The Observatory has been informed about
the raids on the office of the Crew Against Torture-Russia (CAT-Russia)
in Nizhny Novgorod, as well as on the homes of several staff of the
organisation, including its deputy chairperson Olga Sadovskaya.
CAT-Russia is a prominent and one of the oldest anti-torture human
rights organisation in the country and a member of the OMCT SOS-Torture
network. Among other things, CAT Russia helps victims of torture through
efforts to further accountability, particularly in regions like
Northern Caucasus. The organisation provides assistance to victims of
torture and conducts independent investigation of torture cases. Since
its creation, the organisation has received at least 3178 complaints,
won 78 cases in European Court of Human Rights and contributed to
verdicts to 159 perpetrators of torture.
Ms Sadovskaya is a member of the
OMCT Executive Council. She is a lawyer and joined CAT-Russia in 2002.
As a lawyer, she is specialised in the submission of applications to the
European Court of Human Rights for violation of Article 3 of the
European Convention on Human Rights (“prohibition of torture”). She
received the Moscow Helsinki Group Award in the category "Protection of
the rights of prisoners and other vulnerable groups" on April 27, 2023.
On April 28, 2023, officers of the
Centre for Combating Extremism (Centre-E) of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs searched CAT-Russia’s office in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in
connection with a criminal case opened against one of CAT-Russia’s
beneficiaries in North Ossetia who reported torture at a police station.
During the search, several USB flash drives were seized. Centre-E
officers also searched the apartments of three staff of CAT-Russia in
Nizhny Novgorod, including Olga Sadovskaya’s residence, where they
seized her laptop, a mobile phone and 80 hunting cartridges belonging to
her ex-husband.
Previously, on April 14, 2023,
CAT-Russia’s North Caucasus branch’s office in the city of Pyatigorsk
was also searched in connection with the same case, the details of which
remained unknown at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal. On
that day, the police seized an old laptop and an USB flash drive.
CAT-Russia team’s position is that law enforcement officials are using
the criminal case brought against their beneficiary to put pressure on
the organisation, as it continues operating in the Russian Federation.
The Observatory recalls
that it is not the first time that CAT-Russia and its members face
harassment and obstacles to their right to defend human rights. On June
10, 2022, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation designated
CAT-Russia as a non-registered foreign agent organisation under the
“Foreign Agent” Law. On June 11, 2022, the human rights organisation
announced its liquidation due to the impossibility to continue carrying
out its human rights work in a safe manner under the label of “foreign
agent”. Yet, on June 15, 2022, the organisation announced the
continuation of its work under a new name – from Committee Against
Torture-Russia to Crew Against Torture-Russia. The organisation was
likewise listed as a “foreign agent” in January 2015. After that, the
organisation changed its name and it was again declared a ”foreign
agent” in January 2016.
The Observatory further recalls that
the harassment against CAT-Russia and its members takes place in the
context of an increased crackdown on the Russian civil society,
including the systematic liquidation of human rights organisations and
independent media outlets under the “Foreign Agent” Law. This is the
case of the International Memorial and the Human Rights Center “Memorial (HRC Memorial), the Moscow Helsinki Group, as well as the independent human rights media project OVD-Info.
The Observatory condemns the
searches conducted in the offices of CAT-Russia and the apartments of
three of its members and calls on the Russian authorities to put an
immediate end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial
level, against them and all human rights defenders and organisations in
the country.
The Observatory expresses its
concern over the ongoing targeting of CAT-Russia as well as over the
crackdown on all independent human rights organisations in Russia and
urges the authorities to guarantee, in all circumstances, the rights to
freedom of expression, assembly and association, as enshrined in
international human rights law, and particularly in Articles 19, 21 and
22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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