The attorney from the Admiralty district of St. Petersburg saw signs of “a call against the current government and state structures” in the November 2012 human rights report of the UN Committee against Torture.
As evidence, prosecutors quoted multiple times the report “Roma, immigrants, activists: the victims of police abuse”.The first citation is: “The principles of the prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as minimizing the use of police violence were reflected in the current Russian legislation “(page 9).Also are extensively cited human rights assessments of police operations that violated the rights of the Roma people, cases of extortion and arbitrary violence against migrants and illegal harassment of some activists.
Furthermore, the prosecutor’s office saw violation of the law in a number of the recommendations from the report, such as “ensuring the safety of foreign citizens”, “guarantee the freedom of expression without the risk of physical and psychological violence” and the “abolition of regional laws prohibiting the propaganda of homosexuality”.
Thus, the violation of the law is detected in both the ways of acting and in the content of ADC “Memorial” human rights protection work, expressed by the writing of a report, demanding effectiv applicaton of Russian and international legislation and the presentation of this position at the UN Committee against Torture.
It is absurd to recognize the violation of the preparation of alternative reports on the implementation of the conventions ratified by the Russian Federation, and their presentation to the committees of the United Nations, because the fulfillment of international obligations in the area of police violence involves, according to the official report, an assesement of the situation by the civil society and professional human rights activists.
Based on the analysis of the report “Roma, migrants and activists: the victims of police abuse”, a report used at the meeting of the UN Committee against Torture ( where 100 copies circulated), held from the 8th to 12th of November 2012, and published on the website of ADC “Memorial” and on the website of the Committee, the prosecutor came to the conclusion that the actions of ADC “Memorial” “had violated the chapters 1, 2 article 19.34 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation”. The decree № 35-88-2013 initiating an administrative case against the Private Chartiable Institution ADC “Memorial” and a similar action against the director O.A.Abramenko signed by Attorney A.G.Yurasova was issued April 30, 2013 at 12.40 PM and within an hour was delivered by the assistant prosecutor D. Smirnov at the ADC “Memorial” office. After taking notice of the decision, O.A.Abramenko pointed out that she does not agree with the prosecuter’s conculsions and will give an explanation in court.