SUMMARY

  Recent years have seen a number of useful initiatives introduced in the Russian Federation. However, implementation of many of these initiatives has been slow and inefficient. Whilst the Russian Constitution provides an extensive underpinning for human rights, there is a lack of specific laws to implement relevent constitutional provisions. The Russian Federation remains a country where serious and widespread human rights violations occur.

  Amnesty International has recorded cases of individuals charged or convicted of offences after peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, including Aleksandr Nikitin, Grigory Pasko and Oleg Pazyura. Conscientious objectors have been convicted or forced into military service after refusing conscription on the grounds of conscientiously held belief.

  In June 1999, President Yeltsin announced his decision to grant clemency to all prisoners on death row. This followed a groundbreaking decision by the Russian Constitutional Court to ban judges from sentencing people to death until jury trials are introduced throughout the Russian Federation. However, parliament must still ratify Protocol No. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, remove the death penalty from federal law and amend the constitution to exclude the death penalty.

  Amnesty International continues to receive numerous reports of torture and ill-treatment in police custody. Within the armed forces, officers permit encourage or participate in "dedovshchina", the degrading and violent bullying of young recruits. According to the Mothers' Rights Foundation, approximately 4,000-5,000 soldiers died from abuse or committed suicide in 1995.

  The overcrowded and insanitary conditions in Russia's jails amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. A recent amnesty law may help alleviate some overcrowding, although it is yet to be seen how many prisoners will benefit. However, only a reform of the whole justice system will address the fundamental problems in Russia's prisons.

  Asylum-seekers in Russia risk being returned to countries where they may face gross human rights violations. Amnesty International is also concerned that refugees and asylum-seekers may be summarily rejected at the border.

  During 1998, Amnesty International recorded one possible extrajudicial execution, that of Larisa Yudina, a journalist. She had repeatedly received warnings to stop criticising the President of the Republic of Kalmykia, whom she accused of corruption. Three men have been charged with her murder, including Sergey Vaskin, a former aid of the Kalmykian president.

  Victims of domestic violence in Russia rarely have recourse to protection from the authorities. Police officers are reportedly reluctant or unwilling to involve themselves in what they perceive as purely domestic disputes. The housing system deters women from reporting such crimes. A further violation of women's rights is the trafficking of women from the Russian Federation. The International Organisation on Migration estimates that each year 500,000 women are trafficked from the Russian Federation.

  In Chechnya, the criminal code continues to provide for the death penalty and for corporal punishments that include amputation and caning. In June 1999, Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov stated that 11 people were executed in the first six months of 1999. Continuing abductions of journalists, media employees, humanitarian aid workers and Russian political representatives have led to questions about the ability of Russian and Chechen authorities to guarantee the safety of civilians and to allegations of complicity by Chechen officials. In October 1998, three United Kingdom nationals and a New Zealand national were abducted. Their bodies were recovered in December.

  Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the continuing bombing in Chechnya carried out by the Russian military over recent weeks has resulted in civilian deaths and thousands of displaced people fleeing the Chechen Republic. The air raids began following the recent apartment explosions in Moscow and two other Russian cities, which killed at least 292 people, and which have been attributed by the Russian government to Islamic groups from the Chechen Republic, but for which no group has yet claimed responsibility. The organization is concerned that the Russian government's response to the apartment bombings appears to be a campaign to punish an entire ethnic group. "Fighting crime and terrorism" is no justification for violating human rights.

INTRODUCTION

  1.  Fifty years ago, the Soviet Union was one of only eight UN members to abstain in the vote on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On 9 April 1997, a presidential decree proclaimed 1998 as a Year of Human Rights in Russia to mark the 50th anniversary of the UDHR.

  2.  Recent years have brought a number of welcome human rights initiatives. For example, a presidential decree "On Certain Measures of State Support for the Human Rights Movement in the Russian Federation" was issued in June 1996. It called for the creation of a number of human rights bodies and for coordination between federal structures and the human rights community.

  3.  In July 1996, a presidential decree established a Political consultative Council to assist in the creation of a legal framework for economic and political reforms. Its 12 standing chambers include a human rights chamber, which involves representatives of the various Duma factions, as well as 10 members of the non-governmental human rights community.

  4.  In April 1998, Amnesty International welcomed a presidential order "On the Initiatives Concerning the Organisation of the Year of Human Rights in the Russian Federation". This outlined a program of events for 1998. It also included a list of federal laws concerning human rights and a list of international standards to be ratified by the end of 1998. Amnesty International also recognises the positive efforts of the President and the government to create a federal programme for protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms int he Russian Federation.

  5.  However, these positive initiatives are undermined by slow or patchy implementation. For example, important legislation envisaged in the April 1998 presidential order, such as a law on alternative civilian service, has not been adopted. Although the June 1996 decree called on regions to establish human rights commissions, human rights organisations estimate that just 12 regional commissions are working effectively. Although the human rights chamber of the Political Consultative Council has held hearings on crucial issues, the practical effect of its recommendations remain unclear.

  6.  The Russian Constitution outlines an extensive underpinning of legal protections and institutional support for the observance and enforcement of human rights. However, there is a lack of specific laws to implement the provisions safeguarding these rights.

  7.  Furthermore, the impetus for legal reform has weakened. Judicial reform has not advanced very far, and the judiciary remains subject to executive and military influence. Jury trials are still not fully available. A large case backlog, trial delays, and lengthy pre-trial detention continue to be major problems.

  8.  The Russian Federation remains a country where serious and widespread human rights violations occur. In this submission, Amnesty International UK outlines some of these violations. The concluding section highlights a number of recommendations identified by the organisation and transmitted to the Russian government.

PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

  9.  There are a number of cases where persons are charged and detained on criminal charges, while the real motive for their persecution is allegedly political.

Aleksandr Nikitin

  10.  On 6 February 1996, in St. Petersburg, the Federal Security Services (FSB) arrested Aleksandr Nikitin, a retired Russian naval officer. He had worked on a report for the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian non-governmental group that highlighted the dangers of nuclear waste in the Northern Fleet. He was charged with treason under Article 64 of the old Russian Criminal Code.

  11.  Courts have repeatedly sent Alexandr Nikitin's case back to the FSB for additional investigation. In February 1999, a ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation again returned the case to the FSB. The Supreme Court confirmed an earlier ruling of the St Petersburg City Court. It found that the indictment was vague and the expert evaluation of the state secrets in the Bellona Report was inconsistent. It viewed as incomprehensible the assessment of the damage caused by the actions of Aleksandr Nikitin to the security of the Russian Federation. In addition, both the Supreme Court and the Russian Office of the Procurator General instructed the FSB not to use secret and retroactive decrees and normative acts in the indictment.

  12.  On 2 July 1999, the FSB issued a new indictment charging Aleksandr Nikitin for the eighth successive time with high treason and revealing state secrets. This time the federal law was also applied retroactively against Aleksandr Nikitin. The indictment contains references to the 1997 edition of the Law on State Secrets, although the case was launched in 1995. The case is due to come up again in court on 23 November.

  13.  Amnesty International was alarmed by reports that in May 1998, two or three cars with FSB officials had been regularly on duty in front of Nikitin's apartment building. They allegedly followed Nikitin's family every time they went out of their home. Aleksandr Nikitin had tried to take a photograph of one of the cars on 1 May. He reported that the FSB officials tried to confiscate the film. On 2 May, one of Nikitin's lawyers, Ivan Pavlov, reportedly attempted to talk to the FSB officials, who subsequently searched him and allegedly stated that "he should stay away from this".

  14.  Amnesty International continues to call for all charges against Aleksandr Nikitin to be dropped. The organisation is gravely concerned about the reports that FSB officials have harassed Aleksandr Nikitin, members of his family and his lawyer.

  15.  He has subsequently (August 1999) taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Grigory Pasko

  16.  In 1993, a Russian naval journalist, Grigory Pasko, filmed a Russian navy tanker dumping radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan. The film was later shown by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation and by a TV station in Primorsky Krai, in eastern Russia. In this film and in a series of newspaper articles, Grigory Pasko showed the environmental threat caused by accidents in the decaying Russian nuclear submarine fleet. He claimed that the Russian navy had illegally dumped liquid and solid nuclear waste off the coast of Vladivostok.

  17.  FSB agents arrested Grigory Pasko in November 1997 at Vladivostok airport, on his return from an officially sanctioned trip to Japan. FSB officers also searched his apartment and confiscated documents he had gathered for his investigation. He was accused of passing classified information to Japanese agents. Although officials have admitted that none of the confiscated documents were classified, they claim that as a whole, the series of articles and TV programmes posed a threat to national security.

  18.  Following his arrest, Grigory Pasko was held in prolonged solitary confinement in a punishment cell. According to his lawyer, his health had deteriorated in detention and he was not given proper medical treatment, despite possibly having contracted tuberculosis.

  19.  A closed trial began on 21 January 1999, which raised serious questions about its fairness. The FSB classified the case a state secret, making if difficult for his lawyers to mount a proper defence. Moreover, on 27 January, the judge of the military court disqualified his attorney, Karen Nersesyan, and accused him and another defence lawyer, Anatoly Pyshkin, of leaking information on the hearing to the media. The military judge also reportedly ruled to disqualify Karen Nersesyan for his "obstructive behaviour towards the judges". This ruling was reported based on the provisions of an old Soviet law on ensuring the closed nature of a trial.

  20.  The composition of the military court also raised questions about its independence and impartiality. According to reports, the two "people's assessors" (lay judges who are not professionally trained) were officers of the coastal border guard troops. They were therefore under the command of the Russian FSB, the body which brought charges of treason against Grigory Pasko.

  21.  Grigory Pasko was released in July 1999 by the Russian Pacific Fleet military court in Vladivostok after it found that the prosecution lacked evidence to support the charges against him. The court also noted irregularities committed during the investigation and gathering of evidence. Yet, instead of acquitting him, the court found Grigory Pasko guilty of "abuse of office" and sentenced him to the maximum of three years imprisonment. Noting that this "abuse of office" had been facilitated by the negligence of Pacific Fleet officials, the court relieved Grigory Pasko of the obligation to serve the sentence, under the provisions of a recently adopted amnesty law.

  22.  Since his detention in November 1997, Amnesty International has maintained that Grigory Pasko's only "crime" was peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. Only a complete acquittal will fully recognise his innocence and act as a guarantee against any future persecution by the authorities. The organisation is calling for an independent review of his conviction by a higher court, and for the charges of "abuse of office" to be dropped.

Oleg Pazyura

  23.  In May 1997, officers from Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs arrested Oleg Pazyura, a human rights defender and retired navel officer, at his home in Murmansk. No one informed his family of his whereabouts for four days. He was reportedly charged with "slander of a person or a public official" and "a threat or violent actions against a procurator, investigator, interrogator or other officials". Shortly before his arrest, he reportedly made public allegations of violations of the judicial proces by the local courts and corruption in the procuracy. Oleg Pazyura's family was not allowed to visit him in the Murmansk pre-trial detention centre where he was being held. He was initially not given a defence lawyer after the lawyer he requested declined to represent him, allegedly fearing persecution by the authorities. He was reportedly released under an amnesty law.

Conscientious objection to compulsory military service

  24.  There is no law on a civilian alternative to military service, placing any conscientious objector under the threat of imprisonment. Amnesty International considers conscientious objectors as prisoners of conscience and campaigns for their immediate and unconditional release from prison.

  25.  Military service is compulsory for men aged 18-27. Conscientious objection to military service is recognised by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right is also recognised in the Russian Constitution (Article 59). However, parliament has still not introduced the necessary enabling legislation, or amended the Criminal Code to reflect this constitutional provision. The December 1995 attempt to pass a law on alternative service resulted in a majority of deputies voting against it. However, a law could be implemented by presidential decree.

  26.  Article 15(1) of the Constitution states that "the Constitution of the Russian Federation has supreme legal force and is directly applicable". This means that it is not necessary for the courts to await the passage of legislation in order to execute new constitutional norms. They can refer directly to the Constitution and invoke its human rights provisions. Article 15(4) should offer further protection. It allows for direct application of the norms of international law if national law conflicts with them (or if corresponding domestic laws have not been established). In some instances, individual judges have dismissed criminal charges brought against a conscientious objector on the grounds that they violate the Constitution. Indeed, in 1996, a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation stated that "refusal to carry out military service for religious convictions does not constitute a crime". In most cases though, conscientious objectors continue to face conviction and imprisonment.

  27.  In October 1997, the government enacted a restrictive and potentially discriminatory law on freedom of conscience and religion. Although it enshrines religious freedom, it bans all religious confessions which have not previously formally existed in Russia for 15 years from actively seeking converts. Amnesty International is gravely concerned that young men who claim conscientious objection to military service based on their religious beliefs and participation in confessions whose activities have been restricted by this law, have often not been considered as legitimate conscientious objectors. Vitaliy Vladimirovich Gushchin, a 22-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Kurchatovo, Kursk Region, was sentenced to a one and a half year prison sentence for refusing to carry out military service because of his religious beliefs. The Kursk Regional Court ruled in December 1997 that he is a member of a "sect" and that his claims to religious beliefs were therefore "groundless". Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience. Gushchin was released in July 1998 pending further investigation of his case. Two other conscientious objectors, Vasiliy Bazhenov and Vsevolod Sukhanov, were still awaiting trial at the end of 1998.

  28.  Following several failures to enforce the conscription of conscientious objectors through the courts, the Military Conscription Committee also resorted to removing conscientious objectors forcibly to military camps. Amnesty International has urged the authorities to release any prisoners who were convicted solely for exercising their right to conscientious objection, and release any conscientious objectors from forcible military duties.

THE DEATH PENALTY

  29.  Before 1996, Russia had one of the highest execution rates in the world. However, when the Russian Federation acceded to the Council of Europe on 28 February 1996, it committed itself to suspending all executions, pending the full abolition of the death penalty within three years. It appeared that executions continued after this date. Sixty three people were later confirmed as having been executed in the first six months of 1996, although other official statements have put the number of executions in 1996 as high as 140.

  30.  At the end of January 1997, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution strongly condemning continued executions in the Russian Federation. It threatened not to accept the credentials of the Russian delegation at the next session unless executions stopped. In February 1997, the Chairman of the Presidential Clemency Commission affirmed that no executions had been carried out in Russia since August 1996 and urged the State Duma to pass legislation confirming the existence of a moratorium.

All death sentences commuted

  31.  On 3 June 1999, Amnesty International welcomed President Yeltsin's decision to grant clemency to all prisoners on death row and to commute their death sentences to prison terms. This groundbreaking decision followed a Russian Constitutional Court ruling in February banning judges from sentencing people to death until the jury trial system is introduced everywhere in the Russian Federation.

  32.  Much work remains to be done though. Parliament still needs to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which Russia signed in April 1997. Parliament should also enact legislation, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, to remove the death penalty from the Russian Criminal Code and the Russian Constitution should be amended to exclude the death penalty.

  33.  On 3 and 4 June 1999, an Amnesty International delegation took part in a conference on the abolition of the death penalty, at the invitation of the Russian Presidential Administration. At this forum, the organisation called on the authorities to initiate a Federal Programme for Public Education about the realities of the death penalty. This Federal Programme could be introduced by a Presidential decree and should be undertaken jointly by officials from the Presidential Administration and the different government ministries, as well as non-governmental organisations, the media and educational insitutions.

TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS

  34.  Amnesty International has received numerous reports of torture and ill-treatment of criminal suspects in police custody throughout the Russian Federation. In April 1997, Amnesty International published a report "Torture in Russia: This man-made Hell" (AL Index: EUR 46/04/97), which outlined the organisation's concerns about the practice of torture throughout the Russian Federation. The Russian Presidential Commission on Human Rights noted that in 1994 more than 20,000 Interior Ministry employees were disciplined for breaking the law when conducting investigations and interrogations. There was reason to believe that this figure seriously underestimated the real scale of violations. The Commission concluded that, under the guise of fighting crime, there was a tendency to expand the powers of security and law enforcement agencies to the detriment of Consitutional rights and guarantees.

  35.  In June 1997, President Yeltsin rescinded his 1994 decree on fighting organised crime, as well as the part of a 1996 presidential decree allowing for incommunicado detention. At the beginning of July, the Russian Consitutional Court ruled that a similar presidential decree on fighting organised crime in the Republic of Mordovia violated citizens' Consitutional rights.

  36.  In February 1998, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Mordovia reportedly convicted several officers on charges of torturing criminal suspects in custody. The Office of the Procurator in the Republic of Mordovia brought the case after a series of incidents including the death of 19-year-old Oleg Igonin. He was arrested for burglary (a charge of which he was posthumously cleared) and tortured by several police officers. He was eventually asphyixiated when officers put a gas mask on him and cut of the air supply (the "slonik" torture method). The Mordovian Supreme Court sentenced two officers to nine-and-a-half years in prison and five others to terms ranging from three to five years. In addition, the court ordered the Mordovian branch of the Interior Ministry to pay 200,000 rubles ($33,000) to Oleg Igonin's mother and more than 100,000 rubles to others who have been tortured in custody.

  37.  In June 1999, Amnesty International received assurances from the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs that all steps would be taken to stop torture and ill-treatment of suspects in custody by law enforcement officials and that all such allegations would be promptly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

  38.  In response to the authorities' invitation to contribute to the drafting of a federal program for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Amnesty International presented a "Working Document" setting out 51 recommendations to improve human rights protection in line with international standards. Senior officials responded, stating that lack of financial resources, the transition to the market economy and the high level of crime were the main obstacles to adequate protection of human rights.

TORTURE, ILL-TREATMENT AND UNLAWFUL DEATHS IN THE ARMY

  39.  Officers of the armed forces continue to permit, encourage and often participate in "dedovshchina", the violent and cruel hazing of young recruits. At best, "dedovshchina" involves forcing recruits to perform menial tasks, often outside official duties. At worst, it leads to beatings, torture, murder, and suicide. Soldiers' Mothers groups all over Russia insist on limiting the use of the term "dedovshchina" to cases of violent abuse, torture and ill-treatment of soldiers in the army.

  40.  Many observers believe that the Russian army today is a prison-like, gulag-style institution, "Torture by hunger", rape, beatings, and other humiliating and degrading punishments continue to be practised in the army. The Ministry of Defence reported that 423 soldiers committed suicide in the Russian army in 1994 and that an additional 2,500 died as a result of "criminal incidents". In 1995, the Ministry of Defence reported that 392 military personnel died from various non-combat-related causes, one third from suicide. The Mothers' Rights Foundation estimated that approximately 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers died from abuse or committed suicide in 1995. Soldiers often do not report acts of "dedovshchina" to officers for fear of reprisals. Few cases are referred to the courts. In a number of units, torture and ill-treatment is at such high levels that officers have been ordered to sleep in the barracks until the situation improves.

  41.  For example, it was reported on 13 May 1998 that a young soldier (his name is not known) was beaten to death while serving in the 205th Motor-Rifle Brigade of the Russian army, stationed in Budyonnovsk, Stavropol Territory. He allegedly died of injuries inflicted by an older soldier for refusing to mend his shoe. Amnesty International learned that this serviceman was reportedly the 14th victim of "dedovshchina" in the 205th Brigade in the year and a half since it was stationed in the town of Budyonnovsk, after withdrawing from the conflict in the Chechen Republic. During this period over 350 soldiers have reportedly complained about ill-treatment to the Budyonnovsk and Stavropol committees of Soldiers' Mothers. In October, the Office of the Procurator General stated that it was concerned about the abuses. No investigation was known to have been set up into the allegations of torture.

PRISON CONDITIONS

  42.  Prison conditions, particularly for those awaiting trial, amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Prisons are grossly overcrowded and thousands of prisoners have no individual bed and have to sleep in shifts, often without bedding. Many cells are filthy and pest ridden, with inadequate light and ventilation. Food and medical supplies are frequently inadequate. The insanitary conditions mean that illness spreads rapidly; lung, circulatory and skin diseases, especially tuberculosis and scabies, are widespread. Mental illness is also common. Some prisoners have waited years in such conditions before their cases have come to trial.

  43.  On 6 October 1997, President Yeltsin signed a decree "On Reforming the Penitentiary System of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation". In accordance with recommendations of the Council of Europe and the UN Committee against Torture, the decree envisaged step-by-step reform of the penitentiary system, including its transfer from Interior Ministry control to that of the Ministry of Justice. The transfer took place in September 1998.

  44.  In June 1999, Amnesty International welcomed the adoption by the Russian State Duma of a new law designed to grant amnesty to around 100,000 detainees and prisoners in the Russian Federation. However, the authorities should not regard the new amnesty law as a quick-fix solution aimed at easing heavily overcrowded conditions. The authorities need to reform the whole justice system, rather than simply adopting amnesty laws to release thousands of detainees, many of whom should not have been detained in the first place.

  45.  It was reported that the amnesty applies to people convicted of non-violent crimes, war veterans, pregnant women and women with children, adolescents, elderly people and invalids. However, it is still not clear how many people will actually benefit from the June 1999 amnesty. A 1997 amnesty law was not fully implemented and far fewer than the envisaged number of prisoners were released. It has been reported that thenew law will apply only to up to 17-18,000 detainees in pre-trial detention, where conditions are the worst. At the time of the adoption of the law, there were about 350,000 detainees in pre-trial detention and temporary isolation detention centres in the Russian Federation.

  46.  People charged for "theft in a gang" are excluded from the new amnesty law. Most cases of charged or convicted adolescents appear related to petty theft in a gang. According to official statistics of 1999, there were more than 21,000 adolescents under 18 held in pre-trial detention centres and colonies in the Russian Federation. Independent sources etimate that only up to 1,000 adolescents may benefit from the new amnesty.

THE PRACTICE OF REFOULEMENT OF REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

  47.  Legal provisions for refugees and asylum-seekers are inadequate. Many are at risk of repatriation to countries where they would be in danger of grave violations of their human rights. For example, Guram Absandze was forcibly repatriated to Georgia on 19 March 1998. He had been Minister of Finance in the government of former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Vice-President of the "Georgian Government in Exile". Amnesty International feared he would be at risk of grave violations of his human rights, specifically torture or ill-treatment.

  48.  On 3 July 1997, a law came into force "On Amendments and Additions to the Law of the Russian Federation `on Refugees'". Amnesty International is gravely concerned about certain aspects of the law and believes that it fails to live up to Russia's obligations under international law. For example, it states that asylum-seekers who have passed through a third country where they could have been recognised as a refugee are to be excluded from substantive consideration. This is a worrying incorporation of the "safe third country" concept which has become common in Western Europe.

  49.  Amnesty International is also concerned that asylum-seekers declaring themselves at the border are not given the right properly to appeal a negative decision. The organisation is concerned that asylum-seekers will be rejected summarily at the Russian border. For example, an African asylum-seeker (his name and nationality are being kept confidential because of concerns for his safety) was forcibly returned to his home country on 16 October 1997, without, reportedly, any consideration of his claim by the Russian authorities. Amnesty International fears he may be subjected to human rights violations in his home country.

EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION

  50.  One possible extrajudicial execution was reported in 1998, that of Larisa Yudina, a journalist and editor of the opposition newspaper Sovetskaya Kalmykia in the Republic of Kalmykia. Her body was found in June 1998 with a fractured skull and multiple stab wounds. She had received repeated warnings to stop her critical reporting on the Kalmykian President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, whom she accused of corruption. On the night she was killed, a man reportedly telephoned her, offering documents relating to her investigation of corruption. She reportedly went to meet the man and never returned.

  51.  According to reports, the trial of three people charged with her murder opened on 1 July and was adjourned quickly because the defence accused the prosecutor of legal impropriety. The three men on trial were Sergey Vaskin, a former aide of President Ilyumzhinov, Vladimir Shanukov and Sergey Lipin. The first two were charged under Article 105(2) of the Russian Criminal Code with premeditated murder. The third suspect, Sergey Lipin, was already serving a separate prison term for murder, but, at the time of Larisa Yudina's murder, he was allegedly on a brief holiday granted to him for exemplary conduct. He was charged with helping to cover up the murder. A fourth suspect, the former representative of Kalmykia in the Volgograd Region, Tyurbya Bashomodzhiyev, was relieved of criminal responsibility, allegedly for his confession and assistance to the investigation.

  52.  It was reported that shortly after the trial began, the defence called for the prosecutor to be replaced since he had taken part in the murder investigation, including interrogations and was likely to be biased. The judges accepted the motion, and announced a week-long recess.

  53.  Galina Starovoitova, a member of parliament and co-Chairperson of the Democratic Russia Party, was killed in St Petersburg in November 1998. Amnesty International believes that her murder was politically motivated. She was an outspoken critic of corruption among the political elite, an opponent of the communists and nationalists in parliament, and an active human rights defender. According to police, a man and a woman shot Gialina Starovoitova and one of her aides, Ruslan Linkov, in the stairwell of her apartment. Galina Starovoitova died instantly. Her aide suffered serious head wounds. Two days before her murder, eight FSB officers alleged at a press conference that the FSB had been involved in extortion, terrorism, hostage-taking and contract killing.

THE "PROPISKA" SYSTEM

  54.  The residence permit or "propiska system" violates the right to freedom of movement, guaranteed by the Russian Constitution and a 1993 law on the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to freedom of movement, as well as a number of international instruments. Under the "propiska" system introduced by the Soviet regime, people were obliged to register their place of residence and were forbidden to move or change it without official permission. In 1991, by decision of the Soviet Constitutional Supervision Committee, the "propiska" system was abolished and the Committee ruled that the legal restrictions on the freedom of movement would be invalid as of 1 January 1992. However, the situation has not changed in practice. Since 1994, local governments, including Moscow, Moscow Region and St Petersburg have passed local decrees and regulations introducing or reinforcing strict rules that require prior official permission for residence.

  55.  Laws restricting movement and choice of residence have also been passed at the federal level. A July 1995 government resolution (No. 713) had the effect of creating a new "propiska" system requiring prior authorisation of residence. In October 1995, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a special instruction on the implementation of the Rules. This reportedly led to the creation of a special database containing information not just on persons who have committed an offence, but on virtually everyone in the country, tracking their places of residence and all their movements.

  56.  The lack of a "propiska" makes specific ethnic groups an easy target for law enforcement officials. Most of the reported cases of torture and ill-treatment of ethnic Chechens, Armenians, Azeris, and members of other ethnic minorities have happened after the victims were apprehended on the initial pretext that these persons did not have a valid "propiska".

  57.  On 2 February 1998, the Russian Constitutional Court ruled as unconstitutional a number of articles and regulations included in government resolution 713. The Court, in practice, ruled to abolish the illegal practice of the "propiska" system. The Mayor of Moscow, Yuriy Luzhkov, allegedly said that he would not comply with the ruling of the Constitutional Court.

  58.  In February 1999, the Russian Constitutional Court ruled again to abolish the need for residence permits. The government at federal and local level had failed to inform law enforcement officials that the system was abolished, or that federal laws and the Constitution overrode local regulations.

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT WOMEN'S RIGHTS AS HUMAN RIGHTS

  59.  Amnesty International believes that states may be held accountable for their failure to prevent or redress abuses of women's rights committed by private persons. Both the UN General Assembly (in 1993) and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1992) affirm that states should exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women, whether these acts are perpetrated by the state or by private persons. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action also recognises the obligation of governments to protect and promote women's rights.

  60.  Victims of domestic violence rarely have recourse to protection from the authorities in the Russian Federation. According to reports, police officers are frequently reluctant or even unwilling to involve themselves in what they see as purely domestic disputes. Many women are deterred from reporting such crimes because of this and because the housing system makes it difficult either to find housing outside the family dwelling or to expel an abusive spouse, even after a final divorce action.

  61.  According to official government information released in 1997, almost 11,000 women reported rape or attempted rape in 1996. It was reported that Yekaterina Lakhova, the President's advisor on women's issues, has estimated that 14,000 women are killed by husbands or family members each year. However, these statistics are believed to underestimate the extent of the problem, due to the under-reporting of cases by victims.

  62.  A further widespread violation of women's human rights is the trafficking of women from the Russian Federation. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, the number of women trafficked from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has increased substantially every year. Official statistics estimate that 50,000 women leave Russia permanently each year, although unofficial estimates indicate that hundreds of thousands of women leave annually. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that each year 500,000 women are trafficked to Western Europe, the first region to receive large numbers of women trafficked from the Russian Federation.

ARMED CONFLICT IN THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC: THE NEED REMAINS FOR INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS AND "FILTRATION CAMPS"

  63.  Massive human rights violations took place during armed conflict in the Chechen Republic. From its beginning, in December 1994, the Russian authorities showed a marked disregard for the rules governing armed conflict. It is estimated that over 30,000 civilians were killed in the conflict, many as a result of indiscriminate attacks by Russian Federation forces on densely populated residential areas. The Russian Presidential Commission on Human Rights stated that the total number of war-related deaths in the capital, Grozny, alone can be estimated at approximately 27,000 people. Men, women and children were victims of extrajudicial executions and hostage-taking. Allegations of rape have also been made against the Russian forces.

  64.  During the conflict, the Russian army set up detention camps called "filtration camps". Chechen men between the ages of 16 and 55 were moved to such "filtration camps". There have been reports of widespread beatings and torture of detainees held in camps. Hundreds were detained without trial. According to official information, 1,325 people passed through the "filtration camps" between 11 December 1994 and 22 July 1995.

  65.  In a letter to Amnesty International of 17 December 1997, officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that during the period 1995-96, criminal cases had been opened against 15 servicemen from the Ministry of Interior troops for crimes against the civilian population during the conflict. Two were sentenced by military courts; in the rest of the cases trials were still pending. The letter did not, however, specify the exact crimes for which the 15 servicemen were charged, nor the exact sentences the two convicted persons had received.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S CONCERNS ABOUT VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS RELATING TO THE RENEWED ARMED CONFLICT IN THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC

  66.  Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the continuing bombing in Chechnya carried out by the Russian military over recent weeks has resulted in civilian deaths and thousands of displaced people fleeing the Chechen Republic. International humanitarian law prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian sites. It also requires stringent safeguards when carrying out attacks against military objectives, including giving effective advance warning of attacks which may effect the civilian population. The Russian military has stated that its air attacks on Chechnya are aimed at legitimate military targets, which were strongholds of Islamic armed guerilla groups in the Chechen Republic. Russian military officials have denied targeting civilians and civilian sites during the air attacks.

  67.  Authorities in the Chechen Republic claim that since the beginning of the bombing, 400-500 civilians have been killed and over 1,000 wounded, with half of those killed and wounded, allegedly women and children. For example, it was alleged that during the air raids on 27 September, the Russian military bombed a school and housing estates in the town of Staraya Sunzha, in the north of the capital Grozny: 21 civilians were reportedly killed and 44 wounded. During an air strike on 24 September along the Rostov-Baku highway in the area of the town of Samashki, eight civilians travelling on a bus were allegedly killed. Reports from Chechnya claimed that a number of areas with heavy civilian concentration, including a television station, have been subjected to shelling. Amnesty International is not able to assess the exact number of civilian casualties or to determine the circumstances surrounding their deaths because the current security situation makes it very difficult for independent media and human rights observers to obtain access to Chechnya. However, available reports on several incidents suggest that Russian forces are not taking all necessary precautions to protect civilians.

  68.  The intensified air raids have driven, according to official estimates, over 100,000 men, women and children to flee Chechnya and seek refuge in the neighbouring Russian Federation's Republic of Ingushetia. The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations claimed that just over 13,000 displaced persons have been registered in Ingushetia. However, Amnesty International is concerned about reports that the majority of civilians who fled the bombing do not have any special status as internally displaced people and therefore do not have regular access to medical care and social services.

  69.  At the same time, Russian law enforcement officials and local authorities in Moscow and other big cities launched what appeared to be a massive intimidation campaign to enforce the unlawful practice of "resident permits" or "registration", which allegedly targeted mainly Chechens and other people from the Caucasus. Reports suggested that up to 20,000 non-Muscovites were rounded-up by the police last week and more than half of them were refused official registration and a resident permit. Officials in Moscow claimed that some 10,000 non-Muscovites who lacked resident permits and were refused registration, have been deported from the city. Reports over the past two weeks indicated deliberate targeting, detention and expulsion, including incidents of ill-treatment in custody of Chechens and other "darker" people from the Caucasus by Russian law enforcement officials and the local authorities in Moscow and other big cities in the Russian Federation.

VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC

  70.  A criminal code developed in the Chechen Republic has introduced Shari'a law into the judicial practice of the Chechen Republic. Despite the positive steps taken by the Russian Government towards abolition of the death penalty, executions continued to be carried out under the provisions of the Chechen Shari'a Criminal Code.

  71.  In 1997, Assa Larsanova, her sister Mariam and a man whose name is not known were sentenced to death by the Chechen Supreme Shari'a Court. Assa Larsanova had her execution postponed when doctors established at the last moment that she was pregnant. Her two co-defendants were publicly executed by firing squad on 3 September.

  72.  According to Chechen Shari'a law, Assa Larsanova may be killed as soon as she stopped breast-feeding her new baby. She may now face execution. Assa Larsanova maintains her innocence. She was allegedly not given access to a defence lawyer before or during the trial. According to her relatives, she was repeatedly beaten and otherwise ill-treated by her husband during their marriage. She reportedly left home several times in order to escape this treatment and hid in relative's homes.

  73.  On 30 June 1999, the Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov revealed that 11 people were executed during the first six months of 1999, seven of whom were citizens of Russia. Reportedly, the Chechen President's statement came as a reply to allegations by the Russian authorities that the Chechen leadership was unable to stop the drug trafficking and drug production in Chechnya. President Maskhadov was quoted as saying: ". . . Unlike the laws of Russia, the laws of Chechnya punish distributors of narcotics on the territory of Chechnya with a death sentence". In June, the scope of the death penalty in Chechnya was widened to include blood feud murders.

  74.  The Chechen Shari'a Criminal Code provides for a variety of corporal punishments, in violation of the prohibitions of torture and ill-treatment in the ICCPR and the UN Convention against Torture. For example, article 168(b) provides for amputations of the right hand from the wrist and the left leg at the ankle for a theft or a robbery. A number of articles provide for corporal punishment in the form of caning.

  75.  Regardless of its current legal status, the Chechen Republic still remains bound by the international human rights obligations of the Russian Federation, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment. Amnesty International does not promote or oppose any particular system of justice, urging only that it conforms to internationally accepted standards. Amnesty International has called on the Chechen President to grant clemency immediately to all prisoners currently on death row in the Chechen Republic. The organisation also called for revision of the provisions of the Chechen Shari'a Criminal Code, which provide for the death penalty and corporal punishments, with a view to abolishing the death penalty and all acts which constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

  76.  Continuing abductions of journalists, media employees, humanitarian aid workers and Russian political representatives in Chechnya led to questions about the ability of both the Russian and Chechen authorities to guarantee the safety of civilians and to allegations of acquiescence by Chechen officials in such abuses. Among those taken hostage was Valentin Vlasov, the Russian President's plenipotentiary representative in Chechnya, who was abducted in May and released in November. In October 1998, the body of Akmal Saidov, a departmental head at the Russian Federation mission in Chechnya, was found near the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia a few days after he was kidnapped. A note attached to the body was allegedly signed "the wolves of Islam". In October 1998, three United Kingdom nationals and one New Zealander working in Chechnya were abducted in Grozny; their bodies were recovered in December. The Chechen government responded by introducing a state of emergency and initiating a crack-down on crime. In December French aid worker Vincent Cochetel, who had been kidnapped in January 1998, was released.

  77.  In October 1998, President Aslan Maskhadov dismissed the entire government of the Chechen Republic. A new government was approved in December and the Parliament was suspended by the Supreme Shari'a Court, which ruled that it contravened Islamic law. RECOMMENDATIONS<jf4>Prisoners of conscience and conscientious objection:

—  The Government should immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience, including those who have been convicted solely for exercising their right to conscientious objection. Conscientious objectors should be immediately and unconditionally released from forcible military duties.

—  The Russian President and parliament should make viable the constitutional right to conscientious objection, through legislation creating alternative civilian service of non-punitive length.

—  The government should inform the military authorities involved in conscription that constitutional provisions and the provisions of international standards take precedence over the internal rules and regulations, local decrees and institutional instructions governing their activities.

  The death penalty:

—  The death penalty should be excluded from Russian Law and the Constitution. Parliament should ratify Protocol No. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

—  The Council of Europe and the other European Union institutions should be encouraged to continue their technical and financial support for the initiatives included in a campaign of public education. Amnesty International has expressed its willingness to help these efforts by providing expertise and world-wide knowledge on the issue of the death penalty.

  Torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials:

—  The Government and the parliament should criminalise torture as a distinct crime with appropriate punishments under the national law, as defined in the Convention against Torture.

—  The Government should abolish all federal, local or institutional acts, rules and regulations allowing detention for longer than 48 hours without judicial authorisation and access to counsel;

—  Confessions extracted under torture should never be allowed as evidence in court.

—  The Government should ensure that every victim of torture has access to the means of obtaining redress and an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible.

—  The Government should take immediate steps to address the concerns and the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Committee against Torture.

—  The Federal Government should uphold and enforce the 1998 Constitutional Court's decision ruling illegal use of resident permits and a resident registration system in Moscow and the whole territory of the Federation. The Government should inform all local government and law enforcement officials regarding the prohibition of resident permits.

  Torture, ill-treatment and unlawful deaths in the army:

—  The Government should ensure that information regarding the absolute prohibition against the use of torture and ill-treatment is fully included in the training of military personnel, conscripts themselves and other members of the armed forces.

—  The Government should establish an effective system of civilian control over the activities in each army unit, especially with regards to investigations of cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment.

—  The Government should take immediate steps to address the concerns and the recommendations of the Committee against torture; and take urgent measures to stop the practice of torture and ill-treatment in the army, know as "dedovshchina", and conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations into all individual complaints by conscripts and their families.

  Prison conditions:

—  The Government should end torture and ill-treatment in prisons, and address conditions of detention amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

—  The Government should take immediate steps to improve conditions of pre-trial detention, including limiting the period of detention pending trial and making effective use of the system of release on bail for suspects charged with non-violent crimes, notably women and adolescents.

—  The Government should ensure implementation of the government federal programme for construction of new and reconstruction of the existing pre-trial detention centres and prisons, as recommended in the Presidential order of 4 April 1998.

  The practice of refoulement of refugees and asylum-seekers:

—  The Government must scrupulously abide by the internationally recognised principle of non-refoulement, including non-refoulement on the frontier, and must take steps to ensure that no person is returned to a country where he or she risks serious human rights violations.

—  The Government should take immediate and concrete steps towards establishing a fair and satisfactory refugee determination procedure.

—  All asylum-seekers at ports of entry should receive access to asylum procedures and full information on their procedural rights, in a language they understand. In particular, they should be informed of their right to contact the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

  Women's rights:

—  The government and parliament should incorporate into law the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

—  The Government should also adopt a coherent strategy to implement the Beijing Platform for Action.

  The armed conflict in the Chechen Republic:

—  The Russian federal government should investigate in a thorough and impartial manner all past and present human rights violations and abuses committed during the conflict in the Chechen Republic. Anyone found guilty of perpetrating human rights violations, regardless of their post and position, should be brought to justice promptly.

—  The Russian Government should comply with the provisions of international humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilians during armed conflict, which prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian sites, and with its other commitments to protect human rights in times of armed conflicts, including the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security adopted in December 1994, and those given to the Council of Europe upon Russia's acceptance to the Council in February 1996, including the commitment to "respect strictly the provisions of international humanitarian law, including in cases of armed conflicts on its territory".

—  The Government of the Russian Federation should take immediate steps towards providing protection and necessary assistance to all internally displaced people, who are fleeing the conflict in Chechnya to the neighbouring republics of the Federation, such as over 100,000 Chechen civilians who are currently in the Republic of Ingushetia. In these efforts, the Russian Government should follow the provisions of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, outlined in the report by the Representative of the Secretary-General, Francis Deng, to the 54th session of the Commission on Human Rights in 1998[1].

—  The Government should take measures to stop the campaign of intimidation against Chechen civilians and other people from the Caucasus who reside in Moscow and other cities of the Russian Federation, including the practice of unlawful arrests, denial of registration and resident permits and forcible expulsions.

—  The Government should take all steps to ensure access and to guarantee the safety of independent media and human rights monitors to the Chechen Republic.

  Violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic

—  The Chechen Republic should immediately stop all executions of death penalty prisoners, abolish the death penalty and grant clemency to all death row prisoners.

—  The authorities should amend all articles in the Shari'a Criminal Code which provide for corporal punishment, such as caning and amputations.

—  The authorities should investigate all cases of hostage-taking in Chechnya; bring charges and prosecute in accordance with law and internationally accepted standards for fair trial anyone found guilty of hostage-taking.

September 1999