Hundreds Demonstrate in Germany for Release of Russian Political Prisoners

April 8, 2013

On 7 April, more than 350 people demonstrated in Hanover for human rights and the release of political prisoners in Russia such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev as part of Amnesty International’s “Human rights made in Russia” campaign.

Over 350 people demonstrated in Hanover

Amnesty International and other groups organised the demonstration as Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Hanover to open the Hanover Fair, the largest industry trade fair in the world, with German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Hanover Fair had chosen Russia as its partner country this year in order to foster German-Russian trade.

Russia Expert for Amnesty International Peter Franck stressed that economic interests should not be pursued at the expense of human rights and that the Federal Chancellor, and German companies active in Russia, should unequivocally criticise the harassment and intimidation of human rights organisations. Amnesty International also issued an online petition calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.

The petition has so far been signed by over 6000 supporters and can still be signed here.

The bilateral talks between Chancellor Merkel and President Putin were strained by the latest crackdown on NGOs by Russian authorities. In an article for the German Sunday newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”, Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s son Pavel called upon German politicians to eschew what he described as “reckless pragmatism” and adopt a stance that includes support for Russia’s civil society and clear and critical words regarding the continuing assault on human rights and democracy in Russia. Pavel also expressed his hope that German politicians would raise his father’s imprisonment, now in its tenth year, with their Russian colleagues, and that his father will be freed as soon as possible. His father’s release, Pavel argued, would contribute to an improvement in German-Russian relations.  

Stop the attacks on NGOs!

Amnesty International raised a number of human rights cases as part of their “Human Rights Made in Russia” campaign, which coincided with Putin’s visit. They displayed billboards in train stations and broadcast images on passenger TV that highlighted the cases of Natalya Estemirova, a journalist, and Igor Kalyapin, a human rights defender, as well as Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. Estemirova, who had worked for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, the Memorial human rights organisation and others, was abducted outside her flat in Grosny, Chechnya in July 2009.  Her body was later found in the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia, and there is a strong possibility that she was murdered as a result of her human rights work in Chechnya. Her murderer, despite being known to investigators, has not yet been brought to justice and the International Federation for Human Rights, Memorial and Novaya Gazeta have criticised the investigators for failing to investigate thoroughly the potential involvement of the authorities in the murder.

Demonstrators

 Igor Kalyapin is the head of the Russian human rights organization IRCAT which campaigns against torture and helps the victims of torture and abuse. The authorities in Chechnya have threatened him with prosecution and claim that Kalyapin has made classified information public. The human rights defender explained that he merely criticised the lack of efficiency of investigations in “disposal cases”, involving people who disappear and never return. Furthermore, he underlined that victims of human rights violations do not have adequate legal means at their disposal. Amnesty International started an online petition addressed to the head of the investigation committee, Alexander Bastrykin, in Moscow urging that Kalyapin’s work will not be interfered with by prosecutions and to ensure that human rights defenders are able to carry out their work in the Russian Federation.

Billboard in train station calling for freedom for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev
Billboard highlighting the murder of Natalya Estemirova
Billboard in support of Russian human rights supporter Igor Kaljapin