By Connie Hong
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe 

MOSCOW, Russia — On June 13, 2012, Natella Boltyanskaya, Olga Bychkova, Alina Grebneva, Vladimir Varfolomeev, and Alexander Podrabinek were detained by Russian police after engaging in peaceful, individual pickets.  The five journalists were trying to hold up posters to support their colleague, Sergei Sokolov, who had received threats from the head of the Investigation Committee, Alexander Bastrykin.  One of the detained journalists said that the police moved so rapidly to arrest them that only two of the journalists had time to unravel and display their posters.  Sergei Sokolov, the deputy chief editor of Novaya Gazeta, began receiving threats from Bastrykin after accusing Bastrykin and the rest of the Investigation Committee of aiding crime bosses in a recent article.

The journalists were protesting separately in front of Russia’s Investigation Committee, the state agency in charge of criminal investigations, when police officers forced them into a van.  Despite the fact that each of the journalists were careful to stand some distance away from the others, they were all taken to the Basmanny precinct in central Moscow.  There, they were questioned and forced to provide written statements explaining their actions before they were released without charge.

Bychkova told Human Rights Watch that demonstrating individually does not, by law, require authorization in advance.  The recent legislation on public rallies however, defined individual pickets as organized public events if they appear to “have attributes of planned collective action,” and therefore require prior authorization.  It is under the new regulations that the police found a basis for detaining the journalists.  Bychkova said that the police had warned them at the precinct “not to attempt any such thing in the future,” and continually referred to the new law.

The detention of the five journalists sparked media outcry and inspired other journalists to show up at the Investigation Committee building.  A policeman told one of the journalists that taking over someone else’s poster qualifies as collective action, and would give him the right to arrest her.  When asked if she could draw her own poster, the policeman replied: “If your new poster revolves around the same idea as the other poster, it will mean that this is an organized public action, not an individual picket.”

Noting their repressive and abusive nature, Humans Rights Watch has sharply criticized Russia’s new regulations on peaceful assembly.  It urged the Kremlin to revise the new law since it so starkly conflicts with Russia’s duty to respect and uphold freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration.  According to Tanya Lokshina, a senior researcher for Russia at Human Rights Watch, “Even if a law gives police powers of detention, to use them to suppress the legitimate exercise of fundamental rights makes that use arbitrary and abusive.”

For further information, please see:

Human Rights Watch — Russia: Five Journalists Detained — 14 June 2012

Gulf Times — Top Russian journalist flees ‘investigator’s death threat’— 13 June 2012

The Republic — Russian top investigator threatens reporter, paper says — 13 June 2012

Human Rights Watch — Russia: Reject Restrictions on Peaceful Assembly — 8 June 2012

By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine — Viktor Yanukovich, the President of Ukraine has linked political rival Yulia Tymoshenko to a 16 year old murder. Tymoshenko, the former Prime Minister, has been imprisoned since October for alleged abuse of office charges.

Tymoshenko was convicted on charges alleging that she abused her authority  in 2009 in a natural gas deal with Gazprom, a Russian energy company.  Her appeal for this conviction is scheduled for June 26. She also faces a separate charge for tax evasion and embezzlement for June 25.

Yanukovich’s latest accusations add on to the current scrutiny he is under by other European officials. Western European governments have chosen to boycott the 2012 Eurocup soccer matches, which are being jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine.  Tymoshenko’s conviction is claimed to be politically motivated by other European officials, which is why they have boycotted the matches.

Stefan Fule, European commissioner for enlargement believes that the charges and conviction are due to acts of selective justice, “They were not conducted according to international standards.  There was no impartiality of judges and there was no equality of arms between prosecution and defense.”

The latest accusation against Tymoshenko by Yanukovich links her to the 16 year old contract killing case of Yevhen Shcherban. Shcherban was attacked in a hail of bullets as he left a plane in Donetsk, Ukraine. The attack also took the lives of his and several bystanders.

Current Prime Minister Mykola Azarov supports Yanukovich’s accusation. After Shcherban’s death, Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine, headed by Tymoshenko, made large profits in the local market.  “So this person (Tymoshenko) is very controversial and those who want to make a symbol of a fighter for democracy out of her must first get to grips with the facts,” Azarov told Reuters in an interview.

Olexander Tymoshenko, Tymoshenko’s husband, has public accused Yanukovich for using the government to carry out a personal vendetta against his wife. “This is a new step in the evolution of dictatorship … You, Yanukovich, and your followers have delivered the verdict to the leader of unified opposition.”, said Tymoshenko.

Yulia Tymoshenko lead the 2004 Orange Revolution which halted Yaunkovich’s first attempt at for the presidency. After losing the 2010 presidential election to Yanukovich, she and numerous opposition leaders faced charges for corruption.

For further information, please see:

Chicago Tribune — Tymoshenko’s husband cries foul over murder charge – 14 June 2012

United Press International — EU has eye on Tymoshenko case –14 June 2012

Chicago Tribune — Ukraine leader stirs Tymoshenko row with murder charge –13 June 2012