Russia Country Report on Human Rights Practices - 2004
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
February 28, 2005
The 1993 Constitution established a governmental structure with a strong head of state (President), a government headed by a prime minister, and a bicameral legislature (Federal Assembly) consisting of a lower house (State Duma) and an upper house (Federation Council). The country has a multi-party system, but the pro presidential United Russia party that controls more than two thirds of the State Duma puts majority support within reach for all presidential priorities. President Vladimir Putin was re-elected in March in an election process that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) determined did not meet international standards in a number of respects, particularly in equal access to the media by all candidates and secrecy of the ballot; however, the voting itself was relatively free of manipulation and the outcome was generally understood to have represented the will of the people. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, but the executive branch appeared to drive judicial decisions in high profile or Kremlin directed cases. Although also impaired by corruption, the judiciary continued to show greater independence in non politicized cases, and the criminal justice system was slowly undergoing reforms.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Office of the Prosecutor are responsible for law enforcement at all levels of Government. The FSB's core responsibilities are security, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism, but it also has broader law enforcement functions, including fighting crime and corruption. The FSB continued to regard contact with foreigners and the presence of non Orthodox Christians as security issues. The FSB operated with only limited oversight by the Office of the Prosecutor General and the courts. The authorities increasingly dealt with terrorism and other security threats in parts of the country by employing MVD Internal Troops. The primary mission of the armed forces is national defense. The Government employed them in Chechnya, and they are frequently used for civil disturbances. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces. Members of the security forces, particularly within the internal affairs apparatus, continued to commit numerous and serious human rights abuses.
The country had a population of approximately 144 million. The annual gross domestic product grew by 6.9 percent as of October, slightly less than in 2003. Industrial production grew by 4 percent, and real income increased by 5 percent; however, approximately 19 percent of the population continued to live below the official monthly subsistence level of $82 (2,296 rubles). As of October, official unemployment was 7.5 percent, down from 8.4 percent at the end of 2003. Corruption continued to be a negative factor in the development of the economy and commercial relations.
Although the Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens in some areas, its human rights record was poor in certain areas and worsened in several others. Changes in the parliamentary election laws and a move from election to nomination by the President of regional governors further strengthened the power of the executive branch and, together with media restrictions, a compliant State Duma, shortcomings in recent national elections, law enforcement corruption, and political pressure on the judiciary, raised concerns about the erosion in accountability of government leaders to the people.
The Government's human rights record remained poor overall in the continuing struggle against rebels in Chechnya, where both sides demonstrated little respect for basic human rights. There were credible reports of serious violations, including numerous reports of unlawful killings and of abuse of civilians by both the Government and Chechen rebels in the Chechen conflict. The September massacre of school children and adults in Beslan, North Ossetia, exemplified the gross violation of human rights in the region by terrorist elements. There were reports of both government and rebel involvement in politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya. Individuals seeking accountability for these abuses continued to be targeted.
There were credible reports that law enforcement personnel engaged in torture, violence, and other brutal or humiliating treatment, often with impunity. Hazing in the armed forces remained a problem. Prison conditions improved but continued to be extremely harsh and frequently life threatening. Earlier changes in criminal procedures led to further reductions in arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detention, and judges routinely enforced pre trial time limits. Government protection for judges from threats by organized criminal defendants remained inadequate, and a series of cases of alleged espionage caused concerns regarding the lack of due process and the influence of the FSB in judicial proceedings. Amnesty International (AI) has highlighted the case of Igor Sutyagin, whom it has declared to be a political prisoner. Authorities continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights.
Government pressure continued to weaken freedom of expression and the independence and freedom of the media, particularly major national television networks and regional media outlets which were the primary source of information for most of the population. The print media remained vibrant and pluralistic, but its impact on public opinion was limited by low circulation numbers. Authorities, primarily at the local level, limited freedom of assembly and imposed restrictions on some religious groups. Societal discrimination, harassment, and violence against members of some religious minorities remained problems despite some government attempts to address these problems. Some local governments restricted citizens' freedom of movement, primarily by denying legal resident permits to new residents from other areas of the country.
Government institutions intended to protect human rights were relatively weak but remained active and public. The Government continued to place restrictions on the activities of both humanitarian non governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations in Chechnya, at least in part for security reasons. The authorities regarded some NGOs with increasing suspicion, and the security services and other authorities harassed or threatened to close some local human rights NGOs. Ethnic minorities, including Roma and persons from the Caucasus, Central Asia, Asia, and Africa faced widespread governmental and societal discrimination, and, increasingly, racially motivated attacks. Trafficking in persons, particularly women and girls, remained a serious problem despite progress in combating it. There were some reports of forced labor and child labor.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1
Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There were no confirmed reports of political killings by the
Government or its agents; however, there continued to be credible reports that the federal armed forces engaged in unlawful killings in Chechnya. Their use of indiscriminate force in areas of Chechnya with significant civilian populations resulted in numerous deaths (see Section 1.g.). The security forces generally conducted their activities with impunity. For example, in May, a jury acquitted Captain Eduard Ullman and three other servicemen of killing six Chechen civilians in 2002; prosecutors have appealed the verdict. However, at least one serviceman was convicted on similar charges. Hazing in the armed forces resulted in the deaths of servicemen (see Section 1.c.).
On July 7, a court in Qatar convicted two Russian intelligence agents of the murder of Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a leader of the Chechen separatist movement who had resided in Doha since 2000. Yandarbiyev, whose extradition had been sought by the authorities and who had been placed on the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1267 Sanctions Committee and declared a terrorist by several countries, was killed on February 13 when a bomb attached to his car exploded. The Government denied that the two agents had been involved in the killing. They were returned to Russian government custody in December.
There were a number of killings of government officials throughout the country, some of which may have been politically motivated, in connection with the ongoing strife in Chechnya or with politics. For example, Ansar Tebuyev, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Karachay Cherkess Republic, was shot and killed in broad daylight on October 18, outside the Republic's Interior Ministry building. Deputy Prosecutor General Fridinskiy reported that as of May, Chechen rebels had killed 11 local administration heads since the anti terrorist operation in Chechnya began.
The press and media NGOs reported that unknown parties killed a number of journalists during the year for reasons that appeared to be related to the journalists' work (see Section 2.a.).
On June 19, Nikolay Girenko, an expert on hate crimes, was killed in his apartment (see Section 5). His colleagues believed the motive for the killing was Girenko's activity as an official expert witness in a number of high profile court cases involving ethnic and religious issues, including the case of the Moscow based Sakharov Center's employees who were charged with inflaming ethnic hatred for hosting an exhibition critical of religion.
On March 18, a jury at the Moscow City Court found Mikhail Kadanyev, ex leader of Boris Berezovskiy's wing of the Liberal Russia party, and three associates guilty in organizing the assassination of prominent Duma Deputy and Liberal Russia party Co Chairman Sergey Yushenkov, who was shot and killed in April 2003. Yushenkov headed a rival wing of Liberal Russia and was killed shortly after announcing that his wing would take part in the December 2003 State Duma elections. Prosecutors argued that Kadanyev and his associates had wanted to take control of Liberal Russia's finances, since Yushenkov had been engaged in rivalry for leadership within his own party. Some observers speculated that the professionally executed killing was motivated by supporters of the Government because Yushenkov had also been an outspoken critic of the Putin administration on a number of issues.
No progress was reported in the investigation of the July 2003 killing of Yuriy Shchekochikhin, a member of the Duma and deputy editor of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. One of Shchekochikhin's former colleagues at the newspaper told the media in August "no one had conducted a proper investigation." At the time of his death, Shchekochikhin, along with Yushenkov, had begun to investigate allegations of FSB responsibility for a series of 1999 apartment building bombings.
On August 10, the St. Petersburg City Court convicted another suspect in the 1999 killing of St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly Deputy Viktor Novoselov. That conviction concluded all prosecutions related to this killing.
The St. Petersburg City Court has been hearing a case pertaining to the 1998 killing of Galina Starovoytova, a prominent Duma deputy, since December 2003. Suspects remained in detention at year's end.
On June 10, the Moscow Circuit Military Court again acquitted all the defendants accused of organizing the 1994 murder of Dmitriy Kholodov, military affairs correspondent for the daily newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets. On December 6, the Office of the Prosecutor General appealed to the Supreme Court to begin a new trial, although the 10 year statute of limitations on Kholodov's case ended on October 17, making it impossible to sentence the defendants to prison terms even if the June 10 acquittal were overturned (see Section 2.a.).
During the September 1 terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, at least 338 hostages were killed (see Section 1.g.).
Chechen rebels assassinated Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov in May, killed numerous civilian officials and militia associated with the federally appointed Chechen administration, and threatened to kill Kadyrov's successor Alu Alkhanov, who was elected on August 29 (see Section 1.g.). Chechen fighters killed a number of federal soldiers whom they took prisoner (see Section 1.g.). Many individuals were kidnapped and then killed in Chechnya during the year (see Sections 1.b., 1.c., and 1.g.). Both sides to the conflict, as well as criminal elements, were involved in these activities. Authorities attributed bombing incidents in Moscow and several cities in southern areas of the country to Chechen terrorists.
Government forces and Chechen fighters continued to use landmines extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan. According to UNICEF estimates, since 1995, approximately 3,100 victims have been killed or wounded by landmines or unexploded ordnance in Chechnya. Over the last year, UNICEF has noted a decline in the number of such incidents, likely as a result of increased awareness.
b. Disappearance
There were reports of extensive government involvement in politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya (see Section 1.g.).
Criminal groups in the Northern Caucasus, some of which may have links to elements of the rebel forces, frequently resorted to kidnapping. The main motivation behind such cases apparently was ransom, although some cases had political or religious overtones. The hostage takers held many of their victims in Chechnya or Dagestan.
Arjan Erkel, the head of the Doctors without Borders Mission in
Dagestan, adjacent to Chechnya, was released in April after a ransom of approximately $1.35 million (1 million euro) was paid to his captors, who remained unknown. This event and overall security problems led many NGOs to limit their activities in the North Caucasus.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits torture, violence, and other brutal or humiliating treatment or punishment; however, there were credible reports that law enforcement personnel frequently engaged in these practices to coerce confessions from suspects and that the Government did not consistently hold officials accountable for such actions. Neither the law nor the Criminal Code defines torture; it is mentioned only in the Constitution. As a result, it was difficult to charge perpetrators. The only accusation prosecutors could bring against the police was that they exceeded their authority or committed a simple assault.
Prisoners' rights groups, as well as other human rights groups, documented numerous cases in which law enforcement and correctional officials beat and otherwise abused detainees and suspects. Human rights groups described the practice of such abuse as widespread. Numerous press reports indicated that the police frequently beat persons with little or no provocation or used excessive force to subdue detainees.
There was no indication of a return to the widespread use of psychiatric methods against political prisoners. There have been anecdotal reports of psychiatry being used to "cure" followers of non traditional religions. After an investigation, Jehovah's Witnesses denied an NGO report that a number of Witnesses had been involuntarily placed in a psychiatric hospital in Penza.
Cases of physical abuse by police officers usually occurred within the first few hours or days of arrest and usually took one of four forms: Beatings with fists, batons, or other objects; asphyxiation using gas masks or bags (at times filled with mace); electric shocks; or suspension by body parts (for example, suspending a victim from the wrists, which are tied together behind the back). Allegations of abuse were difficult to substantiate because of lack of access by medical professionals and because the techniques allegedly used would leave few or no permanent physical traces. There were credible reports that government forces and Chechen fighters in Chechnya tortured detainees (see Section 1.g.).
Reports by refugees, NGOs, and the press suggested a pattern of police beatings, arrests, and extortion directed at persons with dark skin or who appeared to be from the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Africa, as well as Roma. For example, the press reported that in Novosibirsk four policemen were arrested on suspicion of extorting over $1 million (28 million rubles) from a Romani family by kidnapping and torturing family members until their demands were met. In November 2003, one Roma was allegedly tortured for 7 hours. The victims did not press charges, but the policemen were eventually convicted on earlier charges of a similar nature.
Police continued to harass defense lawyers, including through beatings and arrests, and continued to intimidate witnesses (see Section 1.e.).
In December, human rights activists investigated mass beatings and detentions by police in Blagoveshchensk, Bashkortostan. According to activist Ildar Isangulov, based on his interviews with residents, residents were beaten because they voted "incorrectly" in the republic's December presidential election. Novaya Gazeta correspondent Marat Khairullin offered Ekho Moskvy a similar account, saying he was convinced the raids were "revenge" against the vast majority of Blagoveshchensk residents who voted against incumbent President Murtaza Rakhimov.
In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of beating of peaceful protesters.
Various abuses against military servicemen, including, but not limited to, the practice of "dedovshchina" (the violent, at times fatal, hazing of new junior recruits for the armed services, MVD, and border guards) continued during the year; however, the Government claims that such practices have declined due to its attention to this problem. Press reports cited serving and former armed forces personnel, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office (MMPO), and NGOs monitoring conditions in the armed forces as indicating that such mistreatment often included the use of beatings or threats of increased hazing to extort money or material goods. Government officials announced that approximately 25 percent of the 11,500 crimes committed in the army during the year were related to hazing. Over the first 6 months of the year, 25 servicemen died due to hazing. During the year, the Moscow Committee of Soldiers' Mothers registered 320 complaints from servicemen. The majority of complaints (264) related to beatings. Servicemen also complained about sexual abuse, torture, and enslavement. Soldiers often did not report hazing to either unit officers or military prosecutors due to fear of reprisals, since officers reportedly in some cases tolerated or even encouraged such hazing as a means of controlling their units. There were also reports that officers used beatings to discipline soldiers whom they found to be "inattentive to their duties." The Union of Soldiers' Mothers Committee (USMC) believed that, as a result of fear of reprisals, the indifference of commanders, and deliberate efforts to cover up such activity, most hazing incidents and assaults were not reported.
Hazing reportedly was a serious problem in Chechnya, particularly where contract soldiers and conscripts served together.
Both the USMC and the MMPO received numerous reports about "nonstatutory relations," in which officers or sergeants physically assaulted or humiliated their subordinates.
Despite the acknowledged seriousness of these problems, the leadership of the armed forces made only superficial efforts to implement substantive reforms in training, education, and administration programs within units to combat abuse.
Prison conditions remained extremely harsh and frequently life threatening. The Ministry of Justice's (MOJ's) Main Directorate for the Execution of Sentences (GUIN) administered the penitentiary system centrally from Moscow, except for the Lefortovo pretrial detention center in Moscow, which was run by the FSB. There were five basic forms of custody in the criminal justice system: Police temporary detention centers, pretrial detention facilities known as Special Isolation Facilities (SIZOs), correctional labor colonies (ITKs), prisons designated for those who violate ITK rules, and educational labor colonies (VTKs) for juveniles. As of June, there were approximately 850,000 persons in the custody of the criminal justice system. Men were held separately from women, as were juveniles from adults.
According to GUIN, the official annual death rate in SIZO was 2,000 persons. Most died as a result of poor sanitary conditions or lack of medical care (the leading cause of death was heart disease). The press often reported on individuals who were mistreated, injured, or killed in various SIZOs; some of the reported cases indicated habitual abuse by officers.
Abuse of prisoners by other prisoners continued to be a problem. Violence among inmates, including beatings and rape, was common. There were elaborate inmate enforced caste systems in which informers, homosexuals, rapists, prison rape victims, child molesters, and others were considered to be "untouchable" and were treated very harshly, with little or no protection provided by the prison authorities.
Penal institutions frequently remained overcrowded; however, there were some improvements. There were no mass amnesties as had been the case in earlier years, but the authorities continued to take longer term and more systemic measures to reduce the size of the prison population. These included the use of alternative sentencing in some regions and revisions of both the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedures Code that eliminated incarceration as a penalty for a large number of less serious offenses. In December 2003, as a result of these legislative changes, 130,000 sentences were reviewed, leading to the freeing of 7,000 prisoners and the reduction of sentences of 42,000 others. Many penal facilities remained in urgent need of renovation and upgrading. By law, authorities must provide inmates with adequate space, food, and medical attention; with the significant decrease in prison populations, they were coming closer to meeting these standards.
Inmates in the prison system often suffered from inadequate medical care. Public health measures funded by international aid and by the increase of government resources for the prison system's medical budget have reduced the incidence of tuberculosis and HIV. The recently established Public Council in the Ministry of Justice headed by human rights advocate Valeriy Borshchev reported that during the last 3 years, the number of sick prisoners and detainees decreased 27 percent. According to the GUIN, as of January 1, there were approximately 75,000 tuberculosis infected persons and 36,000 HIV infected persons in SIZOs and correction colonies. Nevertheless, tuberculosis infection rates were far higher in detention facilities than in the population at large. The PCPR also reported that conditions in penal facilities varied among the regions. Some regions offered assistance in the form of food, clothing, and medicine. NGOs and religious groups offered other support.
Conditions in SIZOs, where suspects were confined while awaiting the completion of a criminal investigation, trial, sentencing, or appeal, varied considerably, but as a result of legal reforms and other measures, the pretrial population had declined by approximately 50 percent since 2000, virtually eliminating the problem of overcrowding in those institutions. Despite these improvements, however, conditions remained extremely harsh and posed a serious threat to health and life. Health, nutrition, and sanitation standards remained low due to a lack of funding. Head lice, scabies, and various skin diseases were prevalent. Prisoners and detainees typically relied on their families to provide them with extra food. Poor ventilation was thought to contribute to cardiac problems and lowered resistance to disease.
ITKs held the bulk of the nation's convicts. There were 753 ITKs. Guards reportedly disciplined prisoners severely to break down resistance. At times, guards humiliated, beat, and starved prisoners. In the timber correctional colonies, where hardened criminals served their time, beatings, torture, and rape by guards reportedly were common. The country's "prisons" distinct from the ITKs were penitentiary institutions for those who repeatedly violated the rules in effect in the ITKs.
VTKs are facilities for prisoners from 14 to 20 years of age. Male and female prisoners were held separately. In August 2003, GUIN reported that there were 62 educational colonies, 3 of which were for girls. Conditions in the VTKs were significantly better than in the ITKs, but juveniles in the VTKs and juvenile SIZO cells reportedly also suffered from beatings, torture, and rape. The PCPR reported that such facilities had a poor psychological atmosphere and lacked educational and vocational training opportunities. Many of the juveniles were from orphanages, had no outside support, and were unaware of their rights. There also were two prisons for children in Moscow. Boys were held with adults in small, crowded, and smoky cells. Schooling in the prisons for children was sporadic at best, with students of different ages studying together when a teacher could be found.
The Government generally permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to work throughout the country, and the ICRC carried out regular prison visits and provided advice to authorities on how to improve prison conditions. However, there were limitations on access in the northern Caucasus, where the organization was particularly active. In that region, the Government granted the organization access to some facilities where Chechen detainees were held, but the pretrial detention centers and filtration camps for suspected Chechen fighters were not always accessible to the ICRC or other human rights monitors (see Section 1.g.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
The Constitution provides that individuals may be arrested, taken into custody, or detained more than 24 hours, only upon a judicial decision; however, arbitrary arrest and detention remained problems. The Chief Justice of the Russian Supreme Court was quoted in May 2003 as saying that of cases where law enforcement bodies asked courts to approve arrests, 92 percent were approved and 8 percent disapproved. He added that approximately 10 percent of such court decisions were appealed, with 87 percent of the arrests upheld by higher courts. The Criminal Procedures Code gives authorities the means to implement these requirements, and progress was made toward effective judicial oversight over arrests and detentions.
The national police force, which falls under the MVD, is organized on the federal, regional, and local levels. Although regulations and national laws prohibit corrupt activities, they were widespread and there were few crackdowns on illegal police activity. There were reports that the Government addressed only a fraction of the crimes that federal forces committed against civilians in Chechnya (see Section 1.g.). Government agencies such as the MVD have begun to educate officers about safeguarding human rights during law enforcement activities through training provided by foreign governments; however, the security forces remained largely unreformed.
There were credible reports that security forces continued regularly to single out persons from the Caucasus for document checks, detention, and the extortion of bribes. Human rights observers reported that, as part of a broader MVD operation called Hurricane 4, MVD officers in Moscow were instructed in February to investigate residents of the Caucasus, including verifying their proper registration, inquiring of neighbors about their activities, and ascertaining the presence of relatives in the Northern Caucasus. According to NGOs, federal forces commonly detained groups of Chechen men at checkpoints along the borders between Chechnya and Ingushetiya, in targeted operations known as "night raids," or during "mopping up" operations following military hostilities, and severely beat and tortured them.
At least two instances were confirmed in which local officials detained members of Jehovah's Witnesses who were engaged in the public discussion of their religious views, but the individuals were released quickly.
The Criminal Procedure Code limits the duration of detention without access to counsel or family members and renders statements given in the absence of a defense attorney unusable in court; however, there were reports that these reforms were being undermined by the police practice of obtaining "pocket" defense counsel for these interviews and by the overall ignorance by defense counsel of these provisions.
In June 2003, the Criminal Procedure Code was amended to permit "witnesses" to bring their own attorneys to interviews conducted by the police. This amendment was designed to address the police practice of interrogating suspects without the presence of counsel under the fiction that they were witnesses, and then, after obtaining incriminating statements, declaring the suspects to be defendants. Citizens' ignorance of their new rights was a problem. The Government continued to engage in a public education program to inform citizens of their rights and responsibilities under the system introduced by the Code of Criminal Procedure, such as the right to a lawyer and the obligation to serve on juries when called. The Council of Judges together with the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Russian Information Agency Novosti conducted an educational program called "Public Trust" for citizens that explained the work of the judicial system and citizens' rights.
The Code states that police may initially detain an individual not more than 24 hours before the case must be referred to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor is given 24 hours in which to open or reject the criminal case. At the end of this 48 hour period, a judge must determine whether the suspect should be detained. The Code specifies that within 2 months of a suspect's arrest, police should complete their investigation and transfer the file to the prosecutor for arraignment. A prosecutor may request the court to extend the period of criminal investigation to 6 months in "complex" cases with the authorization of a judge. With the personal approval of the Prosecutor General, the judge may extend that period up to 18 months. Juveniles may be detained only in cases of grave crimes.
Although recently adopted, these procedures were generally respected, although some judges still did not appear to enforce them fully. Judges regularly suppressed confessions of suspects whose confessions were taken without a lawyer present and freed suspects who were held in excess of detention limits, although they usually granted prosecutors' motions to extend the detention period for good cause shown. The Supreme Court overturned a number of cases in which lower court judges granted permission to detain individuals on what the Supreme Court considered to be inadequate grounds.
Some regional and local authorities took advantage of the system's procedural weaknesses to arrest persons on false pretexts for expressing views critical of the Government. Human rights advocates in some regions were charged with libel, contempt of court, or interference in judicial procedures in cases with distinct political overtones. Journalists, among others, have been charged with other offenses and held either in excess of normal periods of detention or for offenses that do not require detention at all (see Sections 2.a. and 4).
Significant reforms occurred in law enforcement and judicial procedures; however, the apparently selective arrest and detention of prominent businessman Mikhail Khodorkovskiy on the eve of parliamentary elections raised a number of concerns over the arbitrary use of the judicial system.
An international NGO delegation that visited two psychiatric hospitals during the year noted that there was no judicial process for commitment that provided individuals subject to commitment with the right to appear before a court for a determination of the legality of their commitment. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, such individuals may appear in court unless their mental state does not allow it; however, in such cases the appearance of their legal guardians (relatives, adoptive parents, caretakers) is obligatory.
On at least one occasion, the authorities held relatives of a wanted Chechen rebel leader, apparently forcing his surrender (see Section 1.g.). Relatives of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov were taken into what authorities claimed to be protective custody in September during the Beslan school seizure, although human rights groups said this action was intended as retaliation for the seizure of the school. Domestic and foreign human rights observers criticized an October suggestion by the Prosecutor General that a policy of seizing the relatives of hostage takers would reduce the incidence of hostage taking.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and there were some signs of judicial independence; however, the judiciary did not act as an effective counterweight to other branches of the Government. The Criminal Procedure Code provides for strengthening the role of the judiciary in relation to the Prosecutor General by requiring judicial approval of arrest warrants, searches, seizures, and detention (see Section 1.d.). According to press coverage of the 6th Congress of Russian Judges, which was held in the end of November, the average monthly salaries of different level of judges ranged from approximately $430 (12,000 rubles) to approximately $1,100 (30,000 rubles). In an address to judges at the Congress of Judges President Putin promised to at least double the salaries "in the very near future." However, judges remained subject to influence from the executive, military, and security forces, particularly in high profile or politically sensitive cases. The judiciary continued to lack sufficient resources and was subject to corruption. Authorities did not provide adequate protection from intimidation or threats from powerful criminal defendants.
The judiciary is divided into three branches. The courts of general jurisdiction, including military courts, are subordinated to the Supreme Court. These courts hear civil and criminal cases and include district courts, which serve every urban and rural district, regional courts, and the Supreme Court. Decisions of the lower trial courts can be appealed only to the immediately superior court unless a constitutional issue is involved. The arbitration (commercial) court system under the High Court of Arbitration constitutes a second branch of the judicial system. Arbitration courts hear cases involving business disputes between legal entities and between legal entities and the State. The Constitutional Court (as well as constitutional courts in a number of administrative entities of the Russian Federation) constitutes the third branch.
The President approves judges after they have been nominated by the qualifying collegia, which are assemblies of judges (including some public members). President Putin rejected 160 candidates to federal judicial positions in 2003. After a 3 year trial period, the President must again confirm the judges. The collegia also had the authority to remove judges for misbehavior and to approve prosecutors' requests to prosecute judges.
Justices of the peace, introduced beginning in 1998, deal with criminal cases involving maximum sentences of less than 3 years and some civil cases. In some regions where the system has been fully implemented, justices of the peace assumed 65 percent of federal judges' civil cases and up to 25 percent of their criminal matters, which may have contributed to easing overcrowding in pretrial detention facilities (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.). There were some justices of the peace at work in all regions except Chechnya. As of June, there were 5,500 justices of the peace and 1,053 vacancies.
Judges remained subject to intimidation and accepted bribes from officials and others. Some steps were taken to remove a number of corrupt judges. The Highest Qualifying Collegia of Judges recorded 18,749 complaints filed against judges in 2003. A total of 118 judges received "warnings," 36 were fired, and 6 criminal cases were started against judges. In the fall, three Moscow judges were put on trial for their involvement in apartment frauds.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial; however, this right was restricted in practice. Assessments of the effects of the 2002 Criminal Procedure Code on this process remained mixed. Abuses of the right to a fair trial declined; however, numerous critics argued that the country remained far from having a truly adversarial criminal procedure.
The 2002 Criminal Procedure Code provides for the nationwide use of jury trials. By January 1, all regions except Chechnya had implemented jury trials, although juries heard only 1 percent of cases. In 2003, oblast courts conducted 496 jury trials involving approximately 1,000 defendants. In contrast to trials conducted by a judge, 0.8 per cent of which ended in acquittal in 2003, 15 percent of cases tried by juries ended in acquittals (although one quarter of these verdicts were reversed on appeal).
According to Ministry of Justice official statistics, in 2003 criminal defendants in 45,500 cases (8.6 percent of all completed criminal cases) made use of a formal procedure introduced in 2002 and subsequently broadened by which guilty pleas resulted in shorter sentences and abbreviated trials for crimes carrying penalties of less than 10 years.
The Criminal Procedures Code and Federal Defense Bar statute provide for the appointment of a lawyer free of charge if a suspect cannot afford one; however, this provision often was not effective in practice. The high cost of competent legal representation meant that lower income defendants often lacked competent legal representation. There were no defense attorneys in remote areas of the country. Public centers, staffed on a part time basis by lawyers, continued to offer advice at no cost on legal rights and recourse under the law; however, they were not able to handle individual cases.
The Independent Council of Legal Expertise reported that defense lawyers continued to be the targets of police harassment. Professional associations at both the local and federal levels reported police efforts at intimidation of attorneys and efforts to cover up their own criminal activities. For example, in November 2003, Olga Artyukhova, one of Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's lawyers, was searched at the correctional facility immediately following a visit with her client. During this search correctional officers seized Artyukhova's notes. In March, a similar incident involving Yevgeniy Baru, Khodorkovskiy co defendant Pavel Lebedev's lawyer, occurred after visiting with his client. Baru reported that prison officials, including the warden, had confiscated written and printed materials from his briefcase.
The May 19 conviction of Mikhail Trepashkin, who had been consultant to a parliamentary commission investigating possible FSB involvement in a series of 1999 apartment bombings, gave further cause for concern about the undue influence of the FSB and arbitrary use of the judicial system. The bombings were officially blamed on Chechens and served as partial justification for the Government's resumption of the armed conflict against Chechen fighters. Trepashkin, an attorney and former FSB official, was arrested in October 2003 and charged with disclosing state secrets and with illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition. The Moscow Circuit Military Court sentenced him to 4 years of forced labor, but he was not expected to start serving his term until the conclusion of a hearing on the handgun charge. The trial reconvened on December 15. Trepashkin's arrest came a month after his charges of FSB responsibility for the bombings were cited in a book and a week before he was scheduled to represent the relatives of a victim of one of those bombings. After his arrest, Trepashkin wrote a letter describing extremely poor conditions in his detention cell.
Authorities abrogated due process in continuing to pursue several espionage cases involving foreigners who worked with citizens and allegedly obtained information that the security services considered sensitive; in some instances prosecutors pursued such cases after earlier courts had rejected them. The proceedings in some of these cases took place behind closed doors, and the defendants and their attorneys encountered difficulties in learning the details of the charges. Observers believed that the FSB was seeking to discourage citizens and foreigners from investigating problems that the security services considered sensitive.
On June 9, the Supreme Court overturned the December 2003 jury acquittal of Valentin Danilov, who had been charged with spying for China while working on a commercial contract. In November, Danilov was convicted by a judge and sentenced to 14 years in November.
In April, a Moscow City Court found Igor Sutyagin, a disarmament researcher with the U.S. and Canada Institute, guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 15 years in a maximum security facility (the sentence included time served since his arrest in October 1999). Prosecutors accused Sutyagin of passing classified information about the country's nuclear weapons to a London based firm, but the Kaluga regional court ruled in 2001 that the evidence presented by the prosecutor did not support the charges brought against him and returned the case to the prosecutor for further investigation. Sutyagin claimed the decision was unjust and insisted that he had no access to confidential information. In August, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal. Some observers agreed that he had no access to classified information and regarded the severe sentence as an effort to discourage information sharing by citizens with professional colleagues from other countries. Russian government officials asserted that he had wittingly or unwittingly entered into a paid arrangement with a foreign intelligence service. As a result of the flawed conduct of the trial and lengthy sentence, a number of domestic and international human rights NGOs raised concerns that the charges were politically motivated, and AI declared Sutyagin to be a political prisoner.
While there was broad agreement among human rights organizations that Sutyagin was a political prisoner, various organizations also characterized other individuals as political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, or Correspondence
The Constitution states that officials may enter a private residence only in cases prescribed by federal law or on the basis of a judicial decision; however, authorities did not always observe these provisions. The Constitution permits the Government to monitor correspondence, telephone conversations, and other means of communication only with judicial permission and prohibits the collection, storage, utilization, and dissemination of information about a person's private life without his consent. While these provisions were generally followed, problems still remained. Authorities continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights. There were reports of electronic surveillance by government officials and others without judicial permission. Law enforcement officials in Moscow reportedly entered residences and other premises without warrants. There were no reports of government action against officials who violated these safeguards.
Internet service providers are required to install, at their own expense, a device that routes all customer traffic to an FSB terminal, and framers of this "System for Operational Investigative Measures" (SORM 2) claimed that the regulation did not violate the Constitution or the Civil Code, because it requires a court order to authorize the FSB to read the transmissions. This requirement was upheld by a 2000 Supreme Court ruling. However, there appeared to be no mechanism to prevent unauthorized FSB access to the traffic or private information without a warrant. The FSB was not required to provide telecommunications companies and individuals documentation on targets of interest prior to accessing information.
A Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation that President Putin signed in 2000, although without the force of law, indicated that law enforcement authorities should have wide discretion in carrying out SORM surveillance of telephone, cellular, and wireless communications. Human rights observers continued to allege that officers in the special services, including authorities at the highest levels of the MVD and the FSB, used their services' power to gather compromising materials on political and public figures, both as political insurance and to remove rivals. They accused persons in these agencies, both active and retired, of working with commercial or criminal organizations for the same purpose. There were credible reports that regional branches of the FSB continued to exert pressure on citizens employed by foreign firms and organizations, often with the goal of coercing them into becoming informants.
Government forces in Chechnya looted valuables and food from private houses in regions that they controlled (see Section 1.g.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in Internal and External Conflicts
During the year, federal forces and pro Moscow Chechen forces engaged in human rights violations, including torture, summary executions, disappearances, and arbitrary detentions. Chechen fighters also committed human rights violations, including several major acts of terrorism outside of Chechnya, and summary executions. Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the hostage taking in Beslan and other acts of terrorism against civilians.
Federal authorities both military and civilian have limited journalists' access to war zones since the beginning of the second war in Chechnya in October 1999, in part due to security concerns. Most domestic journalists and editors appeared to exercise self censorship and avoid subjects embarrassing to the Government with regard to the conflict (see Section 2.a.). Human rights observers also faced limitations in access to the region (see Section 4). These restrictions made independent observation of conditions and verification of reports very difficult and limited the available sources of information concerning the conflict. However, human rights groups with staff in the region continued to release credible reports of human rights abuses and atrocities committed by federal forces during the year.
The indiscriminate use of force by government troops in the conflict in the Chechen Republic has resulted in widespread civilian casualties and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons, the majority of whom sought refuge in the neighboring republic of Ingushetiya. The security situation continued to prevent most foreign observers from traveling to the region, and the Government enforced strict controls on both foreign and domestic media access (see Section 2.a.).
A wide range of reports indicated that federal military operations resulted in numerous civilian casualties and the massive destruction of property and infrastructure, despite claims by federal authorities that government forces utilized precision targeting when combating rebels. In most cases such actions were undertaken with impunity. After a federal warplane bombed Maidat Tsintsayeva's house in April, killing her and her five children, military and Chechen prosecutors opened a criminal case, but no charges had been filed by the end of the year. On December 3, a Russian helicopter launched several missiles at the village of Tevzen Kale, and one hit the house of the Suleymanov family. One family member was killed, and two others were wounded. The Chechen Interior Ministry told the press that the federal military refused to recognize that there was even a bombing attack on the village and was impeding all investigation efforts. There were no reliable estimates of the number of civilians killed as a result of federal military operations; estimates of the totals since 1999 varied from hundreds to thousands. It was also impossible to verify the number of civilians injured by federal forces. According to press reports, Chechen State Council Chairman Taus Dzhabrailov estimated in November that more than 200,000 people had been killed in Chechnya since 1994, including 20,000 children. Dzhabrailov said every year 2,000 to 3,000 people in Chechnya are killed, abducted, or go missing.
Command and control among military and special police units often appeared to be weak. In addition to casualties attributable to indiscriminate use of force by the federal armed forces, individual federal servicemen or units committed many abuses. In June, for example, federal forces were believed to be responsible for the killing of Umar Zabiyev, a civilian, near the Ingush village of Galashki. Heavy machinegun fire hit the car in which Zabiyev, his brother, and his mother were riding. The gunfire was believed to have come from a nearby column of armored vehicles. Umar Zabiyev stayed with his injured mother and sent his brother to bring help. When villagers arrived a short time later, Umar was missing. His body was found the next morning bearing clear marks of torture and gunshot wounds. Police searching the area found more than 100 spent cartridges and other items that indicated the presence of federal military personnel.
According to human rights observers, government forces responding to Chechen attacks at times engaged in indiscriminate reprisals against combatants and noncombatants alike.
Although indiscriminate mopping up or "cleansing" operations known as "zachistki" continued sporadically throughout the year, federal forces more frequently engaged in more targeted operations known as "night raids" to arrest suspected Chechen fighters. The human rights NGO Memorial reported that the number of human rights violations occurring during these operations was lower than in previous years. Memorial also noted that zachistki conducted with Chechen MVD representatives present generally resulted in fewer human rights abuses. Although the night raids reduced large scale abuses that often accompanied zachistki, human rights organizations indicated that disappearances of those detained in these raids continued. Kidnappings by federal forces were reported during the year. For example, in January, federal forces conducted a sweep in the town of Argun. According to reports, the federal forces dragged residents from their beds and took them to a quarry where they detained and tortured them. Relatives of the detained later found two bodies that had been blown up in the quarry. Residents were able to identify one of the bodies as a resident whom federal forces had arrested. Only after mass protests in Argun were most of those detained released. All of them showed signs of physical abuse and required medical attention.
In July, as a result of continued kidnappings in the republic, the Chechen Government announced a new effort to have security forces adhere to Order Number 80, issued in 2002, which establishes rules governing passport checks and mopping up operations. It requires the military forces to have license plates on their vehicles when entering a village, to be accompanied by a representative of the prosecutor's office and local officials, to identify themselves when entering a house, and to make lists of all persons arrested during the operation and share it with local authorities. Chechen officials subsequently declared a ban on law enforcement officers wearing masks as well. At year's end, Memorial was not aware of any cases in which Order Number 80 was properly observed. The organization was informed of several occasions in which unidentified armed men wearing camouflage broke into houses and abducted civilians.
Many individuals were declared missing during the year, although estimates of the total number varied. Some of the disappeared were feared dead, others were detained, and yet others were kidnapped. Chechen President Kadyrov stated on March 18 that an estimated 3,000 persons had disappeared in Chechnya in recent years; however, the NGO community reported that the number was higher than the official Chechen Government figure. According to Memorial, 1,450 people have disappeared during the Chechen war. Memorial reported that, during the year, the number of disappearances dropped to 396 from 495 cases registered in 2003 in the 25 to 30 percent of Chechnya to which they had access. Of those, 189 were freed by their abductors or released after relatives paid a ransom, 173 disappeared without a trace, and 24 bodies showing signs of torture or violent death were recovered. Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin estimated that 1,700 people were kidnapped throughout Chechnya between January and November, which appeared consistent with Memorial's figures.
AI reported that women were increasingly targeted by federal and Chechen security forces in response to suicide bombings carried out by Chechen women. AI reported that a member of the security forces questioned one such woman, Milana Ozdoyeva, on two occasions in January about allegations that she wanted to become a suicide bomber. On January 19, several men entered her house and forced her to go with them, leaving her two children behind. At year's end, her whereabouts remained unknown.
Troops also reportedly kidnapped and otherwise mistreated children (see Section 5).
There were reports that disappearances increased also in neighboring Ingushetiya. Although Ingush President Murat Zyazikov stated he was aware of only seven such cases, human rights groups estimated that several dozen individuals had disappeared. One of those was Deputy Prosecutor Rashid Ozdoyev, who disappeared in March after submitting a report on alleged abuses committed by the FSB in Ingushetiya. Prosecutors opened an investigation, but Ozdoyev's whereabouts remained unknown.
Memorial and other NGOs charged that government forces, including Chechen security forces commanded by Kadyrov's son, Ramzan, were responsible for many kidnappings. Memorial has sought to pursue the majority of these cases with the Prosecutor General's office, but proceedings were dropped in four fifths of the cases due to the fact that no suspects could be identified. While many disappearances remained unresolved, the abductors released most of those taken, often after their relatives paid a bribe. Federal and Chechen officials, including then President Akhmed Kadyrov, acknowledged that disappearances continued but attributed many of them to separatist fighters.
On January 29, human rights activist Imran Ezhiyev, the head of Chechen regional office of the Russian Chechen Friendship Society and a regional representative of the Moscow Helsinki Group, was detained by Ingush police and held overnight while accompanying Ella Pamfilova, head of the Presidential Human Rights Commission. Ezhiyev has been detained 18 times.
In April, five men who reportedly shouted, "You got what you're asking for. No more speeches for you [in court]," knocked human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov unconscious on the Moscow metro. After regaining consciousness, Markelov discovered that his mobile phone containing the phone numbers of his clients, his lawyer's license card, and other identity documents and case files were missing, but his money had not been stolen. AI expressed concern that he was targeted due to his work on behalf of victims in several human rights cases that relate to Chechnya.
Also in April, Arjan Erkel, the head of the Doctors Without Borders mission in Dagestan, was released after a $1.35 million (1 million euro) ransom was paid, with federal Government mediation, to his captors, who remained unknown (see Section 1.b.). Such events and overall security problems led many NGOs to limit their activities in the North Caucasus.
Federal forces and police also conducted security sweeps in neighboring Ingushetiya that resulted in reported human rights violations and disappearances. Following rebel attacks across Ingushetiya on June 21 and 22, federal forces conducted sweeps in several settlements housing internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya. Human rights groups reported several cases in which military personnel beat or verbally abused persons during these sweeps; however, the 20 IDPs they arrested were all released. Additionally, human rights groups reported that there were several dozen cases of disappearance of Ingush and Chechens in Ingushetiya. As with similar operations in Chechnya, reports of beatings, arbitrary detentions, and looting usually followed these operations. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), in August 2003, pro Moscow Chechen police abducted five men from a clinic in Ingushetiya. Police reportedly burst into the clinic firing weapons. One of those detained was injured. One of the policemen struck a doctor with a rifle. As of the end of the year, neither HRW nor Memorial knew of the five men's whereabouts. Ingush prosecutors opened a criminal case.
Pro Moscow Chechen forces commanded by Ramzan Kadyrov and federal troops also began arresting relatives of Chechen separatist leaders in an effort to force the leaders to surrender, according to human rights groups. Memorial and AI reported that in late February and early March, Kadyrov's forces seized several dozen relatives of Magomed and Omar Khambiyev, respectively, the defense and health ministers in the "separatist government." They then threatened that unless Magomed Khambiyev gave himself up, his relatives would be harmed. He surrendered in early March.
In September, during the hostage taking at School No. 1 in Beslan, press and human rights groups reported that federal forces took into custody relatives of Aslan Maskhadov, Shamil Basayev, and Doku Umarov, whom authorities accused of organizing the hostage taking. Federal forces stated this was for their protection, whereas human rights groups alleged that the relatives would be used in a potential trade for hostages at the school. The relatives were subsequently released, but in December, according to Memorial, eight family members of Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov were abducted.
Government forces and Chechen fighters have used landmines extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan since 1999; there were many civilian landmine victims in Chechnya during the year. Federal forces and Chechen fighters continued to use antipersonnel mines in Chechnya. Reports from hospitals operating in the region indicated that many patients were landmine or unexploded ordnance victims and that such weaponry was the primary cause of death. Government officials reported that in Chechnya there were 5,695 landmine casualties in 2002 (the latest year for which statistics were available), including 125 deaths. The victims included 938 children. By comparison, there had been 2,140 landmine casualties in 2001.
New mass graves and "dumping grounds" for victims allegedly executed by government forces in Chechnya during the year and earlier were discovered. In April, local residents near the village of Serzhen Yurt found the bodies of nine men in a ravine. According to AI, the bodies bore gunshot wounds and marks of torture. Federal forces had detained eight of the men on March 27 in the village of Duba Yurt. The ninth man had "disappeared" from his home in Groznyy during the night of April 1 2, according to AI. There were no reports by year's end that the Government had initiated any criminal cases related to the mass grave discoveries.
Armed forces and police units reportedly routinely abused and tortured persons held at holding facilities where federal authorities sorted out fighters or those suspected of aiding the rebels from civilians. Federal forces reportedly ransomed Chechen detainees (and, at times, their corpses) to their families for prices ranging from several hundred to thousands of dollars.
AI reported that Timur Khambulatov died in police custody in March. An estimated 40 armed men arrested Khambulatov at his home in the Chechen village of Savelevskaya on March 18 on suspicion of belonging to an illegal armed group. Later that same morning, a district prosecutor reportedly found him dead in a police cell. According to AI, police claimed Khambulatov was near death when operatives from the FSB handed him over to them. The local head of the FSB reportedly told Khambulatov's mother that his officers had not touched her son.
There were widespread reports of the killing or abuse of captured fighters by federal troops, as well as reports that captured federal troops and pro Moscow Chechen security forces were killed or abused by the Chechen fighters, and a policy of "no surrender" appeared to prevail in many units on both sides. Federal forces reportedly beat, raped, tortured, and killed numerous detainees.
According to human rights NGOs, federal troops on numerous occasions looted valuables and foodstuffs in regions they controlled. Many IDPs reported that guards at checkpoints forced them to provide payments or harassed and pressured them. There were some reports that federal troops purposefully targeted some infrastructure essential to the survival of the civilian population, such as water facilities or hospitals. The indiscriminate use of force by federal troops caused destruction of housing and commercial and administrative structures. However, compared to 2001 02, Memorial reported that government forces used less indiscriminate force during the year against civilian areas. In most cases, the artillery attacks and bombings that occurred were the result of mistakes, bad performance, and alcoholism. Federal troops also reportedly severely damaged gas and water supply facilities and other types of infrastructure. Representatives of international organizations and NGOs who visited Chechnya reported little evidence of federal assistance for rebuilding war torn areas.
A climate of lawlessness, corruption, and impunity flourished in Chechnya. The Government investigated and tried some members of the military for crimes against civilians in Chechnya; however, there were few convictions and the reported number of convictions differed. According to statistics released to the press by the General Prosecutor's office in early December, over the last 3 years 1,749 criminal cases were initiated in Chechnya to investigate approximately 2,300 cases involving disappeared persons. Out of these, only 50 cases were completely investigated and reached the courts. During the same time period, 22 servicemen were convicted and sentenced for committing serious crimes against civilians. However, in most cases the punishment was limited to a suspended sentence.
Memorial noted that the General Prosecutor's office has been inconsistent in its figures concerning the number of crimes committed by servicemen against civilians. In February 2003, the Deputy Prosecutor General reported that during the years of the anti terrorist operation in Chechnya, 417 cases were initiated, but investigations were halted for 341 cases because the suspects had not been found. Then, in August, the Deputy Prosecutor General announced that only 132 cases were opened, and all but 10 were still under investigation. No further information was provided to explain the discrepancy.
According to Justice Minister Yuriy Chayka, from the start of the conflict through November 2003, 54 servicemen, including 8 officers, had been found guilty of crimes against civilians in Chechnya. Four servicemen, including three officers, were on trial for murder charges over the 2002 deaths of six Chechen civilians in a court in the southern city of Rostov on Don.
On November 11, the Supreme Court overturned the North Caucasus Military District Court's June 29 acquittal of two officers of the Interior Ministry's troops, Yevgeniy Khudyakov and Sergey Arakcheyev, who had been accused of murdering three civilians in Chechnya. A news service reported that the Court found that the jury for the trial was convened improperly. Khudyakov and Arakcheyev allegedly shot the three civilians in January 2003 after forcing them out of a truck near Groznyy. The suspects then allegedly doused the victims' bodies with gasoline and ignited them in attempt to cover up the crime.
Memorial concluded that the majority of cases opened for alleged crimes by federal servicemen against civilians resulted in no charges. Cases were closed or investigations suspended because of the absence of the bodies or because of an inability to identify a suspect.
In April, Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov asked that the State Duma extend an amnesty that expired in September 2003, but in June, following Akhmed Kadyrov's assassination, his son Ramzan stated that the amnesty program should be ended and gave fighters 3 days to turn in their weapons.
Government forces continued to abuse individuals seeking accountability for abuses in Chechnya, continuing their harassment of applicants to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In January, human rights activist Aslan Davletukayev was kidnapped, tortured, and killed in Chechnya, under circumstances that suggested the involvement of government forces. He was the third volunteer with the Society for Russian Chechen Friendship to have been killed since December 2001. According to AI and other human rights groups, he had been in the custody of federal forces and the criminal investigation into the incident was inconclusive. The Society reported that it received anonymous threats following the September seizure of the school in Beslan, North Ossetia. According to AI, on April 10, federal forces abducted Anzor Pokayev, whose father had appealed to the ECHR in July 2003 in the case of the 2002 disappearance of his other son during a military raid. The morning after the abduction, Anzor's body was found approximately 6 miles away, with multiple gunshot wounds. On September 3, Memorial reported that federal forces had abducted Fatima Gazayeva of the human rights organization Echoes of War, a regional organization that reported on human rights abuses, and her husband Ilyas Atayev. Gazayeva and Atayev were released 2 days later, but they had no idea where they had been kept and by whom. They indicated that their captors had treated them fairly.
The authorities initiated legal actions against the Society's activities and those of the Chechen Committee for National Salvation (see Sections 2.a. and 4).
On January 22, President Putin abolished the special post of Presidential Human Rights Representative to Chechnya, handing full responsibility for the issue to Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov, on the grounds that no other region had an analogous representative and Chechnya no longer warranted special treatment. The Independent Commission on Human Rights in the Northern Caucasus headed by the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Legislation maintained a number of offices in Chechnya and Ingushetiya. This organization heard hundreds of complaints from citizens, ranging from destruction or theft of property to rape and murder; however, it was not empowered to investigate or prosecute alleged offenses and had to refer complaints to military or civil prosecutors. Almost all complainants alleged violations of military discipline and other common crimes.
In early June, Chechen President Alkhanov signed an order to appoint Lema Khasuyev as the Chechen Republic's new human rights Ombudsman. Khasuyev had been a deputy of two former presidential envoys for human rights in Chechnya. Human rights groups were skeptical that the appointment of a new ombudsman would significantly improve the situation.
Chechen rebel fighters also committed serious human rights abuses. According to observers, Chechen fighters usually operated independently in small groups; however, the June attacks on Nazran suggested they were capable of operating in larger groups under a more centralized command. According to various reports, they committed terrorist acts against civilians in Chechnya and elsewhere in the country, killed civilians who would not assist them, used civilians as human shields, forced civilians to build fortifications, and prevented refugees from fleeing Chechnya. In several cases, Chechen fighters killed elderly ethnic Russian civilians for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity. As with the many reported violations by federal troops, there were difficulties in verifying or investigating these incidents. According to Chechen Minister of Internal Affairs Ruslan Alkhanov, 120 attacks that he characterized as terrorist were committed in Chechnya during the year, but it is unclear what methodology was used to identify the number of terrorist acts. Alkhanov said this figure was lower than in 2003.
A number of the terrorist acts committed by Chechen rebels during the year involved suicide bombings. On February 6, a suicide bomber killed 40 persons by blowing up a Moscow metro passenger car. Terrorist Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility, and in March, terrorist Abu al Walid stated that further attacks should be expected. On August 24, suicide bombers from Chechnya were believed to have carried out the near simultaneous downing of 2 aircraft, killing 89 persons. On August 31, a suicide bomber killed 10 persons at the Rizhskaya metro station.
On September 1, terrorists took an estimated 1,200 teachers, children and parents hostage at School Number 1, in Beslan, North Ossetia. Hostage takers reportedly killed 15 to 20 adult men on the first day of the seizure. They held the hostages for 58 hours, during which they denied them food and water. The siege ended violently; according to press reports, an explosive rigged by the terrorists detonated, and in the ensuing panic, they began shooting hostages who were attempting to flee. Security forces and armed relatives of the hostages returned fire and stormed the school. At least 338 hostages died, many of them trapped in the gymnasium when its roof collapsed. Security forces subsequently killed all or most of the hostage takers in a firefight that lasted several hours. According to some reports, a mob lynched one terrorist captured by security forces. Another was arrested and held by the authorities.
In other incidents, rebels took up positions in populated areas and fired on federal forces, thereby exposing civilians to federal counterattacks. When villagers protested, the rebels sometimes beat them or fired upon them. Chechen fighters also targeted civilian officials working for the pro Moscow Chechen Administration. In May, Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov was assassinated while attending a Victory Day celebration in Groznyy. Chechen fighters also reportedly abused, tortured, and killed captured federal soldiers. Rebels continued a concerted campaign, begun in 2001, to kill civilian officials of the government supported Chechen administration. According to Chechen sources, rebel factions also used violence to eliminate their economic rivals in illegal activities or to settle personal accounts.
Chechen rebels continued to launch attacks on government forces and police in Ingushetiya during the year.
Rebel field commanders reportedly were responsible for funding their units, and some allegedly resorted to drug smuggling and kidnapping to raise funds. As a result, it often was difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between rebel units and criminal gangs. Some rebels allegedly received financial and other forms of assistance from foreign supporters of international terrorism. Government officials continued to maintain that there were 200 to 300 foreign fighters in Chechnya.
According to a 2002 report by the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Chechen rebels used children to plant landmines and explosives (see Section 5).
International organizations estimated that the number of IDPs and refugees who left Chechnya as a result of the conflict reached a high of approximately 280,000 in the spring of 2000 (see Section 2.d.). At various times during the conflict, authorities have restricted the movement of persons fleeing Chechnya and exerted pressure on them to return to Chechnya (see Section 2.d.). As of November 30, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that 38,838 IDPs remained in Ingushetiya; 24,534 were living in private accommodation and 14,304 were in temporary settlements.
Section 2
Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however, government pressure on the media persisted, resulting in numerous infringements of these rights. Faced with continuing financial difficulties, as well as pressure from the Government and large private companies with links to the Government, many media organizations saw their autonomy further weakened during the year. The Government increasingly used its controlling ownership interest in all national, and a majority of regional, television and radio stations to restrict access to information about issues it regarded as sensitive. By a variety of means, it severely restricted coverage by all media of events in Chechnya. There were indications that government pressure at times led reporters to engage in self censorship. On most subjects, however, the public continued to have access to a broad spectrum of viewpoints in the print media and, for those with access, on the Internet.
While the Government generally respected citizens' right to freedom of expression, at times it restricted this right with regard to such sensitive issues as the conduct of federal forces in Chechnya, discussions of religion, or controversial reforms in the social sector. Some regional and local authorities took advantage of the judicial system's procedural weaknesses to arrest persons on false pretexts for expressing views critical of the Government. With some exceptions, judges appeared unwilling to challenge powerful federal and local officials who sought to prosecute journalists. These proceedings often resulted in stiff fines.
All but 1 national newspaper remained privately owned, as were more than 40 percent of the 45,000 registered local newspapers and periodicals; however, the Government attempted to influence the reporting of independent publications. Approximately two thirds of the 2,500 television stations in the country were completely or partially owned by the federal and local governments, and the Government indirectly influenced most private broadcasting companies through partial ownership of commercial structures, such as energy giants Gazprom and Lukoil, which in turn owned large shares of media companies. Such influence was far from uniform, however. Gazprom financed radio station Ekho Moskviy, for example, maintained a highly independent editorial position and its reporting and commentary were frequently critical of the Government.
Of the three national television stations, the Government owned Rossiya Channel and a majority of First Channel. The Government owned a controlling stake of Gazprom, which in turn had a controlling ownership stake in the third national television station, NTV, which maintained a more independent editorial line. The Government also maintained ownership of the largest radio stations, Radio Mayak and Radio Rossiya, and the news agencies ITAR TASS and RIA Novosti.
The Government exerted its influence most directly on state owned media. Journalists and news anchors of Rossiya and First Channel reported receiving "guidelines" from the management prepared by the Presidential Administration, indicating which politicians they should support and which they should criticize. Criticism of presidential policies was prohibited in the state owned media and strongly discouraged on NTV and in many privately owned print publications, although with little apparent effect in many privately owned print publications.
Correspondents claimed that senior management often asked them to obtain approval for reports on sensitive political matters prior to broadcasting and that management edited out "negative language" about government officials and policies. For example, the press reported that government owned channels received "style lists" mandating that references to "Chechnya" be replaced with "Republic of Chechnya" (a usage that reinforced the Government's view of Chechnya as a constituent republic of the Russian Federation) and that the phrase "replacing benefits with money" (a highly unpopular government policy) be replaced with "monetized benefits." Despite these constraints, high level Presidential Administration officials reportedly complained to Rossiya and First Channel executives about reporting they viewed as critical of the President.
During the year, the Government further circumscribed the editorial independence and political influence of NTV. In June, NTV fired Leonid Parfenov, host of the popular news analysis program Namedni, after he publicly protested the station's decision not to broadcast an interview with the widow of Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev. In July, Gazprom Media installed Vladimir Kulistikov, former news director of state owned Rossiya Channel, as head of NTV, and Kulistikov abruptly shut down most of the network's political programs, including the popular Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech), the last remaining live discussion format talk show on national television. In December, Kulistikov suspended popular journalist Aleksey Pivovarov as anchor of the network's flagship news program Strana i Mir after he commented on the firing of Parfenov. NTV largely preserved its relatively balanced approach to news reporting; however, these measures further reduced the opportunity for free expression on television.
The state owned Sports Channel continued to broadcast on the federal frequency formerly used by the privately owned Television Spektrum (TVS), which authorities took off the air in 2003, assigning the frequency to Sports Channel on a temporary basis. TVS had been the only non state affiliated channel. Its demise was variously attributed to political motives and commercial maneuvering. No efforts to restore TVS were reported during the year.
The degree of editorial freedom tolerated by authorities appeared to depend on the size of the audience. For example, Ren-TV, which reaches over 65 percent of the nationwide audience but only has an audience share of approximately 5 percent, was frequently sharply critical of the Kremlin. However, Ren-TV's regional affiliates often replaced prime-time news programs critical of the government with local news. This practice, coupled with a lack of interest in "Moscow politics" on the part of provincial audiences reduces the channel's impact on public opinion.
Government controlled media exhibited considerable bias in favor of President Putin in their coverage of the March 14 presidential campaign. President Putin did not actively campaign, but, as the OSCE election observation mission noted, he received coverage on the state controlled television channels far beyond what was reasonably proportionate to his role as head of state. For example, the OSCE election observation mission reported that First Channel provided more than 4 hours of all positive political and election coverage to the President. The next most covered candidate received approximately 21 minutes of prime time coverage (see Section 3).
The authorities continued to exert pressure in a number of ways on journalists, particularly those who reported on corruption or who criticized officials. The media freedom advocacy group Glasnost Defense Foundation (GDF), together with Journalists Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), documented numerous cases of censorship and police intimidation of media personnel.
In August, the Kremlin transferred control of media access to the area of the Chechen conflict to the Ministry of Interior. On December 2, a court in Ingushetiya ordered the deportation of Kosuke Tsuneoka, Moscow based correspondent for Kyodo Tsuin, who was detained by police in Nazran, Ingushetiya, and accused of lacking proper registration. While Tsuneoka had a valid business visa, authorities stated that Tsuneoka did not have a journalist visa and had failed to obtain special permission to report from the conflict zone. Government interference was particularly notable in relation to the war in Chechnya and neighboring republics (see Section 1.g.), and especially in connection with the Beslan school hostage crisis in September. Domestic and international human rights advocates accused the Government of failing to provide timely and accurate information about the scale and consequences of the crisis. The press quoted freed hostages as saying that distorted reporting by state television, which significantly understated the number of hostages, enraged the terrorists. Local residents also harassed the press for their coverage of the incident in Beslan, according to an OSCE report published on September 16. Two days after the release of the hostages, local residents beat Aleksandr Kots, correspondent of the national daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, after accusing him of distorting facts. The media reported that many other journalists, including the crews of Rossiya Channel, Television Center, Ren TV, a Swedish reporter, and a French cameraman, were assaulted or had their tapes taken away.
According to the OSCE, police detained a number of journalists, including Anna Gorbatova and Oksana Semyonova from Noviye Izvestiya daily, Madina Shavlokhova from Moskovskiy Komsomolets and Yelena Milashina from Novaya Gazeta and held them for several hours.
Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent correspondent of the daily Novaya Gazeta, who planned to arrive in Beslan on September 3, was unable to do so following severe poisoning she experienced on the flight from Moscow. According to Politkovskaya, she only had a cup of tea on the plane. After landing in Rostov on Don, she was taken to intensive care and later transported back to Moscow. Some human rights activists believed the authorities poisoned her to keep her from covering developments in Beslan.
On September 2, the police at Vnukovo airport in Moscow detained Andrey Babitskiy, a correspondent of Radio Liberty, before he was able to take a flight to Mineralniye Vody in the North Caucasus. According to Babitskiy, police accused him of carrying explosives but released him after searching his luggage. After Babitskiy left the police station, two young men reportedly approached him and started a dispute. The police immediately detained all three and forced Babitskiy to undergo a medical examination to determine if he had suffered any injuries from the incident. Although Babitskiy was detained as a victim, he was not released, and the next day a Justice of the Peace sentenced him to a 15 day prison term on charges of hooliganism, which was later commuted to a fine of approximately $34 (1,000 rubles) fine. Some human rights activists believed the authorities staged the incident to keep Babitskiy from covering developments in Beslan and the North Caucasus.
The OSCE reported a number of attempts by authorities to prevent foreign journalists from covering the hostage crisis. On September 2, police and FSB representatives detained Polish, French, and British journalists at the airport in Mineralniye Vody. The authorities questioned the journalists for several hours, photocopied their documents, and thoroughly checked their equipment. On September 3, authorities confiscated tapes containing footage of the school storming from several domestic and foreign television crews.
The NTV television channel was the first to broadcast live coverage of the September 3 explosions and shooting in the school, followed by the freeing of the hostages, although NTV only broadcast the first 90 minutes of developing events. State television networks did not begin live broadcasts until almost an hour after the explosions. Media experts believed the state television networks were slow to cover the story because they were waiting for government permission to do so.
On September 5, Prof Media, owner of the leading daily newspaper Izvestiya, fired chief editor Raf Shakirov after large photographs of killed and injured children appeared in the previous day's newspaper. Shakirov attributed his firing to Prof Media's strong disapproval of the publication of the photographs. Other media analysts attributed Shakirov's abrupt dismissal to the Kremlin's anger about the publication of the photographs.
In August, the prosecutor's office charged the Chechen Committee for National Salvation (ChCNS) with violating the law by disseminating extremist information with the aim of accusing the country's armed forces and law enforcement bodies of mass crimes. The prosecutor's office further claimed that in this way the ChCNS was purposefully inciting public hostility toward representatives of the State and attempting to make the population resist the State. The prosecutor's office requested a court hearing to have the press releases examined and recognized as "extremist"; however, in October, a municipal court in Ingushetiya ruled in favor of the organization.
Apart from events related to the Caucasus, the GDF and other media freedom monitoring organizations reported numerous abuses of journalists by police and other security personnel, which included physical assault and the damaging of equipment.
For example, while dispersing a rally near the Cabinet headquarters in Moscow on June 1, members of the Federal Guard Service attacked Oleg Kashin, a correspondent for the daily newspaper Kommersant. After beating Kashin, who was later diagnosed with a brain concussion, they took him to a police station, where he was detained for 18 hours.
On August 26, police beat Olga Rogozhina, a correspondent of the Volga television station in Nizhniy Novgorod, who tried to report on a police raid on the office of a local advertising firm.
On September 21, unknown assailants dressed in civilian clothes beat a number of journalists after police broke up a rally against Kalmyk Republic President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in the republic's capital, Elista. The journalists included an NTV camera crew and Kirill Shulepov, a correspondent for the Rossiya network, who was severely beaten and had his camera destroyed.
A number of other journalists were killed, reported missing, or beaten for reasons that may have been associated with their journalistic activities. These journalists had published critical information about local officials and influential businesses or reported on crime and other sensitive issues. Although independent media NGOs reported a decrease in physical violence compared to 2003, they still characterized beatings of journalists by unknown assailants as "routine," noting that those who pursued investigative stories on corruption and organized crime found themselves at greatest risk.
According to the GDF, 5 journalists died during the year under suspicious circumstances, and 43 were physically attacked. In most cases where assailants physically attacked journalists, authorities and observers were unable to establish a direct link between the assault and those who reportedly had taken offense at the reporting in question.
Shangysh Mongush, a newspaper journalist in Tyz, Tuva Republic, who had been missing since January, was found fatally stabbed on June 5. The journalist's colleagues linked his death to his investigative reporting on illegal alcohol production in Tuva. There was no information regarding the investigation of Mongush's killing at year's end.
On February 1, Yefim Sukhanov, a Television Center Arkhangelsk correspondent, was found fatally stabbed in his apartment. On July 21, a court sentenced an 18 year old local resident to a 9 year prison term for murdering Sukhanov. Although the police investigation attributed the journalist's killing to a robbery attempt, Sukhanov's colleagues stated that his investigative reporting on poaching in Arkhangelsk made him a potential target.
On July 9, Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia magazine, was shot and killed outside his Moscow office. Still conscious for a short time after the assault, Klebnikov told a colleague that he did not know who might have ordered the attack. Launched in April, Forbes Russia conducted investigative reporting on the political and business elite, and in May it published a list of the country's 100 richest persons, some of whom reportedly were unhappy about the publicity. On November 18, authorities in Minsk, Belarus, arrested a Russian citizen from Chechnya on suspicion of Klebnikov's killing. The media, including the leading dailies Kommersant and Izvestiya, reported that investigators related Klebnikov's murder to his work on a book about the embezzlement of budget funds for the post war reconstruction of Chechnya. According to the November 30 Kommersant, the suspect was also believed to be involved in the murder of a former head of the Chechen Administration, who reportedly provided facts for Klebnikov's book.
Other investigative journalists attacked during the year in circumstances suggesting that their professional work may have provided the motive for their attackers included Aleksey Mukhin,a television journalist in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhniy Novgorod region; Marina Ivashina, a journalist with the newspaper Orlovskiye Novosti in Oryol region; and Fyodor Krasheninnikov, editor of the Politsovet news agency in Yekaterinburg.
High profile cases of journalists killed or kidnapped in earlier years remained unsolved. On October 11, a court in Tolyatti, Samara region, acquitted a local factory worker charged with the murder of Aleksey Sidorov, editor in chief of the daily newspaper Tolyattinskoye Obozreniye, who was stabbed near the entrance to his apartment building in 2003. The Samara regional court confirmed the acquittal on November 26. Local media and media advocacy organizations were skeptical about the Government's case, which attributed the murder to hooliganism. They linked the journalist's death to his investigative reporting on Tolyatti authorities' connections with the city's criminal groups, whose activities centered on the Tolyatti based VAZ automobile plant. The GDF sent a letter to Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, saying that, although a lawyer representing Sidorov's family presented evidence of local organized crime's involvement in Sidorov's murder, local authorities ignored it instead pressuring Sidorov's family, witnesses, and journalists reporting on the trial not to question the official version of the case.
On June 10, the Moscow Circuit Military Court again acquitted all the defendants accused of organizing the 1994 murder of Dmitriy Kholodov, military affairs correspondent for the daily newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets. A previous acquittal of the defendants in 2002 had been overturned in 2003 by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Moscow Circuit Military Court had "failed to take all available evidence into account," citing in particular the testimony of one defendant that then Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev had asked him to "deal with Kholodov" because of the journalist's coverage of corruption in the military. Although the 10 year statute of limitations on Kholodov's case expired on October 17, making it impossible to sentence the defendants to prison terms even if the June 10 acquittal were to be overturned, the Office of the Prosecutor General on December 6 appealed to the Supreme Court to begin a new trial.
Other unresolved cases of missing or killed journalists from 2003 include: Dmitriy Shvets, deputy head of TV 21 in Murmansk; Alikhan Guliyev, a freelance journalist covering Chechnya for Television Center and the daily newspaper Kommersant; and Ali Astamirov, an Agence France Presse correspondent kidnapped in Ingushetiya. Cases from 2002 include: Nataliya Skryl, correspondent for the Taganrog newspaper Nashe Vremya; Sergey Kalinovskiy, editor in chief of the newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets Smolensk; Valeriy Ivanov, editor in chief of Tolyattinskoye Obozreniye; Aleksandr Plotnikov, founder of the newspaper Gostinyy Dvor; Chuvash reporter Nikolay Vasilyev; Igor Salikov, head of information security for Moskovskiy Komsomolets Penza; Yuriy Frolov, deputy director of Propaganda Publishing; and Ilyas Magomedov, head of the independent station Groznyy Television.
Authorities at all levels employed administrative measures to deter critical coverage by media and individual journalists. One method was to deny media access to events and information, including filming opportunities and statistics theoretically available to the public. For example, in February, a judge in Volzhsk, Mary El Republic, prohibited a number of journalists from attending a court session in the trial of a local official accused of stealing government funds. Although the session was formally open, the judge ordered journalists from the local publications Nash Gorod, Volzhskaya Pravda, and Molodyozhniy Kuryer to leave the courtroom. Local journalists stated this was part of a pattern in which they were normally barred from attending open sessions of the Volzhsk city court unless they promised not to file stories. On May 27, Aleksandr Khristoforov, Deputy Speaker of the regional legislature in Pskov, abruptly ordered journalists covering one legislative session to leave. After some journalists insisted on staying, Khristroforov physically assaulted Vadim Guzinin, a photographer of the local news agency RIM; Guzinin subsequently filed a lawsuit against Khristoforov. On September 20, Grigoriy Shatravka, mayor of Irbit, Sverdlovsk region, attacked Tatyana Novokreshchyonova, director of the local station Irbit TV, who tried to cover his meeting with city residents despite the mayor's objections. Shatravka beat the journalist and tried to break her camera.
At times, officials or unidentified individuals used force to prevent the circulation of issues of publications that were in disfavor with the government. For example, on February 28, police in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan Republic, stopped a truck carrying 143,000 copies of the local newspaper Puls Zhizni. When the newspaper's editor Yelena Chernobrovkina arrived at the scene, she found the newspapers unloaded from the truck and guarded by a group of approximately 30 men in civilian clothes, who would not identify themselves. Chernobrovkina said that among the group she spotted two high ranking Tatarstan police officials. After several hours, police confiscated the newspapers without explanation. On July 8, in Vladivostok, unknown persons seized 50,000 copies of the local newspaper Yezhednevniye Novosti and beat the driver of the truck carrying them from the printing plant. Shortly thereafter, police confiscated the remaining 150 copies of the paper. According to the newspaper's management, the police stated they were ordered to do so by their superiors. On August 29, police in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan Republic, detained distributors of Puls Zhizni, citing oral instructions from city authorities. The police later released the distributors but confiscated copies of the newspaper. According to the GDF, Puls Zhizni was one of the few publications in Tatarstan that openly criticized authorities and supported Rafgat Altynbayev, a potential candidate in the 2006 Tatarstan presidential elections.
Authorities at various levels took advantage of the financial dependence of most major media organizations on the Government, or on one or more of several major financial industrial groups, to undermine editorial independence and journalistic integrity in both the print and broadcast media. The concentration of ownership of major media organizations, including media outlets owned by the federal, regional, and local governments, remained largely intact and posed a continued threat to editorial independence. Government structures, banking interests, and the state controlled energy giants Gazprom and United Energy Systems continued to dominate the Moscow media market and extend their influence into the regions. Most news organizations experienced continued financial difficulties during the year, which sustained their dependence on financial sponsors and, in many cases, the federal and regional governments. As a result of this dependence, the autonomy of the media and its ability to act as a watchdog remained weak.
During the year, many privately owned media organizations and journalists across the country also remained dependent on the Government for transmission facilities, access to property, and printing and distribution services. The GDF reported that approximately 90 percent of print media organizations relied on state controlled organizations for paper, printing, or distribution, and many television stations were forced to rely on the Government (in particular, regional committees for the management of state property) for access to the airwaves and office space. The GDF also reported that officials continued to manipulate a variety of other "instruments of leverage," including the price of printing at state controlled publishing houses, to apply pressure on private media rivals. The GDF noted this practice continued to be more common outside the Moscow area than in the capital. In May, for example, a printing plant in Kirovsk region refused to continue printing a number of publications based in the neighboring Mary El Republic, which could not be printed locally due to resistance from local authorities. According to the GDF, the decision came shortly after the election of a new governor of Kirovsk region, who acceded to Mary El authorities' requests to deny printing services to these publications.
The GDF and other media NGOs documented numerous instances of the use of taxation mechanisms to pressure media across the country.
Authorities at the federal and local levels continued to bring lawsuits and other legal actions against journalists and journalistic organizations during the year, primarily in response to unfavorable coverage of government policy or operations. The GDF estimated that more than 300 such cases were brought during the year. In April, the Press Service of the Interior Ministry of Bashkortostan Republic reported that, since the beginning of the year, the Ministry had won 12 of 15 libel suits against local media organizations. Most libel suits resulted in heavy fines. On October 29, the Moscow Arbitration Court ordered Kommersant daily to pay $11.4 million (320 million rubles) to Alfa Bank to recoup losses and damage to its reputation brought about by the newspaper's July 7 story about the bank's financial problems. In January, Rashid Zhumagaliyev, an investigator with the prosecutor's office in Astrakhan, filed a libel suit against the local newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets in Astrakhan. He accused the newspaper of slandering the regional court in its articles. Police raided the newspaper's office during their investigation, confiscating its computers, which forced the newspaper to stop publishing.
In August 2003, a Chelyabinsk district court sentenced German Galkin, editor in chief of Vecherniy Chelyabinsk daily and Director General of Vecherniy Chelyabinsk publishing house, to a 1 year term in a hard labor camp as a result of a libel suit filed in 2002 by two vice governors of Chelyabinsk region. Three articles published in Rabochaya Gazeta in 2002 accused the officials of corruption and links to organized crime, but Galkin was not listed in bylines for the articles and denied having written them. According to GDF, Galkin was the first journalist in the post Soviet era to be jailed for libel. International media defense representatives believed the severity of the sentence could have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and information and of the media. In November 2003, the Chelyabinsk regional court upheld the sentence but suspended it, and Galkin was released after 3 months in prison. On March 30, the same court rejected Galkin's appeal for his full acquittal.
In 2003, a Media Industrial Committee composed of heads of major media organizations adopted an Anti Terrorism Convention, a set of self imposed rules for reporting on terrorist acts. The Convention established a priority of human life over press freedom, required journalists to report sensitive information to the authorities, obliged journalists to seek approval from the authorities to interview terrorists, and prohibited live broadcasts by terrorists.
On March 11, according to the National Endowment for Democracy, a division of the MVD responsible for investigating financial crimes by businesses confiscated the 56th issue of the bi monthly Russian Chechen Friendship Society's bulletin from a printing house in Nizhniy Novgorod. The police maintained that they were not interested in the Society's work, only in the financial affairs of the publishing house, but the only printed material that they seized was the Society's newspaper. The police told a representative of the Society that no formal criminal proceedings had been instituted against the publishing house. Approximately 2 weeks before the newspaper was seized, the publishing house had been temporarily closed because of fire code violations.
The Government generally did not restrict access to the Internet; however, it continued to require Internet service providers to provide dedicated lines to the security establishment so that police could track private e mail communications and monitor Internet activity (see Section 1.f.). In October, Deputy Culture Minister Leonid Nadirov suggested that all Internet sites should be registered as media organizations. Internet professionals and media freedom advocates expressed concern that its implementation would restrict free flow of information on the Russian segment of the Internet; however, the suggestion had not been implemented by year's end.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom; however, during the year human rights and academic organizations questioned whether the prosecutions of Sutyagin, Danilov, and others inhibited academic freedom and contact with foreigners on subjects that the authorities might deem sensitive (see Section 1.e.).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, at times authorities restricted this right.
In February, Moscow police dispersed a picket line on Lubyanka Square organized by Lev Ponomarev's NGO, For Human Rights, the Transnational Radical Party, and the Anti war Club to mark the 60th anniversary of Stalin's deportation of the Chechen and Ingush peoples to Kazakhstan. Moscow Central District authorities did not permit the assembly, explaining that too many events had already been scheduled for February 23 to celebrate Russian Army Day. Half an hour after the beginning of the demonstration, OMON troops (members of a special police detachment) appeared and demanded that the participants leave the square. Police detained Ponomarev, Nikolay Khramov, secretary of the Russian Radicals' movement, and 11 other participants. They were released after 2 hours and fined approximately $38 (1,000 Rubles).
Organizations were required to obtain permits in order to hold public meetings and to apply for permits between 5 and 10 days before the scheduled event. Although religious gatherings and assemblies did not require permits, in some instances the authorities denied Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious groups access to venues where they could hold assemblies (see Section 2.c.). While the police readily granted permits to demonstrate to both opponents and supporters of the Government, local elected and administrative officials at times either denied some groups permission to assemble or revoked previously issued permits.
The Constitution provides for freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this right; however, the Government increasingly harassed some organizations of whose policies it disapproved. Some NGOs claimed the Government restricted their activities for political reasons by engaging in lengthy investigations of their finances or by delaying the registration of foreign grants (see Section 4). During the year, the critical statements of a number of senior officials contributed to increased suspicion regarding NGOs' activities. For example, in his May State of the Nation address, President Putin charged that some foreign funded NGOs existed "to serve dubious groups"; and Vladislav Surkov, of the Presidential Administration was believed to be referring, in part, to NGOs, among others, when he warned in a September interview in Komsomolskaya Pravda against "a fifth column of left and right radicals."
The Government continued to ban the Islamic organization, Hizb ut Tahrir, which it regarded as having terrorist connections and as seeking to overthrow the Government. Authorities in a number of regions stepped up operations against Hizb ut Tahrir despite the organization's denials that it supported terrorism. The authorities also interfered with the activities of a number of NGOs during the year (see Section 4).
Public organizations must register their bylaws and the names of their leaders with the MOJ. By law, political parties must have 50,000 members nationwide, at least 500 representatives in half of the country's regions, and no fewer than 250 members in the remaining regions in order to be registered (see Section 3).
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Go