URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
Arbitrary arrest / Release / Judicial harassment
Russian Federation
November 23, 2012
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 Russian Federation.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of Mr. Andrey Yakimov, a staff member of Anti-Discrimination Centre “Memorial” (ADC Memorial).
According to the information received, on November 13, 2012, police officials arrested Mr. Andrey Yakimov while he was leaving a peaceful rally held in Saint Petersburg in commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the death of Timur Kacharava, a young antifascist activist who was stabbed to death on November 13, 2005.
On November 2, 2012, three individuals, including Mr. Yakimov, informed the prefecture that the said peaceful rally would be held, in accordance with the law[1]. The said declaration mentioned the participation of 20 persons. On November 8, 2012, they received the agreement of the municipal authorities.
On November 13, 15 persons reportedly attended the rally as participants. Other individuals only passed by to visit the spot where Timur Kacharava was murdered in 2005, in order to leave flowers. The only other persons present during the permitted period (5pm-7pm) were journalists, whose function was to cover the event and cannot be considered as participants. It is to be noted that, from the beginning of the commemorative rally, members of the police present were rude with some participants.
It is to be further noted that one of the participants reportedly heard a policeman saying in his walkie-talkie that one of the organisers was detained, though at that time all participants who had planned to participate in the gathering were present at the specified location.
Finally, ten minutes before the official ending of the rally, while the participants started to head toward the underground station, a police officer stopped Mr. Andrey Yakimov and told him to stay with them for a few minutes in order to sign a document, enjoining him to sit in a police vehicle. However, as soon as Mr. Yakimov did so, the car left and took him to the police station. Once at the police station, a police file was opened, charging Mr. Andrey Yakimov for “exceeding the number of participants initially planned for a rally”, in contravention with Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences (“Violating the Established Procedure for Arranging or Conducting a Meeting, Rally, Demonstration, Procession or Picket”). Mr. Yakimov was finally released later on the same day.
In the police record, Mr. Andrey Yakimov insisted that not more than 20 participants were present at the rally. This information was confirmed later by witnesses in court. Moreover, it is to be highlighted that, on May 18, 2012, the Constitutional Court issued a resolution stating that the organisers of a rally could not be held responsible in case the number of declared participants would be exceeded. However, and despite the lack of evidence incriminating him, a first hearing was scheduled on November 14, 2012 before Court 209 (Mirovoy sud, 209 Uchastok), and the judge decided to postpone it to November 26, 2012 in order to call the police officers to testify as witnesses of the prosecution.
In addition, after the gathering was over, police officers started to ransack the commemoration place. As a participant, Mr. Vitaliy Leonov, tried to protect the flowers and pictures from being wiped out, the police arrested him. An administrative case was opened against him, accusing him of “disobedience” and charging him under Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code. As he lives in the city of Barnaul, his trial will be held there. Mr. Leonov was kept in detention overnight at the police station before being released.
The Observatory strongly condemns these arrests and the judicial harassment of Messrs. Yakimov and Leonov, which take place in the context of general crackdown led by the authorities against civil society activists, including human rights defenders, and urges the Russian authorities to drop all charges against them immediately.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities of Russian Federation, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Andrey Yakimov and Vitaliy Leonov as well as of all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
ii. Put an end to any act of harassment, including judicial harassment, against Messrs. Andrey Yakimov and Vitaliy Leonov as well as against all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation
