Enforced disappearance of Ms. Zarema Gaisanova

December 15, 2009

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 abduction of Ms. Zarema Gaisanova, a 39-year old native Chechen who works for the logistics department of the Danish Refugee Council in the Chechen capital, Grozny.

According to the information received, on October 31, 2009 Ms. Zarema Gaisanova was taken from her home and has since been missing.

According to neighbours, people they believed to be law enforcement officials in camouflage uniforms searched the house located next to the home of Ms. Zarema Gaisanova in the afternoon of October 31, 2009. The officials shot at the neighbouring house before starting to shoot at Ms. Zarema Gaisanova's house, which then caught fire, resulting in a large part being burnt down. Her mother, Ms. Lida Gaisanova, reported that her daughter would have been taken out of the house and driven away in a van.

On November 9, 2009, Ms. Lida Gaisanova was told by a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s office that her daughter was alive but that the Prosecutor's office had no access to her. Ms. Lida Gaisanova then left Chechnya, fearing for her own safety.

Since then, no further information could be obtained on Ms. Zarema Gaisanova’s whereabouts.

The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about Ms. Zarema Gaisanova’s enforced disappearance, and fears for her physical and psychological integrity. The Observatory points out that all acts of torture and/or ill-treatment that may arise shall be punishable with severe individual criminal sanctions.

The Observatory calls upon the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CoE) and other CoE member-States to act in accordance with the provisions of the CoE Declaration on Human Rights Defenders with regards to this situation.

The Observatory further urges the European Commission Delegation as well as European Union (EU) Member-States embassies in the Russian Federation to take action on this situation, in line with the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders.

The Observatory finally recalls that as a participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Russian Federation acknowledges that “the [1998] UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders [... places] a responsibility [...] on States to adopt and implement adequate legislation and administrative procedures that would provide for a conducive environment for human rights defenders to promote and strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, and recognises “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”[1].

Actions requested:

Please write to the Russian authorities and ask them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Zarema Gaisanova as well as all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
2. Take prompt action in order to disclose the whereabouts of Ms. Zarema Gaisanova and release her, as it seems to merely aim at sanctioning her human rights activities;
3. Order an immediate, thorough, effective and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned facts, the result of which must be made public, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a civil competent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal sanctions provided by the law;
4. Put an end to all acts of harassment against Ms. Zarema Gaisanova as well as all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
5. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly, in particular its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, and its Article 12.2 which provides that “the State shall 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 the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
6. 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), as well as with OP 2(iv.) of the Council of Europe Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, according to which member-States shall “take effective measures to prevent attacks on or harassment of human rights defenders, ensure independent and effective investigation of such acts and to hold those responsible accountable through administrative measures and/or criminal proceedings”;
7. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by the Russian Federation.

Addresses:

• Mr. Dmitri Medvedev, President of the Russian Federation, Kremlin, Moscow, Russian Federation, Faxes:+ 7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408
• Mr. Yuriy Chaika, General Public Prosecutor of Russian Federation, 125993, Moscow, GSP-3, 15a B. Dimitrovka str. Russian Federation, Fax: +7 495 692-96-00 / +7 495 692 17 25
• Mr. Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov, President of the Chechen Republic, Administration of the President and the Government of the Chechen Republic, Ul. Garazhnaia, 10. g. Grozny, 364000 Chechen Republic, Russian Federation. Fax : +7 8712 22 45 53
• Chairwoman of the Presidential Human Rights Commission of the Russian Federation, Ella Pamfilova, 103132 g. Moskva, Staraya ploshchad, d 8/5,pod 3, Russian Federation, Fax:+70952064855
• Mr. Vladimir Lukin, Russian Federal Ombudsman for Human Rights, Fax: +7 495 207 3969 / +7 495 207-53-37
• Minister of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, ul. Zhitnaya, 16, 117049 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Rossiia, 117049, Moskva, Fax: + 7 095 237 49 25
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, Smolenskaya-Sennaya pl, 32/34, 121200 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Fax:+ 7 095 244 2203
• Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in Geneva Av. de la Paix 15, CH-1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland, e-mail : mission.russian@ties.itu.int, Fax: +4122 734 40 44
• Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, 31-33 boulevard du Régent, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 513 76 49.

Please also write to diplomatic representations of the Russian Federation in your respective countries.

Paris-Geneva, December 15, 2009

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 French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

• Email: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
• Tel and fax OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
• Tel and fax FIDH: +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / 01 43 55 18 80

[1] See OP 6 & OP 8 of the Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions, adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on July 10, 2007.