Each week on this page we highlight the work of one of Russia's human rights organizations. For the purposes of this page, Rights in Russia considers a 'rights group' to be a civil society organization whose purpose includes the advancement of one or more human rights. |
Home >
Rights Group of the Week
Rights Group of the Week: Memorial Human Rights Centre
 Oleg Orlov told RFE/RL that Memorial considers the arson to be "a terrorist attack" intended to "frighten ordinary people" and deal a blow to Memorial. Orlov linked the attack in Nazran to the pressure Memorial has come under in Chechnya: "This attack is not random. A criminal case was fabricated against Oyub Titiev and...massive pressure is being imposed on Memorial in Chechnya. It looks like they consider Memorial an enemy that they want to remove." Memorial in an official statement said that its office in Nazran "is exclusively dedicated to human rights problems in Ingushetia and in no way linked to Chechen issues. Nonetheless, it's obvious to us that there is a link between the arson attack with those forces who are trying to destroy the work of Memorial in Chechnya and squeeze Memorial out of the entire North Caucasus region." [translation by RFE/RL] Amnesty International in a statement condemned the attack: "The Russian authorities must investigate and put an end to the coordinated assault on human rights NGO Memorial and ensure it can carry out its legitimate work in the North Caucasus." Anna Neistat, Amnesty International's senior director for research, said: "The Russian authorities, who have long sought to silence Memorial from speaking out on human rights issues, must launch a thorough and effective investigation...and bring those responsible to justice. Any failure to do so would raise suspicions about the authorities’ possible involvement." Tanya Lokshina of Russia Programme Director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This despicable attack likely has everything to do with Memorial’s work in neighboring Chechnya and its efforts to secure the release of Oyub Titiev, Memorial’s Chechnya director, who was arrested last week by Chechen authorities on bogus drug possession charges. For many years, Memorial’s Ingushetia office has been home to those documenting abuses during and after the war in Chechnya – Russians and foreigners, journalists and human rights investigators. [...] Titiev’s arrest is clearly aimed at punishing him for his human rights work and forcing Memorial to stop exposing abuses by Chechen authorities. Given these circumstances, the arson attack on Memorial’s office is surely no coincidence." Meanwhile, Memorial's office in Grozny, Chechnya, was raided three times this week, on 16, 18 and 19 January. According to RFE/RL, Oleg Orlov said that "police claimed they had found two cigarettes and an ashtray made from an empty tin can during the search on 19 January. Orlov said no such items were in the office, adding police may use them to fabricate evidence against Titiev, who was detained on what his supporters say were trumped up drug charges." Sources 'Russian Rights Group Says Ingushetia Office Torched In 'Terrorist' Attack,' RFE/RL, 17 January 2018 Поджог офиса Правозащитного центра "Мемориал" в Назрани, Memorial Human Rights Centre, 17 January 2018 Russia: Attacks on human rights group Memorial must be investigated and stopped, Amnesty International, 17 January 2018 Tanya Lokshina, 'Arson Attack on Office of Russian Rights Group,' Human Rights Watch, 17 January 2018 Grozny Police Search Memorial Office For Third Time This Week, RFE/RL, 19 January 2018 'Oleg Orlov associates arson of "Memorial" office with prosecution of Titiev, Caucasian Knot, 17 January 2018 |
Rights Group of the Week: Saratov Regional Organization For Diabetics charged under 'foreign agent' law
 The charges were filed, Novaya gazeta reported, on 28 December 2017. The pressure against the Saratov NGO had mounted last August, when one Nikita Smirnov, a local medical student and activist with the youth wing of the United Russia party, wrote a denunciation to prosecutors against the organization. Novaya gazeta reports that the academic Ivan Konovalov, who has written an expert evaluation of the NGO for the case, stated in his report: "The Saratov Regional NGO for Diabetics passes information to foreign partners about the region's so-called "sore points," especially in the sphere of medical care, that can be used to generate protest moods in society." In its report RFE/RL notes that the Saratov Regional Organization For Diabetics received grants to support its work from the presidential administration in 2014 and 2015 Soruce: Robert Coalson, Darina Shevchenko, 'Russian Diabetics' Rights Group Under Threat Over 'Foreign Agent' Claim,' RFE/RL, 10 January 2018 'Саратовская прокуратура потребовала признать общество больных диабетом иностранным агентом,' Novaya gazeta, 28 December 2018 |
Rights Group of the Week: Committee for the Prevention of Torture
 The EU-Russia Civil Society Forum quotes Irina Protasov as saying that the Italian human rights activists were held in a police station in Nizhny Novgorod for about six hours: "During this time, the migration service representatives completed five reports on administrative offence. Each of the Antigone members that visited Nizhny Novgorod was fined 2,000 RUB (about 35 euros). After leaving the police department, the Italian activists went back to Yoshkar-Ola." Antigone is an NGO based in Rome that specializes in improving prison conditions. Arcigay is a LGBT rights organization with headquarters in Bologna. A Buon Diritto is a civil liberties association based in Rome. Photo of police questioning Italian activists at the offices of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture: Antigone The Committee for the Prevention of Torture is a high profile Russian human rights NGO based in Nizhny Novgorod. The organization also has offices in the Republic of Mari El, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Orenburg region, and Moscow and Moscow region. Since 2009 it has been a leading participant in the Joint Mobile Group of human rights defenders that works in Chechnya. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture, set up in 2015, continues the work of the Committee Against Torture, which was founded in 2000 and closed down in 2015 after it was designated as a 'foreign agent' NGO. Rights in Russia has regularly reported on the outstanding work of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, for example see here. Sources: 'Italian Activists Arrested in Nizhny Novgorod Fined,' EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, 28 June 2017'La nostra missione interrotta: un avvertimento di Putin alle Ong dei diritti umani,' Antigone, 30 June 2017 'Fermati e rilasciati in Russia attivisti di Antigone, A Buon Diritto e Arcigay. Si sta lavorando al rilascio con le autorità italiane,' Antigone, 30 June 2017 A Buon Diritto, website Antigone, website Arcigay, website Committee for the Prevention of Torture, website Individual and the Law [Chelovek i zakon], website EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, website We are delighted you have been reading Rights in Russia. As a non-for-profit organization that does not carry advertising, we rely on our readers and well-wishers to support our work. If you share our belief in the importance of our mission, in the need to publicize the human rights situation in Russia, please consider making a donation to help keep Rights in Russia alive. To donate, see HERE |
Rights Group of the Week: Russian LGBT Network
 On 1 April 2017 Novaya gazeta reported that over 100 gay men have been brutally detained — and at least three killed — in Chechnya. On 2 April 2017 the Russian LGBT Network issued a statement on the reports: "The Russian LGBT Network is highly disturbed and concerned about the information on the kidnapping and killing of people in Chechnya because of their sexual orientation. We are also outraged by the reaction of the officials of the Chechen Republic, who in fact justify the killings. No national and/or religious traditions and norms can justify kidnapping or killing of a human being. Any references to “traditions” to justify kidnappings and killings are amoral and criminal [read the statement in full HERE]" Matthew Kupfer, writing in The Moscow Times, stated that "the crackdown seemed like something out of the Stalinist-era repressions." Igor Kochetkov, a board member and former chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, is quoted in the article as describing the scope of the detentions as "unprecedented". He told The Moscow Times: "We are under the impression that this is a special operation to capture gays.” The Moscow Times noted, "The Russian LGBT Network has set up a hotline for LGBT people in the North Caucasus and is actively working to evacuate individuals in danger from the region." Citing Novaya gazeta, on 3 April 2017 Caucasian Knot said that a 'secret prison' for the detention of LGBT people was located in the city of Argun, Chechnya. On 5 April 2017 Caucasian Knot reported that the Russian LGBT Network had offered to assist with the evacuation of LGBT people from Chechnya. Caucasian Knot wrote: "The data on persecutions of homosexuals in Chechnya need investigators’ verification, the 'Russian LGBT-network' has stated. The organization is ready to help the victims, before they are evacuated from Chechnya." On 5 April 2017, Tom Balmforth wrote on the RFE/RL website that the Russian LGBT Network had received more than 10 appeals for help from homosexuals in Chechnya seeking to flee the southern Russian republic. The Russian LGBT Network is an NGO founded in 2006 that works to promote the rights of LGBT people in Russia. Sources: 'Over 50 Chechen gays get help from "Russian LGBT Network",' Caucasian Knot, 20 June 2017 'Statement of the Russian LGBT Network’s Board regarding the information on the kidnappings and murders of LGBT People in the North Caucasus,' Rights in Russia, 2 April 2017 [original source: Facebook] ' "Russian LGBT-network" offers to evacuate gays from Chechnya,' Caucasian Knot, 3 April 2017 'Fifteen LGBTs ask evacuation from Chechnya, Caucasian Knot, 5 April 2017 Tom Balmforth, 'Homosexuals Appeal For Help Fleeing Chechnya Amid Allegations Of Antigay Campaign,' RFE/RL, 5 April 2017 Matthew Kupfer, 'Detained, Tortured, Killed: How Chechnya Cracked Down on Gays,' The Moscow Times, 6 April 2017 'Rights Group of the Week: Russian LGBT Network,' Rights in Russia, 10 April 2017 We are delighted you have been reading Rights in Russia. As a non-for-profit organization that does not carry advertising, we rely on our readers and well-wishers to support our work. If you share our belief in the importance of our mission, in the need to publicize the human rights situation in Russia, please consider making a donation to help keep Rights in Russia alive. To donate, see HERE |
Rights Group of the Week: OVD-Info
 OVD-Info was founded in December 2011 in reaction to the mass arrests of protesters at that time in Moscow. As the organization states on its website, OVD-Info monitors politically motivated prosecutions on a daily basis and publishes information on a regular, up-to-date basis, including statements by the victims themselves. They write: "We believe that information liberates and protects, while analysis of the gathered data allows the situation to be changed for the better in the future...OVD-Info strives to be objective in the gathering and presentation of information. The project does not advance any person's political interests and does not seek to achieve any narrow political goals." OVD-Info also coordinates provision of legal assistance to people who are victims of politically-motivated prosecutions. Earlier this year, in an article published on the Open Democracy website, Grigory Okhotin, a researcher and independent journalist who is one of the founding members of OVD-Info, wrote: "Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are especially critical issues in a climate where people are regularly detained for speaking out against the government. By monitoring arrests and detentions, civil society can keep the government accountable and aware that their actions—and mounting human rights violations—are being exposed to the Russian public and the international community. In an initial response to the arrests in 2011, a group of volunteers launched OVD-Info, an online monitoring project to keep track of arrests and detentions during the protests. We put together the project in just a few days, as a quick response to the political unrest happening at the time. Between 2011-2012, OVD-Info tracked 5,166 politically motivated arrests at 228 protest events in and around Moscow. In the years following, the project has expanded to look at all issues of freedom of assembly and political oppression, collecting information, personal stories and data on people who have been detained. Because the state is unpredictable and generally tries to keep these stories out of public view, this type of work can be quite risky and the availability of funding is volatile. In the beginning, we were a small project run entirely by volunteers. When we began to expand, we acquired funding in the traditional NGO business model, by getting grants from donors, including international organizations. But in 2015, Russia passed a new law on NGO funding, which directly prohibited work with two of our major donors at that time, the Open Society Institute and the National Endowment for Democracy—labelling them “undesirable organizations.” Like many other NGOs around us, we immediately had to adapt and find new ways to fund our work.[...] Russians are engaged in this work, speaking out and fighting back, perhaps more than ever. International audiences are also participating—for example, by making online donations or sharing our reports and linking to our social media posts. But since we’ve started the project, we have witnessed a decrease in freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. It’s hard to know whether this will continue to get worse, or how much we are affecting government behaviour—but this type of impact evaluation is not the point. Even in this space of shrinking freedoms, new business models allow us to remain relevant. Without the ability to evolve and seek new ways of funding, we and other groups like us would have shut down years ago. But Russian civil society continues to innovate, to engage the public, and to hold the government accountable—in whatever ways we can." Since 14 April 2017 the Open Democracy website has been publishing a translation into English of weekly updates by OVD-Info on politically-motivated prosecutions in Russia. By kind permission of Open Democracy, Rights in Russia has also been publishing these updates. Sources: OVD-Info, website '1,700 people detained at Russia’s anti-corruption protests [OVD-Info],' Rights in Russia, 17 June 2017 'Russia: Police humiliate and mistreat hundreds of detained peaceful protesters,' Amnesty International, 14 June 2017 Grigory Okhotin, 'Crowdfunding to bypass Russia’s civil society crackdown,' Open Democracy, 21 March 2017 We are delighted you have been reading Rights in Russia. As a non-for-profit organization that does not carry advertising, we rely on our readers and well-wishers to support our work. If you share our belief in the importance of our mission, in the need to publicize the human rights situation in Russia, please consider making a donation to help keep Rights in Russia alive. To donate, see HERE |
Rights Group of the Week: Rus Sidyashchaya ['Russia Behind Bars']
 In an urgent appeal the human rights organization Front Line Defenders, based in Dublin issued a statement about the search, which it said was "based on false accusations that the organisation had been involved in the ‘embezzlement of public funds’." The statement concluded: "Front Line Defenders expresses its concern at the search of the human rights organisation, Jailed Russia, as it believes it is being targeted as a result of its legitimate work in defence of human rights in the Russian Federation. "Front Line Defenders calls on the authorities of the Russian Federation to: "1.Cease all further forms of harassment against the human rights organisation, Jailed Russia, as it is believed these measures are related to its legitimate human rights activities; "2. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions." According to the website of Rus Sidyashchaya: "We hate prisons and prison colonies, have no patience with injustice or with the insulting of Russian laws and citizens. Rus Sidyashchaya is a project of the Philanthropic Foundation to Help Prisoners and their Children, within the framework of which we collect funds and help those who have suffered as a result of the Russian justice system, and apply our legal knowledge and professional expertise to criminal cases. We are entrepreneurs and artists, officers and poets, doctors and teachers - those who are unable to stand by while courts hand down arbitrary judgments, destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of our fellow countrymen and women, while prosecutors, investigators and other spoiled and dirty elements remain indifferent. For them, bribery has become a part of their everyday lives, while conscience, dignity, pride and honour are treated as old fashioned atavisms. They think they have won. There are convinced that they are the real power in Russia. They are convinced of their impunity and that they cannot be brought to justice." Sources: Brian Whitmore, 'Offices Of Prison Rights Group Searched In Moscow,' RFE/RL, 8 June 2017 Рус сидящая, website'Office of human rights organisation Jailed Russia searched,' Front Line Defenders, 9 June 2017 |
Rights Group of the Week: Sova Centre
 On 30 December, 2016, after an inspection, the SOVA Centre was included on the Ministry of Justice's list of non-profits 'performing the functions of a foreign agent.' Earlier this year, the Sova Centre was fined 300,000 roubles for having failed to voluntarily register itself as a "foreign agent" before it was included on the register by the Ministry of Justice. Subsequently, Sova Centre lost its appeal against the fine. This past week, on 31 May 2017, Sova Centre published the following announcement: Sova Centre needs your help Sova Centre was fined 300,000 roubles for having failed to voluntarily register itself as a "foreign agent", before that was done by the Ministry of Justice. Unfortunately, we have lost the appeal. Now we are to pay a considerable sum before mid-July. We would be grateful for any help. If you would like to help, please use one of the bank accounts below. Please indicate the purpose of your transfer as a Targeted donation for paying the fine. Account details: ROO Tsentr SOVA UniCredit Bank SWIFT: IMBKRUMM In USD: Account 40703840700010865184 Correspondent bank: JPMorgan Chase Bank, New York, SWIFT Code: CHASUS33 In Euro: Account 40703978300010865184 Correspondent bank: UniCredit Bank AG, SWIFT Code: HYVEDEMM Sources: Sova Centre website 'SOVA Center needs your help,' Sova Centre, 31 May 2017 |
Rights Group of the Week: Public Verdict Foundation
 As the website of Public Verdict Foundation states, the organization was set up in February 2004 "as a non-profit, non-partisan organization offering legal assistance to victims of human rights abuse at the hands of law enforcement officers in Russia." The founders of Public Verdict include the International Memorial Society, Moscow Helsinki Group, Open Russia, the Aleksandr N. Yakovlev Democracy Foundation), and the Russian Regions Foundation. Natalia Taubina, director of the Public Verdict Foundation, says about the organization (on the group's website): "We work to help people defend their rights, and we wish that the authorities as well as the public abide by the law, so that the term 'arbitrariness' is rarely, if ever, used to characterize life in Russia. How does the Public Verdict Foundation operate? Transparency is the central principle we live by. The Public Verdict Foundation offers legal assistance and disseminates best practices to help individuals and groups restore their rights violated by law enforcement officers. The Foundation assists law enforcement authorities in preventing and suppressing violations of human rights and civil liberties. An important part of our mission is to promote the development of regional human rights groups and to support their work. The Foundation engages in educational and analytical work, and commissions relevant studies from reputable sociological institutions and think-tanks. The Foundation develops recommendations to improve law enforcement practices in Russia, and consults with government and NGOs regarding these recommendations. The Foundation engages in public and media campaigning. The Foundation promotes international standards of human rights and civil liberties in the Russian Federation, and advocates for effective domestic application of international human rights mechanisms. The Foundation offers its assistance to all Russian citizens whose human rights and civil liberties have been violated by unlawful acts of the law enforcement authorities." For recent interviews with Natalya Taubina by Rights in Russia, see here in English and here in Russian. For more information about Public Verdict Foundation on Rights in Russia, see here, here and here. Sources: 'One in Four Russians Witness Police Brutality — Poll,' The Moscow Times , 22 May 2017 'До 73% россиян назвали пытки и насилие приемлемыми в отдельных случаях,' RBK, 22 May 2017 Public Verdict Foundation website |
Rights Group of the Week: Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus
 According to Andrei Rudomakha, on 17 May 2017 the Supreme Court of Adygei quashed these judgments on appeal on the grounds that EcoWatch had not been informed by the Ministry of Justice that it had been included in the 'foreign agent register' at the time of the publication of the press releases in question. Legal support for EcoWatch in the case was provided by the NGO Lawyers' Club. Rights in Russia has earlier reported that, on 21 March 2017, Sofia Rusova, a board member of the North Caucasus Environmental Watch (also known as EcoWatch), an NGO, was detained during a one-person picket she was holding in Moscow. As Caucasian Knot reported, Sofia Rusova was protesting against the construction of ski resorts in the Caucasian Reserve: "The Caucasian Knot has reported that today the activists Sofia Rusova and Atsamaz Khadikov have held solo pickets at the building hosting the Eighth International Environmental Forum, in protest against the activities of the Electrozink Factory and the construction of a resort in the territory of the Caucasian Reserve. At first, the guards tried to tear up the picketers’ posters. A journalist Maxim Rumyantsev how was at the place of the incident, called the police, stating that Rusova 'had used violence' against him. According to Sofia, he tried to grab the poster [that read] 'No to construction of ski resorts in the territory of the Caucasian Reserve!' " Source: 'EcoWatch achieves cancellation of fines at Adygea's SC,' Caucasian Knot, 17 May 2017 'ЭкоВахта добилась в Верховном суде Адыгеи отмены штрафов,' Кавказский Узел, 17 May 2017 'Person of the Week: Sofia Rusova,' Rights in Russia, 27 March 2017 'Russian MoJ puts "EcoWatch" on register of foreign agents,' Caucasian Knot, 16 September 2016 Ecological Watch of the North Caucasus, website |
Rights Group of the Week: Committee for the Prevention of Torture
 The Moscow Times reports that Igor Kalyapin, who is also a member of Russia's Human Rights Council, was pelted with eggs at the Moscow news conference held in December 2014 at which he had condemned Chechen authorities for their use of "mass punishment" as a weapon against armed groups. Citing MediaZona, The Moscow Times states: "Moscow police formally refused Kalyapin's request to press a charge of hooliganism in July 2016, but only released a report on the decision in early 2017. [...] The document defends the man's actions as 'in Kadyrov's defense'." Igor Kalyapin has been attacked on several other occasions, The Moscow Times notes, including an incident in the Chechen capital Grozny on 22 March 2016 when "a group of fifteen men beat the activist close to a hotel [...], also pelting him with flour, eggs, and green disinfectant dye." This assault followed an attack on members of the Joint Mobile Group, an organization that combats human rights abuses in Chechnya, that took place on 15 March 2016. On that occasion, as Frontline Defenders describe: 'On 9 March 2016, masked men physically attacked and set fire to a bus carrying a group of human rights defenders and journalists from Ingushetia to Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic. The human rights defenders and journalists were travelling together whilst participating in a press tour organised to publicise the work of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG). Later on the same day, armed and masked men attacked the office of Joint Mobile Group in Karabulak, Ingushetia." As Frontline Defenders set out in the same piece, "Joint Mobile Group was established in November 2009 by a group of Russian human rights organisations, with a leading role played by Committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT). It was created following the murder of human rights defender Ms Natalya Estemirova, in order to provide victims of human rights abuses in Chechnya with legal aid. JMG received the Front Line Defenders Award in 2011 for their work in investigating torture and disappearances in Chechnya, and was also the 2013 recipient of the Martin Ennals Award." As Rights in Russia has reported earlier, on 6 March 2017 the Committee for the Prevention of Torture received the Homo Homini Award for 2016 in Prague. The Homo Homini Award is given annually by the Czech human rights organization People in Need since 1994 to individuals and organizations for their contribution to the defence of human rights, democracy and non-violent solution of political conflicts. Each year the award is presented at the One World Film Festival, the world's largest human rights film festival. As Caucasian Knot reported, Igor Kalyapin, the chair of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, said at the ceremony: "We find extremely important to feel support and solidarity of ordinary people, who are ready to defend human rights not only in their own country, but throughout the world, and who understand that a human rights violation in a neighbouring country will inevitably lead, sooner or later, to problems in their own country." *** The Committee for the Prevention of Torture is a Russian NGO based in Nizhny Novgorod. It also has offices in the Republic of Mari El, the Republic of Bashkortostan, Orenburg region, and Moscow and Moscow region. Since 2009 it has been a leading participant in the Joint Mobile Group of human rights defenders that works in Chechnya. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture, set up in 2015, continues the work of the Committee Against Torture, which was founded in 2000 and closed down in 2015 after it was designated as a 'foreign agent' NGO. The website of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture states that the Committee "was created as a human rights organization with the purpose of exercising public control over the problem of torture application and violent treatment in Russia and granting professional legal and medical aid to torture victims. [...] In the framework of a public investigation lawyers of the Committee conduct an independent self-contained investigation, but its results are used as admissible evidence within the official investigation and later in the courtroom. The hallmark of the organization is its professional legal approach to solving tasks connected to with protection of human rights and lawful interests. This approach has been used since the Committee was created and accounts for the success of the organization. From the moment of the Committee foundation its specialists have checked about 1000 applications dealing with human rights violations, have conducted hundreds of public investigations and have made the state and its representatives pay millions of rubles as compensation to people who suffered from unlawful actions of law enforcement agents. Besides, thanks to the efforts of Committee lawyers, more that 70 law enforcement agents were convicted under torture cases. Another very important mechanism of human rights protection that has no systematic counterparts in the Russian human rights community and is widely used by the Committee is representation of Russian citizens at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg by highly-qualified Committee lawyers. By now specialists in European law of the Committee have prepared and filed 75 applications to the ECtHR. Under the most wide-known case, “Mikheyev vs. Russian Federation”, January 2006, the Court adjudicated in favour of the applicant, found Russia in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and obliged the state to pay Mr. Mikheyev 250 thousand euros as compensation. At present this is the biggest compensation the European Court enforced upon Russia." Sources: 'Rights Group of the Week: Committee for the Prevention of Torture,' Rights in Russia, 13 March 2017 'CPT receives Homo Homini Award,' Caucasian Knot, 7 March 2017 'CASE HISTORY: JOINT MOBILE GROUP,' Frontline Defenders'Homo Homini Award,' Wikipedia Committee for the Prevention of Torture, website |
1-10 of 90