Russian Federation

A new move by the Russian Parliament to outlaw so-called undesirable organizations is yet another nail in the coffin for freedom of expression and civil society in Russia, said Amnesty International today.

The submission by the Council of the Federation, Parliament’s upper house, of a list of 12 foreign NGOs working in Russia to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Foreign Ministry may lead to them being banned as “undesirable” under a law adopted last May. “Undesirable” organizations” are loosely defined under the law as those posing a threat to the country’s “constitutional order, defence potential or state security”.

“The submission of this list is yet another move to suffocate freedom of expression and association in Russia, and its intended targets are not just foreign organizations but independent civil society in the country itself,” said John Dalhuisen, Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.

Today’s passing of the draconian “undesirable organizations” bill is a dark day for freedom of expression and association in Russia, said Amnesty International.

The bill which passed its third and final reading in the State Duma today, enables the state to ban the activities of foreign or international non-governmental organizations deemed to be undermining “state security”, “national defence” or “constitutional order”. It will also then punish Russian activists and civil society groups for maintaining ties with those “undesirable” organizations.

The bill needs to be approved by the upper chamber of the Russian parliament and signed into law by the president. This is in practice a mere formality.

“This legislation is the latest chapter in an unprecedented crackdown against non-governmental organizations which is effectively criminalizing lawful activity and squeezing the life out of free speech and association,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International Director for Europe and Central Asia.

The Russian authorities must remedy a gross injustice by immediately and unconditionally releasing environmentalist and prisoner of conscience Yevgeniy Vitishko, Amnesty International said ahead of his parole hearing tomorrow.

Yevgeniy Vitishko of the NGO Environmental Watch on North Caucasus is serving a three-year sentence in a prison colony in Russia’s remote Tambov region. He was sent there in February 2014 after a string of trumped-up charges were brought against him in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Amnesty International fears that he will be denied parole, and accordingly refused even conditional release, based on a litany of so-called “violations” he has been accused of committing in the penal colony. These include: giving an item of clothing to another prisoner who was cold; sitting on his bed at an unauthorized time; storing food in an unauthorized place; receiving correspondence from a lawyer without notifying the penal colony’s administration; and even having a “negligent attitude towards weeding tomatoes” as part of his compulsory labour.

The killing of Boris Nemtsov, one of Russia's most prominent political activists, must be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated.
Boris Nemtsov was shot and killed late in the evening of 27 February in central Moscow. His killer, who escaped from the scene, has not been identified.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has stated that he would personally control the progress over the investigation.

“In the current climate of crackdown on freedoms of expression, assembly and association, this is a cold-blooded murder of one of those free voices whom the authorities have so actively sought to silence” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Regional Deputy Programme Director for Europe and Central Asia. 

“There is already a list of unsolved political murders and attack in Russia, the investigations of which were under the ‘personal control’ of senior Russian politicians. We cannot allow Boris Nemtsov to become just another name on this list.”

The guilty verdicts and harsh sentences against 57 defendants accused of participating in an armed attack in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in 2005 are a huge miscarriage of justice, said Amnesty International today. The defendants were detained for nine years in deplorable conditions with testimonies extracted under torture and admitted as evidence.

Five of the defendants received life sentences and the others received sentences of between four and 23 years in prison.

“This is a textbook case of criminal injustice, where the authorities manifestly refused to investigate allegations of torture, despite overwhelming evidence, and the defendants languished for nine years in pre-trial detention, all in violation of international law,” said Sergei Nikitin, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director. “This trial should never have been allowed to continue until the allegations of torture were fully and effectively investigated.”

Authorities in Russia must urgently investigate the burning down of at least five houses believed to belong to the relatives of 11 men blamed by the authorities of carrying out an armed attack in the Chechen capital, Grozny, Amnesty International said after news emerged today of the “collective punishment” against the families.

The 11 men were killed alongside 14 law enforcement officers during an armed confrontation in Grozny on 4 December. At least one civilian is also believed to have been killed.

A day after the attack, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of the Chechen Republic, said the families of the armed group members would be expelled from Chechnya and their houses demolished.

“Punishing the relatives of those suspected of involvement in crimes is a flagrant violation of international law. Nothing can justify acts of collective punishment. The federal authorities must ensure an independent and impartial investigation is conducted into the burning of the houses and bring those responsible to justice in fair trials,” said John Dalhuisen, Director for the Europe and Central Asia Program at Amnesty International.

A quiet Saturday morning in Moscow: the distant chime of bells at an Orthodox church and the faint hum of traffic traversing a nearby bridge reverberate around a near-empty Bolotnaya Square.

In the fleeting September warmth, the flowerbeds are blooming, the verges are well kept and a busload of tourists are busily snapping photos on the edge of this pleasant, tree-lined plaza not far from the Kremlin.

But like much in Russia today, first impressions can be deceptive. Bolotnaya’s seeming tranquillity belies the central role it played in the country’s growing repression of basic freedoms.

On 6 May 2012, a very different scene played out in this square.

Hundreds of riot police, kitted out in military-style camouflage and helmets, and wielding truncheons, charged into crowds of mostly peaceful anti-government protesters who had gathered on the eve of President Vladimir Putin’s controversial return to power.