lawyer. As soon as he was released, he reported that Messrs. Artem Vysotsky and Stanislav Goryachikh had been badly beaten and needed medical aid. Although the doctor called to the police station recommended that Mr. Vysotsky be hospitalised, the police officers refused to allow this. Finally, at 1 p.m., Ms. Karen Sakhinov and Messrs. Artem Vysotsky and Stanislav Goryachikh were released and allowed to go to an hospital.
The incidents were then reported to the Head of the Human Rights Council1, Ms. Ella Pamfilova, who phoned the Prosecutor on duty and the Prosecutor of Ingushetia.
The police officers of Nazran claimed that they received information about the abduction at only 4.30 a.m. on November 24. However, the Director of the "Assa" Hotel maintains that he not only phoned to report on what had happened immediately after the abduction, but also went to the Nazran police station to confirm this.
It has to be pointed out that few days before these events, Memorial had addressed an open appeal to the Ingushetia authorities and the organisers of the rally Mr. Orlov and the three REN TV journalists wanted to observe in Nazran, urging them to take measures to ensure that the rally be held in full accordance with the law.
Furthermore, on November 24, 2007, this rally against arbitrariness against civilians (kidnappings, police violence and poor economic conditions) was violently dispersed in Nazran. In particular, the Russian special security police OMON opened fire at the demonstrators and brutally dispersed the gathering. Some sixty people would have been arrested.
Likewise, in Nizhny Novgorod, on the same day, a "March of the Dissent" was also violently dispersed by police and military forces. Previously, the regional authorities had refused its holding at the Gorky Square under the pretext that "it is not meant for holding public actions". The police also arrested dozens of participants, including Mr. Stanislas Dmitrievsky, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Pravozaschita and former Executive Director of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), who was sentenced during a court hearing in the evening of November 24 to a 1,000 roubles fine (around 45 Euros) for "participating in an unauthorized rally" and "offering resistance to the police". Mr. Dmitriesvky was reportedly beaten on his way to the Nizhegorodskiy police station.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern with the ongoing acts of violence against human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, as well as with the harsh repression of the above-mentioned demonstrations.
The Observatory calls upon the Ministerial Council of the Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), that is to be held on November 29 and 30, 2007 in Madrid (Spain), to address the question of the increasing repression of human rights defenders by the Russian authorities in the run-up of the Duma elections, in conformity with paragraph 8 of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions2, 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".
Actions required:
The Observatory urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to:
i.Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Oleg Orlov, Ms. Karen Sakhinov, Mr. Artem Vysotsky, Mr. Stanislav Goryachikh, Mr. Stanislas Dmitrievsky, as well as all other human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
ii.Conduct an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into these events and above-mentioned allegations of ill-treatments in order to identify those responsible, bring them to justice and sentence them according to the law;
iii.Guarantee that adequate reparation be provided to Mr. Oleg Orlov, Ms. Karen Sakhinov, Mr. Artem Vysotsky, Mr. Stanislav Goryachikh and Mr. Stanislas Dmitrievsk as victims of abuses;
iv.Put an end to all acts of harassment against the above-mentioned defenders, as well as 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;
v.Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December, 9, 1998, 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 5.a, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] to meet or assemble peacefully", as well as with Article 12.2, which reads 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";
vi.Comply with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd Conference on the Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in Europe (CSCE) (1990), and uphold in all circumstances the principles and provisions enshrined in the international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Russian Federation and which, in particular, guarantee freedoms of association, demonstration, expression and opinion, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
vii.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;
Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, 31-33 boulevard du Régent, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 513 76 49.
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the Russian Federation in your respective country.
***
Paris-Geneva, November 28, 2007
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line: E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80 Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
— -
RUS 009 / 1107 / OBS 151
Abduction / Arbitrary arrests / Releases / Ill-treatments /
Obstacles to freedom of peaceful assembly
Russian Federation
November 28, 2007