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RIA Novosti
International non-governmental organization Amnesty International in its annual report criticized the package of anti-terrorist laws in Russia, known as the “Spring package”, calling them contrary to international obligations of the Russian Federation in the field of human rights.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International — international non-governmental organization founded in the UK in 1961. On its website says its mission “is to conduct research and to adopt measures aimed at the prevention and elimination of gross violations of human rights”.
While Amnesty International has always stressed that an independent organization, are fully self-funded through donations. However, the declared principle about refusing money from governments or political structures there is a loophole — Amnesty reserves the right to accept funds from government agencies, if they are allocated to educational projects in the field of human rights.
Due to this, Amnesty International receives funding from a number of governments and international agencies. Among them — the U.S. state Department, the British authorities, the European Commission. According to media reports, substantial funds are allocated to Amnesty International and the American billionaire George Soros via his “open society Foundation”.
The activities of Amnesty International have been criticized. It is suspected of bias, the electoral approach to published information and even spying. Against this organisation Amnesty International spoke, in particular, the authorities of Russia, the United States and China.
“Spring Package”
“The amendments are contrary to Russia’s international obligations in the field of human rights”, — stated in the report.
In the report human rights activists believe that “government often used excessive anti-extremist legislation, thereby violating the right to freedom of expression”. “According to the NGO SOVA, 90% of all sentences in cases of extremism falls on comments and shares in social networks,” the report reads.
The package of anti-terrorism laws signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in July 2016, requires operators and Internet companies for up to six months to store information about the content of the conversations and correspondence of the users, including photos, video and audio files to provide them on request of the security services. The rate of storage of user traffic shall enter into force from 1 July 2018.
North Caucasus
“Continued to receive information on serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances and alleged extrajudicial executions, during operations of the power structures in the North Caucasus. Activists there threatened danger,” the report said.
Human rights activists mentioned the attack on the “traveling from North Ossetia to Chechnya two representatives of human rights organizations Summary mobile group (SMG), their driver and six journalists from Russian, Swedish and Norwegian media.” According to Amnesty International, they were stopped at the administrative border between Ingushetia and Chechnya, 20 people pulled them out and severely beat and set fire to the vehicle.
March the ninth member of the Council on human rights under the President of the Russian Federation, Mr Igor Kalyapin was informed that on the border of Ingushetia and Chechnya, a group of unknown, moving in three cars attacked a group of human rights defenders from the joint mobile group and journalists. It was also reported about the attack on the office of the Consolidated mobile group “Committee for the prevention of torture” in Ingushetia. The head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said that the attacked in his region, human rights activists had nothing to do with the regional Ombudsman and the press, although they would have to coordinate their work in the region with the authorities.
Criticism of the leadership of Chechnya
“The leadership of Chechnya, continued to exert direct pressure on the judiciary. (The head of Chechnya — ed.), Ramzan Kadyrov, on may 5 he gathered together all the judges of the Republic to a meeting and forced four of them to resign. The Federal government did not respond”, — says Amnesty International.
In may during the meeting with representatives of the judiciary performing at the time acting head of the region Ramzan Kadyrov has offered the Chechen Magomed Karataev judge and three judges to voluntarily leave his post. The head of Chechnya told about cases of unjust sentences, delaying the consideration of criminal cases. The discontent of the head of the region also noted the practice of consideration of civil cases on the disputed flats.
Subsequently, it was reported that Karataev apologized to Kadyrov and wrote a letter of resignation. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin has found nothing illegal in the proposal Kadyrov.
“Ill-treatment” in the colonies
“In places of detention and in the colonies widely and systematically used torture and ill-treatment” — say human rights activists. As an example, Amnesty International cites a letter of the convicted person for repeated violations of the rules of holding rallies Ildar Dading, who told his wife about “how he was tortured and subjected to ill-treatment in the colony of Segezha (Republic of Karelia)”.
Earlier wife Dading on the social network Facebook reported that her husband tortured in prison, beaten and even threatened to kill. She claimed that the prison administration informed of developments and involved in the bullying. About their checks in this regard, said the FSIN, the UK and the office of the Ombudsman in Karelia. Late of the Federal penitentiary service reported that the civilian doctors who arrived in the Karelian colony No. 7, did not find traces of beatings and abuse on the body Dading. The Deputy head of the Federal penitentiary service told reporters that in the Dading “set point”.
Dading — the first convicted on criminal charges of repeated violations at rallies, he was prescribed 2.5 years of imprisonment, of which was left to sit out for about 5 months. The constitutional court previously upheld the criminal charges on which convicted Dading, but decided to review his case. As reported by RIA Novosti in the Supreme court (SC) of the Russian Federation, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation February 22, revise the sentence.