URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
RUS 010 / 1207 / OBS 158
Attack / Ill-treatments / Death
Russian Federation
December 5, 2007
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the attack against Mr. Farid Babaev, a prominent political activist involved in human rights activities in Dagestan, and his subsequent death.
According to the information received, on November 21, 2007, at around 9 p.m., in Makhachkala (capital of Dagestan), Mr. Babaev, who was running for the Russian State Duma elections under for Yabloko party, was returning back home from the Party Headquarters when unidentified assailants opened fire. He was then brought to hospital in a critical condition, suffering serious injury in his head, and subsequently fell in coma. A few hours later, Mr. Babaev underwent surgery. He died on November 24, 2007.
Over the past years, Mr. Farid Babaev, has been actively involved in human rights activities. In particular, he has been enquiring into enforced disappearances, torture, summary executions and police brutality. In August 2007, he had organised a roundtable for human rights in Dagestan, where he had invited famous rights defenders from Moscow.
Mr. Babaev had also organised a critical electoral campaign in Dagestan.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern at Mr. Farid Babaev's death, which is further evidence of the ongoing acts of extreme violence against human rights defenders in the Russian Federation, and urges the authorities to "take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of his or her rights", in conformity with Article 12.2 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December, 9, 1998.
The Observatory further recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Russia must conform with paragraph 8 of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions[1], which states that the OSCE Participating States recognise "the need for particular attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the OSCE, its Institutions and field operations, as well as by participating States".
Actions requested:
The Observatory urges the authorities of the Russian Federation to:
i. Conduct an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into Mr. Farid Babaev's death in order to identify those responsible, bring them to justice and sentence them according to the law;
ii. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation;
iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment against all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation and ensure in all circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iv. Guarantee that adequate reparation is provided to Mr. Babaev's family;
v. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with Article 1, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", Article 6.b, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms", as well as with the above-mentioned Article 12.2;
vi. Comply with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd Conference on the Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in Europe (CSCE) (1990), and uphold in all circumstances the principles and provisions enshrined in the international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Russian Federation and which, in particular, guarantee freedoms of association, demonstration, expression and opinion, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
vii. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by the Russian Federation.
Addresses:
- Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Kremlin, Moscow, Russia, Faxes:+ 7 095 206 5173 / 230 2408, Email: president@gov.ru;
- Prosecutor's office of Nizhny Novgorod, Fax: + 7 831 2 61 85 03
- Nizhegorodskiy district police office, Fax: +7 831 2 34 02 02
- Governor of the region, Vasily Shantsev, + 7 831 2 39 08 19
- Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Ustinov, 103793 g. Moskva K-31, Ul. B. Dimitrovka, d 15a, Russian Federation, Fax: + 7 095 292 88 48;
- Chairwoman of the Presidential Human Rights Commission of the Russian Federation, Ella Pamfilova, 103132 g. Moskva, Staraya ploshchad, d 8/5,pod 3, Russian Federation, Fax:+70952064855;
- Minister of Internal Affairs, Rashid Nurgaliev, ul. Zhitnaya, 16, 117049 Moscow, Russian Federation, Telegram: Rossiia, 117049, Moskva, Fax: + 7 095 237 49 25;
- Ambassador Leonid Skotnikov, Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in Geneva Av. de la Paix 15, CH-1211, Geneva 20, Switzerland, e-mail : mission.russian@ties.itu.int, fax: +4122 734 40 44;
- Embassy of the Russian Federation in Brussels, 31-33 boulevard du Regent, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 513 76 49.
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of the Russian Federation in your respective country.
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Paris-Geneva, December 5, 2007
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[1] Adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Kiev on July 10, 2007.
