The Angel of Grozny Arrested. Orphans Suffering.

Arrests.

Threats.

Raided offices and confiscated computers.

A closed court case with activities surrounding it strongly implying there is no way the accused will be treated fairly. The police and the authorities not respecting the rule of law.

And all this has to do with Chechnya again, though surprisingly not in Russia but in the European Union.

The following is written for the European Court by the Lithuanian Human Rights workers. Best of luck to you and your case!

As for the kids in the orphanages... No-one has been able to create a healthy and stable future for them. That is just tragic. And totally unjust.

Please see Åsne Seierstad telling here who Mrs Gataeva really is: The Angel Of Grozny.

I also recommend this heartbreaking review in the New York Times website.

* * * * *


"Malik and Khadizhat Gataev were arrested in Kaunas, Lithuania on 15 October 2008. Until their arrest, the couple ran two large orphanages for children from Chechnya, one in Grozny, Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, and one in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Khadizhat Gataeva has been featured in many journalistic accounts, in a film like “Three Rooms of Melancholia” by Finnish director Pirjo Honkasalo) and a recent book by Åsne Seierstad, The Angel of Grozny. Gataeva has been collecting orphans from the streets of Grozny and elsewhere since the first war broke out in Chechnya.

Mrs. Gataeva first established an orphanage in a refugee camp in Ingushetia, with help from foreign sponsors, and later moved back to Grozny. The husband Malik Gataev has been residing in Lithuania for the past decade and, until his arrest, he was running another orphanage there. Mrs Gataeva kept alternating from Chechnya to Lithuania.

The arrest of Mr and Mrs Gataev was carried out by the Lithuanian State Security Department (SSD), even if the nature of charge against the Gataev - extortion of money from their adult children (out of 17 children of the orphanage eight are young adults) - demands involvement of Criminal Police. The extortion charge brought against the Gataev does not fall under the authority of State Security Department whose main tasks are intelligence, counterintelligence, protection of state secrets, anti-terrorist activities and protection of national economy and strategic objects.

The State Security has been heavily involved in the Gataev case ever since the arrest of Mr and Mrs Gataev and has been cooperating closely with Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office. The first private lawyer, who started working on the case in October 2008, dropped it shortly after his wife was ‘warned’ that she would lose the job if her husband continued working on the case.

The SSD initially blocked any access to the orphanage and kept it under strict surveillance. Evidence at our disposal indicates that the adult children of the orphanage were subjected to psychological pressure by the State Security Department and forced to report and cooperate with its agents, which in the end resulted in some of them testifying against their foster parents. Importantly, testimonies of some of the adult children were recorded on video prior to the trial. The prosecutor applied a measure of the Lithuanian Criminal Code that permits questioning of witnesses under the age of 18 prior to court proceedings, not to cause a psychological trauma or other serious consequences. However, all witnesses whose testimonies were recorded are over 18.

We also possess evidence that the Prosecutor in charge of the case and SSD are currently putting pressure on the adult children of the orphanage who are considered to be victims in the case but want to provide positive testimonies in defence of their foster parents. Last week, after one of the adult children, Denis Volkovskii, expressed his wish to provide positive evidence in person during the second hearing in the case at Kaunas City District Court on 24 February 2009, SSD agents summoned him to the SSD Kaunas office on 25 February where he was questioned for six hours by 6-7 SSD employees. During the questioning session, the agents threatened to imprison the Chechen youth for two years if he refused to provide evidence against his foster parents, or deport him from Lithuania. They also suggested that the best option for the young man would be to leave Lithuania till the court trial was over. After the questioning he was diagnosed with a psychological trauma and started undergoing medical treatment.

Prosecutor Nomeda Oškutyte and two employees of SSD had also visited the orphanage on 13 Jan 2009, after the first court hearing in the Gataev case took place. The prosecutor and VSD agents asked the young adults how they had found out about the court hearing. In an attempt of intimidation, the prosecutor vaguely threatened to detain some of the young.

SSD has also been putting constant pressure on the friends and supporters of the Gataev family who showed interest in their arrest and tried to help them and the children of the orphanage. Thus some of the Gataev friends and acquaintances were detained for short periods and harassed by SSD agents.

Most recently, on 2 February 2009, Prosecutor Oškutyte with two law enforcement agents arrived at the office of a translation company in Kaunas that belongs to Gataev family friend sand supporter Gintautas Bukauskas. Law enforcement agents raided the office and confiscated two desktop computers and all the available files of documents, thus effectively depriving Mr and Mrs Bukauskas from the means to run their business and earn income. The prosecutor remarked that the company of Mr Bukauskas had been 'very active' in the Gataev case and that he had obtained a lot of testimony letters from the acquaintances of Malik and Khadizhat Gataev to be presented at the court. The prosecutor also told Mrs Bukauskas that if she does not want her husband detained for two weeks, he should better stay away from the Gataev case."

Footage: Yevloev speaking. Suomenlinna, Helsinki, 2008.

Magomed Yevloev, the Ingushetian lawyer who fought for constitutional rights for his people, was killed yesterday in Nazran by the local police forces.

He visited Suomenlinna, Helsinki last summer. Please see the footage on You Tube, linked also here.

Statement on Yevloev

Statement on the killing of Magomed Yevloev

Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, 31.08.2008

The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum is shocked to hear about the killing today of Magomed Yevloev, the publisher of the Ingushetiya.ru website.
Yevloev's main contribution was to defend legality and the constitutional rights of all citizens of his republic. He stood away from the wave of violence raging in Ingushetiya. He was a man of peace in a region plagued by relentless and uncontrollable conflict.

Yevloev did not consider himself a dissident but said that it was only his duty to report events as truthfully as possible. Due to his extraordinary courage, Ingushetians were able to tell the world how flawed the election to the Russian State Duma in Ingushetiya had been.

We remember Magomed Yevloev as a friend after he participated in the second Finnish-Russian Civic Forum in Helsinki in June 2008, speaking to the public and the press about the problems of censorship in today's Russia.

We send our most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of
Magomed Yevloev.

Helsinki, 31 August 2008

Finnish-Russian Civic Forum

Magomed Yevloev dead

According to the information I have recently received, Magomed Yevloev was killed this morning in Nazran, Ingushetia. Yevloev was a lawyer and publisher of the website "ingushetia.ru".

Yevloev was detained by the police at the airport in Nazran, and he was later delivered to the hospital - again by the police, it seems - where a wound in his head resulted to his death. According to the hospital he had been shot.

Mr. Yevloev visited us, the FinRosForum meeting last summer in Suomenlinna (Sveaborg), Helsinki. I will add a quote from him into IStori soon after I have watched his speech with my fellow Forum guys. EDIT: the footage is here.

Please see the Kasparov website for the news (in Russian).

* * * * *


This little princess is Anna Stepanovna Mazepa (later: Mrs Politkovskaya), age four, in New York where his father was an ambassador of the CCCP.

Yesterday it would have been Anna's 50th birthday.

Strange Assault In Nizhny Novgorod. Stanislav Dimitrievsky targeted again.

Dear Readers

The Following has been was sent to me by Oksana Chelysheva, a Russian journalist and Human Rights specialist. She is currently living in Helsinki under the Writer in Exile program of the Finnish PEN. I publish this with Chelysheva's agreement, and please feel free to quote or forward the text (or this link).

She feels safer, and so do the members of the movement in Nizhny, knowing the news on assault are actively spreading in the West.

The photo was taken by me, IStori, a year ago in Helsinki, when Dimitrievsky was visiting the Finnish Human Rights and Peace movements.

"On 14 August at 4.20 am unidentified people assaulted the flat where Stanislaw Dmitrievskiy, the chair of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, and his family live. The flat is located on the first floor of a five-storied apartment building.

Assaulters smashed the window pane of the living room with a silicate brick. The brick smashed the outside pane. The inside pane sustained the blow. Thus, the brick fell down outside the flat. The brick was painted red, with swastikas and numerous insulting and threatening graffiti.

There were the following inscriptions on the entry door, "Dmitrievskiy vermin traitor of Russia ap.24 Believe it!" Swastika followed them. There was an inscription on the kitchen window pane, "Get away!" and a swastika. The inscription on the side part of the door (next to the code key) stated, "Dmitrievskiy is a whore". There was another insulting inscription below the kitchen window on the wall of the house.

Dmitrievsky's neighbors claim that they spotted two suspicious people. They explained that they were woken up by barking of the dog that the residents of the apartment building have been taking care of. As they thought that those might be car thieves, they looked out and threatened that they would shoot at them from an air-rifle. As it was still very dark, they could discern only the silhouettes of the two people dressed in sport suit, one of them having luminescent pigment on the side stripes.

Dmitrievskiy immediately called the police. The patrol police arrived in some forty minutes and the investigators came to the site of the accident only at around 7 am. They only scraped off some paint to examine it and took the brick with them as evidence. In their words, the case will be investigated by a local policeman. The photo footage of all the inscriptions and the site was carried out by the Nijny Novgorod Committee against Torture.

We connect the assault with the coming publication of the research into the international criminal law that the staff of the organization has been working on for the last a year and a half as well as the open letter to Vladimir Lukin, the Russian ombudsman, with regard to the armed conflict with Georgia."

Oksana Chelysheva

"I am calling you, president Bush..."

The following has also been published in Herald Tribune, titled as "Confront to Kremlin".

Because this is so very important, and as I am very, very busy now with a lot of writing for my work, I just add this here.

I can't help thinking it is so sad to appeal to Bush, the great inventor and launcher of the stupidities like "the Axis Of Evil" and "War Against Terrorism", since he handed those total bullshit-like definements to Putin like gifts on a plate. Very useful for Putin's equally stupid rhetorics against Chechnya, they were.


* * * * *

(Oksana Chelysheva's text beginning from here.)

As President George W. Bush prepares to meet with President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dimitry Medvedev in Sochi on Sunday (6 April), I hope he will remember the pledge he made in his second inaugural address in 2005. In that memorable speech, he promised that the United States would not ignore oppression and that it would stand with those who stand for liberty.

Thousands of Russians like myself have been speaking out and standing up for liberty and paying a heavy price. Some of us, like Anna Politkovskaya, have paid the ultimate price. The rest of us have suffered threats, defamation in the media, physical assault, fabricated prosecution and interference or obstruction of our work.

We hope that Bush will not excuse our oppressors, who act in the name of Putin.

There used to be a time when reforms announced in Russia promised to empower citizens and take Russia on a democratic path. Many people inside Russia and abroad wanted to believe it.

What reality do we face now? Freedom of speech in Russia has been curtailed to the size of a poppy seed. The Kremlin has allowed the existence of a few independent media outlets as a cover for its systematic destruction of free journalism. Political prisoners are becoming a common reality: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Yukos prisoners; scientists accused of espionage; Muslims, many of whom have been accused of supporting extremism only because they practice their religion; people in Russian cities who dare to take to the streets in hope that their voices will be heard. They are being beaten up by baton-wielding police. They are being taken into custody. They are being charged with absurd accusations of assaulting the police force. They are being subjected to enforced psychiatric treatment.

The last two election campaigns in Russia, both parliamentary and presidential, were nothing but a mockery. The main purpose of our elections has been to secure the authoritarian regime that is being created in Russia.

The situation in my home town of Nizhny Novgorod, the third biggest city in Russia, located some 300 miles from Moscow, is a perfect example of the real face of the Kremlin. It started with persecution of our small human right group, the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society that was closed down in January 2007. It continued with breaking up peaceful protests during the Marches of Dissent in March. The authorities deployed 20,000 police and military troops against an expected 2,000 protesters.

In August 2007, the police raided the offices of our new Russian organization, the Foundation to Promote Tolerance, and the Nizhny Novgorod edition of the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta and confiscated all the computers. In October 2007, they disrupted our attempt to hold a meeting in memory of Anna Politkovskaya. They even detained foreign guests who dared to come to the city.

The repression continues. On March 20, the police carried out simultaneous searches in the homes of some 20 residents of Nizhny Novgorod and the region as well as in the office of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Promote Tolerance. They have again confiscated all equipment, including cell phones and DVD players, claiming that they are combating extremism.

Dozens of grave crimes against the peaceful citizens of our country have remained anonymous and unaccounted for.

We are guilty of electing a president who, in the words of a group representing the victims of the 2004 Beslan tragedy, solves his problems by using tanks, flame-throwers and gas.

But it is not our fault that the political elite of the world gives uncritical support to our president. I hope that Bush will not join them.

A few weeks ago, I was in Prague meeting with Vaclav Havel and dissidents from around the world. Havel understands that those who stand up for liberty in Putin's Russia are engaged in the same struggle as dissidents in Cuba, Burma, Iran, or North Korea, countries that Bush has found easy to criticize in public for their violations of human rights. Will he do less for us when he visits Russia?

We are committed to human rights and non-violence. We stand for liberty, but we suffer oppression from our government. Unfortunately, the Russian authorities seem determined to make an example of us, presumably to intimidate others who share our views so that they think twice before speaking out.

I am calling on you, President Bush, not to avert your eyes from the many Russian citizens in Grozny, Nasran, Beslan, Volgodonsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Murmansk, and Saint Petersburg who feel neglected and ignored in both their protests and suffering. Please stand with us as you meet with our oppressor.

Oksana Chelysheva, a Russian journalist, is the director of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance and a spokeswoman for the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

What an insult!

This is hilarious. I mentioned this the other day:

On 21 March 2008, some members of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) made a snowman outside the regional prosecutor’s office in Nizhny Novgorod.



The nine opposition activists hung a sign on the snowman reading “The Biggest Extremist”.


The chief of local police came out and tore the sign, saying the opposition activists had “insulted the snowman”. The police then arrested five of the activists. Local NBP activists will file a formal complaint for unlawful detention against the chief of police.


I think it was the police who insulted the snowman, don't you agree? And soon at least prosecutors are busy with work.

According to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 1,
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, and

Article 6.b 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.

Unfortunately snowmen do not have these rights – no, in Russia they certainly don't.

Update on Nizhny. The police harassing human rights activists.

Dear Readers

The following text is an update written by Oksana Chelysheva. Please also take a look at the previous post on IStori.

More about this in Russian on the Kasparov website, kasparov.ru.


*******

This morning, on March 20, 2008, a new wave of searches were carried out by the police in Nizhny Novgorod city and Arzamas town located in the region.

The police raided the offices of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance. Then they confiscated all the computers at the offices. Afterwards the office was closed and sealed.

The police have also confiscated a mobile phone of Stanislaw (Stas) Dmitrievsky, a member of the board of the Foundation and the chair of the Finland-registered Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

Besides it, since early morning the investigatory committee has been conducting searches in the private flats of some other people associated with the Other Russia movement. Searches are being carried out in flats belonging to Ilya Shamazov, Yury Staroverov, Evgeniy Lygin, Elena Evdokimova, Ekaterina Bunicheva and Igor Voronin in Nizhny Novgorod, and Dmitri Iisusov and Maxim Baganov in Arzamas. These people have been active in the Other Russia movement, and in a most peaceful way. As far as I know, there has been no criminal elements whatsoever in their activities.

Shamazov, Evdokimova and Staroverov are staff members of the Foundation to Promote Tolerance. That is a Russian NGO, established to continue programs of the banned Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.

When the search in Baganov's flat was over, it became known that a criminal case has been opened under article 282.2 of the Criminal Code. Baganov has been summoned to the interrogation at 3.30 pm today. The police has confiscated his passport.

Stas Dmitrievskiy has gone to the Investigatory Committee to clarify the situation with mass searches. When I [Oksana Chelysheva, Istori reminding] managed to reach him after he returned from the regional prosecutor's office to the premises of the Nizhny Novgorod Committee against Torture, Dmitrievskiy gave the following explanation of his visit there.

According to Dmitrievsky, "the motion to search the office of the Foundation to Promote Tolerance was signed by Kozitsyn Vladimir Ivanovich, a chief investigator at the Regional Prosecutor's office. It has become known that an investigatory group has been established at the regional Prosecutor's office. All the confiscated stuff is being taken there. The staff of district prosecutors' offices is involved in these activities."

Stas Dmitrievsky discussed with Kozitsyn. In Stas's opinion, Kozitsyn was trying to pretend he didn't understand what Foundation Stas was speaking about. After long discussion with his chiefs, Kozitsyn agreed to talk to Stas. Stas feels that the prosecutor's office are aware of the likely international scandal.

The Foundation was developing the project initiated by the Russian-Chechen friendship society on application of the international law to the assessment of the war conflict in Chechnya. Kozitsyn has refused to summon Dmitrievskiy for the interrogation.

We have to remind that a number of people associated with the Other Russia in Nizhny Novgorod were interrogated as witnesses on another criminal case on alleged counterfeit software. The case was opened in October 2007 against the Foundation to Promote Tolerance, chaired by me, Oksana Chelysheva. The prosecutors also summoned former staff people who have earlier stopped working with the Foundation.

Oksana Chelysheva

And, she also added this: "we had been followed everywhere by plain-clothed policemen (up to six) for some three days. They were demonstrating their interest to our visits to banks as we had to withdraw money in cash. It is obvious that all the phones are being tapped."

Yura is gone.

I am so angry.

And ashamed. I have posted about Jura, but the beginning of that post was a bit stupid.

I spent yesterday evening with a (Russian) friend – thanks to whom this whole Chervochkin affair was in IStori in the first place. (IStori is not a big deal, but spreading the word is somewhat important.)



Jura died yesterday. His would have celebrated his 23rd birthday on the New Year's Eve.

Jura died after being beaten up by the police in fron of his home. After being in coma for a fortnight. After his mother tried to raise money from friends, organisations, everywhere, for the hospital bills. (A day in a Russian hospital cost 20 000 rubles ie. 500 euros per coma patient, we learned.)

He was his mother's only child.

My friend from Russia also told me that "Jura was a worker in an industrial plant, and he liked to spend his time off with the opposition."

Hanging out with his political friends. And with his girlfriend.

And distributing leaflets.

This autumn he started receiving anonymous phone calls and SMS's – the message of which was clear: he will die if he goes on.

"Goes on... doing what"? I asked, wanting to know why they were so eager to kill the youngster. (As if the guy was a big politician, and I'd be sorry for not having heard of him before. EDIT: But still, he was the leader of the National Bolshvik organisation, in the Moscow oblast. Yet, no reason for killing anyone...)) "They said he will die if he keeps on distributing the leaflets of The Second Russia", my friend told me. "He, as well as his friends, got several death threats under the Duma elections."

How very, very sad.


*****


Old news (situation last week):

Yuri Chervochkin from Serpukhov (Moscow Region) is still in coma after he had been beaten up on November 23, the day before the March in Moscow. He was found at the entrance to his apartment building. He suffered a grave head injury and had hurt his arm when trying to protect himself. ---

Yuri had called the office [of the local branch 2nd Russia movement] an hour before he was found with his head broken. He told that there were two UBOP servicemen who threatened him with "tearing off his head" a few days before that.

He told that he was being followed by some UBOP people who he had recognized. It was not a robbery as the assaulters didn't take the money, or a watch or an expensive mobile phone.

He has been taken to Burdenko Hospital. His doctors find his condition to be stable but grave. They tell that it is possible to save his life although the consequences of the head injury are inevitable. Yura is trying to open his eyes and he reacts to pain irritants. He has not regain consciousness. ...

Activists detained in Nizhny Novgorod. Anna Politkoskaya's legacy damaged.

Dear Friends in Nizhny, I hope you are fine. And back at your homes, hotels or offices. We know you have been arrested today.


Can you imagine? Both the organisers and (foreign) participants of a Human Rights Conference for the Memory of ANNA POLITKOVSKAYA have been arrested today.

We could see this was coming. A lot of harm has been done during these past few days by the police in Nizhny.


According to the Sobkor(R).ru news agency the five (foreigners) who were detained are Friederike Behr (Germany), Neil Hicks (UK), Sergio Kurbi (Spain), Rosaria Fernandez (Spain), and Rita Guybens (Belgium). They represent Amnesty International, League for Human Rights (Spain), and Human Rights First (USA).

Perhaps this means that the Human Rights workers, even in Russia, are many and powerful? If they were not, why bother to destroy a Conference for Promoting Tolerance?

Tomorrow a Memorial Event for Anna Politkovskaya of the same kind will be taking place in Moscow. We'll be watching you.

The following text is a press release of a New York based organisation called Human Rights first. Their representative Neil Hicks is among the detained.

Neil Hicks and Oksana Chelysheva, an organiser of the event, have been here in Helsinki a number of times, like you can see by reading IStori (tag: "Russia" on the right hand side bar).

******

Harassment by Russian Authorities Another Attempt to Avert Investigation of Politkovskaya’s Murder

Human Rights First criticized the Russian government’s harassment of organizers and participants in events planned to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, calling this interference another in a long list of official attempts to hinder a credible investigation of the journalist’s murder.

A representative from Human Rights First, who traveled to Russia to take part in the commemoration, has witnessed the government’s efforts to intimidate participants first-hand.

In advance of events scheduled for October 5-6 in Nizhny Novgorod, police raided the offices of the organizers, seizing several computers. Hotel reservations for several guests were cancelled due to a purported water leak, and a room booked for a press conference was suddenly rented for another conference. On October 5, traffic police towed away a minivan used by organizers to transport guests. Participants reported a heavy police presence at hotels and near the offices of human rights organizations.

“The Russian authorities are reminding us of the importance of Politkovskaya’s work in their own way, by trying to silence those who have gathered to commemorate her life,” said Maureen Byrnes, executive director of Human Rights First. “Instead of trying to uncover who was behind the murder, police are using their resources to harass local activists and intimidate foreign visitors.”

Human Rights First is concerned that the Russian authorities are trying to shift responsibility for Politkovskaya’s murder to unnamed forces outside the country. Ten suspects have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Despite the fact that the suspects included current and former members of Russia’s Federal Security Service, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika claimed that “only individuals located outside the territory of the Russian Federation could have an interest in getting rid of Politkovskaya.”

“We call on the Russian government to carry out a prompt, thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into Politkovskaya’s murder that takes into account the clear evidence of the involvement of individuals with close ties to the security services,” Byrnes said.

Politkovskaya’s investigative journalism had made her many enemies inside Russia. Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in her apartment on October 7, 2006, was seen by many in the Russian human rights community as a colleague and ally. She worked closely with several human rights organizations to gather information about violations in Chechnya and to help the victims of the conflict.

“Few acts have done more to create the climate of uncertainty and insecurity for Russian human rights defenders than Politkovskaya’s assassination and the government’s refusal to adequately investigate it,” said Byrnes. “Official attempts to put a slanted interpretation on this tragic event are not consistent with the pursuit of justice.”

Acts of terror. Lyudmila Kharlamova.

Grigori Pasko already mentioned this when writing for Robert Amsterdam:
12 May: Kirill Ulchuk and Lyudmila Kharlamova are detained for posting leaflets; Ulchuk cuts open his veins.

*****

A 20-year-old girl is in Russian jail because of her political work.

Separated from her family and friends, who, in turn, are detained when desperately trying to help her.

And she is being bad-mouthed by the biased Russian media.

Demonstrations for her sake are put out. By pressurizing the people in charge.

Once again I must feel sorry for anyone trying to fight for justice in that wretched, corrupt system in our huge neighbouring country.

But I have a lot of respect for all of those who do so.

Please read the story as a whole, written by Russian journalist.




Lyudmila Kharlamova

by Oksana Chelysheva, Nizhny Novgorod

Lyudmila Kharlamova lives in Orenburg. She became twenty on 25th September. No birthday party is being planned as Lyudmila’s birthday will come when she is in Orenburg investigatory prison.

Lyudmila graduated from a teaching college with all excellent marks. She can work as a teacher for deaf and dumb children. However, she can’t find any job in her native town. She gets sacked in one or two weeks, her mother tells me on phone. The reason is simple. Lyudmila is an activist of the Other Russia joint coalition and used to be the leader of a local branch of the banned Party of National Bolsheviks.

Kharlamova is a member of a steering committee of the primaries to select a candidate from the “Other Russia” coalition to run for the presidentship. She has been elected to become a candidate for the elections to the State Duma in December. Lyudmila has participated in several Marches of Dissent. She used to be the leader of National Bolsheviks in Orenburg, one of the parties recently banned in Russia under the law on Counteracting extremism.

On 13 September Lyudmila was stopped in a street by servicemen of the Department to Fight Organized Crime. It was around 9 pm. The UBOP searched her bag. Lyudmila managed to reach her family on phone and tell that one of the UBOP servicemen, Nikitin by surname, put a small bag into her pocket. Thus, they managed to organize a pretext for the girl's detention. Then they took her to the UBOP quarters and searched her there. When Lyudmila claimed that she had not seen or touched the packet with two grams of heroin, the police refused her from holding an expertize to establish signs of drugs. They didn't take the samples of substances from her hands or fingerprinted her.

The following day, September 14, the same police department searched Lyudmila's flat where she lives together with her mother, Irina Nikolaevna, and her younger sister Elena. Both of them claim that the bag had been planted by the UBOP people. The witnesses were brought by the police. They obediently signed all the papers.

Irina Nikolaevna, the mother of the detained girl, tells on phone that her daughter Elena and she were shocked to see another packet with some substance that the police took out of a bag. The policemen declared it to be some drug. Lyudmila’s mother claims that her daughter has never been a drug addict. The substance was found by the policemen in a bag that was not Lyudmila’s. That bag belongs to her younger daughter Elena but she has not used it for long.

Lyudmila was taken away. On September 15th Irina Nikolaevna was called to attend a court trial that was to set a preventive punishment for Lyudmila. Her mother had lodged complaints to the prosecutor’s office. To attend the trial, she came together with her other daughter. Three young friends of her daughters came with them to support their friends.

Irina Nikolaevna tells, “I have brought some documents to hand over to a lawyer”. What papers? She brought a reference letter from their neighbors to show what kind of person Lyudmila is as well as her diploma with excellent results.



Their small group was waiting for a lawyer outside the court building when a car drove up to them. Several policemen demanded to show their IDs. Then they told both Lyudmila’s relatives and friends to get into their car. Instead of being near her daughter, Irina found herself caged in the police station of Leninskiy district of Orenburg. No explanations… They were ordered to turn off cell phones. No connection with the outside world. No information about the fate of her other daughter. Then a policeman demanded that they write their explanations what the purpose of their staying at the court building was.

All the five of them were kept in the police station for some two hours. Then they were released. Again no explanations. Some chief officer came out to them. “I don’t know what their ranks are and he didn’t introduce himself either”, Irina tells. But she heard other policemen calling them by his surname Nyrov. He announced, “You were kept in custody on suspicion of being involved into preparing an act of terror”.

The court trial on Lyudmila turned out to be closed for public due to such vigilance of the police in preventing acts of terror. There was nobody there to observe it. When Lyudmila’s mother was let to leave the police station, she learnt that the court had ruled to take Lyudmila into preventive custody for three months.

It was just the beginning of another story of punitive “democracy” established by Putin.

On 21 September Lyudmila's relatives lodged a complaint to the prosecutor's office of Orenburg Region demanding to initiate a criminal case against the police and journalists they publicized the information form the criminal case which is prohibited by the law.

A defamation campaign has also been launched. On 19 September the local Orenburg TV channel aired video footage of the search in Kharlamova's flat. Journalists developed it in an absolutely biased way as the opinion of the side of the defense was completely ignored.

On 21 September (2006) Lyudmila Kharlamova's relatives lodged a complaint to the prosecutor's office of Orenburg Region demanding to initiate a criminal case against the police and journalists they publicized the information form the criminal case which is prohibited by the law.

A group of people tried to get authorization to hold a rally in Lyudmila's support on 24 September. The plans have been destroyed as organizers, the League Communist Youths (SKM) and the Communist Party of Russia (KPRF) had received threats, according to the press-service of the Other Russia.

(by Oksana Chelysheva)

Violation of the Helsinki Principles. Shame, shame, shame!

(Oksana Chelysheva and Zahar Prilepin in Helsinki in July. Photo: Alex Mnatsakanyan.)


Yesterday I heard from Oksana Chelysheva that the delegation of the USA at OSCE meeting in Vienna had walked out, as a protest against Russian-Chechen Friendship society not allowed to join.

That's cool, USA. Way to go!

(See the label on Istori; "Finnish-Russian Civic Forum". Lots of stuff on Oksana there.)

But what is going on in Nizhny Novgorod, how the NGO's are treated in all over Russia, that's far from anything positive or exciting. That is just brutal and destructive, for the whole civil society. If it excists. I'm not sure about that.

Oops, I'm quite sure the Kremlin does not want to encourage anyone to even think that free and equal civil society would be any goal for those in power in the modern Russia.

*****

The OSCE press release:

Exclusion of Nongovernmental Organizations a Violation of the Helsinki Principles

– Russian delegation insists on excluding an independent group

(Aaron Rhodes in Helsinki, July 2007.)

Vienna, 13 September 2007. The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society was excluded from a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concerning “Victims of Terrorism” on 13 September 2007, at the behest of the Russian Federation.

According to information received by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), the exclusion was made possible by a decision of the current Spanish Chairmanship of the OSCE, despite an earlier agreement that NGO participation would follow the organization’s 1992 rules. The United Stated Delegation to the OSCE left the meeting in protest, and several others expressed their opposition to the decision.

“The IHF strongly objects to this departure from the OSCE's well-established practice of allowing diverse views - even unpopular ones - to be heard,” stated Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF. “Civil society participation is what allows the OSCE to be a vivid platform for dialogue about upholding standards and implementing commitments. Some OSCE participating States apparently seek to shield themselves from scrutiny; others acquiesce.”

The IHF urges the OSCE participating States to ensure that future meetings, especially the upcoming annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, are organized in accordance with the provisions of the 1992 Helsinki Document. At that time, the participating States committed themselves to opening conferences and seminars to NGOs. Only those advocating violence are to be excluded.

The Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS) is among the most persecuted civil society organizations in the Russian Federation. Critical of Russian policies in Chechnya while delivering vital humanitarian assistance to victims of the violence there, the organization was closed down in January 2007. The decision was an application of the new NGO law, and based on the “failure” of its chair, Stas Dmitrievsky, to resign from his positions within the RCFS after his conviction for an “extremist” crime and the failure of the RCFS to publicly denounce Dmitrievsky after his politically motivated conviction. The charges against him were brought after the RCFS published appeals by the late Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and his envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, for a peaceful resolution of the Chechen conflict. Many other media have published such statements.

Aaron Rhodes, IHF Executive Director
Joachim Frank, IHF Project Coordinator

*****

Chelysheva, and Stas Dmitrievsky in Helsinki, May 2007.

Anna Politkovskaya's birthday. The police chasing activists and media.

Anna Stepanovna at the airport in 2003.


Today Anna Politkovskaya would have had her 49th anniversary.

And what is going on in Russia at this very moment? The police is raiding the office of Novaya Gazeta in Nizhny Novgorod. The editor-in-chief, Zahar Prilepin, is in agony. Their computers are being confiscated. (Prilepin visited us last July, at the Civic Forum 2007 conference, hence the link.)

Yesterday the same kind of demonstration of police forces was carried out at the office of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Promote Tolerance, the successor to the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS). They lost their computers, too. I wonder what kinds of accusations the diligent prosecutor's office will come up with.

This new wave of threats and confrontation, orchestrated by the over-active police and probably FSB, too, is a disgrace. Ugly. Pathetic.

***

You thought Russia is partly in Europe? No, it's vice versa. Now I understand what the Kremlin has been getting at.



*****

EDIT: The office of the Nizhny Novgorod Human Rights Alliance is being raided now. According to the locals, the police want to "check out the administrative, financial, entrepreneurial and business activities" of the non-governmental organisation.

В настоящее время в офисе Нижегородского правозащитного союза (руководитель Сергей Шимоволос) ГУВД проводит проверку лицензионного оборудования на основании постановления о проведении финансовой, предпринимательской, хозяйственной и торговой деятельности по типу уже проведенных в офисах Фонда в поддержку толерантности и Новой газеты. Сотрудники организации предоставили документы, свидетельствующие, что на балансе организации нет компьютеров. Однако, сотрудники ГУВД угрожают все равно изъять компьютеры на основании нового постановления. Сотрудники НКО сообщают, что это уже четвертая проверка организации за неделю.

From Päijänne to Kirgisia

Now it is raining. Very strange. Even though it has been so dreadful in Western Europe, we have had quite nice weather here in Helsinki. And in Estonia, too.

The shortest update:

1) Congrats, LH! Though we have already celebrated you and the other two Lion friends in Graniittilinna. Wonderful food. I recommend "Kotaporo", reindeer.

2) And, AB, million thanks for the Steely Dan photos! Some of them will end up in this blog, too.

You thought I am finished with Steely Dan? No way. I love Fagen's stuff more than ever.

3) Last weekend we were in an island in the middle of Lake Päijänne. Mr HP got a huge fish, ahven, perch. (Thanks, Vaiheinen!) You will get to see a photo later, once I have been able to download them, but

4) my memory card is not working, and I can't download my 200 Päijänne photos.

5) We swam a lot, and Miss Funnybunny caught a cold. (Like her mother did, every summer.) But when Miss Funnybunny was put to bed – which was NOT easy, believe me – I swan even more. From sauna, I swam about half a kilometer in Asikkalanselkä. And the water there, it is clean, bright and fresh.

6) Now I am also organising a Women Writers' Conference in Helsinki (or helping organising it), with the Women's committee of the Finnish PEN. It is to take place next weekend in Caisa (Fennia block, Mikonkatu). Welcome, everybody. Most of our guests will come from Central Asia. Quite a number of then from Kirgisia, hence the photo below. It is from this cool Mannerheim's Way website.

Movement on solidarity. Outflanking the siege. And more coverage.

Firstly, please see what Zahar Prilepin from Nizhny Novgorod, Andrei Kolomoisky from Viborg and Andrei Dmitriev from St. Petersburg wrote about the Civic Forum.

In those pages of our guests there are also some photos of the forum. And if you want to have (more) fun, try the Google translator (into English), it should be linked there, somehow.

*****

But then.

Answers. At last.

This is what Neil Hicks from Human Rights First wrote for the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. This is just the end of his paper, and a very rare comment:

Finally someone says what should be done, instead of telling how bad and difficult everything is.

(the last chapter only)
How to Promote Human Rights and Democracy: Outflanking the Siege

Neil Hicks, Human Rigths First


The goal of international support must be to outflank the official siege that has been placed around independent Russian human rights defenders. One way to do that is to build an international coalition of support for Russian human rights defenders that mobilizes prominent individuals from the worlds of politics, academia, the arts and even sport and popular culture – people who will not be ignored by the international and even the Russian media, and who will reach an audience in Russia beyond the small constituency that is already associated with human rights and democracy.

In its efforts to resist the closure order imposed on it and to continue to function the Russian Chechen Friendship Society in Nizhny Novgorod has provided one example of how this can be done. Through inviting prominent individuals to become “supportive members” of the RCFS it has attracted public support from a number of leading European parliamentarians, as well as from internationally recognized intellectual figures like Francis Fukuyama, Andre Glucksman and Moises Naim. Such figures, and others like them, can command an audience in Russia and cannot be ignored or swept aside by the authorities.

--

The point of such initiatives, if they are to be different from what has gone before, is that they should be innovative, they should involve new constituencies, they should adopt a positive tone: emphasizing in the face of official hostility and apparent popular indifference that human rights are inclusive, universal values that are good for Russia. As many such events as possible should take place inside Russia, with the expectation that the involvement of prominent international figures, and the adoption of a message that is first and foremost pro-human rights, not anti-Putin, should provide some protection from the type of repression that has faced activities like the marches of dissent. It is also vital that international interest, support and participation in events must be sustained until such a time as the level of threat against the independent Russian human rights movement diminishes.

I hasten to add that conventional efforts to promote human rights and democracy in Russia should not be abandoned. By this, I mean the political pressure on the Russian government to abide by its international obligations in the human rights field from other governments and from international organizations, as well as the monitoring and exposure of violations and campaigning against injustices carried out by local and international non-governmental organizations. We have to recognize, however, that such conventional pressure alone has not been sufficient to bring about the desired change in the behavior of the Russian authorities.

It is vital that a sophisticated official response to international human rights pressure should not be seen to deter such pressure in the case of Russia. Repressive governments around the world seek to undermine and discredit their critics using some of the same methods. If Russia is able to get away with it, because it is a large influential country, then this would be a setback for the international human rights movement not only in Russia, but also globally.

My answer to the question -- on how to promote human rights and democracy in Russia is that we need a new international people’s movement of solidarity with independent Russian human rights activists. The institutions for exerting pressure on the Russian government to improve its human rights practices exist and we should make use of them, but the time has come for a new approach that can reach a new constituency in Russia that is sympathetic to human rights and democracy, but which has been placed beyond the reach of conventional human rights mechanisms and organizations.

The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum 2007. Thanks, everybody!

"I believe that in ten years things have changed for the better. That the civil society has by then won over the bureaucracy."
–– Lyudmila Alekseeva, Helsinki Conference & the Other Russia movement, Moscow


Alexander Mnatsakanyan in the boat. And the Finnish flag.




Panel on Freedom of the Media. Or the media not being so free. Andrey Kolomoisky, Alexander Mnatsakanyan, Grigori Pasko and Andrei Nekrasov.



"I have been a journalist for over 30 years. I started when Brezhnev was in power. And I could have never thought the day would come when a journalist is shot to death in an elevator at her home building".
–– Grigori Pasko, journalist, Moscow

Grigori Pasko



A big audience. On a hot summer day. In an island, far from the pleasures of Helsinki. Can you imagine?



"Once again, it is impossible for the opposition to really participate in these [upcoming presidential] elections".
Oksana Chelysheva, Vice Chairperson of the Russian-Chechnyan Friendship Society


Mariana Katzarova and Oksana Chelycheva



"Times are changing. Everybody around Putin want to have changes, too. And things are not stable right now. But only the future will show how the changes will be like".
–– Yulia Malysheva, Chairperson of the Popular-Democratic Youth League, and the Other Russia Movement

Yulia Malysheva being interviewed by the Finnish television.



"It [the war in Chechnya] in not 'war against terrorism'. It is terrorism. Against innocent civilians".
–– Ivar Amundsen, Chechnya Peace Forum, London

Friends taking some time off. Aaron Rhodes and Ivar Amundsen discussing in the front, while others like Katzarova, Hicks, Chelysheva, Matinpuro, Harju, Sailo and IStori having their own funny talks.



"There is also a huge on-going environmental catastrophy in Chechnya. And these problems can not be solved in some small round-table meeting. That's why we have created the All-Russian Civic Congress. Please help us in every political level and fora – in the EU, everywhere".
–– Ruslan Kutaev, All-Russian Civic Congress and advisor of the late Chechnyan president Aslan Maskhadov. Grozny, Chechnya

Ruslan Kutaev met a Finnish fan. Who looks very Chechnyan, she was told.




"[the Russian] People don't see the connection between how they vote and what takes place after the elections. Most people think their personal safety is depending on their families, not on the state".
–– Alexander Nikitin, Bellona, St. Petersburg

Oksana Chelysheva, Lyudmila Alekseeva, Alexander Nikitin, Dmitry Lanko and Yulia Malysheva. And the Rule of Law.




"I just want to live in a normal European country where people are free and not tortured".
–– Andrei Dmitriev, editor in chief, Agency of Political News

Our dear bolsheviks. Andrei Dmitriev, Zahar Prilepin and Alexei Volynets are soon heading home, what a pity...



The sad fact that Lyudmila Alekseeva is leaving is not making Ruslan Kutaev laugh. It must have been just something she said.



*********


Million thanks to our guests and co-organisers. It was great to make new friends – and to see some old ones again.

And very special thanks to Asman & her troops for the wonderful Chechnyan food!

(To see the list of speakers, please take a look at a the previous blogging on this below.)

They are coming. Alekseyeva, Chelycheva, Nikitin, Pasko, Rhodes...

There is an interesting conference taking place in Suomenlinna fortress, Helsinki tomorrow and day after, 3–4, July.

FINNISH–RUSSIAN CIVIC FORUM 2007


The guests of our Forum in alphabetical order.

Whoah. What a list. And the program is here.

LYUDMILA ALEKSEYEVA is a veteran human rights activist, founder and Chairperson of the Moscow Helsinki Group, one of the foremost human rights organisations in Russia. Ms Alekseyeva is Co-chairperson of the All-Russian Civic Congress and a Member of the Organising Committee of The Other Russia coalition.

IVAR AMUNDSEN is Director of the Chechnya Peace Forum, based in London. He was friend to both slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya and former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Mr Amundsen is a long-time campaigner for human rights.

OKSANA CHELYSHEVA is the Deputy Executive Director of the Nizhny Novgorod-based Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, which was refused registration in Russia. The society was then registered in Finland. The organisation is active in protecting the rights of Russia's Chechen minority and promoting interethnic dialogue.

ANDREY DMITRIEV is the Co-coordinator of the anti-Putin opposition's The Other Russia coalition in St Petersburg. He is the former leader of the now banned National Bolshevik Party in St Petersburg. Mr Dmitriev has been active in organising the recent Dissenters' Marches in St Petersburg.

OLGA GALKINA is a Member of the Regional Party Bureau of the liberal opposition party Yabloko's branch in St Petersburg. She is also one of the leaders of Yabloko's youth wing.

HEIDI HAUTALA is Chairperson of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. She is a Member of the Finnish Parliament, representing the Greens, and a former Member of the European Parliament. Ms Hautala was the Greens' candidate in the Finnish presidential elections in 2000 and 2006.

NEIL HICKS directs the Human Rights Defenders programme at New York-based Human Rights First. The programme assists human rights advocates under attack for their work. Mr Hicks is involved in campaigns including overseas missions, diplomatic advocacy, public education, and grassroots lobbying.

MARIANA KATZAROVA is Founder and Director of the London-based peace group, RAW in WAR - "Reach All Women in War". RAW supports women human rights defenders in conflict areas. The organisation has recently launched a special Chechnya Project. Ms Katzarova is former researcher on Russia for Amnesty International.

OLGA KURNOSOVA is the Chairperson of the St Petersburg branch of the United Civic Front, led by Mr Garry Kasparov. Ms Kurnosova is also a Co-coordinator of The Other Russia coalition and an active organiser of the Dissenters' Marches in St Petersburg.

RUSLAN KUTAEV is a Coordinator of the All-Russian Civic Congress, an umbrella organisation of Russian opposition movements, in North Caucasus. He is a Member of the Organising Committee of The Other Russia coalition. Mr Kutaev is a former advisor to late Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov.

DMITRY LANKO is Assistant Professor at the Department of European Studies of the School of International Relations at the St Petersburg State University. His expertise in Political Science spans throughout the Baltic region.

LAURA LODENIUS is Executive Director of the Finnish Peace Association. The organisation is Finland's oldest peace advocacy group in operation. The association unites a dozen peace groups in Finland.

VLADIMIR LYSENKO is Co-chairperson of the liberal Republican Party of Russia (RPR), which was closed down by the authorities. RPR is co-chaired by Mr Vladimir Ryzhkov. Mr Lysenko is a former long-time Deputy in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. He is President of the Institute of Modern Politics.

JUKKA MALLINEN is a poet and translator of Russian literature. His most recent translation is Russian journalist Valery Panyushkin's book, "Khodorkovsky: The Prisoner of Silence". Mr Mallinen is Chairperson of the Finnish PEN society and Deputy Chair of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum.

YULIA MALYSHEVA is Chairperson of the Popular-Democratic Youth League, affiliated to Mr Mikhail Kasyanov's Popular-Democratic Union of Russia. Ms Malysheva is one of the organisers of the Dissenters' Marches in Moscow.

ALEXANDER MNATSAKANYAN is a journalist who has worked as a war correspondent for various newspapers in Transdnestria, Abkhazia, and Chechnya. He has covered the conflict in Chechnya since the early 1990s. Mr Mnatsakanyan is responsible for the project on murdered journalists at the Moscow-based Glasnost Defence Fund.

ANDREY NEKRASOV is a Russian documentarist from St Petersburg, most famous for his films. “Disbelief” was about the FSB being behind the explosion in Moscok, St. Petersburg and Ryazan (which led to the Second war in Chechnya), and the latter, "Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case", about the fate of the former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko. The latter was screened at the 60th Film Festival in Cannes in May 2007.


ALEXANDER NIKITIN is Director of the St Petersburg branch of the Norwegian environmentalist organisation, Bellona. Mr Nikitin is a former submarine officer, who was charged with treason for contributing to Bellona's report on nuclear safety within Russia's Northern Fleet. He is Deputy Chairperson of the Green Russia fraction of Yabloko.


GRIGORY PASKO is a free-lance journalist, specialising in environmentalist issues. As Editor of the newspaper of the Russian Pacific Fleet, "Boyevaya Vakhta", Mr Pasko disclosed the dumping of nuclear waste into the sea, for which he was convicted to three years in prison.

YEVGENI (ZAKHAR) PRILEPIN is the Editor-in-Chief of the Nizhny Novgorod edition of "Novaya Gazeta". He is the author of several works of literature, including the novel "Sankya", which was shortlisted for Russia's Booker Prize in 2006. Mr Prilepin is a member of the banned National Bolshevik Party.


AARON RHODES is the Executive Director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), based in Vienna. The IHF monitors compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and its follow-up documents.

BART STAES is a Belgian Member of the European Parliament, representing The Greens - European Free Alliance fraction. Besides environmental issues, Mr Staes has been active in promoting peace. His interests include Chechnya, Turkey, and the Balkans.

MIKAEL STORSJÖ is Secretary of the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. He is a vocal advocate of the right of the Chechen people to decide their own fate and an ardent critic of the ruling regime in Russia.

NILS TORVALDS is a long-time broadcast journalist. He works with the Finnish Broadcasting Company's (YLE) Swedish-language service. He served as YLE's correspondent in Moscow in 1995-1999. Mr Torvalds was recently elected Deputy Chairperson of the Swedish People's Party.

ANU TUUKKANEN is Country Expert at Amnesty International's Finnish section. She coordinates Amnesty Finland's campaigning on different countries. Russia is one of Amnesty Finland's ten priority regions.

ANASTASIA UDALTSOVA is the spokesperson for the left-wing youth movement, Vanguard of Red Youth (AKM). The AKM is vocal in its opposition to the policies of Russia's present government and has been an active participant in the Dissenters' Marches.

FURUGZOD USMONOV is a contributor to the St Petersburg-based opposition newspaper, Delo. He has focused on the problems faced by Russia's ethnic minorities, especially those from Central Asia. Mr Usmonov has extensive knowledge about politics in both Russia and Central Asia.

KSENIA VAKHRUSHEVA is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the opposition youth movement, Oborona, in St Petersburg. Oborona is a movement of people who reject the injusticies, corruption, and lies of officials.

ALEXEY VOLYNETS is the Editor-in-Chief of "Limonka", the newspaper of the banned National Bolshevik Party. The newspaper continues to be published despite an official ban. The name of the newspaper is a play on words on NBP's leader, Eduard Limonov, and is idiomatic Russian for a grenade.

Why Flee Russia. The Cold War, part II

Like I blogged yesterday evening, the Cold War is alive and well.



Quoting writer and journalist Yelena Tregubova, in the today's Independent:

He [Putin] has threatened to aim Russian missiles at targets in Europe once again, just like in the Cold War, and has warned of a nuclear arms race. It is now clear that the escalation of aggression by Kremlin is the direct result of the policy of appeasement pursued by Western leaders who, during the seven years of Putin's rule, have turned a blind eye to his lynching of the opposition, the press, NGOs and all democratic institutions in Russia.

There has been no single example in history of a dictator who, sooner or later, did not become a danger to both his close and distant neighbours.

*****

The story as a whole in here.

*****

Southern Finland from space. You can also see a bit of Sweden in the West, (Northern) Estonia in the South, and the Russian waters and shore in the Eastern end of the Gulf of Finland.

I wonder...

A lot going on right now. Many questions drifting in my head:


1) How will the Summit go in Samara? Will the EU be able to discuss anything peacefully and with understanding and co-operation with Russia? Will the meeting have any influence on anything? What are the EU bosses, led by Angela Merkel, going to say about the discrimination of the Russian media and the very violent and undiplomatic scandal over the Bronze Soldier Statue in Tallinn?

Mind that Merkel knows a lot about the Soviet culture, East German as she is.

2) When will the summer of 2007 really start here in Helsinki? Please. It's still so cold here. (And do not give me anything about the Climate Change. I just want the summer to come.)

3) Will the World bank sack Wolfowitz? Or is George W. really of some help? (I would think it's on the contrary...)

4) If I started running, could I actually run? Do I need to take it easy at first – or am I not fit enough to actually run? Am I crazy, even if I'm just thinking about that? At least now that I have so good shoes. Not the FeelMax everybody has been talking about.

Marches. Class B actors. Crazy, dangerous Russia.

A friend and a respected human rights specialist, journalist Oksana Chelysheva wrote in the Guardian a most interesting comment on the latest developments in Russia.

* People marching for freedom.

* Thousands of policemen and OMON men beating them up, hospitalising activists.

* Putin meeting with a class B actor Jean-Claude van Damme, instead of paying attention in public to what was taking place in Moscow. (What was he doing in Russia, anyway?!? Judoka-Putin is a fan of his, or what?)

* Putin crazy after the Orange revolution in Ukraine!

I have written about Chelysheva earlier, about her office and a newspaper in Nizhny Novgorod being raided, see here.

Things are getting grotesque there. But are the protesters really gaining power?

If the response (from Kremlin) is so huge and violent, I am beginning to think the forces for freedom are getting more and more substantial, day by day.


******

A big part of Oksana's text:

I want my daughter to live in the Russia that I love and admire. That's the Russia of great culture and beautiful nature. It is not Putin's Russia that has alienated the countries of the free world, while cherishing allies from Hamas, Syria and North Korea. I feel furious with the Kremlin's arrogant certainty that we are just a herd who need to have a shepherd. I have participated in the marches to feel and become free.

In Nizhny Novgorod on March 24 the authorities demonstrated their readiness to apply force against peaceful protesters. Police helicopters barraged the city. Armoured personnel carriers drove into the yard of a kindergarten. Some 20,000 heavily-armed soldiers and Omon servicemen from 10 regions of Russia set against possibly 1,000 protesters. There was no march but they stirred up people's anger.

In Moscow on April 14 the number of soldiers and Omon was less: some 9,000. But the level of the authorities' fear seemed far greater. They missed our marching column because they drew all their forces into Pushkinskaya Square and Tverskaya Street. They were so paranoid about another "orange" revolution that they focused all their attentions on blocking the way to Manezhnaya Square and the Kremlin ... And cleared our way towards Turgenev Square, the site of the authorised rally.

But when an animal is wounded, it becomes 10 times more dangerous. The Omon began to chase people and beat them up. Many were injured. I went to hospital after being injured by an Omon serviceman's kick to be told that I was the 54th protester to arrive there that day.

St Petersburg the following day was even more horrific. The authorities overrode an order restricting the Omon to threatening people with batons. A number of demonstrators were subsequently hospitalised.

What was President Putin doing that spring weekend? He left Moscow for St Petersburg while his "valorous" Omon were beating people in Moscow. He spent the day in the company of Jean-Claude Van Damme. The white marble of Van Damme's teeth looked even brighter against Putin's black shirt and pale face. It seems that Putin is really trying to cope with the deep psychological injury caused by the victory of the "orange" movement in Ukraine by demonstrating an absolute neglect of the basic norms of democracy.

(end of quote)