Your Excellency,
I am deeply concerned following reports that the office of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance was raided by police on 20 March 2008. Computers and software were taken as well as the mobile phone of Stanislav Dmitrievsky, a consultant with the Foundation. Stanislav Dmitrievsky had previously been Chairperson of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), a predecessor to the Foundation, before it was closed down in Russia by the authorities.
On 8 April 2008, court officials visited the home of Stanislav Dmitrievsky and threatened to confiscate all of his belongings, along with those of the families of RCFS members, in order to pay the organisation's alleged tax and financial debts. Oksana Chelysheva, journalist and Executive Director of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance, has noted that as a non-profit organisation they are exempt from paying profit tax to the State. The homes of Ilya Shamazov, Yelena Yevdokimova and Yury Staroverov, staff members of the Foundation, were also searched.
Members of the RCFS have been consistently threatened since 2005. In the past Stanislav Dmitrievsky has been threatened with imprisonment and accused of extremism for articles published in the newspaper Pravo Zaschita (Defence of Rights). He was charged with "inciting racial hatred", although he was a peaceful protestor to the policies of the Russian Federation in relation to Chechnya. This conviction was used by the authorities as a pretext to justify the closure of the RCFS in January 2007. Furthermore, he and Oksana Chelysheva have previously received anonymous death threats and the Foundation was prohibited from holding an international conference in October 2007.
I believe that the raid of the office of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance and the intimidation of its staff members represents a pattern of hostility on the part of the authorities against human rights defenders and human rights organisations in the Russian Federation.
On 8 April 2008, at a meeting of the National Anti-Terror Committee (NAC), the Director of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) reportedly claimed that NGOs are “the main supporters of terrorists”. The Vice Speaker of the Russian Federation Council similarly stated that foreign NGOs are used as recruiting grounds for terrorists and extremists and named 59 NGOs that he considered to be supporting Chechen terrorists.
I am concerned that attempts to impose further restrictions on the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance are a direct means for dissuading the organisation and its members, in particular Stanislav Dmitrievsky and Oksana Chelysheva, from carrying out their legitimate and peaceful activities in defence of human rights, including the rights of freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly and freedom of association. The confiscation of office equipment is aimed at paralyzing the activities of the organisation and restricting the work of its members.
I am further concerned that the comments made by the Director of the Federal Security Service of Russia and the Vice Speaker of the Russian Federation Council are aimed at discrediting the legitimate work of human rights defenders and human rights organisations in the region.
I urge the Russian authorities to:
Immediately cease all harassment and intimidation of all members of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance, in particular Stanislav Dmitrievsky and Oksana Chelysheva, and allow them to continue their legitimate work in the defence of human rights;
Ensure that all human rights defenders in Russia are free to carry out their legitimate work in the defence of human rights, without fear of intimidation or reprisal.
I respectfully remind you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals Groups and Organs of Society to promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals.
I would particularly draw your attention to Article 1 which states that “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, to Article 5: “For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels: (b) To form, join and participate in non-governmental organizations, associations or groups”, and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present declaration.”
Yours sincerely,
