CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

FSB continues interrogations of human rights activists

PRESS-RELEASE #1117 FROM January 27, 2005

The FSB of the Nizhny Novgorod province intends to question two more human rights activists tomorrow. This time the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights (NSHR) Viktor Gurskiy, and Dmitri Nikulin, who was a member of NSHR until 2004, have been summoned. Neither one has been an active member in the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship. They will be interrogated as witnesses in the so-called case against the newspaper "Pravo-Zashchita". The FSB is also attempting to locate another member who is listed in the charter of NSHR, Olga Shelepeva, who already has been living in Moscow for a year working at the human rights center "Demos".

As has been reported earlier, on January 11, 2005, the Nizhny Novgorod Province prosecutor opened a criminal case regarding part 2, article 280 in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public incitement to further extremist acts) based on the publication of two appeals made by Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakayev for peaceful negotiations in the Chechen conflict. The investigation is carried out by the Nizhny Novgorod province FSB department. "Pravo-Zashchita" is jointly published by IC SRCF and Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights. On January 20, Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, editor in chief of the paper, was called for questioning in the case, and documents were seized in the shared offices of IC SRCF and NSHR, specifically the employee contracts of associates working in Chechnya. In the past few days the FSB has called into questioning the editor of the Russian language version of information releases Tatyana Banina, technological manager Aleksander Lavrentov, accountant Natalya Chernilevskaya, and former accountant Aleksei Grafov (see our press releases #1103 from January 21, 2005; #1105 from January 21, 2005; and #1109 from January 24, 2005).

Source: ORChD (Society of the Russian-Chechen Friendship, SRCF)

(Prague Watchdog has not edited the text, except for the headline).

(B/T)