Person of the Week
Person of the Week: Denis Bakholdin
![]() According to Denis Bakholdin's mother, Nadezhda Bakholdina, she was officially told on 17 March 2017 that her son had been arrested in Russia 'while trying to illegally cross the Russian-Ukrainian border.' He is now being held in a pre-trial detention centre in Bryansk. According to Human Rights in Ukraine, the lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina has said that Denis Bakholdin has been charged with 'involvement in an extremist society (under Article 282.1 § 2 of the Russian criminal code).' Nadezhda Bakholdina has said that Denis was subjected to torture after he was detained: 'She has only recently, on June 5, been allowed to see her son , who told her that he had been chained with handcuffs to a radiator, beaten and kicked to get him to "confess" to being a member of Right Sector.' Halya Coynash also reports that Nadezhda Bakholdina says her home was searched by FSB agents at the end of May 'and the hard drive from her computer taken away.' Photo of Denis Bakholdin: Human Rights in Ukraine Source: Halya Coynash, 'Putin critic living in Ukraine seized, tortured and jailed in Russia,' Human Rights in Ukraine, 21 June 2017 Rights in Russia alive. To donate, see HERE 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 |
Person of the Week: Aleksei Navalny
![]() Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said: “The Russian authorities have used mass detentions as a tactic to crush peaceful protests. But the reprisals haven’t stopped there. Hundreds of peaceful protesters in Moscow and St Petersburg were locked up in police stations overnight, in plainly degrading conditions, crowded cells with little or no food, bedding or easy access to sanitation. We have received numerous reports of people piled on top of one another in police stations, where police dealing with extreme backlogs in processing cases forced them to stay overnight on the floor or even on the street while in police custody. It is an outrage for anybody to be detained and subjected to these inhumane conditions, let alone detained simply for peacefully expressing their views. It appears the authorities in Russia wanted to send a further message by making these detentions slow, humiliating and painful. The Russian authorities must stop detaining peaceful protesters, whose only ‘crime’ was to irk those in power. If there are any case where protesters are arrested for an internationally recognizable offence, they must be treated in a humane manner,” Meanwhile, on 15 June, Vladislav Zdolnikov and Aleksandr Brusentsev, two staff members from the Anticorruption Foundation headed by Navalny, fled to Ukraine after Roskomnadzor, the government media regulator, launched investigations against them. In further developments that may well be related given the lack of independence of the courts in Russia, on 14 June a court in Orel region court turned down a request by Oleg Navalny, the brother of Aleksei Navalny, to mitigate his sentence, on the grounds that Oleg Navalny had not shown 'law-abiding behaviour.' In an additional blow to Navalny, who seeks to be a candidate in the 2018 presidential elections, on 15 June Ella Pamfilova, head of the federal Electoral Commission, said Aleksei Navalny was almost certain to be barred from the election on the grounds of his criminal conviction - a conviction Navalny contends was politically motivated. Photo: Wikipedia 'Russian Court Turns Down Request Of Navalny's Jailed Brother To Mitigate Sentence,' RFE/RL, 14 June 2017Sources: '1,700 people detained at Russia’s anti-corruption protests [OVD-Info],' Rights in Russia, 16 June 2017'Russia: Police humiliate and mistreat hundreds of detained peaceful protesters,' Amnesty International, 14 June 2017 'Russia Criticized For Detaining More Than 1,500 Anticorruption Protesters,' RFE/RL, 13 June 2017 'Russia protests: Opposition leader Alexei Navalny sentenced,' BBC, 12 June 2017 Two Russian Opposition Activists Flee To Ukraine, RFE/RL, 16 June 2017'Moscow Court Cuts Navalny's 30-Day Jail Term To 25,' RFE/RL, 16 June 2017 Russian Elections Chief Says 'Practically No Chance' Navalny Can Get On Presidential Ballot,' RFE/RL, 15 June 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 |
Person of the Week: Murad Amriev
![]() On 8 June the European Court of Human Rights asked Russia about measures it planned to take to prevent violence against Murad Amriev. On 8 June the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, a human rights group based in Nizhny Novgorod that has done a great deal of work in Chechnya, told Caucasian Knot that it had received a second letter from the European Court of Human Rights in which the Court "further requests Russia to answer questions about whether the Russian authorities made a formal request for the extradition of Murad Amriev from Belarus, and if so, on what grounds, and whether the athlete will be detained in Russia, and if so, where he will be kept and on what grounds." In addition, "taking into account the Murad Amriev's complaints about torture and kidnapping, the ECtHR has also requested Russia answer what measures the authorities plan to take in order to prevent a repetition of the risk of torture and kidnapping. The Russian government is to respond to the ECtHR by 5 July." On 9 June, Caucasian Knot reported that family members of Murad Amriev had left Chechnya for security reasons. However, the Belarus authorities did release Amriev to the Russian authorities. On 9 June the Chechnya branch of the Russian Interior Ministry said Murad Amriev was "being escorted to the region by security forces for questioning in connection with a false-documents allegation," RFE/RL reported. Amnesty International subsequently stated that Murad Amriev had been "handed over to Russian law enforcement officers at 3am on 9 June after having been returned from Belarus where he unsuccessfully attempted to claim asylum. He has been released on bail on condition that he does not leave Chechnya." Amnesty International describe the background to the case of Murad Amriev as follows: "Murad Amriev, a World Mixed Martial Arts Champion, fled Chechnya for Ukraine in 2013 after being tortured and
lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights with the assistance of the Russian NGO Committee
for the Prevention of Torture. On 4 June he was travelling to Russia to apply for a Shengen visa when he was
taken off a train by transport police in Bryansk region, south west of Moscow. He was detained for 48 hours before
being released on 6 June. A group of Chechen police officers had arrived to escort him, but according to a lawyer
for the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Murad Amriev was not handed over to them because of missing
documentation. Murad Amriev told his lawyer that he recognized one of the police officers who had tortured him
among the officers who intended to escort him to Chechnya. On the 6 June after being released, Murad Amriev
went to the Prosecutor’s Office in Bryansk to complete some formalities and the Chechen officers followed him and
waited outside the building insisting on escorting him. Murad Amriev’s friends arrived in a car and he was able to
evade the Chechen police officers and drive off. On 7 June he was detained while crossing the Russian Belarusian
border and held in Dobrush police station in Belarus until the morning of 9 June when he was handed back to Russian
law enforcement officers.
Amnesty International will be monitoring the situation and will take action in future if required." Sources: 'Belarus Sends Chechen Man Back To Russia Despite Fears For His Life,' RFE/RL, 9 June 2017'Russia: Handover of Chechen torture survivor would put him at further risk of torture or death,' Amnesty International, 9 June 2017 'ECtHR asks Russia to clarify its position in Murad Amriev's case,' Caucasian Knot, 9 June 2017 'Murad Amriev's family members leave Chechnya for security reasons,' Caucasian Knot, 9 June 2017'BELARUS: FURTHER INFORMATION: TORTURE SURVIVOR RELEASED IN CHECHNYA: MURAD AMRIEV,' Amnesty International, 12 June 2017 |
Person of the Week: Aleksei Moroshkin
![]() The court found that Moroshkin, creator of an online group in VKontakte titled ‘For a battling Ukraine! For a free Urals!’, had made calls to establish a 'Urals People'e Republic' that were in break of Article 280.1, Section 2, of the Russian Criminal Code. RFE/RL notes that the statements Moroshkin published online resembled in many ways the calls by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine who supported the creation of the so-called 'people's republics' of Donetsk and Lugansk. However, under the above law, calls for what may be termed 'separatism' are illegal in Russia. RFE/RL quotes Moroshkin's lawyer, Andrei Lepekhin, as saying that on 1 June 2017 a district court in the city of Chelyabinsk ruled that Moroshkin should be released on the grounds that he did not pose a threat to society. According to Lepekhin, Moroshkin should be released 10 days after the ruling has been made public. Memorial Human Rights Centre declared Aleksei Moroshkin to be a political prisoner. In a statement, Memorial Human Rights Centre said: 'In our view, Article 280.1 (public incitement to actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of Russia) of the Russian Criminal Code contradicts the Russian Constitution and international human rights treaties. We consider it impermissible to criminalize manifestations of separatism not related to violence or its propaganda, but that only lead to theoretical discussions about whether regions should be allowed to separate from the country. The statements by Aleksei Moroshkin on the creation of a Urals Republic did not contain any calls for the forcible violation of the territorial integrity of Russia. Like similar posts on the Internet in other regions (about the Kuban People’s Republic, Ingria and others), they were to a significant degree a kind of journalistic reaction to the creation of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ (DNR) and the ‘Lugansk People’s Republic’ (LNR) in the east of Ukraine. It should be noted that Rafis Kashapov in Tatarstan and Darya Poliudova in Krasnodar region have already been sentenced under the same article to terms in prison, and recognized by Memorial Human Rights Centre as political prisoners. Neither in the materials of the criminal case, nor in the court’s judgment, is there in our view any evidence that Aleksei Moroshkin represents a public danger of the kind that would necessitate him being isolated from society in a clinic of a closed kind. We consider his detention to be unlawful.' Memorial went on to say that it believed Aleksei Moroshkin had been prosecuted for his civil society opposition activity and for speaking out against the hybrid war of Russia against Ukraine: 'For example, in the court’s judgment, as evidence of his guilt reference is made to the testimony of the witness V. Smirnov who was "upset" that Moroshkin "urges people to protest against the lawful authorities and is trying to put the blame for events in the east of Ukraine on the current leadership of our country."’ Memorial also made the point that 'The fact that opposition views have been found by psychiatrists to be "schizophrenic reformist nonsense" and served as the basis for the decision to subject the civil society activist to forcible treatment, directly returns us to the Soviet regime’s methods of fighting against dissidents.' It should be noted that Aleksei Moroshkin has also been charged with painting (in 2015) a bust of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, in the colours of the Ukrainian flag (vandalism – Article 214, Section 1, of the Russian Criminal Code). On this point, Memorial stated: 'Independently of whatever decision the court takes, we consider a criminal prosecution for painting a memorial to be disproportionate. Such a violation of the law contains no element of violence, and therefore, in our view, should be considered an administrative offence.' Photo Of Aleksei Moroshkin: RFE/RL Sources: 'Court Orders Release Of Russian Activist From Psychiatric Clinic,' RFE/RL, 1 June 2017 'Memorial recognizes "Urals separatist" Aleksei Moroshkin as a political prisoner,' Memorial Human Rights Centre, 11 July 2016 [see Rights in Russia for an English version] |
Person of the Week: Emil Kurbedinov
![]() As Front Line Defenders reports, in his acceptance speech, Emil Kurbedinov said: "When we defend political prisoners and persecuted activists, we are going against a system in which there’s no hope of a fair trial. Winning an acquittal for my clients is almost impossible – but what I can do is show them that despite the risks, I will not abandon them." Halya Coynash, writing on the website Human Rights in Ukraine, commenting on the award, wrote: "The honour is truly well-deserved, although Emil himself considers it recognition of the work done by all lawyers and human rights defenders in Crimea. [...] It would be hard to over-state the vital role Emil Kurbedinov has played since Russia’s invasion of Crimea. He is acting for defendants in virtually all of the ever-increasing number of politically motivated prosecutions in Crimea [...]. On January 26 this year, Kurbedinov was detained while he and fellow rights lawyer Edem Semedlyaev were driving to the home of a Crimean Tatar activist, Seiran Saliev, where a search was underway. The actions that followed were of breath-taking lawlessness. Armed and masked spetsnaz officers turned up at Kurbedinov’s home. They refused at first to allow a lawyer in and also tried to prevent Kurbedinov’s mother from taking his small son and daughter away. A search was also carried out of the offices that Kurbedinov and Semedlyaev share, and computers containing confidential documents about their clients were removed. Kurbedinov was first taken to the so-called Centre for Countering Extremism, and then to a ‘court hearing’ where judge Tatyana Belnichuk sentenced him to 10 days’ imprisonment for a video clip (of a peaceful meeting of an organization which is legal in Ukraine) posted on a social network page on June 6, 2013, almost a year before Russia’s invasion. The wife of one political prisoner wrote that it was Emil they all turn to in the first instance, and by imprisoning him, the occupation regime were depriving many of defence. [...] Writing from Dublin on Friday, Emil once against stressed: “This is an award for those who have come out in defence of persecuted Crimean Tatars, Crimean Muslims, civic activists and the political prisoners themselves. How much work there is ahead of us, yet how happy I am that I am not alone…Thank you.” Photo: Front Line Defenders Sources: Halya Coynash, 'Crimean Tatar rights lawyer Emil Kurbedinov wins major human rights award,' Human Rights in Ukraine, 26 May 2017'Crimean Tatar Activist Wins 2017 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk,' Front Line Defenders, 26 May 2017 'Emil Kurbedinov, HRD and Lawyer,' Front Line Defenders, 26 January 2017 'Person of the Week: Emil Kurbedinov,' Rights in Russia, 30 January 2017 |
Person of the Week: Yevhen Hrytsyak
![]() Photo: Human Rights in Ukraine Halya Coynash, in a contribution to the website Human Rights in Ukraine, writes: "Yevhen Hrytsyak was born in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast in 1926. During the period of Nazi occupation, as a student at a trade college, he joined a youth section of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists [OUN] which was training young men to fight the Nazis. He was mobilized into the Soviet Army in 1944, and served in the Fourth Ukrainian Front, for which he received several military awards. "He was, nonetheless, arrested in 1949 because of his brief involvement at the age of 16 and 17 in OUN, and sentenced to 25 years’ labour camp. He was held in various political labour camps, including Norilsk, where some 70% of the prisoners were from Ukraine. "It was at the Norilsk Labour Camp in May 1953 that one of the main uprisings in the GULAG began. Hrytsyak led the revolt in one of the blocks against the brutality and appalling conditions. The prisoners demanded an end to summary executions; a shortening of the working day to 8 hours; the right to correspond with their families; the transfer of disabled prisoners; and numerous other similar demands. Hrytsyak was one of the people who presented the demands to a commission which arrived from Moscow after the prisoners held firm and refused to give in. Only a very small number of demands were met, while the prison authorities also resorted to provocation, and the uprising continued. It was finally brutally crushed, but only in August 1953, after the prisoners had held out for 69 days. "Hrytsyak himself was sent first to the Norilsk and then Vladimir prison, where conditions were even worse. "He was released in 1956, following a decision of the Supreme Soviet Presidium, but was then arrested again in January 1958, with the same Supreme Soviet having decided that he should not have been released “due to the seriousness of the crime”. "Hrytsyak demanded to know what this supposed crime had consisted of, but was simply told that he had been arrested on good grounds. In 1961, he wrote a letter of protest to the Communist Central Committee over the repressive measures he was being subjected to because of his role as one of the leaders of the Norilsk Uprising. He explained the conditions and treatment prisoners had received. "He was finally released in 1964 and returned to his home village. He married and had one daughter." Source: 'Leader Of 1953 Soviet Gulag Uprising Dies In Ukraine At 90,' RFE/RL, 15 May 2017 Halya Coynash, 'In Memoriam: Yevhen Hrytsyak, Leader of the Norilsk Uprising,' Human Rights in Ukraine, 15 May 2017 |
Person of the Week: Ildar Dadin
![]() Ildar Dadin was convicted and sentenced to prison in December 2015 under a controversial law that criminalizes repeat violations of Russia's draconian laws on public assembly. He was released on 26 February 2017. While in prison, Ildar Dadin alleged that he had been subjected to torture at the prison colony in Karelia where he was held. Source: 'At Least 11 Russian Activists Said Detained On Moscow's Red Square,' RFE/RL, 12 May 2017 |
1-10 of 122