Stop Persecution of Critics of Russian
Counterterrorism Policies

Alert Issued: February 2, 2005

Russian human rights defender Stanislav Dmitrievsky is at risk of prosecution for publishing articles critical of Russian government policies. Mr. Dmitrievsky is co-chair of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, a Chechen human rights organization. The Russian security services (FSB) raided the organization’s offices in the city of Nizhny Novgorod and summoned Mr. Dmitrievsky for questioning on January 20, 2005.

FSB agents suggested that articles in “Human Rights Defense,” a newspaper published by the organization, violated laws banning extremist propaganda, even though the newspaper focuses on human rights issues and promoting a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The Russian government should not use laws intended to prevent extremism to silence human rights defenders.

Attacks against human rights defenders working on human rights violations in Chechnya and the North Caucasus are on the rise. Support the vital work of human rights defenders as witnesses to violations and in deterring further violations.

Tell me more:

On January 20, 2005, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) interrogated Stanislav Dmitrievsky about his activities as the chief editor of “Human Rights Defense,” a publication of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship and the Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Society. Mr. Dmitrievsky is a co-chair of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, an internationally respected human rights organization.

The FSB questioned Mr. Dmitrievsky about two articles printed in 2004 by “Human Rights Defense” which called for peace in Chechnya and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of fueling conflict in the region. One of the authors wrote: “I extend a hand of peace to the Russian people over the head of your president” and asked that Russians not vote for Putin in the 2004 presidential election.

While Russia’s constitution provides for freedom of speech and expression, in practice, laws that have been adopted to restrict extremist activity by racist and ultra-nationalist groups have been used to silence human rights defenders. Mr. Dmitrievsky believes that he will be prosecuted under Criminal Code section 280 which outlaws a “public call to a forcible change of constitutional order.”

Mr. Dmitrievsky contends that the nature of the articles published in “Human Rights Defense” sought restoration of peace and were not in violation of that law. In a press statement issued on January 24, 2005, he stated that “institution of this criminal case is an attempt to prevent work of the Information Center.” The Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship is afraid that Chechen staff, volunteers, and journalists working with the organization will be intimidated by Russian security forces in Chechnya. During questioning, FSB collected biographical data about current and past Chechen journalists working with the organization. Between 2000 and 2004, four volunteers of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship were killed in Chechnya, two by Russian security forces.

Human Rights First is troubled by the Russian government’s use of loosely worded counterterrorism and anti-extremism laws to prosecute and intimidate human rights defenders who report on conditions in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, thereby impeding their ability to carry out legitimate human rights work.

Human rights defenders monitoring conditions in Chechnya are targeted for physical attack as well by both separatist and Russian forces. For example, on January 20, a pro-Russian paramilitary group abducted a Chechen human rights defender, Makhmut Magomadov, in Grozny. Mr. Magomadov is a lawyer who for years has provided legal expertise to several human rights organizations including the International Helsinki Federation, the International Protection Center and the Chechnya Committee of National Salvation. He helped several victims of human rights abuses bring their cases before the European Court on Human Rights. In the mid-1990s, Mr. Magomadov headed a special, official task force to fight kidnappings in Chechnya.

In the atmosphere of heightened global concern about the threat of terrorism following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Russian Federation authorities have stepped up pressure against those who criticize its policies in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. The Russian government has sought to legitimize its use of violent measures that violate local and international law by adopting the rhetoric of counterterrorism and by pointing to the practices of other governments confronting a terrorist threat, notably those of the United States. In this climate of mounting violence and disregard of the rule of law, the work of human rights defenders has become much more difficult, and in some instances, human rights activists and organizations have been targeted for persecution.

After hundreds of people, including many children, were murdered in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, in a brutal attack claimed by Chechen separatists, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to step up counterterrorism measures. These measures will further undermine legal protections for basic rights and freedoms in Russia, and will, in all probability, lead to a further deterioration in human rights conditions. Human Rights First fears that in order to dampen local and international criticism of its human rights violations in Chechnya and the North Caucasus the government will tighten its restrictions on human rights defenders seeking to report on conditions in the region. Not only will human rights defenders themselves become innocent victims of illegal repressive measures, but violence on all sides of the conflict is also likely to continue to escalate as government forces wage a lawless counter-insurgency campaign hidden from public view.

In the last few years, human rights defenders in Russia have faced ever-increasing government pressure. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee recently released a report entitled The Silencing of Human Rights Defenders in Chechnya and Ingushetia containing examples of human rights defenders who were recently imprisoned, assaulted, or killed. The report found that that attacks on human rights defenders have escalated sharply since the outbreak of the Second Chechen War in 1999. “Persecution of human rights defenders appears to have intensified with the start of the second Chechen war in the fall of 1999.” Furthermore, “the report clearly indicates that security for defenders has deteriorated in 2003 and 2004.”

As U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has repeatedly reminded U.N. member states, human rights are essential tools in the war against terrorism. The Russian government appears to be disregarding this advice and in the process is undermining its own laws and constitution and flouting its obligations in international human rights law.

Instead of using exceptional laws to obstruct the legitimate activities of human rights defenders like Stanislav Dmitrievsky and the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, the Russian government should support their critical work. Under the 1998 U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, “[e]ach State shall adopt such legislative, administrative and other steps as may be necessary to ensure that the rights and freedoms referred to in this Declaration are effectively guaranteed.” The harassment and threatened prosecution against Stanislav Dmitrievsky and the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship should be dropped, and the authorities should stop using counterterrorism laws to silence nonviolent critics of its policies.

Letter:

President Vladimir Putin
c/o H.E. Ambassador Yuri V. Ushakov
Embassy of the Russian Federation to the United States
2650 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: 202-298-5735

Dear President Putin:

I am seriously troubled by the threats to prosecute Stanislav Dmitrievsky, a leader of the the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, under sections of the Russian Federation’s Criminal Code intended to prevent extremism. The Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship is an internationally respected nonviolent human rights organization. I urge that the practice of misusing the criminal law to intimidate of human rights defenders be stopped. Stanislav Dmitrievsky and the Society for Russian-Chechen friendship should be free to carry out their legitimate activities without official threats and intimidation.

The prosecution of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship appears to be in reprisal for its legitimate activities in defense of human rights. The Russian government should be promoting the work of such peaceful human rights organizations, especially in areas of political tension, not obstructing them.

The prosecution of Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship is but the latest in a series of attempts to silence human rights defenders working on human rights issues in Chechnya and Ingushetia.

According to the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, all persons have the right "freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms." Prosecuting human rights organizations using loosely worded laws designed to combat extremism unfairly curtails the right of defenders to organize, conduct research, and publish their work. The important work of human rights defenders in all parts of Russia should be recognized by the government and they should be supported rather than persecuted for their activities.
I strongly urge you to ensure that human rights defenders and the organizations with which they work are not targeted for prosecution or intimidation under counterterror laws.

I will continue to monitor these cases closely. Thank you for your attention to these most serious matters.

Sincerely,