Banned Books Week
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Stanislav Dmitrievskii
editor
Stanislav Dmitrievskii is Executive Director of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), which monitors human rights violations, and the editor-inchief of the newspaper Rights Defender. He was sentenced after publishing articles calling for a peaceful resolution of the Chechen conflict.
For publishing non-violent articles written by the late Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov and his envoy, Akhmed Zakayev, Stanislav Dmitrievskii was given a two-year suspended sentence and a four-year probationary period on 3 February 2006.
The prosecutor stated that the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society director used the society's monthly newspaper to publish criticism of the Kremlin's policies in Chechnya and the Northern Caucasus - criticism that amounted to fomenting hatred. While the RCFS has been denouncing human rights violations in Chechnya, there have been numerous cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment, "disappearances," and extrajudicial executions of its own members since 2000.
The persecution of Stanislav Dmitrievskii is part of a pattern of harassment of human rights defenders. In January 2006, President Putin signed a new law granting excessive powers of scrutiny and discretion to government authorities in monitoring non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The new law may have a stifling affect on civil society: human rights organizations will be hampered in their work, while many innocent civilians will be subject to arbitrary authority.
Believing that the prosecution of Stanislav Dmitrievskii on "race-hate" charges constitutes a violation of his right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International is calling for the sentence to be overturned.
Please send politely worded letters to the Procurator General of Russia, urging him to free Stanislav Dmitrievskii from the charges against him, end harassment of human rights defenders, and amend the new law on NGOs to bring it in line with international standards.
Vladimir V. Ustinov
Office of the Procuracy
Ul. Bolshaia Dmitrovka 15a
Moscow
125993
Russian Federation
Salutation: Dear Procurator
Ambassador Yury V. Ushakov
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: 202-298-5735
Salutation: Your Excellency
Airmail postage abroad: 84¢
