 |
  Public Statement on the Attacks against Social Activists Recently, criminal attacks against the leaders of trade union and social movements have clearly increased. Among the latest such incidents, we should note the attacks against Carine Clement, a member of the working group and a leader of the Union of Coordinating Councils; Alexei Etmanov, leader of the labor union at Ford-Vsevolozhsk; Mikhail Beketov, leader of the movement to defend the Khimki Forest; and Sergei Fedotov, leader of the deceived land shareholders of the Moscow Region. In addition, a great many activists fighting the infill construction that is happening in all our cities have been attacked. There have been murders, in particular, of antifascist activists. This is not a random phenomenon, but a clear trend: active citizens who try to restore justice and defend their legal rights are more and more often subjected to brute force. With no other arguments at its disposal, the opposite resorts to criminal methods. While it is clear that in each situation it is a different group of people who commissions these crimes, the overall tendency demonstrates that excellent conditions for the further escalation of this brutal method of "social dialogue" have been created in Russia today. These conditions include lawlessness, the lack of criminal liability for violations of the law by state officials or members of the ruling elite, universal corruption, and the hypercentralization of authority in the absence of any form of control from below. Many cases of "political" attacks on activists have still not been investigated, and the guilty parties not be found, which gives the assailants a sense of impunity and thus provokes further crimes. We say, Enough! We demand a maximally thorough and swift investigation of all assaults against all social activists, the transfer of these cases into a separate category, and the creation of a special investigative group within the Ministry of the Interior. We also demand that the public be kept informed about the course of these investigations. We demand that the assailants be punished according to law whatever high-ranking patrons might support them. We declare that we will not be intimidated by the method of violence and terror. We will continue our struggle for the social rights of our country's citizens. We appeal to the state authorities, who position themselves as the guarantee of "public order," to make sure that "public order" is not violated by government officials. As it is, all we observe now is the arrests of old women and young activists at various assemblies, demonstrations or strikes, while we hear very little about arrests of corrupt state officials or unscrupulous employers. Down with this politics of double standards! We declare that, given the situation, we consider it our right to use methods of self-defense and that we will use all possible means to assist and protect our comrades. 14 November 2008 Union of Coordinating Councils of Russia (SKS): Izhevsk, Perm, Tiumen, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoobsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Astrakhan, Kurgan, Moscow Region, Surgut, Kaliningrad, Saratov, Samara, Penza, etc. (There are twenty-seven regional coordinating councils in all.) This statement has been supported (as of November 17) by the following organizations: - Left Front *** We ask all networks, movements, and initiative groups to support our appeal. You may send your collective or individual signature to: info@ikd.ru |
 Finnish-Russian Civic Forum about the inhumane treatment and torture in the colonies of Saint Petersburg Vadim Karastelejov, an expert with Novorossijsk Human Rights Committee, was assaulted by two people Police try to search Moscow-based independent weekly New Times for sources to story about elite unit  |
