FINROSFORUM

FINROSFORUM

FINROSFORUM  //  The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum strives to promote cooperation between the peoples of Finland and Russia by supporting civic initiatives for democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech.

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Mar 2 / 12:49pm

PEN: End Climate of Impunity in Russia!

by Kerkko Paananen

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The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International welcomes the pledge by Russian authorities to reopen investigations into the cases of five murdered journalists. Valery Ivanov, Natalia Skryl, Aleksei Sidorov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, and Vagif Kochetkov were all killed -- or are suspected to have been killed -- in connection with their journalistic activities. WiPC urges Russia's Federal Investigative Committee to investigate these cases thoroughly, and calls for an end to the climate of impunity that exists in Russia where attacks on journalists frequently go uninvestigated.

Russian journalists work in an increasingly hostile environment and live under constant threat of legal harassment and violence. In 2010, some 40 journalists were attacked because of their work. According to human rights groups, there have been 19 unsolved murders of journalists since 2000. Investigations are often superficial and frequently stagnate. Progress in high-profile murder cases, such as those of Anna Politkovskaya (murdered in 2006) and Natalia Estemirova (murdered in 2009), has been very slow. The five murdered journalists whose cases have been reopened are listed below:

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Filed under  //  Impunity   Journalism   Justice   Murder   PEN   Russia   WiPC  
 
Jun 7 / 2:07am

Russia Turns Deaf Ear as Killing Cries for Justice

by Mikael Storsjö

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Only one spectator showed up for the final hearing in the killing of Magomed Yevloyev. He was a broad-beamed, ruddy-faced man in a carefully pressed black suit, and once in the courtroom he removed his tall fur hat, set it on the bench beside him and waited for a chance to speak.

Sunlight streamed in the window, bouncing off the white walls, but the old man had brought a heaviness with him into the room. When the time came, Yakhya Yevloyev stood and recited a litany of evidence not gathered ­ witnesses not interviewed, threads left dangling ­ that might have led to a murder conviction in his son's death.

The room went silent out of respect for the man's loss, and for a moment it seemed as if the process could rewind 18 months to the beginning, when his son, an opposition leader in the southern republic of Ingushetia, was hustled into a police car and shot through the head at point-blank range.

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Filed under  //  Corruption   Ingushetia   Justice   Murder   Rule of Law   Yevloyev  
 
Jan 13 / 5:57pm

Inside the Khodorkovsky trial

by Kerkko Paananen
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Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the founder of Yukos Oil Company, and his partner, Platon Lebedev, sit in a glass cage as their embezzlement trial slowly proceeds. As Khodorkovsky and Lebedev descended the stairs, the crowd erupted into shouts of “Happy New Year!”

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are ten months into a trial for charges of money laundering and embezzlement. They are already serving eight-year sentences for fraud and tax evasion, of which they were convicted in 2005. The new charges carry sentences of up to 22 years in prison.

Few in Russia believe the proceedings to be meaningful, and the defense team has called the charges politically motivated. President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to build an independent court system, but there is no evidence of that happening so far.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/russia/100111/mikhail-khodorkovsky-trial-justice

Filed under  //  Justice   Khodorkovsky   Russia   Yukos