Secure Urgent Medical Care for Wrongfully Imprisoned Russian Lawyer

March 29, 2007

UPDATE: On December 3, 2007, Mikhail Trepashkin was released from prison upon completing his four-year sentence.

Russian lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin, who is serving a four-year prison term for “divulging state secrets,” is suffering from chronic asthma and his medical condition is worsening as a result of harsh prison conditions and inadequate medical care.

His recent transfer to a prison with harsher conditions, carried out on the basis of a series of apparently fabricated disciplinary complaints against him relating to his conduct while in prison, has heightened concerns that Trepashkin could die in custody.  His lawyer, who visited him in prison on March 14, reported that he had never seen him in such bad health.

Please urgently call on the Russian authorities to ensure that Trepashkin is not left to die in prison from medical neglect. Call for his release from detention, but if he is to remain in prison, he must immediately be transferred to a hospital where he can receive adequate medical care.

Background:

Since being re-imprisoned with the summary revocation of his parole in September 2005, Mikail Trepashkin has been serving his sentence in a penal settlement in the Urals region of Russia.  In recent months a number of complaints about his conduct in prison have been filed with the authorities.  These complaints appear to have been fabricated by the authorities or to be based on complaints from other prisoners that were apparently coerced by threatening them with the withdrawal of privileges, such as depriving them of family visits if they refused to submit a complaint against him.  It is worth recalling that Trepahskin was granted parole on the basis of his good conduct in prison in August 2005.

On March 9, 2007, a district court in Nizhny Tagil ruled that Trepashkin should be transferred from the penal settlement, to a nearby prison colony of general regime, where the conditions of confinement are harsher than in the settlement.  At this hearing the judge refused to accept a request from the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Lukin, that Trepashkin be transferred to a prison hospital to receive treatment for his severe asthma.  The bar association of the city of Moscow, of which Trepashkin was a member, submitted an appeal questioning the legal basis of Trepashkin’s continued imprisonment, which the judge also declined to consider.

The troubling background to Trepashkin’s prosecution and continued imprisonment suggests that he is being singled out for punishment for his activities as a lawyer representing his clients, who, in the course of those duties, exposed evidence that casts doubt on official explanations for a series of bombings that took place in Moscow in 1999.

In 1999, bombs exploded in apartment buildings in Moscow, killing more than 100 people. The Russian authorities promptly accused Chechen separatists of carrying out the attacks, and then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Chechnya, sparking the Second Chechen War. These actions, taken in the name of counterterrorism, enhanced Putin’s popularity and contributed to his win in the presidential election in 2000.

Mikhail Trepashkin, a defense attorney, became a consultant to a special public commission set up by prominent human rights activist and former Duma Deputy Sergei Kovalev to investigate the circumstances of the 1999 bombings. Mr. Trepashkin had worked for the Federal Security Service (FSB) and brought his insider knowledge of the agency to the investigation.

During the investigation, Mr. Trepashkin revealed evidence of FSB involvement in the Moscow bombings. This included an interview with the landlord of the apartment building, who said he had been coerced into identifying a Chechen as the culprit. Also, two weeks after the bombings that shook Moscow, local police found another bomb in an apartment building in the city of Ryazan. Suspects were apprehended and later released when they turned out to be FSB agents.

The investigation came to an abrupt end when the co-chairman of the Commission, Sergei Yushenkov, was murdered in front of his home. One Commission member died of food poisoning, another was brutally beaten, and two other members were removed from their seats in the legislature.

Mr. Trepashkin was hired by Tatiana and Alyona Morozova, the Russian-American daughters of a woman who was killed in the 1999 blast, to represent their interests during the prosecution of the Chechen rebels accused of transporting the explosives. The first day of the trial was scheduled for October 24, 2003. Just four days before he was set to appear in court to represent the interests of his clients, Trepashkin was stopped on a roadway outside Moscow by the police. The police searched Trepashkin’s car and declared they had found a pistol in his trunk. Trepashkin denies having a gun in his car and claims that the police fabricated the charges.

On October 22, 2003, Trepashkin was jailed. He was not able to represent his clients at the trial of two Chechens accused of transporting explosives used in the bombing. The Chechens were convicted in a closed trial.

In May 2004, in a separate but related trial, Trepashkin was convicted on charges of divulging state secrets. The judge sentenced him to serve his sentence in a penal camp where he would be somewhat free to move about. Despite the judge’s order, Trepashkin was taken back to his 130-square foot cell in Volokolamsk prison, which he shared with six other men. He was denied medical attention for chronic asthma. This harsh treatment may be in retaliation for a complaint filed on Trepashkin’s behalf to the European Court of Human Rights, which has expedited consideration of his claim.

An international outcry against the imprisonment of Mikhail Trepashkin was joined by Elena Bonner, widow of well-known Russian human rights defender Andrei Sakharov, a number of British public figures, Representative Christopher Smith from New Jersey, and the International Commission of Jurists.

On December 1, 2004, after a year in prison, the prosecution against Trepashkin on the gun possession charge commenced. On the first day of the trial, a number of police witnesses were called, but none could testify that they had seen a gun in the trunk of Trepashkin’s car. On April 15, 2005, he was found guilty of gun possession, and another year was added to his total sentence. That conviction was overturned on appeal, however.

Trepashkin was transferred to serve his sentence to the Urals (about 2,000 km from Moscow), though according to Russian penal law he should have served his sentence in the same region where he resided and was convicted.

His lawyers subsequently filed a request for his parole. To their surprise, it was granted on August 19, 2005. The government was allowed 10 days to appeal, but did not do so. On the 11th day, Trepashkin was released from prison. He returned to his home in Moscow, and held a press conference during which he described the harsh conditions of his detention and confirmed his intention to continue his human rights activities.

The following day, an appeals court granted the prosecutor’s office an extension of its appeal deadline, and subsequently overturned the grant of parole. A group of twenty men picked up Trepashkin at his home on Sunday, September 18. They did not identify themselves, nor did they provide a warrant for his arrest. Though there were no legal grounds for his re-detention, Trepashkin re-imprisoned. Once again, he was imprisoned outside Moscow, his place of residence, which is against the law.

Sample Letter:

President Vladimir Putin
c/o Yuri V. Ushakov
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States
2650 Wisconsin Avenue N.W.
Washington DC 20007
FAX: 202-298-5735

Dear President Putin:

I am writing to express my deep concern about the declining health of imprisoned lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin.  I am alarmed by reports that Mr. Trepashkin is suffering from severe asthma that could be life-threatening.  I am also disturbed that a request from the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation to transfer Mr. Trepashkin to a prison hospital was not considered by the judge at a recent hearing in Nizhny Tagil.

Mikhail Trepashkin, a Russian defense lawyer, exposed controversial facts related to the 1999 bomb blast in a Moscow apartment building that killed more than a hundred civilians. The investigative commission on which he served was dissolved after its members faced murder and beatings. Trepashkin was then hired by Tatiana and Alyona Morozova, the Russian-American daughters of a woman who was killed in the 1999 blast, to represent their interests during the prosecution of the Chechen rebels accused of transporting the explosives.

Just four days before he was set to appear in court to represent the interests of his clients, Trepashkin was stopped on a roadway outside Moscow by the police. The police searched Trepashkin’s car and declared they had found a pistol in his trunk. Trepashkin denies having a gun in his car and claims that the police fabricated the charges. In fact, an appeals court overturned a lower court’s conviction on these charges.

An international outcry against the imprisonment of Mikhail Trepashkin has been joined by Elena Bonner, widow of well-known Russian human rights defender Andrei Sakharov and many international figures.  As you may know, these individuals and organizations assert that the jailing of Mr. Trepashkin just prior to his appearance in the trial of the accused bombers leads to the conclusion that he is being kept in prison for political reasons.

The conditions under which Mr. Trepashkin is being held give rise to serious concern. The U.N. Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners require in Article 22 (2) that “Sick prisoners who require specialist treatment shall be transferred to specialized institutions or to civil hospitals.” It is disturbing that Mr. Trepashkin, who seems to be in need of specialized treatment, is not receiving it. Mr. Trepashkin should be released immediately, but if he is to remain in detention please ensure that he receives all necessary medical care.

cc.
Alexander Vershbow
Ambassador of the United States of America to the Russian Federation
Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8
Moscow 121099, Russian Federation - PSC-77, APO AE 09721
FAX: +7 (095) 728-5090