More Repression of Activists Against The G8 in Russia

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Tuesday July 11, 2006 17:20 by g8-int@riseup.net - g8pressberlin g8info at riseup dot net berlin

Latest from St. Petersburg

Russia is on the verge of the G 8 summit which is to be hosted in Saint
Petersburg.
Appeal for International Solidarity as activists being harrassed and persecuted.

Dear Friends and Comrades!

We have to resort to you with an appeal for help and international
solidarity!

Russia is on the verge of the G 8 summit which is to be hosted in Saint
Petersburg.

At the same time our country is experiencing another series of
political
violence and reprisals.

Contrary to the official G-8 summit an alternative event has been
planned to be
held in Saint Petersburg by the Russian Social Forum.

The activists belonging to different political and grass root
organizations and
groups scattered all over Russia are coming to Saint Petersburg to
participate
in the alternative "summit". Among them are the activists of the all
Russian
Society of Hostels and Dormitories Dwellers Rights, activists of the
anti
"monetization laws" movement, trade union activists of the Siberian
Confederation of Labor and from other regions, different human right
groups
activists and many other individuals.

These persons are being harassed and persecuted by the local police and
security
services agents on their way to Saint Petersburg.

Some people are being stopped and arrested at the air ports and rail
way
stations without any legal pretext. Some activists have been detained
illegally. One person from Siberia has disappeared.

Up to this date at least 100 people have been detained under various
pretexts
having no legal force. People are forcefully deprived of their
documents,
transportation tickets, stalked by unknown individuals and then once
again
arrested by police on the pretext of protecting their personal safety
(!). On
different occasions people have brutally been mishandled by police and
secret
service agents.

Here in Saint Petersburg Vladimir Soloveichik, one of the leaders of
the Civil
Initiatives Movement of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad region has been
detained
in his own apartment and now has been taken under police custody.

In Saint Petersburg some more arrests have been made: two girls were
arrested
last Monday on Sennaya square for handing out materials on the Russian
Social
Forum, two activists from Germany have been detained under a pretext of
violating "their legal status of staying in a foreign country". Now
they are
being kept in police station N 36 of Saint Petersburg together with
another
Russian citizen.

A peaceful demonstration planned during the G-8 meeting in the period
of July,
15-17, has been banned by the authorities.

It seems that the authorities are trying to provoke illegal actions and
then
blame them on committing "terrorists and illegal actions".

All this is going on at a time when the civil rights of many other
individuals
in other Russian regions are being violated and neglected.

We are unsure if those arrests and reprisals have been initiated by the
authorities in Moscow or by the local authorities. But all this seems
to be a
very well coordinated and concerted action.

We are appealing to all people in the Western countries and asking them
to voice
their solidarity with the Russian political and social activists at
this
critical moment on the eve of the G- 8 summit. We suggest that you
request the
Russian embassies and consulates in the West European countries that
they
provide you for necessary information. We suggest that you picket their
offices.

Please spread the word!

A traditional Russian police state Russia is making a comeback! What we
see now
is an authoritative state brutally repressing legal and civil rights of
the
Russian citizens.

Is Russia worth being a G- 8 member?

We also urge you to come to Saint Petersburg and witness everything
with your
own eyes.

In solidarity

[Trade Union Solidarity Action Committee of Saint Petersburg and
Leningrad
region]

Chronicle of repressions.
From St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg activists are arrested, searched,
removed from trains and put into jail.

The summit of the "Big 8" planned not far from St. Petersburg is less
than a week away, as well as the events against the illegitimate "club
of 8" and its policies, the Russian Social Forum in particular.
Judging by the unfolding situation, the Russian structures of power
have decided to tackle the issue with force in the last week before
the summit.

Information about arrests, court cases, imprisonments, searches and
removals from trains of activists of the Network Against G8 (SPB8)
have become everyday occurrence. In the course of those actions, the
agents of power structures - the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it's
subdivision the FSB and the Prosecutor's Office are continuously
breaking both civil rights and legal norms. The courts pronounce harsh
sentences based solely on the testimonies of the security forces and
meant to isolate the activists until the end of the summit.

Based on the news available to the members of the LINK collective and
published on Russian Indymedia (http://russia.indymedia.org/ ), only
on Monday such cases have occurred in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Samara
and Yekaterinburg.

------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Petersburg: "Bad apartment" and the case of gas masks.

This story - as if taken straight out of a detective novel - occurred
on July 9-10th in St. Petersburg. Sunday night July 9th, in the
northern part of the city two German activists who arrived in the city
with the bicycle caravan were arrested on the street to "check their
IDs". (Read more about the caravan here:
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15042/index.php). The German
activists have shown passports at once, but they were nonetheless
taken to the police station, together with Lyosha from Tyumen who came
out to meet them wearing only his slippers.

The whole night and the whole day all three were held at the 36th
precinct of police on Yesenin 2 street
(http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15072/index.php). In the
evening they were driven to the court. Since the court couldn't find
any other charge with a semblance of truth, they were charged with
pissing in front of the front door of the house. The court session on
which representatives of the German consulate in St. Petersburg were
present as well as members of the public was adjourned and moved to
another building (Yesenina 7 street) and scheduled for 10 AM on July
11th. In the meantime, the Russian citizen felt bad and was
transported to the hospital on Vavilova 13 street.

Until the arrested were still at the 36th precinct of the police. On
July 10th, two Russian anarchists living in the same flat where the
German citizens tried to go and from which the Russian activist went
out in his slippers (and, as can be guessed, slippers have no pocket
that can hold a passport) went out to meet them. As a result, they
were taken themselves to the police station for "improper language".
The court sentenced them to 10 days of arrest. After 10 days, the
summit of the G8 will have passed.

After these arrests, the apartment from which all the arrested came
was marked as "bad" by Petersburg special services. Another activist
of the anarchist movement was taken by the police in unclear
circumstances that are not known so far. At some point she sent an SMS
message from the 57th precinct of the police which arrived at 9:07 PM
July 10th which read: "they are taking me to court, art. 280". Article
280 of the Criminal Code is "Public call for extremist activity".

That a court session could proceed so fast on a Criminal Code article
is unheard of. The lawyer of the arrested anarchist will take on the
case on the morning of July 11th.

Aside from these cases, on the July 10th two anarchists from St.
Petersburg were sentenced for 10 days in prison for what was called
"minor hooliganism". What did this act of "hooliganism" consist of?
Was it because the activists tried to buy gas masks on a market on the
Fermska Shossa and were arrested on July 8th by agents of the OMON? Or
was it because they had in their possession "antiglobalist" leaflets
and seven leaflets with practical advice written by the Petersburg
League of Anarchists on how to behave when arrested by the police, and
advice on the use of chemical equipment? However the sentence of 10
days in prison is quite easy to understand: it means that in the
following 10 days the authorities in Petersburg do not want to see
people interested in politics and in demonstrations on the streets of
the city.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Moscow: The police are posing as "neighbours downstairs".

In Moscow on July 10 the local police and police from the Organised
Crime
Department have visited an apartment the tenant of which has been
keeping in
touch with the activists of the Youth Human Right Movement (MPD).
Out-of-town activists were temporarily staying there as they passed
through
Moscow.

Around 1 p.m. somebody rang the bell of Anton Pominov's apartment saying
that his downstairs neighbours are flooded. After the doors were opened,
the
"neighbours" turned out to be plainclothes police officers and a
lieutenant
from the Organised Crime Department of the Central Administrative
Disctrict
of Moscow. Without offering any sort of warrant they have entered the
apartment, interrogated Mr. Pominov and looked at the contents of their
notebook computer. The questions mostly concerned the MPD activists
Nataliya
Zvyagina and Irina Aksyonova. Then the police has escorted Anton Pominov
and
his notebook for a talk with the Central Administrative District
investigator D. A. Korobkov.

He has been asking Mr. Pominov about the circumstances of his
acquaintance
with Ms. Zvyagina and Ms. Aksyonova, their relationship, the information
about them, their current whereabouts and plans. He was made to
"promise"
that he doesn't intend to go to St. Petersburg in the run-up or during
the
G8 summit. For his part, the investigator informed him that the action
was
taken to fulfill the inquiry from The Federal Security Service (FSB) to
"work through" the activists twhose names and addresses were provided by
the
FSB.

The actions of the authorities in this case are an obvious violation of
the
law - or are simply outside of the law field.

---------------------------------

Samara: Criminal case reanimated.

In Samara July 10 has kicked off with a search. At 9 a.m. the apartments
of
Daniil Vanchayev, Dmitriy Doroshenko, Rita Kavtorina, Dmitriy
Treschanin,
Georgiy Kvantrishvili, Yelena Kuznetsova and Mikhail Gangan were broken
into
by the groups of officers from FSB and District Organised Crime
Department
(RUBOP) who have presented the search warrants. They undertook the
search,
confiscating the computers' system blocks, data equipment and
literature.
Besides that those searched were served with summons for July 14 to
appear
at Oktyabrskiy district Prosecutor's office to meet senior investigator
R.
S. Cheleshev.

All seven activists are connected with the antimilitarist action that
took
place in Samara on February 23, 2006. During a theatre action people
wearing
masks of "Minister of Defense" and "Commander in Chief" were sawing
conscript's legs off. Following the action the Prosecutor's office has
started a criminal case accusing them of "lack of respect (according to
other sources - insulting) the President". It was soon thereafter closed
for
lack of the facts of the crime.

As the activists found out at 9 a.m. on July 10, the case was recently
reopened under the pressure from the FSB. It's again based on the
article
319 in Russian Federation's Criminal code; the case number is 200611677.

It is obvious that the current actions of the authorities are connected
with
the G8 summit. Many activists (who include anarchists, National
Bolshevik
Party (NBP) members and people non involved in any organisations) were
going
to go to St. Petersburg in the next few days. as they have been served
with
summons for interrogation, they have to cancel the plans.

Potentially useful phone numbers:
R. S. Cheleshev, Senior investigator for Samara' Oktyabrskiy district
prosecutor's office
007(846) 334-85-51
Irina Anatoliyevna Skupova, Human rights representative for Samara
region:
Phone 007(846) 332-82-87, fax 007 (846) 333-03-80 skupova@mail.ru

---------------------------------

Yekaterinburg: Detention of the trade union activists

Six people who travelled from Omsk to St. Petersburg to take part in the
Russian Social Forum were put off the train in Yekaterinburg on the
night of
July 10. Four of them are activists of the Siberian Labour Confederation
(SKT), among them well-known figure in Russia's trade union and protest
movement Vasiliy Starostin and his 16 years old son Yegor Starostin. Two
more people belong to other organisations.

The operation was performed by two railroad policemen and some
plainclothes
people. The activists were informed that their luggage might contain
forbidden or dangerous items. After they were screamed at and violently
pushed out of the carriage they were taken to the train station police
station. During the last phone conversation with them the activists
expressed fear the the police might plant something in their baggage.
The
communication with them broke after 12 a.m. (Moscow time) and could not
be
recommenced throughout the night. Two hours later it has become evident
that
they were not only put off the train but also detained. They are still
held
at the railroad police station at the Yekaterinburg train station. The
police do not deny the fact that the activists were put off the train
but do
not provide any further information. The phone number of the police
station
is 007 (343) 358-2018

Vasiliy Starostin has previously participated in Russian (Moscow, 2005)
and
European Social Forums (Florence, 2002, Paris, 2003), in numerous
international trade union conferences. In the Spring of 2006 the Omsk
office
of the SKT he helped found has suddenly burned down. The fire brigade
has
arrived quickly but didn't start to put out the fire for quite some
time.

According to the latest information which was received at 8:30 a.m.
(Moscow
time) the Omsk activists were detained for "extremist statements that
they
made on the train" and that the FSB is now dealing with them.

_____________________________________________________

There are already dozens of such cases. The pressure is put on the
activists
of most different organisations, most importantly grassroots
initiatives.
Everything indicates that the authorities have put their bet on power
and
fear, completely disregarding even formal human rights and freedoms and
following the law. Such a tactic is very reflective of the G8 policies
in
general: limiting and enforcing the rules, outrageous ise of force and
total
lawlessness. A good picture of not only the current operation by the
Russian
authorities but the G8 in general.

we call on the journalists not to ignore the information about people
who
were repressed simply because they dared to have an opinion of their
own. We
call on the activists from various regions and countries to support
those
who are under pressure now. Help the activists in your region if you are
in
Russia. Write, send fax messages, protest outside Russian embassies and
consulates if you are abroad. Russian activists need support and
solidarity.

LINK telephone numbers in Moscow:

+7 916 992 25 15 (speak russian)

+7 916 992 25 50 (speak english)