Digest No. 10-11 (46) AGORA Association (October - November 2012) 

IN TODAY’S ISSUE: 
International level /  European Court of Human Rights  /  Federal Level 
Publications  /  Development of regional organisations  /  Cases. Courts. Victories 
Top 10 press materials 

International level 
On 4-6 November, Chairman of the Agora Association and Candidate of Legal Sciences Pavel Chikov attended a conference in Stockholm entitled ‘Strengthening Human Rights Defenders in the North Caucasus’, where he gave a report on the passing of the law on ‘foreign agent’ NGOs and how to defend against groundless claims from the authorities. [Read more]

Cases. Courts. Victories / Top 10 press materials 

International level 
On 6-7 September at the 2nd Freedom Online Conference in Africa, at the invitation of the Kenyan government, legal analyst for the Agora Association Damir Gainutdinov presented a report on Russia's experience in protecting users of the World Wide Web. [Read more]

Cases. Courts. Victories. / Top 10 Press materials  

Pavel Chikov and Damir Gainutdinov wrote articles about non-profit organisations as "foreign agents" for Forbes and Slon.ru entitled: 

• • "Russia against Non-profit Organisations" 
• • "How the new law on Non-profit Organisations will work" 

Pavel Chikov also prepared materials for Forbes magazine and Slon.Ru entitled:

• "What is the good of house searches" 
• "The new European Court of Human Rights rules are actually not new at all" 
• "Aleksandr Bastrykin from the point of view of human relations and the Criminal Code" 

Development of regional organisations
On 1 June members of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture discussed the situation with the police with human rights defenders from Kazan. Lawyers told foreign experts on the violation of the rights of detainees and arrestees and gave them a list of torture cases perpetrated by the police in Tatarstan. Read more in Russian.

On 5 June community workers from Tatarstan handed proposals to the leadership of the State Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate for the improvement of the road safety situation. The participants of a "round table", which included the Head of the State Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate Rifkat Minnikhanov passed a resolution entitled: "Safety on the roads: a culture of behaviour". Read more in Russia.

On 5 July, delegates from the European Union discussed human rights with community workers from Tatarstan. At the same time the Ministry of the Interior and the Directorate for the Federal Penitentiary Service of Tatarstan refused to allow diplomats into special inspectorate facilities despite previously reached agreements. Read more in Russian. 

On 12 July, the members of the Public Observation Commission for the supervision and observance of human rights in places of compulsory detention in Chuvashia Aleksey Glukhov and Viktoria Maksimova paid a visit to Penal Colony No.6. The aim of the visit was to check reports of acts of attempted mass suicide and wrist slashing by the inmates. Thanks to the high quality work carried out by human rights defenders with the media, awareness of this story was raised to a country wide level, which led to a legal resolution of the conflict. Read more in Russian. 

On 8 August, the head of Human Rights Organisations "Shchit i Mech" Aleksey Glukhov read a lecture entitled "The responsibility of the police for the life and health of individuals held under the supervision of police employees" to employees of the Central Office of the Ministry of the Interior of Chuvashia. Read more in Russian. 

Cases. Courts. Victories 
Defending Non-Governmental Organisations, journalists, bloggers and civil activists (Moscow, Karelia, Samara Oblast and Chuvashia)
In the summer of 2012 the courts of Karelia twice ruled in favour of Maksim Efimov blogger, head of the local youth human rights group and author of the text "Karelia is tired of its priests". On 28 June, the Supreme Court of Karelia found the placing of the civil activist in a psychiatric hospital unlawful. On 1 August, the Petrozavodsk City Court rejected the investigation's second request to confine Maksim Yefimov to an in-patient's ward for a judicial psychological and psychiatric examination. Maksim Efimov's interests were represented by the Agora Association. 

On 25 July, the Oktyabrsky Regional Court of Samara dismissed a claim made by the Samara Police in defence of its reputation against the press and a human rights defender regarding an entry she had made in her blog. The statement of claim made by the Chief Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior for Samara Oblast was lodged against the editorial board and publisher of the newspaper "Pulse Povolzhya" [Volga Pulse], Saira Dvortsovaya the author of the text entitled "Police detain women and the elderly at demonstration in Samara" and Lyudmilla Kuzmina the Chair of the Samara Organisation "GOLOS. In defence of Voters' Rights". Read more in Russian. 

In Chuvashia, the court released internet forums from any liability regarding messages posted by their users. Owners of internet forums will not be punished for the contents of comments left by readers. This decision was pronounced by the judicial board for civil cases of the Supreme Court of Chuvashia on 18 June. Read more in Russian. 

The defence for Artyom Savelov who was arrested for events that took place during the "March of the Millions" on 6 May succeeded in winning the right to receive a copy of the materials of the preliminary investigation after an application to the Basmanny Regional Court in Moscow. On the eve of the examination of the appeal the investigators of the investigative team from the Chief Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation chose to grant the lawyer's request, which had previously been refused by their colleague, who has currently been seconded from Moscow to his home region. Read more in Russian. 

The Moscow City Court found the exclusion of "Legal Initiative in Russia" (an organisation that provides people with help in taking cases to the European Court of Human Rights) from the register of foreign Non-Commercial Organisations to be unlawful and remanded the case for re-trial. Read more in Russian.

In Moscow, a magistrate's court returned a case regarding the detention of activists for holding a protest at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral back to the police. The young people involved are suspected of violating the procedures for holding a public event. Read more in Russian. 

On 27 July, the magistrate of Judicial Sub-District No.7 of the Leninsky Region of Cheboksar terminated administrative proceedings that had been brought against civil activist Dmitry Karuev for carrying out a solo picket due to the lack of any evidence of a legal violation. The authorities were trying to bring Karuev to justice for a protest sign saying: "Chekists are in the Kremlin - Russia is in ...", which they claimed was a criminal violation of the rules governing picketing. Read more in Russian. 

In August the "Shchit i Mech" human rights organisation continued to successfully defend the right to freedom of assembly in Chuvashia. On 17 August, the Leninsky Regional Court of Cheboksar found the refusal to allow a picket at the building of the City Administration's Special Reception Centre for Administrative Detainees to be unlawful. On 31 July and 24 August, the same court found the refusals made by local state officials to hold the August "Strategy-31" Protest Meeting to be unlawful. And on 27 August the Cheboksar Administration lost another case against the organisers of protest meetings that were a part of the Russia-wide "White Stream" car rally. 

State abuse of power (Moscow, Chuvashia, Tatarstan) 
The Ministry of the Interior has punished members of the police who failed to display their badges at the May protest actions. The Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of the Interior for Moscow acknowledged that police had been in breach of the law "On the Police" during the protest meetings of 6-7 May. Police employees from the Mobile Detachment from the Ministry's Special Assignment Centre were disciplined for failing to display their badges on their chests. Read more in Russian. 

After a death by suicide in the "Ryabinka" Police Station in Cheboksar, human rights defenders succeeded in launching a criminal case on the grounds of negligence leading to an individual's death (part 2 article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The suspect is the Senior Duty Officer at the station's operations desk. Read more in Russian. 

An official inspection initiated by the humans rights defenders in Chuvashia has led to the resignation of Pavel Perov the Senior Aide of the Prosecutor for the Kalininsky Region of Cheboksar. In July he attempted to illegally to take a detainee "out for a fishing trip" and has now been released from his post and fired from the Prosecutor's Office for violating his oath as a public prosecutor and for committing actions bringing the reputation of the office of prosecutor into disrepute. Read more in Russian.

In Kazan a case of violent behaviour and the destruction of property committed by a Major in the Police has been sent to court. Procedural violations in the criminal case have been remedied, the main figure in the case is a former operative of the Central Apparatus of the Ministry of the Interior of Tatarstan. Read more in Russian. 

In Tatarstan a case involving police violence with regards a 54 year old car driver has been sent to court. Police Lieutenant Alfred Salakhutdinov is also accused of making false accusations against the victim. Read more in Russian. 

Compensation (Chuvashia, Tatarstan) 
On 28 June, a witness at the "For honest elections" protest meeting in Tatarstan was awarded compensation by the court for illegal prosecution. The court ordered the Russian Ministry of Finances to pay 3.5 thousand roubles to the citizen of Kazan involved in the incident. His interests were represented by the Kazan Human Rights Centre. Read more in Russian. 

On 5 July, the Moskovsky Regional Court in Cheboksar awarded civil activist Denis Olenov 2,000 roubles in compensation for moral damages caused by his illegal administrative prosecution after holding a solo picket outside the Special Reception for Administrative Detainees. Read more in Russian.

On 11 July, the Vakhitovsky Regional Court in Kazan sustained a claim brought by a victim of torture at the "Dalny" Police Station. Human rights defenders were unpleasantly surprised by the position taken by the prosecutor's office, whose representative asked the court to reject the claim. Read more in Russian. 

On 12 July, the Russian Ministry of Finances agreed to pay 65 thousand roubles to the son of a detainee who died in a police station. In addition, an investigation into the case of the death of the man has been initiated at the Tatarstan Regional Department of Internal Affairs. Read more in Russian. 

On 23 July, the Moskovsky Regional Court in Cheboksar awarded compensation for moral damages to three civil activists. They were awarded 7 thousand roubles from the Russian Treasury for their unwarranted arrest at the "Russia Forever" protest meeting, detention at the police station, administrative prosecution and negative publicity in the media. They were provided with legal aid from the moment that they were arrested by the "Shchit i Mech" human rights organisation. Read more in Russian. 

On 23 July, the Supreme Court of Chuvashia sustained the ruling of the Moskovsky Regional Court of Cheboksar that 100 thousand roubles should be paid by the Russian Ministry of Finance in favour of Vasily Yakimov. This amount was compensation for the moral damages caused by his 273 days of incarceration during investigations, which ended up with an acquittal sentence. Read more in Russia. 

The Supreme Court of Tatarstan ruled that the mother of a deceased soldier should receive 250 thousand roubles from his military unit in compensation. The court thus increased the compensation amount from 100 to 250 thousand roubles. The interests of the mother of the deceased were represented by the Kazan Human Rights Centre. Read more in Russian. 

Family (Moscow, Tatarstan) 
The Supreme Court of Tatarstan upheld a guilty sentence against a teacher for battering a young boy. During the trial it was revealed that the 11 year old victim had been made disabled. The interests of the young boy were represented by the Kazan Human Rights Centre. Read more in Russian. 

The Presidium of the Moscow City Court ordered the Directorate of the Russian Federal Migration Service for Moscow to issue a temporary residence permit to the city for an HIV positive Ukrainian citizen with her family. Furthermore, the 8 judges presided over by the head of the Moscow City Court Olga Egorova overturned rulings made by the two previous Courts of instance and found the decision of the Russian Federal Migration Service for Moscow to refuse the girl this permit to be unlawful. Read more in Russian. 

TOP 10 Press materials 
1. RFI Russian Service (France). 28.08. Pavel Chikov on the sentence passed on Taisiya Osipova and his candidacy for the President's Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights 

2. Moscow News 5.08. Petanque is dangerous for your health.

3. Kommersant 02.08. The opposition uses tired methods. 

4. Moskovsky Komsomolets 01.08. Club found in prison cell is adjudged to be a souvenir.

5. Dozhd Television Channel 26.07. «Crooks and thieves» is not slander but a judgement based opinion according to conclusions made by linguists. 

6. Noviye Izvestiya 26.07. We lost him 

7. Kommersant 23.07. The Police are punished to the full extent 

8. Novaya Gazeta 04.07. Pen pushers 

9. Dozhd Television Channel 29.06. There was no large scale disorder at Bolotnaya Square on 6 May

10. Kommersant 25.06. The investigation goes out from the Prospect onto the Square. 


© The AGORA International human rights Association, May 2012 agora-club@yandex.ru 
ICQ: 284-050-201. Skype: agora-club. Twitter: @pchikov; @dkolbasin. Facebook: News from Agora Human Rights Association 

  
International level / Federal level / Publications / Development of regional organisations 

International News
On 18 April, the Chair of the Agora Association, Candidate of Legal Sciences and Associate Professor Pavel Chikov read a lecture on "The persecution of creativity in Russia - A legal analysis" in Berlin in the German office of Amnesty International with a description of the cases against Pussy Riot, the Voina Art Group and the artists Aleksandr Savko and Artyom Loskutov. The lecture was organised by Amnesty and the Freie Universität Berlin. [Read more]

In this issue: International News / National News / Publications / Development of Regional Organizations /
Legal Cases and Court Hearings / Top 10 Media Reports

Federal Tax Inspectorate No. 14 for Tatarstan has transferred the sum of 987,984.24 roubles to Agora Human Rights Association. In March 2010 the Tax Inspectorate illegally recovered this sum from Agora supposedly as profit tax on donations received. In July 2011 the Supreme Commercial Court of Russia issued a final ruling in the case brought by Agora: Russian non-profits need not pay profit tax on donations received from foreign donors.

International News
The European Court of Human Rights has communicated an application by journalist and photo-correspondent Yury Ivashchenko who was subjected to an arbitrary search in August 2009 on returning to Russia from Abkhazia. During the search the customs officials examined and copied Yury Ivashchenko’s personal photos and letters. [Read more in Russian].

Agora staff in Kazan met with Michael Posner, US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and Denis Keefe, charge d'affaires at the British Embassy in Moscow.

On 24-25 October in Vienna (Austria) Agora chair Pavel Chikov spoke on the quality of medical aid in Russian prisons and police detention centres at a conference on Developing a Health Monitoring Tool for Places of Pre-trial Detention, organized by the Open Society Institute. The conference was attended by experts on monitoring the health and quality of medical aid in conditions of detention in Eastern Europe.

On 15-21 October in Struge (Macedonia) Agora lawyer Damir Gainutdinov gave a presentation about the work of Agora in protecting Internet freedom at an international conference Merging Parallel Societies: Toolkit To Unite, organized by UNITED for Intercultural Action (European Network against Nationalism, Racism, Fascism and in Support of Migrants and Refugees).

National News
Moscow Helsinki Group presented a report The Role of Civil Society Representatives in Raising the Independence and Effectiveness of the Judicial System in the Russian Federation, written with the participation of Agora chair Pavel Chikov and the leaders and lawyers of Agora’s partner organizations in Moscow, Chuvashia and Tatarstan. [Read more in Russian] [Text of the Report].

On 17 October at a meeting in the State Duma, the International Labour Organization presented a report on discrimination of people with HIV at work. The lead author of the report was Agora lawyer Irina Khrunova.

On 15 October in Moscow Aleksei Glukhov, head of Agora’s partner organization Shield and Sword (Chuvashia) conducted a workshop for 40 civic activists on “Security and Elections” in the framework of a federal seminar by the Golos Association for Voters’ Rights.

Publications
Pavel Chikov and Dmitry Kolbasin published a review of the latest decisions by the European Court of human rights on Russian cases in Novaya gazeta — [“Even Cameroun Is Fed Up with Them”].

Development of Regional Organizations
Aleksei Glukhov gave a last lecture for 2011 to staff of the central administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chuvashia on ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression of Opinion in the Work of a Police Officer.’ [Read more in Russian].

Igor Sholokhov, director of Kazan Human Rights Centre, gave a talk on ‘The Role of NGOs in Combating Corruption’ to the Public Consultation Council of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Agency for Tatarstan, the Public Council of the Federal Penitentiary System for Tatarstan, and the ‘round table’ of the Administration of the President of Tatarstan.

Legal Cases and Court Hearings
Defence of non-profits, journalists and civic activists (Moscow, Kaluga region)
Former police officer Nikolai Khovansky withdrew his earlier statement and refused to continue his suit against music critic Artemy Troitsky, whom he had earlier accused of insulting him, at the magistrate’s court of Moscow Court District No. 350 (Begovoi district). At the same time, the magistrate’s court ruled Nikolai Khovansky must pay the state 35,000 roubles in costs. [Read more in Russian].

Kaluga region’s Zhukovsky district court quashed its own in absentia ruling that had found the picture by artist Aleksandr Savko Sermon on the Mount, from the series ‘The Journey of Mickey Mouse in the History of Art’, to be extremist. [Read more in Russian].

Violations by government (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan)
The Qualification College of Judges, at the official request of Aleksandr Bastrykin, head of the National Investigative Committee, agreed to charges being brought against Valeriya Sasa, a former judge of Shchelkovsky town court in Moscow region. Valeriya Sasa had been responsible for a traffic accident in which a number of people were killed. [Read more in Russian].

St. Petersburg’s Krasnogvardeisky district court found Dmitry Kuzovkin, deputy head of the 5th Operations Service of the State Drugs Control of Russia for St. Petersburg, guilty of extorting money from Aleksandr Tsekhanovich, former director general of Humanitarian Action, a charitable foundation for medical and social programmes. [Read more in Russian].

Following an appeal by Agora to the Supreme Qualification College of Judges that Mikhail Tarasenko be suspended as chair of the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan, Mikhail Tarasenko officially removed his candidacy from elections to the State Duma of Russia. [Read more in Russian].

An investigation has been reopened into the death of a fifth-year high school student that resulted when football goalposts fell on him. The National Investigative Committee quashed a decision to close the investigation into the death of 11-year-old Zhenya Terekhin. The victim’s family is represented by a lawyer from Kazan Human Rights Centre. [Read more in Russian].

The Kazan Prosecutor’s Office has established that ambulances called by members of the public regularly arrive late. On the initiative of human rights defenders, the chief medical officer in charge of the ambulance service has been ordered to stop further violations of the law. [Read more in Russian].

Damages
A former private soldier, whose liver was seriously damaged after he was beaten by his commanding officer, has been given 200,000 roubles in compensation. The Ministry of Finance of Russia paid former private Eduard Ivanov compensation for the physical assault by his unit commander. The victim is represented by Kazan Human Rights Centre. [Read more in Russian].

A private soldier run over by an armoured vehicle in Tskhinvali has been awarded 200,000 roubles. The Supreme Court of Tatarstan increased the sum of compensation for 20-year-old Danis Zakirov by a factor of 2.5. He was represented by Kazan Human Rights Centre. [Read more in Russian].

A 64-year-old woman has been awarded damages as a result of an incident in which she was injured when snow fell from the roof of Kazan City Hall. The municipal body responsible for snow clearance paid 27,500 roubles to the victim. She was represented in court by Kazan Human Rights Centre. [Read more in Russian].

Top 10 Media Reports
1. Vedomosti. 31.10. Ministry of Justice Has Been Too Quick.
2. NTV. 30.10. Court Returns the “Case of the Wet Prosecutor” to the Police.
3. Rossiiskaya gazeta. 28.10. Judge Sasa Can Be Charged for Involvement in Car Accident in Ulyanovsk.
4. Moskovskie novosti. 20.10. Artemy Troitsky Won’t Need to Apologise for Sharp Reply to Traffic Cop.
5. Moskovskii komsomolets. 19.10. Troitsky’s Monologue about Corrupt Police Has Been Recognized as Acceptable.
6. Echo of Moscow Radio Station. 18.10. European Court of Human Rights Rules Russia Must Pay €66,000.
7. Moskovskii komsomolets. 18.10. Refute It!
8. Novye izvestiya. 18.10. More Dangerous Than Robbers.
9. Vedomosti. 18.10. Punished for a Hyperlink.
10. Kommersant. 11.10. Ministry of Justice Suffers For Faith.