The Regime Has Crossed the Red Line

Official Statement from UCSJ's NGO Partner For Human Rights

Moscow--

The criminal case against Sergey Udaltsov and other “heroes” of NTV propagandistic films shows that the current regime in Russia has crossed the red line from being a simply repressive violator of democratic principles to a totalitarian one. The absurdity of accusations, reminiscent of Stalin-era actions, demonstrates the Russian authorities’ serious intention to bring down all of its force on the peaceful opposition.

We state, understanding the responsibility, that even if all the words said by the participants of the meeting shown in the film “Anatomy of the Protest-2” are true, there is absolutely no legal grounds for the prosecution of the accused people.

We believe that those who join campaigns to slander the opposition, and who willingly help authorities persecute innocent people, are shameful.

Despite the fact that it is the high authorities’ decision to legally persecute the opposition, we declare that it is Investigation Committee’s leaders, headed by Alexander Ivanovich Bystrikin, who carry full personal responsibility for the fabrication of criminal cases.

Unfortunately, today, A.I. Bystrikin has begun to play the same role in domestic justice as the horribly remembered Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (General Prosecutor during Stalin’s Moscow Trials of 1936- 1938 and later involved in Stalin’s political trials).

The fabrication of cases against the opposition is creating an irreversible situation that is dangerously raising the degree of confrontation in Russian society.

We demand:

- immediate release of all political prisoners,

- cessation of the persecution of the opposition under fabricated accusations and

- dismissal of A.I. Bystrikin from his position

We call on parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition, as well as all civil society, to come forward against the persecution of the protest movement activists.

 

Lev Ponomarev, Executive Director of All Russian Movement “For Human Rights”

Igor Bakirov, coordinator of the Movement “White Ribbon”

Ludmilla Alekseeva, Chair of Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG)

Sergey Kovalev, Chair of Museum Council and Andrey Sakharov Public Center

 

This information is provided by the organization “For Human Rights”

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