for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
RUS 010 / 1207 / OBS 158
Attack / Ill-treatments / Death
December 5, 2007
The
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of
the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following
situation in the
Brief
description of the situation:
The
Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the attack against Mr. Farid
Babaev, a prominent political activist involved in human rights activities in
According
to the information received, on November 21, 2007, at around 9 p.m., in
Makhachkala (capital of Dagestan), Mr. Babaev, who was running for the Russian
State Duma elections under for Yabloko party, was returning back home
from the Party Headquarters when unidentified assailants opened fire. He was
then brought to hospital in a critical condition, suffering serious injury in
his head, and subsequently fell in coma. A few hours later, Mr. Babaev
underwent surgery. He died on November 24, 2007.
Over the past years, Mr.
Farid Babaev, has been actively involved in human rights activities. In
particular, he has been enquiring into enforced disappearances, torture, summary
executions and police brutality. In August 2007, he had organised a roundtable for human rights in Dagestan, where he had invited famous
rights defenders from
Mr. Babaev had also organised a critical electoral campaign in
The
Observatory expresses its deepest concern at Mr. Farid Babaev’s death, which
is further evidence of the ongoing
acts of extreme violence against human rights defenders in the Russian
Federation, and urges the authorities to “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 his or her rights”, in
conformity with Article 12.2 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December, 9, 1998.
The Observatory further
recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia must conform with paragraph 8 of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human
Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions[1],
which states that the OSCE Participating States recognise “the need for particular attention, support and protection for human
rights defenders by the OSCE, its Institutions and field operations, as well as
by participating States”.
Actions
requested:
The Observatory urges the
authorities of the
i.
Conduct
an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into Mr. Farid Babaev’s death in order to identify those responsible, bring them to
justice and sentence them according to the law;
ii.
Guarantee in all
circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights
defenders in the
iii.
Put an end to all acts of harassment against all human
rights defenders in the
iv.
Guarantee
that adequate reparation is provided to Mr. Babaev’s
family;
v.
Comply
with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders, in particular with Article 1, which provides 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”, Article 6.b, which provides
that “everyone has the right,
individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or
disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and
fundamental freedoms”, as well as with the above-mentioned Article 12.2;
vi.
Comply
with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd
Conference on the Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in
Europe (CSCE) (1990), and uphold in all circumstances the principles and
provisions enshrined in the international and regional human rights instruments
ratified by the Russian Federation and which, in particular, guarantee freedoms
of association, demonstration, expression and opinion, in particular the
European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights;
vii.
More generally, ensure
in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in
accordance with in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the
Addresses:
·
Vladimir
Vladimirovich Putin, President of the
·
Prosecutor’s office of
·
Nizhegorodskiy district police office, Fax: +7 831 2
34 02 02
·
Governor of the region, Vasily Shantsev, + 7 831 2 39
08 19
·
Prosecutor
General of the
·
Chairwoman
of the Presidential Human Rights Commission of the Russian Federation, Ella
Pamfilova,
·
Minister
of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, ul. Zhitnaya, 16, 117049
·
Ambassador
Leonid Skotnikov, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United
Nations in Geneva Av. de
·
Embassy
of the
Please also write to the
diplomatic mission or embassy of the
***
Paris-Geneva, December 5, 2007
Kindly inform us of any action
undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated
to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete
support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human
Rights Prize of the
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55
18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809
49 29