Human Rights In Russian Regions 2000

Transcription

1 Human Rights In Russian Regions 2000 (report of 2001 on the events of 2000)

2 Moscow Helsinki Group Collection Of Reports on the Situation with Human Rights Across the Territory of the Russian Federation Publishing House "ZATSEPA" MOSCOW 2001

3 This Collection of Reports was compiled by the Moscow Helsinki Group within the framework of the Project "Monitoring of Human Rights in Russia" with participation of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) and regional human rights organizations from 89 subjects of the Russian Federation. The Project is sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) General Editor: T.Lokshina The Reports were rendered into English by: T. Lokshina and MBS Intellect Services. Inc. Translation and Interpretation Agency With the assistance of B. Low, N. Kostenko, N. Kravchuk, I. Sergeeva Moscow Helsinki Group, 2001 Tipography. Publishing House "Zatsepa," 2001

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS: REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION ACROSS THE TERRITORY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN 2000 REPORT ON THE OBSERVANCE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN 2000 REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC HUMAN RIGHTS IN MOSCOW AND THE MOSCOW REGION. DIJEST APPENDIX: MOSCOW HELSINKI GROUP CONTEMPORARY WORK

5 HUMAN RIGHTS IN RUSSIAN REGIONS 2000 REPORT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION ACROSS THE TERRITORY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN THE YEAR 2000 FOREWORD The Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) presents its third annual collection of reports on the status of human rights in the Russian regions. The last stage of the three-year project Monitoring Human Rights in Russia was launched in the year The geographical area of the project has grown each year, the concluding stage encompassing all the 89 subjects of the Russian Federation. As has been repeatedly pointed out, before 1998, Russian regional human rights organizations had not monitored human rights violations in the Russian Federation. Admittedly, no central public organization had, until then, been equipped to track the human rights scene throughout the country. The USAID-funded project, Monitoring Human Rights in Russia, however, has made it possible for the MHG to successfully undertake this pioneer effort. Understandably, the regional reports cannot claim to provide a complete and profound analysis of the Russian human rights situation. It is rather a sketch or preliminary study of the topic in question. However, human rights violations in Russia are so evident and pronounced that the information available in the regional reports can be seen as an accurate indicator of the situation in the entire country. As has already become a tradition, this publication will be distributed to the RF federal and regional authorities, Russian and international human rights organizations, libraries, research centers, and governments of the states that are Russia s partners in the OSCE and Council of Europe. Regional reports are not comparable in terms of content. This is because participants of the Monitoring Human Rights in Russia project comprise a representative cross-section of the country s human rights community. Some provincial organizations have years of experience defending human rights and cooperating with Moscow-based and international organizations. Many have participated in this project for three years. Other regional outfits have been working on the project for just a year, only recently engaging in an effort to collect and research human rightsrelated information on a systematic basis. This notwithstanding, the vast knowledge of all relevant issues commanded by the compilers of the reports has allowed information on almost the entire spectrum of human rights violations to be included in this collection. This project is of value not only because it has allowed the combined and cooperative effort of the Russian human rights community, but also because it represents a major first step towards securing the even development of the human rights movement across the country. The differences in the quality and the professional level of human-rights activities pursued by central and provincial human rights organizations have been diminished in great measure by this project. Since its inception, the human rights movement has for many years been focused in Moscow, which received all reports on human rights violations. It was only in the 1990s that Russian regions have been substantively involved in the human rights effort. While the immediate objective of the Monitoring Human Rights in Russia project has been to have a reliable monitoring strategy (a crucial tool in the area of human rights) increasingly propagated to cover the entire national territory, another strategic goal has been to promote the growth and self-sufficiency of regional human rights organizations, without which no network partnership is possible. Should this trend fail to be maintained, the regional human rights effort would be doomed to remain in a semi-embryonic stage and continued dependence on the larger Russian organizations. While working on this project, we have directly witnessed the efforts aimed at making regional human rights activists shape new outlooks in order to become pro-active in the human rights information exchange. Notably, they have been increasingly involved in the focused drive to form the balanced perception of human rights scenes in their home regions and appear as reliable information centers, accumulating and researching reports from different locations (with the numbers of partner organizations engaged by some of the 89 project participants reaching as many as 15 20). The past three years of intensive activities resulted in assuring and streamlining not only the vertical links (laying the groundwork for other joint projects pursued by MHG and regional human rights organizations), but also the horizontal ones, which open up new vistas for cooperative efforts on the inter-regional level. As the monitoring effort continues (and we are certain that human rights violations will continue to be tracked in Russian regions after the project has been completed), human rights organizations are expected to add to the

6 monitoring network put in place over the past three years. This informal information exchange vehicle will serve as an example of institution building and promotion of the unity and efficiency of the human rights movement. 1 1 Please note that the regional reports are published in Russian only. The English version of Human Rights in Russian Regions 2000 only comprises a comprehensive report on the situation with human rights in the Russian Federation, a report on the situation with human rights in the Chechen Republic and a digest on the situation with human rights in Moscow. (The last two reports were selected for inclusion in this book due to the fact that these subjects of the RF appear to be of particular interest to officials of international organizations and researchers.

7 REGIONAL MONITORING WAS CARRIED OUT AND REGIONAL REPORTS WERE DRAFTED BY: Region Title of the Organization Coordinator Adyg Republic (Adygea) Krasnodar City Public Organization on Defense of Human Rights Kozlov Vladimir Aginsky Buryatsky autonomous district Aginsky Law Center of Chita Regional Department of the Union of Young Shemelin Arkady Lawyers of RF Altai Republic Public Environmental Organization Treasurers of the Lake Veselovskaya Olga Altai territory Altai Territorial Human Rights Public Organization Bastion Strikha Alexander Amur region Amur Center of Human Rights Regional Public Organization Morar Oleg Arkhangelsk region Arkhangelsk Region Human Rights Center Arkhangelsk Regional Public Dundina Galina Charity Organization Astrakhan region Committee of the Assistance to the Protection of Legal Human Rights Astrakhan Regional Public Organization Stepanova Tatiana Bashkortostan Republic (Bashkortostan) Public Foundation International Standart Divaeva Nonna Belgorod region Regional Public Organization Consumer s Society of Belgorod Region Anokhin Sergey Bryansk region Bryansk Regional Public Charity Organization Human Rights Association Komogortseva Ludmila Buryat Republic (Buryatia) Public Organization Republican Human Rights Center Levitskaya Nadezhda Chechen Republic (Chechnya) Interregional Public Organization Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship Kutaev Ruslan Chelyabinsk region Chelyabinsk Regional Public Committee of Russian Reforms Alexeev Alexander Chita region Regional Public Organization Center of Assistance to Civic Initiatives Stebenkova Anna Chukotka autonomous district Public Environmental Association Kaira Club Litovka Valentine Chuvash Republic (Chuvashia) Public Organization Human Rights Committee of Chuvash Republic Ayvenov Pyotr Dagestan Republic Independent Trade Union of Businessmen and Drivers of Dagestan Yunusov Abdurakhman Evenk autonomous district Krasnoyarsk Regional Public Organization Public Committee for the Vedenkov Vladimir Protection of Human Rights Ingush Republic Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, Vainachskoye Regional Branch Kutaev Shirvani Irkutsk region Irkutsk Public Charity A. Lyuboslavsky s Foundation for the Protection of Bashinova Lubov Human Rights and Freedoms Ivanovo region Public Political Organization Ivanovo Regional Society for Human Rights Valkov Sergey Jewish autonomous area Regional Public Organization Egida for the Protection of Human Rights and Rynkova Evgenia Civil Liberties in the Jewish Autonomy Kabardino-Balkarian Republic Republican Public Human Rights Organization "Jurist" Ketov Albert (Kabardino-Balkaria) Kaliningrad region Kaliningrad Regional Public Organization Protection of Human Rights and Getmanenko Grigory Freedoms Kalmykia-Khalmg Tangch Republic Regional Public Organization Kalmykya Human Rights Center Ateev Semen Kaluga region Obninsk Regional Human Rights Group Kotlyar Tatiana Kamchatka region Public Organization Union of Human Rights Activists Fedorko Maria Karachaevo-Cherkessian Republic Karachaevo-Cherkessian Department of the Public Non-Commercial Dakaev Beslan (Karachaevo-Cherkessiya) Organization Stavropol Regional Human Rights Center Karelia Republic Karelia Regional Public Organization Youth Human Rights Union of the Paltsev Igor Karelia Republic Kemerovo region Regional Public Organization Center of the Independent Journalism of Besedin Evgeny Kuzbass Khabarovsk territory All-Russian Public Movement For Human Rights, Khabarovsk Regional Bekhtold Alexander Branch Khakassia Republic Khakassia Republican Human Rights and Philantropic Public Fund Our Ichshenko Alexander Right Khanty-Mansiisky autonomous district Surgut Branch of the Tyumen Regional Histocal Educational, Human Rights Kuzmina Evgenya and Charity Society Memorial Kirov region Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization Center for Civic Initiatives Golovina Eleonora Komi Republic Commission on Human Rights Protection under the Syktyvkar Regional Public Sazhin Igor Organization Memorial Komi-Permyatsky autonomous district Komi-Permyatsky Regional Public Organization Human Rights Center Kleshin Evgeny Pera Bogatyr Right for Security Koryak autonomous district International Society Memorial, Kamchatka Branch Titov Sergey Kostroma region Kostroma Regional Group of the Russian Section of the International Society Veselov Pavel for Human Rights Krasnodar territory Regional Public Ogranization Krasnodar Human Rights Center Tishinsky Vladimir Krasnoyarsk territory Krasnoyarsk Regional Public Organization Public Committee for the Gorelik Alexander Protection of Human Rights Kurgan territory Kurgan Regional Public Movement For Fair Elections Isakaev Gabdulla Kursk region Inter-Regional Public Organization Central Chernozyomny Research Center Chernoval Konstantin on Human Rights Lipetsk region Lipetsk Regional Public Organization Lipetsk Society for Human Rights Rodionov Vasily Magadan region Yagodninskoye County Public Historical and Educational Organization Panikarov Ivan Search for Illegally Repressed Marii El Republic Public Organization Human Rights Center of the Marii El Republic Paydoverov

8 Viatcheslav Mordovia Republic Public Organization Mordovia Pepublican Human Rights Center Guslyannikov Vasily Moscow Regional Public Organization Moscow Group of Assistance to the Belenkina Nina Implementation of Helsinki Accords Moscow region Regional Public Organization Moscow Group of Assistance to the Kuzovkin Gennady Implementation of Helsinki Accords Murmansk region Murmansk Regional Public Youth Organization Youth Initiatives in the Khoreva Galina Region Nenetsky autonomous district All-Russian Public Movement For Human Rights Arkhangelsk Regional Gabidulin Rauf Branch Nizhnii Novgorod region Regional Public Organization Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Society Tagankina Nina North Osetia Republic Vladikavkaz Center of Social and Humanitarian Research of the Vladikavkaz Pliev Alan Press Club Novgorod region Novgorod Regional Public Organization Regional Human Rights Center Davydovskaya Nella Novosibirsk region Novosibirsk City Public Organization Center for Human Rights Achtivity and Dedyukhin Alexey Legal Information Omsk region Omsk Regional Public Organization Humanism and Justice Semenyuta Nadezhda Orenburg region Orenburg Regional Public Educational Human Rights Movement Memorial Rozhdestvina Ludmila Oryol region Institute of Public Problems United Europe, Public Charity Institution of Katkova Veronika Oryol Region Penza region Penza Regional Public Movement on Defense of the Rights of Draftees and Pyslar Dmitry Servicemen Soldiers of Motherland Perm region Public Organization "Perm Regional Human Rights Center Borisenko Oksana Primorsky territory Working Group of the Russian Section of the International Human Rights Rybkina Galina Society Pskov region Pskov Regional Public Movement Veche Donovskaya Nadezhda Rostov region Rostov Regional Public Organization Christians Against Torture and Child Slavery Velikoredchanina Svetlana Ryazan region All-Russian Public Historical, Educational Philanthropic and Human Rights Society Memorial, Ryazan Branch Feraposhkin Vyacheslav Sakha Republic (Yakutia) Sakha Regional Department of the All-Russian Public Movement Peoples Gavriliev Alexander Patriotic Union of Russia Sakhalin region Public Organization Public Human Rights Center of the Sakhalin Region Kuperman Mark Samara region Regional Public Social-Information Technologies Fund Samara XXI Nenashev Vladimir Century Saratov region Regional Public Organization of Chernobyl Invalids Saratov Human Rights Nikitin Alexander Center Solidarity Smolensk region Smolensk Charity Foundation Dobroserdie Bakhmetova Tatiana St. Peterburg Public Humanitarian and and Political Center Strategy Arakelyan Antuan St.Paterburg and Leningrad region Philanthropic Autonomous Non-Profit Organization Harold and Selma Light Massarsky Rudolf Legal Assistance Center Stavropol territory Public Non-Commercial Organization Stavropol Regional Human Rights Deniev Kharon Center Sverdlovsk region Regional Public Organization Nizhny Tagil Human Rights Center Chizh Natalia Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenetsky) autonomous Taimyr Regional Public Organization Regional Center of Human Rights Basova Natalia district Tambov region Tambov Regional Working Group of the Russian Section of the International Pomogaev Vladislav Human Rights Society Tatarstan Republic Public Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Tatarstan Vokhmyanin Dmitry Tomsk region Regional Public Organization Tomsk Research Center on Human Rights Kandyba Nikolai Tula region Tula Public Human Rights Foundation Sokolova Tamara Tver region Tver City Public Organization Students Human Rights Union Konov Dmitry Tyumen region All-Russian Public Movement For Human Rights Postnikov Vadim Tyumen Regional Branch Tyva Republic Tyva Republican Public Human Rights Movement Perelyaeva Avgusta Udmurt Republic (Udmu rtia) All-Russian Public Movement For Human Rights Udmurt Regional Branch Pogadaev Nikita Ulyanovsk region All-Russian Public Historical and Educational Philanthropic and Human Rights Bakhanova Elena Society Memorial, Ulyanovsk Branch Ust-Ordynsky Buryatsky autonomous Charity Foundation Hope Kamyshev Vitaly district Vladimir region Regional Public Human Rights Organization Vladimir Center for Aid and Burmistrova Irina Protection Volgograd region The Lower Volga Region Human Rights Organization Civil Society and Naumov Stanislav Ecological Safety Vologda region Vologda Regional Public Youth Organization of the All-Russian Public Cheredina Natalia Organization Russian Union of Youth Voronezh region Inter-regional Human Rights Group Yurov Andrey Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous district Yamalo-Nenetsky Regional Human Rights Center Emelyanova Evgenia Yaroslavl region Yaroslavl Regional Public Institution Human Rights Center Storozhev Valery

9 EDITOR S NOTE This comprehensive report, based on the respective regional reports, represents a generalization of findings of regional human rights organizations monitoring observance of human rights in all the 89 regions of the Russian Federation. Materials from the mass media and evidence given by Moscow based human rights organizations were used also in the compilation of this book. Please note that the absence of reference to a specific information source implies that the given data was derived from the relevant regional report. Drafters of the Report B. Altshuler ( The Right of the Child Program): The Situation of Children A. Bortel (IREX/US State Department Fellow ): The Sex Industry as a Violator of Women s Human Rights Ye. Kalyanova: The Right of Ecological Safety N. Kostenko: Observance of the Rights of Refugees and Forced Migrants; The Situation of Prisoners; The Situation of Enlisted Servicemen G. Kuzovkin (Information-Research Center Memorial ): Political and Other Extrajudicial Murders; Disappearance of People; Freedom from Slavery S. Lukashevsky: Introduction; Freedom of Speech and Access to Information; Freedom of Belief, Conscience and Religion; The Right to Alternative Civil Service; The Right to Fair Elections; Freedom of Assembly and Associations; The Right to Organize Local Self-Government; The Ban on Propaganda of War and the Instigation of Discrimination and Violence; The Right to Free Public Education N. Melik-Karamova: Denial of Fair Trial; Refusal to Provide Guaranteed Non-Judicial Remedies of Infringed Rights A. Pribylov: Unwarranted Invasion of Privacy and Residence and Surveillance of Correspondence Yu. Savenko (Independent Psychiatric Association): The Situation of Psychiatric Patients A. Sokolov (Human Rights Center Memorial ): Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Arbitrary Arrests and Detentions; The Situation of National Minorities Preliminary data processing and systematization by M. Palikhova Editor-in-Chief: Tanya Lokshina

10 INTRODUCTION The year 2000 marked the new Russian President s first full year in office. A change of Russia s head of state has traditionally been linked with expectations of major shifts in state policies. Post-Soviet Russia had its first experience of a transfer of power in the change from B.N. Yeltsin to V.V. Putin. While most of the populace rather enthusiastically welcomed the first months of Putin s presidency, the domestic human rights activists viewed Yeltsin s successor with a measure of caution and distrust. The federal policies of the late period, as a matter of fact, came to confirm those reservations. In the course of 2000, President Putin signed the newly-drafted Concept of National Security and Concept of Information Security of Russia, these documents containing, among inter alia, provisions on maintaining a single information source and countering the expansions of religious groups. Given the current practices of constraining the endeavors of the so-called non-traditional religions and of stifling independent regional mass media, these Concepts seem to be providing an ideological basis for further restraints on the freedoms of expression and conscience. The counter-terrorist operation in the Chechen Republic, which ran continuously over the course of 2000, has been accompanied by massive violations of fundamental human rights. Through March 2000, within the framework of the intensive application of military force, those violations included bombings and shelling of peaceful local residents (both standing communities and refugee columns), and large-scale burglaries and killings during the course of the so-called mopping-up operations. Then the more painful problems emerged of federal servicemen seizing Chechens (allegedly suspected of being members of unlawful armed formations ) in order to secure ransoms, exert torture-based pressures and execute extrajudicial killings. The mopping-up raids and robberies have still not been terminated. In the year 2000, the federal authorities passed unprecedented measures to constrain the freedom of expression. Reporters based in the Chechen Republic had been put under tight supervision as far back as the close of As was graphically shown by the Babitsky case, those trying to work there without proper accreditation or seeking to go over to the territory controlled by the armed separatists run the risk of being arbitrarily treated by the Russian special services. Notably, pressure has been put on the Moscow-based newspaper Versiya and on the television network TVTs owned by the Moscow government. A drive has been launched to counter the Media-Most holding, using criminal persecution to lean on the holding s head, V.A. Gusinsky. While in the last presidential elections V. Putin secured 52.94% of the vote, stark cases of election fraud were reported in some Russian regions (Saratov region, Republics of Dagestan and Bashkortostan), with Putin benefiting throughout. The FSB (Federal Security Service) initiated cases against the scientists and ecologists Pasko, Sutiagin and Shchurov, who were charged with spying for a foreign power. The charges continue to be pressed. And finally, in December 2000, upon presentation by President Putin, the music of the former Soviet Union s national anthem (composed by A.V. Aleksandrov) was confirmed by the Russian Parliament to become the music of Russia s national anthem; the red flag of the Soviet times was approved as the banner of the Russian armed forces. 2 These moves were justly read by society as being a willingness to restore continuity with the Soviet era. While the entire Yeltsin presidency existed under the guise of anticommunism (his own name being associated with the democratic shifts in the late 1980s early 1990s), Putin is dissociated from any such reputation. He has been heard talking more of the need to bolster state authority and support national interests than of the pressing requirement to protect human rights and do away with communist vestiges. Clearly, all this contributes to rapid and systemic erosion of the status of human rights in Russia. The overall effort seems to be aimed at restoration of the Soviet heritage. This concern has been voiced by a large number of local human rights activists. Findings of the monitoring surveys conducted by the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) and regional human rights organizations provide extra evidence to confirm the emerging unwelcome scene. Nevertheless, one would be well advised against assuming an erroneous perspective and acquiring a lopsided perception of trends in the Russian human rights arena. Understandably, any unbalanced analysis of the changing environment would only produce pessimistic sentiments and keep the local human rights community from taking advantage of available opportunities. As was quite aptly put by a well-known Russian political scientist, following Yeltsin s rule Russia seemed to be a lot of ruins with democratic props. Yeltsin s ostensible commitment to certain liberal values masked an inability or unwillingness (or both) on the part of federal authorities to counter the authoritarian rule emerging from the regions 2 The previous national anthem, coat of arms, flag and military banners had been introduced by dedicated presidential decrees. Given the former President Yeltsin s conflict with the former State Duma dominated by the communists, the state symbols had not been fully confirmed.

11 or subjects of the Russian Federation. In particular, efforts to stifle the freedom of expression and eliminate independent mass media have been unreservedly undertaken in the regions since the mid-1990s. Admittedly, Yeltsin himself had now and again engaged in authoritarian practices while pursuing his policies. A good example of this is provided by the resolution of the 1993 political crisis through the use of force. Also, Yeltsin is directly responsible for starting the first Chechen war. During , following the Khasavyurt agreements, federal authorities were unable to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. To emphasize, there are newly-emerging and serious problems in the human rights arena (erosion and degradation of the law enforcement bodies, ubiquitous application of torture, etc.), and these only grow worse as time goes on. The domestic judicial system has yet to become more efficient that during the Soviet times, and it has retained many of the basic flaws of the Soviet system. Relevant progressive constitutional provisions have failed to be put into effect. And what is more, the dependence of the judiciary on the executive authorities has become a firm fixation of the current Russian reality. And finally, it was under Yeltsin that the authorities initiated spy cases against Russian scientists (Nikitin, Pasko, Sutiagin and others); the circumstance being clearly evocative of the old practices pursued by the special services seeking to assure state security at the cost of the civil right to freely collect and disseminate information on crucial public issues. These examples appear to be enough to conclude that deterioration of the human rights situation from the early 1990s had been proceeding in full swing under Yeltsin. The new Russian president has not made any U-turns in this area. The difference between the Yeltsin watch and what is transpiring now essentially boils down to a change of stage sets. While resorting to autocratic ways and failing to do nearly anything to combat regional authoritarianism, Yeltsin publicly engaged in liberal and anticommunist rhetoric. The disparity between the political realities on the one hand, and ideological mantras espoused by Yeltsin on the other hand, provided one of the reasons for the emergence of the Fatherland All Russia (Otechestvo Vsya Rossiya) regional movement, which, inter alia, succeeded in doing away with verbal political ambiguities and dominating management strategies. Small wonder, indeed, that in the second half of 1999, while sensing a serious threat coming from the newlyestablished movement, the federal authorities (with Yeltsin still in office) easily changed their rhetoric and started to preach restoring a powerful state. Newly named Prime Minister V. Putin served as the mouthpiece. When he became the RF president, it was precisely that theme which made up the principal content of his presidential course. What does the new public and political situation in the country imply for human rights and relevant pursuits? Little new can be expected in the area of civil and political rights and freedoms. The efforts to shape a governable democracy, constrains on freedoms of mass media 3 and expression, inability to find a solution to the Chechen problem, maintenance of the FSB-inspired spy-mania, and a number of other negative trends all began years ago. It would be naive to expect (given the 1999 political scene in Russia) that the new president would seek to restore the liberal policies of the early 1990s. Obviously, liberal statehood has yet to be realized in Russia. This, in part, may be attributable to a lack of societal capacity for ungoverned self-organization and desire for a liberal political culture. The recent Russian political and public trends could carry on for years. Any liberalization now is only possible as an incremental transformation of the ruling regime. It is not easy to say at this point to what degree Russia will remain a democracy and to what extent it will see authoritarian trends grow. Notwithstanding, the current environment clearly allows much room for human rights activities. To underscore, under Putin the status of human rights activists appears to be even better than in the Yeltsin era. Few observers, if any, entertain ungrounded expectations about the aspirations and priorities pursued by the authorities. On the other hand, the new president appears to be willing to set in motion judicial and military reforms, restrain the arbitrary rule of regional authorities, and restore a single legal environment. The latter objective is of particular importance because the legal environment proceeds from the Federal Constitution the principal resource for liberalization in the years ahead. Though the efforts to bolster the vertical pillar of executive power and complete the judicial reform are viewed by the president as vital moves to reinforce the state (basically, authoritarian rule), they can also contribute to a drop in the level of arbitrariness and illegality. Human rights activists cannot but come out in support of achieving those objectives. Should Putin indeed have his plans realized, one could see society (human rights activists in the first place) acquire better capacities to legally (through the protection of civil rights) ensure that human rights are honored by the state, including civil rights and political freedoms particularly constrained by authoritarian rulers. 3 The practice of putting pressure on independent mass media has merely evolved to its logical completion, with the regional efforts being finally elevated to become federal.

12 However, irrespective of the reforming capacities held by the federal authorities, countering arbitrary rule and constraints of human rights and political freedoms (through restricting the collection and dissemination of information on human rights violations) must continue to be a top priority for human rights activists. Unless this effort is maintained, no improvements in the human rights arena can ever be expected. This is exactly the purpose of this new Collection of Reports on the Status of Human Rights in the Russian Regions. SECTION 1. RESPECT FOR THE INVIOLABILITY OF THE PERSON Political and Other Extrajudicial Murders Provisions of Articles 6, 14 and 15 of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights commit to preventing and counteracting political and other extrajudicial killings. Nevertheless, within the Russian Federation, extrajudicial killings of civilians by members of the federal armed forces have been registered in the Chechen Republic. In addition, armed separatist formations have been involved in terrorizing local civilian administrations (see the Report on Human Rights Violation in the Chechen Republic). People also perish outside the conflict zone from the excessive use of force, torture and cruel treatment by members of law enforcement agencies (information on this is available in the section entitled Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment ). During the year 2000, several Russian regions saw a wide occurrence of civilian killings. The victims included public figures, businessmen and government officials. Some of those killings caused a broad-based public outcry, and the mass media provided varied versions of political motivations for those crimes. However, no political underpinnings have been evident in most of the murders. Normally, the investigative efforts on those cases lasted for rather lengthy spans of time. Whenever the actual triggermen were identified, their employers (the truly guilty parties) were rarely tracked down and exposed. This being said, it is not easy to categorically classify those killings (covered by regional reports and assorted mass media materials) as political. A series of to-order killings occurred in 2000 in Smolensk and Saint Petersburg, in both of which there is a very developed and complex criminal network. Smolensk, of late, has been in the center of mass media attention because the local criminal gangs have openly confronted the RUBOP (Regional Department Against Organized Crime). Local reporters maintain that there is a war going on, with both sides resorting to any means available. Notably, those killed include S.S. Novikov, the former President of the Independent Vesna Radio Broadcasting Company and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pervomaisky Glass Plant (Smolensk). His death produced a range of commentaries in the regional and central media supporting the probability of the killing being politically motivated. Vesna Radio reporters believe S.S. Novikov was killed because of the radio network s policy position (to be specific, at one point in time, S.S. Novikov accused the First Deputy Governor of entertaining links with the local mob don). Another version has it that Novikov s clash with the Smolensk regional administration started when the administration sought to revoke the tax exemptions enjoyed by Novikov s glass plant. 4 Unfortunately, since observers have provided totally different assessments of the Smolensk situation, it appears to be hardly possible to opt for one or the other version of the story. Saint Petersburg and the region in the year 2000 likewise witnessed a whole series of to-order killings. Three of those are reported to have in part been politically motivated. On March 10, 2000, D.G. Varvarin, Managing Director of the Russian-American business Orimi, was killed. Being one of the Boldyrev-led political bloc leaders, Varvarin had been involved in drafting economic policies and financing the bloc s activities. On the eve of Varvarin s killing (March 9, 2000), Y. Boldyrev made it public that he would run for the office of Governor of Saint Petersburg. On March 22, 2000, Krizhan, Varvarin s right-hand man and General Director of the OAO ORSTG company was shot dead at a railroad crossing. On December 5, 2000, S. Semenova, official of the local SPS (Union of the Right-Wing Forces) chapter, was found dead close to her house in Volosovo (Leningrad region). She had been actively involved in the ongoing election campaign by distributing the Zhit Dostoino (Live With Dignity) newspaper and other SPS materials. Just one week before the killing, the Rossiya daily carried an article critical of the regional administration, with the material for the story provided by Semenova. While arguing for the possible political underpinnings of the killing, the SPS leader Nemtsov pointed out that Semenova took an active part in the region s municipal elections, which transpired against the backdrop of never-ending scandals and press exposures. 5 During the year 2000, a number of reporters have also been killed in Moscow and elsewhere in the Russian Federation. Regrettably, knowledge of the relevant circumstances in the provincial cases has been rather scarce. 4 Broadcasting Blackout. President of Independent Company Killed. Izvestiya (#139, July 28, 2000). 5 Nemtsov: Semenova s Killing Politically Motivated. Novyie Izvestiya (#225, December 9, 2000).

13 Powerful public repercussions were generated by the death of A.G. Borovik, President of the Sovershenno Sekretno (Top Secret) media holding. During the 1999 State Duma election campaign, Borovik and his holding had been avowed supporters of the Fatherland All Russia public-political movement, while sharply criticizing the Russian oligarchs and the so-called family of President Boris Yeltsin. 6 On March 9, 2000, a Yak-40 passenger plane carrying Borovik and a well-known businessman Z. Bazhaev (an ethnic Chechen) with his two assistants fell to the ground at the Sheremetyevo-1 airport only moments after take-off, killing everybody on board. Borovik s wife then publicly stated that, according to the knowledge secured by the holding s reporters following their investigative research, 7 the crash was no accident. Admittedly, other versions in the same vein have also been advanced. However, passed as the prime target was Z. Bazhaev (with the Chechen connection version being voiced by the FSB spokesman A. Zdanovich). Notably, the Gromov LII (Flight Testing Institute) experts conducted their own investigation of the tragedy and concluded that the crash had transpired through a flight crew error (even though a very experienced pilot was at the controls). 8 In September 2000, with circumstances remaining unclear, I. Khatlony, a Tajik service correspondent of Radio Liberty, was mortally wounded in the head. The local police reports attributed the killing to a domestic scandal. 9 Khatlony had not been robbed, and his colleague, O. Shukurov, emphasized that in the previous weeks Khatlony had released much material on the Tajik drug mafia. 10 Disappearances of People Disappearances of people have been reported in 17 regions of the Russian Federation. For the most part, this volume s compilers received statistics on missing individuals, with cases of forced or involuntary disappearances left unspecified. Given these circumstances, it is very difficult to provide a clear and complete picture of how dramatically this most hazardous form of human rights violation has proliferated across the Russian Federation. The situation in the Chechen Republic, which is covered separately, is not included in this section. Regional reports and mass media materials have repeatedly pointed out how unresponsive law enforcement authorities have been in treating cases of disappearances. There have even been tendencies toward callousness on the part of local officials in dealing with the relatives of the missing individuals. A few examples may serve to underscore the point. In the summer of 2000, five female college applicants went missing in the city of Barnaul, the Altai territory. A search effort was made only after the matter became public and the Minister of Internal Affairs and Deputy Prosecutor General were advised of the case s circumstances. In December 2000, S.G. Khameta went missing in the city of Astrakhan. His wife, L.V. Khameta, filed an appeal with officials to mount a search. By the close of December 2000, the missing person s car had been found in the city center. His wife, however, was never advised of this development. The case bounced from one desk to another and from one local authority to another, nobody willing to look into the matter in earnest. Mrs. Khameta could not even receive a document confirming her husband s disappearance in order for local mass media outlets to carry a missing person s bulletin. In February 2001, the body of Mrs. Khameta s husband was found close to one of the local dacha (country cottage) settlements. The body bore numerous signs of violent death (a noose around the neck, fractures, injuries, bruises and cuts on the body and head). The forensic experts who examined the body believed that the death had occurred about a week before the body was uncovered. However, they refused to date the incident in the forensic examination statement. So odd and incomplete was the statement that upon reading the document, an official of the Astrakhan Civil Status Registry Office initially refused to issue a death certificate to the wife of the deceased. While police authorities engaged in tracking down missing persons must, admittedly, grapple with tremendous difficulties (there are over individuals 11 officially registered as missing), it is significant to note that official attitudes in their current state serve in no way to bolster the population s trust in domestic law enforcement agencies. This point gains increased salience when it is noted that no search is likely to be effective unless supported by the public. A report by the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation states that at the present time, the unaccounted absence of a person appears for the most part to be the problem of the given family or individual. Things should not continue to 6 A. Golovkov, Words and Deeds Remembered. Nezavisimaya Gazeta (March 15, 2000) Moskovsky Komsomolets (December 22, 2000). 9 Digest of Central Mass Media (#27, September 25, 2000). 10 The Press Against Pressing. Versiya (#39(113), October 10 16, 2000). 11 Held No Residence Registration Where He Disappeared. Novyie Izvestiya (#205, November 4, 2000). (Understandably, the article mostly has to do with the disappearances of homeless or sick people, minors, socially nonthreatening psychotics, individuals estranged from their relatives, etc.)/

14 be that way. The report also suggests that a single state center be set up to track all information on missing individuals. 12 Bellow is a concise overview of the information on disappearances, which is divided into two sub-sections entitled: Persons Held by the Official Authorities and Persons Held by Criminal Gangs or Individuals. Persons Held by the Official Authorities Over the course of 2000, these sorts of cases were not numerous (except for within the territory of the Chechen Republic). In August 2000, Darya Strelnik, originally held by the Moscow-based Ziablikovo temporary detention facility (IVS), Yuzhny administrative district, was handed over to a junior delinquent office inspector, Ust-Labinsk district, Krasnodar region, and moved to an unknown destination. The missing girl was the daughter of Olga Strelnik who, until recently, had been the federal judge for the Ust-Labinsk district, Krasnodar region. According to Olga Strelnik, in 1996 she had a conflict with the local prosecutor following her ignoring his advice and proceeding to pass a verdict of not guilty in a local high profile case. From that time on, the judge s daughter began to be persecuted: she was beaten several times, suffered attempted rapes and was hit by a passing car. To save her daughter, the mother decided to take her to Moscow. However, the prosecutor s office, Ust-Labinsk district, filed a criminal suit against Darya Strelnik pursuant to Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ( premeditated action to cause serious harm to a person s health ). Here it must be explained that, while fending off her attackers, Darya Strelnik apparently hit one of them hard enough to leave a mark. In the summer of 2000, she was arrested and then, within a month, handed over to the local police inspector in charge of cases of juvenile delinquency. Her relatives were not advised of the development. Some time passed before they found out that the girl had been taken to the Korenovsk district, Krasnodar region. This occurred because, by the time of the detainee s handover, the case against D. Strelnik had been transferred to that region s court authority. Darya Strelnik s mother, legitimately, asked why a police officer from the Ust-Labinsk district had been sent over to pick up her daughter and move her to the Korenevsk district court authorities. Obviously, the mother was seriously concerned for her daughter s life. Her application to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, was rerouted through the relevant channels of authority only to end up at the regional prosecutor s office. 13 The media investigation into the disappearance of Armen Aloyan has culminated in an application to the State Duma and the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation. 14 According to local reporters, Armen went missing in 1995 after being detained by members of the Moscow-based Regional Department Against Organized Crime (RUBOP). After some time, Armen s parents were notified that their son s dead body had been found. However, an independent forensic expert confirmed that the parents had been given the body of someone else. Furthremore, a private investigative effort revealed that Armen had been held at psychiatric hospital #5, Checkhov district, Moscow region. The RUBOP s involvement is known because, as one of the relevant print media items reported, the Istra district prosecutor office s investigators who were running the search for the missing Armen tried to interrogate the witness of detention Elena Zaets (it was while he was on a date with her that Armen had been detained), but she was picked up (right in the process of investigation!) by members of the aforementioned RUBOP and led away. Despite these developments, the investigation into Armen Aloyan s disappearance has once again been put on hold. In May 2000, a Moscow resident, V. Bolotskikh, disappeared following a visit to the local police station. After his wife had spent a month trying to locate her husband independently, she eventually found him held at the Kiev-based pretrial detention facility, Ukraine, under accusation of being an accessory to the murder of noted Ukrainian entrepreneur Evgeny Shcherben. According to V. Bolotskikh, on the day of his disappearance he was visited by some members of the City Department Against Organized Crime (GUBOP), who forced him to go to the local police station for a talk. Bolotskikh complied and within an hour was allowed to return home to pick up his passport, the GUBOP officers assuring his wife that her husband would soon be back. As midnight approached, his wife went over to the police station to find out what was going on. But there she was only told that after the GUBOP people had interviewed V. Bolotskikh they had moved him to an unknown destination. What is more, the police station officers then refused to file a missing person s statement from Bolotskikh s wife. V. Bolotskikh later said that he had been driven to Ukraine in a Volga car with tinted windows. As they approached the Russian-Ukrainian border, he was made to drink a glass of alcohol, which apparently contained some soporific substance. He also said, I woke up already finding myself in a cell of a Kiev-based penal facility where I was, in the first place, forced to submit a written statement on voluntary appearance. V. Bolotskikh s wife says that the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities have obstructed her from seeing her husband. Though the missing Bolotskikh case has been looked into by the Nagatino inter-district prosecutor s office, Moscow, the relevant GUBOP officials have simply ignored 12 The Report of the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation for the Year (Moscow, 2001, p. 16). 13 M. Khairullin, Where Has the Judge s Daughter Disappeared? Novyie Izvestiya (#142, August 8, 2000). 14 A. Politkovskaya, Special Camp. Mysteries behind People who Disappeared. Novaya Gazeta (#57, October 19 20, 2000).

15 all investigator summonses to appear for questioning. Now the case has been sent to the Prosecutor General s Office, Russian Federation, for consideration. 15 The situation in the Smolensk region has lately been of great concern. Members of the local Regional Department Against Organized Crime (RUBOP) have been resorting to unlawful tactics in countering crime. On March 27, 2000, a Niva car holding Mr. Volkov and Mr. Novikov was halted by several masked men wearing field camouflage uniforms and wielding machine guns. Volkov and Novikov were made to leave their vehicle and get into to a UAZ police car. Shortly afterwards, they were sped away to an unknown destination. Official and unofficial inquiries sent by their relatives to local law enforcement authorities, for the most part, went unsatisfied. Only the Regional Federal Security Service Department (UFSB) responded by saying that their officers had not detained the individuals in question. The regional police authorities gave inconclusive answers. At times they would say that the detained Volkov and Novikov would soon be moved over to the regional pretrial detention facility, then they would refuse to confirm their own earlier statements. Notably, the relatives did not receive any official written responses to their complaints from the police authorities. After some time, the missing persons dead bodies (bearing marks of torture) were uncovered in the Smolensk environs. The crime has not been explained to the present day. 16 Considering the evidence that Volkov and Novikov were members of the T.S. Olevsky (Petrosian)-led crime gang, some Smolensk-based reporters have suggested that the two men were simply kidnapped by local the RUBOP members allegedly engaged in an effort to shoot off the local mobsters. To provide an example, the Argumenti I Fakty in Smolensk weekly had this to say: Smolensk has seen these sorts of arrests and untraceable disappearances of people for quite some time now. Admittedly, some local RUBOP members have recently been apprehended by the police in connection with the case. Still, those in power continue to make unwelcome individuals disappear. The impression is that those in uniform, who are primarily supposed to honor their duty and protect civil rights, are in fact the most awesome criminal gang in Smolensk. 17 Persons Held by Criminal Gangs or Individuals Information on kidnappings for ransom, forced detentions and cases of forced labor can be found in the section Freedom from Slavery. The problem of kidnappings and forced disappearances has become particularly acute in the Chechen Republic (see the report on the Chechen Republic). According to testimonies by regional human rights organizations or those carried by the mass media, the situation also seems tense in the regions contiguous to Chechnya, namely Ingushetia, Northern Ossetia and Dagestan. Regrettably, we have little information on those areas. At the same time, we can provide some data derived from daily reports by the Dagestan Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). Those reports contain information on 75 kidnappings, with 52 of those cases involving wives-to-be, 9 being kidnappings for ransom, and the remaining disappearances being engineered for other purposes. As many as 38 persons of those seized by force have already been released. A number of other Russian regions have had instances of kidnappings for the purpose of putting pressure on politicians or businessmen. For example, the following two disappearances in the Krasnodar and Kamchatka regions have had political underpinnings. V. Udalova, the wife of a deputy of the Legislative Assembly, Krasnodar region, disappeared in Sochi (Krasnodar region) right on the eve of the local mayoral elections. The deputy s spouse had not been involved in politics in any way. Over the past few years, she had often traveled to the U.S. where her daughter attended college. In the evening hours of May 20, 2000, she left her office on Chaikovskogo St. and proceeded to walk home. She had only to cross a bridge over the Sochi River and walk two blocks to get home. She was not carrying much cash or any expensive jewelry. That night, she never made it home. There has been no news of her since then. It was only several weeks after the incident that members of the Sochi-based law enforcement authorities made the matter public. There were rumors that the disappearance had been organized by either V. Udalov s opponents or those seeking to make him give up his plans to run for public office in the coming elections. While talking to local reporters, Deputy Udalov stated that he would immediately leave politics or pull out of the mayoral race should that happen to be the requirement for his wife s release. 15 M. Khairullin, Kidnapping after the Police Fashion? Novyie Izvestiya (#190, October 14, 2000). 16?. Gorodniansky, The Law is Severe, but at Least There s Law. However in Smolensk There Appears to Be No Law Argumenty I Fakty Smolensk (#19, 2000). 17?. Gorodniansky, People Keep Disappearing While the Police Keep Silent. Argumenty I Fakty Smolensk (#16, 2000).