site.btaUN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia Presents Her New Report

Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, presented her new report on Russia to the press and the UN Human Rights Council on September 24. It says that the situation in the Russian Federation has got much worse since her report last year. "The country is now run by a state-sponsored system of fear and punishment, including the use of torture with absolute impunity. Human rights defenders, journalists and political figures are persecuted and incarcerated in greater numbers. Anti-war dissent of any kind is criminalized. Police violence is condoned," she said.

The report speaks of widespread arbitrary arrests and detentions. "Prison conditions have worsened with increased solitary confinement and death in custody, particularly used against political prisoners. There are no independent institutions to safeguard the rule of law and access to justice. All of this has been made legal by new or expanded laws that violate human rights and are used to suppress civil society, dissenting views and political opposition."

Katsarova said that there is a clear and stark link between aggression abroad and repressions at home.

The cost is of dissent in Russia is "extremely high", to use her words. "Russians are getting shockingly long prison sentences. Seven years for reading a poem, saying a prayer or producing a play perceived to be anti-war. Seven years for posting on social media a United Nations report about the Ukrainian war. Peaceful demonstrators are arrested and many beaten up by police without recourse. There is deliberate use of near-torture treatment in places of detention. Anti-war activists are being punished by forced psychiatric treatment, very much reminiscent of the practice against Soviet dissidents and human rights defenders during the Soviet times."

She also said that some journalists, just doing their jobs reporting, have been imprisoned for up to 22 years on trumped up charges and as a warning to others, to stick to the State’s version of reality. "More than 500 people have been prosecuted for spreading fake news or similar charges under the war censorship laws. At least 30 journalists are currently in jail on fabricated criminal charges. Many journalists have had to flee the country. Most independent media have shut down or moved abroad. There are more than 1,300+ political prisoners in jail. Many are tortured or their conditions of detention amount to torture and ill treatment. Alexei Navalny's death in state custody in February is just one example of the brutal treatment of the political opposition. Russian citizens were not even allowed to mourn his death without the prospect of political harassment and arrest."

She called for immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners.

The report underscore the consequences for lawyers: "they are disbarred and intimidated for providing legal services to persecuted groups or individuals. Some with high profile clients, have had to flee the country".

According to the Special Rapporteur, the State's legal system violates Russia's human rights. "The world censorship laws make it a crime to tell the truth about what is going on in the war against Ukraine. Penalties can include long prison sentences and crippling financial punishment. A journalist and his wife had all their assets confiscated because of their criticism of the war. “Foreign agents” and “undesirables” are terms used to target and shut down the work of media, NGOs, human rights activists and anyone who engages in civic activism or expresses an alternative viewpoint from that of the government. Penalties can include prosecution, fines and prison sentence. Even Nobel Prize winners are not exempted, like Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Serious charges like treason, espionage, extremism and other laws on national security are being used against journalists and to imprison people for trivial anti-war actions like six years in prison for terrorism, for a teenager who painted some anti-war graffiti. 12 years for treason for a woman who made the small donation to Ukrainian charity."

Katsarova said that  the only two anti-war candidates in the Russian presidential elections were barred from running, which deprives voters of the right to choose.

She also said that Ukrainian soldiers captured by the Russian forces, are not awarded POW status and are refused the protection they are entitled to under international law. She urged the Russian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all captured Ukrainians, including the children that have been illegally transferred - and to hold accountable the people responsible for these crimes.