{"id":31270,"date":"2017-09-11T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T08:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prwb.am\/2017\/09\/11\/human-rights-and-justice-advocates-at-serious-risk-in-the-osce-region-an-appeal-from-the-civic-solidarity-platform\/"},"modified":"2022-12-05T11:39:41","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T07:39:41","slug":"human-rights-and-justice-advocates-at-serious-risk-in-the-osce-region-an-appeal-from-the-civic-solidarity-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prwb.am\/en\/2017\/09\/11\/human-rights-and-justice-advocates-at-serious-risk-in-the-osce-region-an-appeal-from-the-civic-solidarity-platform\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights and Justice Advocates at Serious Risk in the OSCE Region \u2013 An Appeal from the Civic Solidarity Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"

OSCE HDIM 2017, Working sessions 1-2: Fundamental freedoms I,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday 11 September 2017 and Tuesday 12 September 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

We, members of the Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP), are alarmed that the environment for civil society has seriously deteriorated in many OSCE participating States since the last HDIM and that civil society representatives who criticize repressive government policies and defend human rights and the rule of law face intimidation and harassment across the region. We are particularly concerned about individuals who have been arrested, criminally prosecuted and imprisoned following unfair trials because of their engagement in support of core OSCE values. We would like to use this opportunity to raise a number of cases of serious concern to us. However, the cases mentioned do not represent an exhaustive list; many other civil society representatives also face intimidation and harassment across the OSCE region for speaking out against injustice, human rights violations and arbitrary actions of authorities.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Azerbaijan<\/strong>, a new wave of arrests of critical voices has been carried out in recent months. Among those arrested is well-known blogger\u00a0Mehman Huseynov<\/strong>, who was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of defaming police in May 2017 after he exposed police abuse.[1]<\/a>In another recent case, journalist\u00a0Afgan Mukhtarli<\/strong>\u00a0was abducted in Georgia in May 2017, only to resurface in Azerbaijani custody, where he has since been held in pre-trial detention on multiple charges.\u00a0Mehman Aliyev<\/strong>, director of the country\u2019s last remaining independent media outlet \u2013 the\u00a0Turan\u00a0<\/em>News Agency, is also currently in pre-trial detention on tax evasion and related charges, similar to those previously used against other critical voices.[2]<\/a>\u00a0The Turan News Agency has been forced to suspend its activities. Despite the releases of a number of human rights defenders, journalists and activists in Azerbaijan since late 2015, many others who have been wrongly imprisoned in previous years remain behind bars. The case of opposition activist\u00a0Ilgar Mammadov<\/strong>\u00a0is emblematic: the authorities have persistently failed to release him, although the European Court of Human Rights ruled three years ago that he had been deprived of his liberty because of his criticism of the government, in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Valentina Cherevatenko<\/strong>\u00a0from Women of the Don became the first NGO leader in\u00a0Russia<\/strong>\u00a0to face criminal charges over non-compliance with the notorious \u201cforeign agents\u201d law. In July 2017, she was informed that the charges against her had been dropped. While this announcement was welcome, the threat of criminal prosecution of NGO leaders remains as long as the \u201cforeign agents\u201d law is in place. Currently close to 90 NGOs feature on the government-maintained list of \u201cforeign agents\u201d against their will, while some 70 other groups have been removed from the list after being forced to close down or stop receiving foreign funding. In early September 2017, the SOVA Centre for Information and Analysis and its director\u00a0Alexander Verkhovsky<\/strong>\u00a0learned that charges have been filed against them for violating the law on so-called undesirable organizations because of two links to donors listed as such organizations, which were posted on the centre\u2019s website.[4]<\/a>\u00a0A conviction could result in heavy fines. In another problematic development, a growing number of activists and common citizens have been charged under Russia\u2019s broadly worded anti-extremist legislation after posting information challenging government policies on online platforms.[5]<\/a>\u00a0Several participants in peaceful anti-corruption protests held across Russia earlier this year were arrested on charges of allegedly using violence against police: some of them have already been sentenced to imprisonment, while other cases are pending.<\/p>\n

Critics of Russia\u2019s unlawful annexation of\u00a0Crimea<\/strong>\u00a0also face persecution. For example, Crimean Tatar activist and human rights defender\u00a0Emir Huseyn Kuku<\/strong>\u00a0remains in pre-trial detention on charges of membership in a banned group,[6]<\/a>\u00a0while Crimean journalist\u00a0Mykola Semena<\/strong>\u00a0is on trial for allegedly calling for violating Russia\u2019s territorial integrity.[7]<\/a>\u00a0Ilmi Umerov<\/strong>, the deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars and another outspoken critic of Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea, has been charged with separatism and involuntarily confined in a psychiatric hospital.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

A series of human rights defenders, civil society activists, trade union leaders, journalists, social media users and other critical voices have recently faced criminal charges in\u00a0Kazakhstan<\/strong>. The case of activists\u00a0Max Bokayev<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Talgat Ayan<\/strong>\u00a0is illustrative of this crackdown: they were sentenced to five years in prison in November 2016 because of their involvement in peaceful land reform protests.[9]<\/a>\u00a0The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently concluded that they were detained in retaliation for their exercise of freedom of expression and assembly and called for their release.[10]<\/a>\u00a0In another case that has been widely criticized, trade union leaders\u00a0Nurbek Kushakbayev<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Amin Yeleusinov<\/strong>\u00a0were charged with criminal offenses and imprisoned after participating in a peaceful hunger strike to protest the closure of an independent trade union.<\/p>\n

Freelance journalist Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, who had reported on corruption and other issues, remains in prison in\u00a0Turkmenistan<\/strong>\u00a0after being given a three-year sentence on charges of narcotics possession in August 2015. Pro-democracy activist\u00a0Gulgeldy Annaniyazov<\/strong>\u00a0has been held in incommunicado detention since 2008 when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being arrested for allegedly crossing the border illegally. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared the detention of both men unlawful.[11]<\/a>\u00a0As documented by civil society groups[12]<\/a>, dozens of individuals imprisoned following politically motivated trials remain disappeared in the country.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Uzbekistan<\/strong>, several activists and journalists have been released since October 2016; however, many more remain behind bars, including human rights defenders\u00a0Ganihon Mamathanov<\/strong>,\u00a0Fakhriddin Tillaev<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Azam Farmonov<\/strong>\u00a0and journalist\u00a0Yusuf Ruzimuradov<\/strong>, to mention only a few. Lawyers\u00a0Buzurgmehr Yorov<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nuriddin Mahkamov<\/strong>\u00a0received prison sentences of over 20 years in\u00a0Tajikistan<\/strong>\u00a0last autumn after providing legal assistance to defendants in politically sensitive cases, and Yorov\u2019s sentence has since been extended on additional charges. The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression has stated that their cases \u201craise serious concerns about the Government\u2019s commitment to due process and independent legal mechanisms\u201d.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

The life sentence of human rights defender\u00a0Azimjan Askarov<\/strong>\u00a0was upheld at a re-trial, based on the flawed 2010 investigation of his case, in\u00a0Kyrgyzstan<\/strong>\u00a0in January 2017. The authorities of the country failed to release him and quash his conviction, as called for by the UN Human Rights Committee in its 2016 decision on the case.[14]<\/a>\u00a0Journalist\u00a0Ulugbek Babakulov<\/strong>\u00a0is facing charges of inciting inter-ethnic hatred because of an article about aggressive nationalism against ethnic Uzbeks published in May 2017. He has fled the country out of fear of politically motivated imprisonment.[15]<\/a>\u00a0Human rights defender\u00a0Cholpon Djakupova<\/strong>\u00a0and journalists\u00a0Narynbek Idinov<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Dina Maslova<\/strong>\u00a0have been ordered by court to pay huge sums in compensation to the president for allegedly defaming him.[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

Henadz Fiadynich\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Ihar Komlik<\/strong>, representatives of an independent trade union that was involved in wide-scale peaceful protests against so-called social parasitism legislation in\u00a0Belarus<\/strong>\u00a0earlier this year, have been charged with tax evasion on grounds similar to those on which human rights defender Ales Bialiatski was previously imprisoned.[17]<\/a>\u00a0Komlik is in pre-trial detention, while Fiadynich has been ordered not to leave his home city. Activist\u00a0Dzmitry Paliyenka<\/strong>\u00a0is currently behind bars since the two-year suspended sentence he was given after participating in a peaceful cycling protest in 2016 was changed into a real prison sentence in April 2017, and activist\u00a0Mikhail Zhemchuzhny<\/strong>continues to serve the 6.5-year prison sentence he was given in 2015 following an unfair trial. Ihar Komlik, Dzmitry Paliyenka and Mikhail Zhemchuzhny have all been declared political prisoners by Belarusian human rights NGOs.[18]<\/a>\u00a0A criminal investigation is still under way against more than a dozen Belarusian opposition activists because of an alleged plot to use armed violence during the mass protests in February-March 2017[19]<\/a>, to which the authorities responded with heavy-handed tactics and the arbitrary detention of hundreds of people.[20]<\/a><\/p>\n

In the\u00a0Transnistrian region of Moldova<\/strong>, human rights defenders continue to be subjected to intimidation and harassment in relation for their criticism of the policies of the separatist authorities.[21]<\/a>\u00a0Members of the Promo-LEX Association have been barred from entering Transnistria because of a criminal case on allegedly threatening the region\u2019s security that separatist security services announced had been opened against the organization in 2015.[22]<\/a><\/p>\n

During the crackdown unleashed by the\u00a0Turkish<\/strong>\u00a0government following the failed July 2016 coup attempt, dozens of journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and political activists have been detained. In a case has caused widespread dismay, eight representatives of civil society groups and two foreign digital and information security consultants were detained at a human rights training in July 2017 and subsequently charged with terrorist-related offenses. These include\u00a0\u00d6zlem Dalk\u0131ran<\/strong>\u00a0(Helsinki Citizens\u2019 Assembly), lawyer\u00a0Nalan Erkem<\/strong>(Helsinki Citizens\u2019 Assembly),\u00a0\u0130lknur \u00dcst\u00fcn<\/strong>\u00a0(Women\u2019s Coalition),\u00a0\u0130dil Eser<\/strong>\u00a0(Amnesty International Turkey director),\u00a0Veli Acu<\/strong>\u00a0(Human Rights Agenda Association), lawyer\u00a0G\u00fcnal Kur\u015fun<\/strong>\u00a0(Human Rights Agenda Association),\u00a0Nejat Ta\u015ftan<\/strong>\u00a0(Equal Rights Watch Association) and\u00a0\u015eeymus \u00d6zbekli<\/strong>\u00a0(Rights Initiative), as well as\u00a0Ali Gharawi<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Peter Steudtner<\/strong>\u00a0(foreign consultants).[23]<\/a>\u00a0Nejat Ta\u015ftan and \u015eeyhmus \u00d6zbekli were released pending trial in late July, but are subject to a travel ban. The others remain in custody.<\/p>\n

We are also seriously concerned that individuals who stand up for human rights, justice and the rule of law in the OSCE region have increasingly been subjected to other forms of pressure, aside from politically motivated arrest and prosecution. For, example,\u00a0Arayik Papikyan<\/strong>,\u00a0Mushegh Shushanyan<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nina Karapetyants<\/strong>\u00a0from the Helsinki Association of\u00a0Armenia<\/strong>, as well as other independent lawyers working on high-profile cases in this country have faced harassment and obstruction in the performance of their professional duties, including disciplinary proceedings that potentially may result in disbarment.[24]<\/a>\u00a0In\u00a0Ukraine<\/strong>, activists who fight against corruption, advocate for environmental and land rights, promote LGBT rights or work in the conflict zone in Donbas have been subjected to threats and various forms of pressure, including criminal investigations. Complaints about harassment filed by them typically receive little attention by authorities.[25]<\/a><\/p>\n

In many countries in the region, human rights defenders continue to be attacked and smeared by government officials and pro-government media, who accuse them of using foreign grants to influence politics and destabilize the situation in their countries. Rhetoric of this kind is commonly used in countries in the post-Soviet region, but has also increasingly been seen in European countries, for example in\u00a0Serbia<\/strong>\u00a0and in\u00a0Hungary<\/strong>, where such arguments were used to justify the recent adoption of legislation requiring NGOs that receive foreign grants to register and label themselves as foreign-funded organizations.[26]<\/a><\/p>\n

Recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n

We call on all OSCE participating States to implement the OSCE Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which are based on OSCE commitments and universally recognized human rights standards that the participating States are bound to respect. In particular, they should:<\/p>\n