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 the opportunity for rehabilitation.
Активист, долгое время защищавший права ЛГБТ и оппозиции, Ильдар Дадин стал первым и единственным в России осужденным по принятой в 2014 году статье «Неоднократное нарушение установленного порядка организации либо проведения собрания, митинга, демонстрации, шествия или пикетирования».
Пытаясь обойти этот закон, Дадин провел серию одиночных пикетов против нарушений прав человека, за что был арестован и в 2015 приговорен к трем годам тюрьмы. В ноябре 2016, интернет-издание «Медуза» опубликовало письмо, которое Дадин передал через свою жену. В нем он рассказал о том, как его пытали, и о повсеместности насилия в российских тюрьмах. Публикация его письма – смелый шаг для отбывающего наказание заключенного – имело широкий общественный резонанс, вызвав реакцию со стороны правительства и став основанием для расследования. Дадина, против его воли, перевели из его колонии, после чего он исчез внутри российской пенитенциарной системы. Его местонахождение было раскрыто лишь в январе 2017 после волны общественных протестов. После того как Верховный суд отменил приговор, Ильдар Дадин вышел на свободу из колонии, 26 февраля.
2017 Freedom of Expression Campaigning Award-winning Ildar Dadin was presented an illustration created by cartoonist Aseem Trivedi
Good evening. I am Ildar Dadin, a civil rights activist, writing to you from inside Russia. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to join you in London.
When I first heard I had won an award – from my wife, whilst I was still in a Russian jail – I was glad. Because even though I had been imprisoned, those that wished to silence me had clearly failed.
When I was suddenly released eight weeks ago I began preparing for this trip almost immediately. I wanted to tell the world what I had seen inside Russian jails. But it became clear that the authorities had no intention of letting me join you. When I applied for an international passport, I was told that it could take some time, a very long time. So I may no longer be imprisoned, but Russian security officials want to keep me locked in. They want to try, again, to silence me.
This is a kind of travel ban I now face and I have been clearly told that it is due to my activism.
In 2012, I – like many other brave Russians – took to the streets to protest the dishonest parliamentary and presidential elections. I had been driven to join the demonstrations because I had worked as an observer at the polls and witnessed a large number of voting irregularities. I became convinced that there had been no true elections in Russia. We went through the motions of voting, like an act, but the outcome had already been decided.
Russia’s governmental institutions are a Potemkin put on. Russian police don’t protect citizens. Russian judges don’t adhere to the rule of law. Russian media is not independent and just parrots government propaganda over and over. Russian people – my people – are forced to think only one way, the way the government wants. Our thoughts are the government’s thoughts. Our voices have to follow a script that we are expected to be able to recite on command.
It is like the George Orwell novel Animal Farm. The judges and the police only serve the ruling regime and anyone who speaks their own mind is punished.
Anti-clerics, independent thinkers, the LGBT community: these and any other people who take to the streets and protest, they are punished. Or people who simply write their opinions on Facebook. They are punished. Opposition journalists and politicians aren’t just punished – they are killed. As happened to Natalia Estemirova, Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Nemtsov.
You think, perhaps, this story could not be any worse?
But when I was sent to prison for my activism, I learned about another level in Russia’s horrific dysfunction: torture.
This dehumanising practice debases our nation. It takes us not just back to the time of gulags but deep into the brutal Middle Ages. To “correct” incarcerated Russian citizens, prison staff beat them. They hang them on racks. They pull their legs in different directions as if to quarter them, and break their bones.
This is not speculation. This happened to real people, Russians, in the prison colony where I was imprisoned. I spoke with some of them, others gave their testimony to lawyers that I know. Their injuries and fractures have been documented. There are eyewitnesses to the violence.
This torture also happened to me.
But in every case that I am personally aware of, not one of these sadistic prison guards has been punished. Not one.
Tonight I tell you, that in Russia, there are no human rights. It is a society ruled through levels of cruelty and bigotry where Russians are forced to worship the great leader and any and all dissidents are stoned.
Maybe I cannot join you in London but I can refuse to be silent. And you, friends, can refuse to be silent too. You can refuse to let these people silence me. Together, we can refuse to look away.
Anastasia Zotova accepted the 2017 Campaigning Award on behalf of her husband Ildar Dadin. (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship)
For his one-man protests, Ildar Dadin was sent to prison in December 2015 where he was tortured, before his conviction was quashed in February 2017. Read the full profile.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”84888″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
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Maldives Independent, the Maldives’ premiere English publication and one of the few remaining independent media outlets, was formed in exile in Sri Lanka in 2004. Read the full profile.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Добрый вечер. Меня зовут Илья Дадин и я обращаюсь к вам из России. К сожалению, как активисту движения за гражданские права, мне не разрешено быть с вами в Лондоне.
Жена рассказала мне про награду, когда я сидел в российской тюрьме. Я был рад что меня не удалось заглушить, даже если удалось посадить.
После внезапного освобождения восемь недель назад, я сразу начал готовится к этой поездке. Хотелось всему миру рассказать что видел в российских тюрьмах.
Но стало очевидно что власть не собиралась пускать меня к вам. Когда я подавал заявление на загранпаспорт, мне сказали что это может занять много времени. Да. Я не был за решеткой, но я не был свободен. Сотрудники спецслужб снова пытались заткнуть мне рот.
Я не могу выехать из страны и эти ограничения напрямую связаны с моей гражданской деятельностью.
В 2012 году, я, как и многие другие смелые российские граждане, вышел на улицу протестовать против нечестных парламентских и президентских выборов. К участию в акциях меня сподвигла работа наблюдателем на избирательном участке, где я был свидетелем многочисленных нарушений процесса голосования. Я убедился, что настоящих выборов в России не бывает. Мы проходим процесс голосования, но результаты уже решены за нас.
Российские госучреждения это Потемкинские деревни.
Полиция не защищает граждан. Суды не следуют букве закона. Российские СМИ зависимы и просто повторяют за правительственной пропагандой. Русских людей – мой народ – заставляют мыслить односторонне, в угоду власти. Наши мысли – мысли власти. Наши голоса должны повторять текст по команде наизусть.
Живем как в Скотном Двору из Джордж Оруэлла. Судьи и полиция служат правящему режиму, и наказывают любого кто высказывает свое мнение.
Антиклерикалов, независимых мыслителей, ЛГБТ-сообщества и всех кто не согласен и выходит на улицы . Даже тех, которые просто высказывают своё мнение на Фейсбуке. Их тоже наказывают. Оппозиционных журналистов и политиков не просто наказывают – их убивают.Так с Натальей Эстемировой, Анной Политковской, и Борисом Немцовым.
Думаете, что моя история не может быть хуже?
Когда меня посадили в тюрьму за мою гражданскую активность, я я узнал совершенно другой уровень ужасающей дисфункции России: пытки.
Этот античеловечная унижающая практика нашего народа. Это возвращает нас не просто во времена гулагов, а дальше в Средние Века. Чтобы “исправить” заключенных российских граждан,тюремщики избивает их.Подвешивают их на стояках. Тянут им ноги в разные стороны как-будто хотят четвертовать, ломая кости.
Это не придумано. Это происходило с ии реальными русскими людьми, русскими в колонии куда меня посадили. С некоторыми я я разговаривал лично, другие дали показания знакомым адвокатам. Их раны и переломы зафиксированы документально. Они видели насилии своими глазами.
Эти пытки также происходили со мной.
Но в каждом случае, о которых мне известно, ни один из этих садистов-надзирателей не наказан. Ни один.
Сегодня я говорю вам, что в России нет прав человека. Это общество управляетсяу через жестокость и ханжеств, где русских заставляют преклонятся перед великим лидером, а любых диссидентов закидывают камнями
Может я и не могу быть с вами в Лондоне, но я могу отказаться молчать. И вы, друзья, тоже можете отказаться молчать. Вы можете отказать этим людям в позволении заставить меня замолчать. Вместе мы можем отказаться отводить глаза.[/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:1492790037727-479c648e-efcc-4″ taxonomies=”8935″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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]
