Russian activist Ildar Dadin spoke about the total breakdown of the rule of law and his own incarceration and torture at an event hosted by Doughty Street Chambers as part of the programme of events accompanying the 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards. Dadin is a finalist in the campaigning category.
Dadin, who was released from prison in February, is subject to a travel ban and spoke via video link, whilst his wife and fellow activist Anastasia Zotova was in London and acted as his translator. He had been arrested under the notorious ‘three strikes’ law which bars public protest in Russia.
Dadin began by explaining why he thinks he was treated so badly in Prison Number Seven of the Karelia region of the country.
“For Putin it’s very important to break the spirit of a free man and to make him afraid to make a prisoner stop protesting,” he said.
“It was very important for Vladimir Putin’s regime to make a person afraid [by using] violence because it is impossible for the regime when a person remains unafraid and is able to prove that, even in prison, you can be human and you can still express your point of view.”
In November 2016 a letter written by Dadin to his wife from prison detailed his abuse at the hands of the guards.
After the letter was published Dadin says that the physical violence stopped, but that other forms of torture continued. He said: “The psychological torture was even more than before. For example, prisoners are made to stand for an hour and wait for a conversation with the head of the prison and they are told they should stay upright.”
Dadin said that the general treatment of prisoners was dehumanising, that “they treated prisoners not like people, but like animals”.
Dadin and Zotova are often stymied by what they see as a corrupt Russian system. Dadin said: “When we write complaints to the prosecutor’s office, the Russian investigator’s office and the police, they tell us that it’s false, that no-one tortures prisoners. However our lawyers go every month to these prisons and they see prisoners with broken legs, broken arms, broken skulls, and it clearly means that these prisoners have been beaten.”
Dadin also alleges that Putin’s government is complicit. He told the audience: “The Putin regime hides the criminals who are involved in torture from criminal trials and they are not even fired. They still work in these prisons, and with these prisoners. This is because Russia is not a democratic or rights orientated society.”
Asked about whether things would change if Putin was ever deposed, Dadin and Zotova said they were pessimistic.
Dadin responded: “Putin is only a face of this system and the system should be changed. We need big changes in Russia, governmental changes. People who work in different institutions and commit crimes have the opportunity to beat or kill someone, and everyone who works in these systems knows that they are not in danger. They can do what they want without there being any punishment.”
Dadin then spoke about the recent reports of horrific abuse towards gay men in Chechnya, the semi-autonomous region where Ramzan Kadyrov is president. For Dadin, this is yet another symptom of Russian structural inadequacy.
“In Russia, Putin’s regime shows people that there will not be punishment for their crimes and the same thing is even worse in Chechnya. It is not like the rest of Russia. It is almost not Russia and Russian law doesn’t work there.
Zotova agrees: “In Chechnya It is ‘Ramzan [Kadyrov] said’, and ‘Ramzan’s law’. They have the opportunity to violate human rights and do whatever they want there. For example, to LGBT people.”
Dadin added: “Now, the only way to save people is to spread information as wide as possible.”
With an election and the football World Cup taking place in Russia in 2018, it will be a year of intense global scrutiny on Russia.
Zotova spoke of the World Cup. She said: “Different people in Russia are saying that it’s impossible, playing the World Cup in Russia is like the Olympic Games taking place in Nazi Germany. How can people come to Russia for football and enjoy themselves when we have Nazi camps in Karelia?”
Both Dadin and Zotova are committed to fight in defence of human rights issues across Russia. Zotova said: “Frankly speaking I would like to have another job, but I understand that were we to stop being involved in this [the fight for human rights], no-one else will do it.”
Dadin added: “If you use violence for your goals innocent people will suffer. I do not want it, but I am ready to sacrifice my life to prevent violence or war in Russia.”
He committed to continue with peaceful protest “without violence but with courage against a criminal regime that lies to its citizens”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1492534036386-d1218b1f-7b31-2″ taxonomies=”8935, 15″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Grigory Pasko, was named Whistleblower of the Year at the 2001 Freedom of Expression Awards.
Grigory Pasko, a former naval officer and journalist for Russian Pacific Fleet newspaper Boyevaya Vakhta (Battle Watch), was imprisoned in 1997 after exposing Russia’s navy for illegally dumping nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan. He was arrested on charges of espionage and abuse of his official power as a former officer in the Russian navy.
Pasko was the winner of Index on Censorship’s International Whistleblower of the Year award in 2001.
Pasko spent 20 months in prison awaiting his first trial, and on 20 July 1999 he was acquitted of most of the charges. However, he was sentenced to three years in prison for abusing his authority as a naval officer. Pasko was finally released from prison under an amnesty in January 2003.
Although Russia’s 1990 Law on the Mass Media [1991] states that journalists are allowed to carry on investigations and Article 29 of the Russian Constitution bans censorship altogether, journalists are often persecuted for their work and subject to governmental harassment.
In March 2011, Pasko, along with his colleagues Igor Korolkov and Galina Sidorova, created an international NGO called the Community of Investigative Journalists – Foundation 19/29. The numbers 19 and 29 refer to the freedom of expression Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Russian Constitution.
Foundation 19/29 was created to provide guidance and assistance to Russian investigative reporters and bloggers who are in trouble due to their work and/or want to develop their professional skills.
Since his release from jail, Pasko has been campaigning for human rights and protection of the environment.
Index: How much more difficult is it now to be an informant than 16 years ago when you won the Index for Censorship International Whistleblower?
Pasko: The word “difficult” is no longer suitable. It is practically impossible without being detected and not “registered”. “To put on the register” means that suddenly there can be some difficulties: with obtaining a passport (as now at Dadin); with departure abroad; allegedly with non-payment of fines, taxes and so on; it can come with an apartment search or arrest (Mark Halperin recently) … Previously, this happened very rarely.
Index: What major projects are you currently working on and how does this differ from your work when you won the Index Awards?
Pasko: Since 2009, I have been engaged in teaching activities in the field of investigative journalism – journalists are, in fact, banned in Russia. Therefore, I am persecuted in all cities of Russia and in Moscow. I’m being squeezed out of the country, not giving me the opportunity to work. Our organization – Fund 19/29 http://foundation19-29.com/ was recognized as a “foreign agent” so that we had to stop our activities. Now there is a Fund 19/29, but already in Prague. In the same place, we conduct our training activities. In general, almost all independent NGOs are subject to harassment in Russia.
Index: How do you think the Russian government manages the information landscape? How does social media play a certain role in this?
Pasko: The Russian government (FSB, mostly) almost completely manages the information landscape. Those media and their blogs that still exist, for sure (if they are smart and sober) do not consider themselves independent, because they can be closed within a day. They are just allowed to exist. Social networks are relatively free so far. But they also gradually fall under the total dependence of the state (FSB). So the other day it happened with LiveJournal.
Index: What do you think, what will be the future for journalists in Russia?
Pasko: Independents will be persecuted, squeezed out of Russia, and those who remain will be imprisoned and / or killed. Independent journalism will not remain in the legal and free field. Only underground, in networks. The angry propaganda will occupy the entire information field.
Index: How did your attack in Siberia in September 2016 affect you?
Pasko: Personally, it did not. After two convictions and two imprisonments, I can only be killed, but not scared. But our partners in the regions were frightened and less likely to invite us to conduct studies on investigative journalism, despite the fact that there is a demand among young journalists, civil journalists and bloggers for this genre.
Index: Do you have any advice for other investigative journalists and informers working under a dangerously authoritarian regime?
Pasko: Be careful. Because no work should cost a human life. And, strangely enough, be bold – in the mass of its leadership of Russia (Chekists) are not only deceitful, but also cowardly. We need to learn to resist them – from the standpoint of legality, justice, respect for human rights and generally common sense. Journalism is a wonderful and necessary profession, and it deserves to be fought for by the journalists themselves.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”85476″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2016/11/awards-2017/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards
Seventeen years of celebrating the courage and creativity of some of the world’s greatest journalists, artists, campaigners and digital activists
When feminist punk group Pussy Riot staged a protest performance on the altar of the Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on 21 February 2012, Russia’s government set in motion legislation that would severely punish blasphemy and drastically change relations between the country’s believers and non-believers.
Pussy Riot launched the performance to highlight the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for Vladimir Putin’s 2012 election and the ongoing collaboration between church and state. But Russia’s religious community took offence, calling the protest blasphemous and demanding action from prosecutors.
Within days, police arrested three of the group’s members. Later that year they were found guilty of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to two years in prison.
In June 2013, following the Pussy Riot case, new legal amendments to toughen punishment for blasphemy were enacted. The new Federal Law on Countering Insulting Religious Beliefs and Feelings of Citizens introduced changes into Article 148, “Obstructing the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience and religious belief,” of the Criminal Code. The new edition of the article included criminal liability for “public actions expressing obvious disrespect to society and committed with a view to insulting religious feelings of believers”, and for actions committed “in places specially designed for worship, other religious rites and ceremonies”.
The punishments vary from fines of up to 500,000 rubles (€8,000), compulsory labour and imprisonment for up to three years.
However, despite demands by a large part of society to toughen punishments for blasphemy, monitoring of trials involving Article 148 for the last three-and-a-half years has demonstrated its uselessness.
According to the report “Unlawful Implementation of the Anti-Extremist Legislation” by SOVA, a Moscow-based analytical centre studying relations between churches and secular society, only six sentences under the revised Article 148 were registered since 2013.
Aleksandr Verkhovski of SOVA told Index on Censorship that there will be no more in the future: “There’s no reason to use this article unless there is a new ideological mobilisation like in 2012 [with Pussy Riot].” Verkhovski said the blasphemy article does not work because the judiciary has been for years using Article 282 (incitement to racial, national or religious hatred and hostility) of the Criminal Code to prosecute offences of this nature.
According to SOVA, since 2007, Article 282 has been used in 1,477 cases. Not all of the cases are based on religious hatred, Article 282 has long been used to harassing opposition leaders, journalists and bloggers when they cover abuse of power by the state officials.
Articles 282 and 148, in addition to the Law on Countering Extremism, have been used to target a popular Moscow-based vlogger and comedian Ilia Davydov, known under the pseudonym Maddison. Davydov, who was named a hero of the Russian internet in 2009, became popular for his internet reviews and standup performances.
In January 2017, despite wide popularity, he suddenly deleted all his social media accounts and went into hiding. His disappearance from the internet was driven by accusations that he had insulted the “religious feelings of believers”. The uproar stemmed from a 2012 video in which he reportedly mocked both the Koran and the Bible. In the video, posted to YouTube, Maddison appeared with a book which he called “the Koran” and told a story about wanting to use it as toilet paper but opted for a sock instead. He then told his viewers it was actually the Bible, not the Koran. But then he opened the book to reveal that it was neither holy text.
The video on YouTube did not arouse much interest for three years. But in November 2016, Demand Knowledge, an Islamic Telegram channel geotagged in Chechnya, re-posted the video with a comment (in Russian): “An infidel is insulting Islam and Koran. If you find him, you know what to do.”
The video went viral and Maddison was inundated with abuses and death threats. In late January 2017 some Russian media outlets reported that a financial reward had been offered for reprisals against the comedian. Following the threats, Davydov left Russia.
The threats on his life were only part of the story. On 3 February 2017, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Chechnya appealed to a local court to prosecute Davydov. According to the Chechen Prosecutor’s Office, a review of the video and eight others on Davydov’s channel contain speech and actions that are humiliating to human dignity of Muslim and Christian believers. Prosecutors demanded the courtfile a criminal case under the Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code. The court is currently considering the request.
Davydov declined to speak to Index on Censorship stressing he does not give interviews to any media.
Maddison’s case is not isolated. Chechnya counts as one of the most closed and media-intolerant regions of Russia. Independent media and bloggers have been pushed out of the area in during the rise to power of the Chechen autocratic leader Ramzan Kadyrov. [/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”10″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1491398230204-8311d8c4-ec30-9″ taxonomies=”15″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
A Russian opposition and LGBT rights activist, Ildar Dadin was the first, and remains the only, person to be convicted under a notorious 2014 public assembly law. Aimed at punishing anyone who breaks strict rules on protest, the law was enacted to silence dissent after a wave of demonstrations following Putin’s last election victory. Dadin’s crime was to stage a series of one-man pickets, often standing silently with a billboard, attempting to duck the cynical law and push for free expression.
For his solo enterprise, Dadin was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment in December 2015. In November 2016, website Meduza published a letter smuggled from Dadin to his wife, exposing torture he claimed he was suffering alongside fellow prisoners. The letter, a brave move for a serving prisoner, was widely reported. A government investigation was prompted, and Dadin was transferred – against his will – to an undisclosed new location. A wave of public protest led to Dadin’s new location in a Siberian prison colony being revealed in January 2017.
In February 2017, Russia’s constitutional and Supreme Courts suddenly quashed Dadin’s conviction, ruling he should be released and afforded opportunity for rehabilitation.
“Ildar’s courageous defence of free speech and the right to protest are the chief reasons he was chosen from hundreds of nominations for the shortlist of this year’s awards. I am heartened by this ruling. But Russia must go further and repeal the free-speech-stifling public assembly law,” Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of Index on Censorship said.
Prior to his release from prison, Index on Censorship spoke with his wife Anastasia Zotova. “Human rights watchers from all over the world were against that law – even Russia’s constitutional court admitted that this law is not fair at all,” she said.
See the full shortlist for Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2017 here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1490773693506-6e49fec3-0f44-0″ taxonomies=”8734″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1490258749071{background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Support the Index Fellowship.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:28|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsupport-the-freedom-of-expression-awards%2F|||”][vc_column_text]
