Human rights defender, Mr Albert Pchelintsev, was shot in the mouth with a stun gun in the Moscow suburb of Khimki on 25 July 2009. Albert Pchelinstev is the chairman of "Against Corruption, Lies and Dishonour", an organisation that works to expose corrupt practices in the local administration of Khimki.

Further Information

On 25 July 2009, Albert Pchelintsev was getting off a train at the Skhodnja railway station when he was stopped by several men who told him, "You won't be able to talk about anything for a long time."

The men forced Pchelintsev to open his mouth and then fired a stun gun into his face and mouth before fleeing the scene. Albert Pchelinstev was taken to hospital where, after undergoing reconstructive surgery, he remains in a serious condition and cannot speak. No one has been arrested in connection with this assault.

Prior to the attack, Albert Pchelintsev had allegedly been repeatedly threatened over the phone, with unknown callers promising to “cut out his tongue” and “shut his mouth.” During the recent municipal elections in Khimki, Pchelintsev had strongly criticised town officials, particularly the mayor, Mr. Vladimir Strelchenko.

Pchelintsev also wrote a column about administrative corruption in a local newspaper and, in 2008, he had helped to open a community office where citizens could report and document cases of corruption.

Human rights defenders and journalists have frequently been the target of violent reprisals in Khimki. In March 2009, Mr Sergey Protazanov, an anti-corruption journalist died after he had been assaulted. He had reportedly been preparing an issue on irregularities in the Khimki local elections of 1 March 2009 at the time of the attack.

Mr Vladimir Strelchenko, the previous mayor was re-elected despite a challenge to the electoral results due to numerous falsifications.

In November 2008, Mr Mikhail Beketov a human rights defender and journalist who had worked to expose corrupt practices in Khimki, was brutally beaten with baseball bats and was left severely disabled. No one was ever charged for this assault.

In 2006 unidentified people attacked the chief editor of "Civil Forum" newspaper, Mr Yury Granin, and his deputy, Mr Yury Slusarjov. Both men were beaten up with iron rods but survived the attack.

Front Line believes that this latest attack on Albert Pchelinstev in Khimini forms part of a pattern of attacks and intimidation against journalists investigating corruption which have been carried out with almost total impunity.

Front Line is deeply concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Albert Pchelinstev and all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation who are working in a climate of increasing violence and impunity.