Human Rights Center "Memorial"

This problem is very important both in Russia and the EU. The Russian authorities would benefit from getting familiarised with the reforms that have taken place in the UK and France to decrease arbitrariness of the law enforcement bodies and make their modernisation more efficient. This is especially important for Russia for several reasons. Recently, the Russian human rights NGOs and the media have been registering numerous violations of human rights by the police and other lawenforcement bodies (illegal detentions, cases of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and violation of the right to life.) The Russian leaders too, voiced their concern with the police abuse. Nevertheless, in 2004 and 2005 several regions of Russia experienced large-scale police operations that resemble the infamous “mopping-up operations” in Chechnya. Local people were illegally detained in large numbers and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. In spring 2005 human rights organisations got hold of certain illegally classified internal instructions circulated in the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The leading lawyers and human rights activists describe them as anti-constitutional documents contradicting Russia’s international obligations by instructing the police to set up “filtration centers” (detention places not provided for by the law) as well as wider use of force and firearms than stipulated by the law. Some of the provisions can be interpreted as inviting the policemen to apply extra-judicial executions and the method of collective punishment.

Human rights protection is very important for all countries involved in the counterterrorist operations as partners in the global war against terror. This is especially important for our country in the light of continuing bloodshed in Chechnya and terrorist acts across Russia. We are convinced that protection of human rights and the rule of law serve as a pre-condition for ensuring security rather than obstruct it. Counterterrorist struggle cannot and should not be used as an excuse to justify large-scale human rights violations, something that is happening in Russia today. In the course of the counterterrorist operation in the Northern Caucasus abductions and murders have become daily occurrences; there are illegal prisons in the region; detained and arrested are tortured while “mopping-up” operations develop into plundering and killing ones. In fact, the authorities are deliberately creating the legal vacuum in the counterterrorist operation zone, which is gradually spreading from the North Caucasus to the rest of the country. The problem is further aggravated by the already adopted and drafted amendments to the Russian laws that contradict the norms of international law and the RF Constitution. We are convinced that the European states and our country should be interested in conducting a straightforward and open dialogue on this painful subject. The situation in the Northern Caucasus and in the Chechen republic of the RF in the first place, the positive and negative experience in Northern Ireland (the UK), the Basque Country (Spain), and in the Balkans could be discussed in details within the framework of this dialogue. In this context it would be useful to exchange opinions about legislative changes that extend the powers of the law enforcement bodies and limit the fundamental rights and freedoms and about the recent negative and positive experience of using new legal provisions designed to fight terror and ensure security.

This is a subject of key importance since the institute of free and fair elections is the cornerstone of a democratic state. In Russia, however, the fundamental institutes of democracy are being limited: the Law “On the Referendum of the Russian Federation” adopted in 2004 de facto ruled out referendums initiated by groups of citizens or by opposition parties and turned it into an instrument of only the ruling regime. Direct elections of the governors were annulled while the president acquired the right to disband representative structures of the RF subjects and remove heads of regions elected by popular vote from their posts. Under the new legislation the State Duma will be elected only by party lists, elections blocs are forbidden while the barrier is raised from 5 to 7 percent. The law created unequal campaigning conditions for the parliamentary parties and those currently not represented in the Duma. Moreover, the upper chamber of the Parliament is not elected—half of it is made of bureaucrats appointed by the chief executives of the RF regions. This has undermined the key principles of democracy—division of powers and the mechanism of checks and balances. We think that the resultant situation in our country should receive particular attention within the Russia-EU dialogue.

Freedom of the media is a fundamental condition of successful transition to a democratic society and state In the Russian Federation, however, direct broadcasts at the state or state-controlled TV channels are excluded, the sports events being the only exception; there are no free and meaningful political discussions; there is a latent and still strictly observed ban on the appearance of opposition politicians and of all those who disagree with the official line; coverage of some of the topical political issues is also de-facto banned. There are regular unofficial meetings between Kremlin representatives and heads of TV channels held with the aim of instructing the latter what can be and what cannot be done. In Russia there is no public TV as an institution; periodicals are deprived of equal access to the state subsidies distributed in various forms. The number of privately owned newspapers is decreasing at the expense of semi-state periodicals supported by local, regional, and municipal budgets. Many newspapers face illegitimate and inordinately huge libel suits from public officials. Withinh the system of obedient justice such cases serve as a noose for the free press. There is still no law on public authorities’ information openness or a law on the right of citizens to access public information.

We believe that in the law enforcement sphere no assessments and opinions lying outside the field of law should be used since political motivations accepted by the court inevitably violate the rights of the accused. All EU countries and Russia should be interested in cutting short such practices. Meanwhile, starting with 2000 cases of judicial reprisals against critics of the state structures and public officials and against those who cause displeasure of central or regional authorities have become common occurrences in Russia. According to the human rights organisations the number of illegally imprisoned or unfairly condemned as well as the number of cases with obvious political motivations is rapidly rising. We are also very much concerned with the judicial system’s increasing dependence on the executive authorities. This is caused both by the recent amendments to laws and by the executive structures’ direct pressure on judges and the jury. Recently, defense lawyers have also become subject of such pressure.

To be effectively modernised, Russia’s armed forces need adequate conditions of conducting the military service and establishment of civil control mechanisms as two key conditions of success; the norms of international humanitarian law should be included in the normative documents by which the military in Russia should guide themselves; their rights should be effectively protected. This will contribute to Russia’s security as well as to the security of the EU members. Meanwhile, in the recent years there has been no real progress in this sphere. Authorities spare no effort to conceal crimes of commanders (cruelty to conscripts, degrading treatment, extortion of money from servicemen and their families, servicemen’s forced labor unrelated to military service, servicemen are dispatched by force to the zone of armed conflict in Chechnya, etc.) The majority of perpetrators avoid punishment.

There are known cases of illegal trade in arms and ammunition. Corporate solidarity of army officers, military prosecutors, and military judges makes objective investigation into these crimes and fair judicial proceedings impossible.

Efficient civil control in the military sphere is next to impossible because of lack of corresponding laws. The process of demoralization of the armed forces threatens Russia and the EU countries.

Implementation of the right of conscientious objectors to alternative service based on their religious and other convictions is very important in Russia. According to Russian NGOs, the Law “On Alternative Civilian Service” in that came into force since the beginning of 2004 has a punitive character and serves as a punishment for one’s convictions due to lengthy term and harsh conditions of such service. According to the UN and the Council of Europe, the institute of alternative civil service in Russia is not based on the internationally recognized human rights norms and does not correspond to the European standards. The law should be amended and brought in conformity with the European practices.

Hundreds of thousands of those who live in Russia lost their fundamental social rights, the right to freedom of residence and, in some cases, the right to life because the newly adopted versioons Federal Laws “On the RF Citizenship” and “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens” enacted in the middle of 2002 changed the status of the former Soviet citizens living in Russia.

The asylum-granting system in Russia has been de-facto eliminated. Staff of the relevant departments and ministries is not decreasing while the number of those who received the official refugee status dropped from 290,000 in 1996 to only 500 in 2004. Russia obviously fell short of its obligations under the UN Convention of 1951, thus refusing to share the burden of responsibility with the EU countries.

At the same time, for the second year running Russia remains on top of the list of the countries from which asylum seekers originate. The majority of asylum seekers from Russia are people from Chechnya who fail to find an alternative place of domicile in Russia. In fact, for many years Russia has been neglecting the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement that puts heavier burden on the European countries.

Ethnic discrimination and violence have developed into a serious problem in the Russian Federation. The Russian legal system, however, has no effective mechanisms of combating discrimination and the incitement of ethnic hatred. Regrettably the state and its structures at all levels remain indifferent to the problem of discrimination and ethnic-motivated violence. We are very much concerned with the fact that quite often public authorities either discriminate against certain ethnic groups (such as Chechens living outside Chechnya, Meskhetian Turks living in the Krasnodar Area, and Roma) or encourage such discrimination. Discrimination against ethnic minorities and foreigners practiced by the law enforcement bodies and widely spread racial profiling by the police can be described as one of Russia’s gravest problems. We are convinced that the dialogue between the EU and the government of the Russian Federation could create additional stimuli for correction of the state policy in this sphere.

At the same time, we share the RF Government’s concern with the situation of ethnic and linguistic minorities in some of the former Soviet republics. We are especially concerned with the situation of the Russian speaking minorities in Latvia and Estonia. The EU and Russia should discuss these problems existing in the countries-EU members to arrive at constructive solutions and to move deliberations about this issue from the political domain to the level of practical and businesslike interaction. We are sure that progress in this sphere will also positively affect the situation with observation of human rights in Russia.