{"id":4740,"date":"2012-04-03T10:41:48","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T10:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=4740"},"modified":"2012-04-16T09:43:10","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T09:43:10","slug":"the-protection-of-civil-activist-countering-political-harassment-in-st-petersburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/the-protection-of-civil-activist-countering-political-harassment-in-st-petersburg\/","title":{"rendered":"The Protection of civil activist: Countering Political Harassment in St. Petersburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 2011 saw the realization of ADC Memorial\u2019s new project aimed at defending the rights of civil activist who have been subjected to repression and violence. In recent years, a number of social movements have increasingly come to face such victimization: environmentalists, journalists, antifascists, LGBT organizations, trade unionists, voluntary election observers, defenders of the city and even human rights activists themselves. The end of 2011 was marked by a particularly turbulent violation of the right to personal opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of self-realization.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In November in St. Petersburg attempts were made to pass laws limiting the abilities of local LGBT organizations. Only through dedicated protest and objection by human rights activists was the adoption of this homophobic law prevented. Furthermore, hundreds were persecuted in December for exercising their right to openly criticise the government, which comitted gross violations during that month\u2019s parliamentary elections. Peaceful protesters were detained for \u201cadministrative offenses\u201d, taken to court, fined, and in some cases, imprisoned. During this period, ADC Memorial provided legal help to dozens of activists who suffered unlawful detention. In those cases where an attorney\u2019s help was needed, ADC Memorial brought in lawyers and specialists in international rights.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On the 6<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup> of December in St. Petersburg, human rights activist and ADC Memorial employee Phillip Kostenko was, like many others, detained and tried for participating in the massive protests against corruption in the parliamentary elections. The court penalized Kostenko with the maximum possible sentence: 15 days in jail. This decision was clearly not guided by the \u201cseverity of the crime\u201d. Instead, they were guided by the questionable legal bias of documents presented to the court by <\/span><\/span>the Center for Combating Extremism. With the intention of \u201ccharacterizing Phillip\u2019s personality\u201d, these documents described Kostenko\u2019s various protest activities in detail. In his appeal against the activist\u2019s unlawful arrest, lawyer Sergei Golubok pointed out the inadmissibility of such evidence; the appeal also focused on numerous procedural violations during arrest and prosecution as well as breaches of the European Convention with regard to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. Serious violations of international law also became the foundation of Golubok\u2019s complaints to the European Court of Human Rights, which he filed after national courts failed to reconsider the decision unlawful. The attorney also turned to the UN special rapporteurs on freedom of assembly and speech in strengthening the his arguments. The appeal, in part, asserts that Kostenko was pursued by the Russian authories for speaking and acting in favor of the right to free and peaceful assembly. After his sentencing, Phillip went on a hunger strike to demand the release of all those detained and arrested during mass protests. In order to extend the term of Kostenko\u2019s detention, he was later pinned with other trumped-up charges. In October 2011, Phillip visited local police department in order to provide detained comrades with food and was promptly detained. Police falsely accused him of \u201cswearing in public\u201d (an article of \u201cpetty hooliganism\u201d). It appears that the police department fell back on such an arcane accusation with the intention of extending Kostenko\u2019s term. In fact, Phillip is still not free; immediately after the signing of his \u201crelease\u201d documents, Kostenko was taken to the police department to be pegged in court with new charges. Again, he was given the maximum penalty \u2014 15 days. In fact, Kostenko\u2019s first term of arrest was simply extended. Lawyer Olga Tseytlina appealed this decision, but again the defense\u2019s arguments were not given serious attention. As a result of the lack of effective means of protection in the Russian courts, a new appeal was filed to international bodies \u2014 this time to the UN Committee on Human Rights.