The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) is a registered non-governmental organization based in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, the third largest city in the country.  Since its establishment in 1999, RCFS has helped to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees, children, aged and disabled people in the conflict regions of Chechnya and Ingushetia.  Stanislav Dmitrievsky is the managing director of RCFS.

Another important aspect of the work of RCFS is the monitoring of human rights violations in Chechnya.  As part of a joint project with the Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights, the organization works with independent journalists and human rights activists in Chechnya to produce a human rights newsletter called Pravozaschita that exposes the occurrence of beatings, disappearances, and other violations to a wide audience.

For the last few years, RCFS has been the subject of intense persecution and harassment apparently as a result of its work on the Chechnya conflict.  More than a dozen employees, volunteers, and journalists associated with the RCFS or their family members have been pursued, beaten or killed.  Mr. Dmitrievsky was himself the subject of a brutal beating.  Despite the risk associated with its work, the organization has continued the critical activities of monitoring and reporting on the situation in Chechnya.

In the latest bid to destroy RCFS, Russian authorities have attempted to manipulate Russian laws to force the organization to close. Three legal actions have been pursued by the Russian government. The first was initiated by the Federal Registration Service, which sought an order to close down RCFS because the organization could not produce original copies of its financial records.  However, the reason for this was that the documents were already with another government agency and RCFS was simply unable to comply with both requests simultaneously.

Less than two months later, an action was pursued by the Tax Authority, which demanded that RCFS pay 1,001,561 Rubles (or $35,000) in income tax and fines, claiming that grants received by the organization were 'income' and were therefore taxable.  However, RCFS had complied with all requirements to have the grants received free of taxation. Therefore, the tax case seemed to be an underhanded way of closing the organization by starving it of funds.  A judge granted the Tax Authority's request to postpone further debate in this case until after the conclusion of the criminal trial against Mr. Dmitrievsky.

The criminal case, begun in September 2005, is based on two articles published in Pravozaschita in early 2004.  The first was written by now-deceased separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov who, in the article, appealed to the European Parliament to classify the conflict in Chechnya as 'genocide.'  The second was written by Akhmed Zakaev in which he encouraged the Russian public not to vote for President Putin during his re-election campaign.  As editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Mr. Dmitrievsky was charged under a law that criminalizes "incitement of hatred or enmity...with the use of the mass media... and with the use of [one's] professional position." 

The law was intended to prosecute racist and extremist groups as part of a reaction to an increasing number of unpunished attacks on racial and religious minorities in Russia.  It is a misuse of this law to apply it against a human rights defender who publishes calls for an end to conflict in a newspaper.  In a recent statement, the prosecutor in the Dmitrievsky case tried to justify the use of this law against a human rights defender by referring to a recent hate crime in which eight people were stabbed:  "in a time when incidents like the recent crime in a Moscow synagogue happen more and more often, it is necessary to be strict within the boundaries of freedom of expression," she declared. 

This is the first time that the law has been used against a newspaper and a human rights organization.  A guilty verdict will set a dangerous precedent for those who speak out to protest human rights violations in Russia.  Recognizing this, on January 17, representatives of leading human rights organizations in Russia held joint press conferences in which they expressed their concern about the detrimental impact the trial will have on their freedom in Russia.  Journalists have also expressed their belief that the criminal trial could have a deeply negative impact on freedom of expression for independent media.  For example, the editors of Prima News, a Russian online newspaper that is not sponsored by the government, posted the two articles that are at the heart of the trial against Mr. Dmitrievsky on their own website, challenging the government to also prosecute them or else admit that the charges against Mr. Dmitrievsky are politically motivated.

The significance of the trial is especially great when viewed in light of other recent developments in Russia.  A new law regulating non-governmental organizations was signed into effect by President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.  Under the vague and sweeping provisions of this law, defenders who have been the target of politically motivated prosecutions or smear campaigns could be prohibited from involvement with human rights groups. 

Earlier this week, the Russian government defamed four well-respected human rights organizations by falsely accusing them of collecting funds from the British secret service.  Accusations such as these could provide the government with justification to close down these vital organizations.  Defenders have expressed their concerns that the accusations form part of a coordinated government attack on human rights organizations.

 

Click here to take action: http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/DmitrievskyII