Antécédents de l'affaire: Igor Kalyapin
Le 14 décembre 2014 vers 13h, plusieurs hommes armés sont entrés dans l'appartement du Joint Mobile Group (JMG) à Grozny, la capitale de la Tchétchénie. L'appartement est situé à côté des bureaux, très endommagés par un incendie criminel la veille. Les hommes armés ont refusé de s'identifier mais ils ont ensuite dit qu'ils étaient du poste de police du district de Leninsky à Grozny. Ils ont fouillé les lieux de force alors que deux membres du JMG, M. Sergey Babinets et M. Dmitry Dmitriev, étaient dans l'appartement.
Igor Kalyapin est président du comité inter régional contre la torture et fondateur et président du Joint Mobile Group (JMG), un groupe créé par des ONG en novembre 2009 après le meurtre de la défenseuse des droits humains Natalia Estemirova en Tchétchénie. Le JMG a reçu le Prix Front Line Defenders en avril 2011, pour son travail d'investigation sur la torture et les disparitions en Tchétchénie. Il a également reçu le Prix Martin Ennals en 2013. Igor Kalyapin est aussi membre du Conseil présidentiel pour la société civile et les droits humains en Russie.
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- 9 Février 2016 : Administrative charges against human rights NGO under the pretext of violating the 'Foreign Agents' law
- 14 Décembre 2014 : Arson attack on office of Joint Mobile Group and search of its apartment after threats against HRDs working in Chechnya
- 6 Mars 2014 : Ongoing defamation of human rights defender Mr Igor Kalyapin
On 28 January 2016, the Orenburg regional department of the Ministry of Justice accused the Committee for Prevention of Torture (CPT) and its chairman Mr Igor Kalyapin of committing administrative offences. It charged them with violating the 'Foreign Agents' law.
According to the widely criticised Federal Law №121-FZ, “On Introducing Changes to Certain Pieces of Legislation of the Russian Federation as Regards Regulation of Activities of Non-Commercial Organisations Performing the Functions of Foreign Agents”, otherwise known as "Foreign Agents law", any NGO that receives funds from abroad must register as a “foreign agent” if it engages in any kind of vaguely defined political activity, including advocacy and human rights work.
CPT is an inter-regional non-governmental human rights organisation which carries out public investigations into allegations of torture in Russia, represents the interests of torture victims before national and international courts and government agencies, and provides them with assistance in obtaining compensation and medical rehabilitation. CPT was established in 2014 to replace the Inter-regional Committee against Torture, a non-governmental organisation with a similar mandate to CPT, which was closed down in 2014 after it had become clear that it would be enlisted as a 'foreign agent' under Federal Law №121-FZ.
The Committee for Prevention of Torture has never received nor attempted to obtain any form of foreign financial support.
On 28 January 2016, the department of the Ministry of Justice in the Orenburg region initiated two administrative cases, in relation to alleged violations of the 'Foreign Agents' law by CPT and its chairman Igor Kalyapin. According to the document prepared by the Ministry of Justice, CPT has been using foreign sources of funding without being officially registered as a “foreign agent”. Igor Kalyapin has been accused of failing to submit a timely application with the competent government authorities for inclusion of CPT in the list of 'foreign agents' operating in Russia.
On 14 January 2016, CPT was enlisted as a 'foreign agent' by decision of the Ministry of Justice, on the basis of a report issued by the same authority on 22 December 2015. According to the report, CPT must be recognised as a 'foreign agent' as the organisation has been in receipt of financial support contributed by Russian citizens working in organisations sponsored from abroad.
At the beginning of December 2016, the Ministry of Justice conducted an unscheduled inspection of CPT, which was initiated after a group of people, including a former lawyer for the human rights organisation, filed an official complaint against the organisation.
The regional department of Ministry of Justice in Orenburg intends to initiate judicial proceedings in relation to the two administrative cases. If found guilty, Igor Kalyapin faces a fine of up to €3500. CPT itself can be fined up to €5800 for violating the “Foreign Agents” law. Representatives of the organisation have already stated that if they are found guilty in court, the organisation will be forced to close, thus repeating the fate of its predecessor, the Inter-regional Committee against Torture. CPT and human rights defender Igor Kalyapin are planning to appeal the Ministry's decision to bring administrative charges against them, as well as the Government's decision to enlist CPT as a a 'foreign agent'.
On 14 December 2014, at approximately 1pm, several armed men entered the apartment of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. The apartment is located next to their office, which was badly damaged in an arson attack the previous day. The armed men refused to identify themselves but later said that they were from Leninsky district police department in Grozny. They forcibly searched the premises and two members of JMG, Mr Sergey Babinets and Mr Dmitry Dmitriev, were held in the apartment.
The alleged police officers did not have a warrant to search the premises and provided no explanations, except to point out that Sergey Babinets is suspicious “because he has a beard.” The policemen seized the human rights defenders' mobile phones and they had no means of contact and no access to legal representation for an hour and a half. Two computers and CCTV cameras were also seized. At approximately 2:30pm the human rights defenders were released.
The previous day, on 13 December 2014, three unidentified armed men tried to enter the JMG office in Grozny. This followed a demonstration that morning calling for the ban of JMG in Chechnya. It was allegedly organised with support from the authorities. Later that day, the armed men in plain clothes tried to enter the JMG office on two occasion and members of JMG were followed as they drove away. In the evening, Vice-Minister of the Interior and head of police of Chechnya, Mr Apti Alaudinov, went to the hotel where members of JMG, Dmitry Dmitriev and Sergey Babinets, were staying. He accused them of spreading false information about previous threats against them. At approximately 8:30pm, the JMG office was set on fire.
On 11 December 2014, two unidentified individuals attacked human rights defender Igor Kalyapin by throwing eggs at him during a press conference in Moscow that was highlighting the recent “collective punishment” incidents in Chechnya, where relatives of alleged insurgents had their houses burnt and demolished. During the conference, two unidentified men stood up, stated that “Ramzan Kadyrov is a hero of Russia” and threw eggs at Igor Kalyapin, accusing the human rights defender of “defending criminals”. The organisers of the press conference called the police and, when they arrived, Igor Kalyapin filed a complaint. The previous day, on 10 December 2014, the head of the Chechen Republic, Mr Ramzan Kadyrov, had given an interview to local Chechen TV channel Grozny in which he appeared to accuse Igor Kalyapin of being a traitor and of financing the insurgency. He also published threats against Igor Kalyapin on his Instagram account stating that: “Kalyapin defends criminals and their relatives....The police have information that funding from western secret services...was transferred to the insurgents by a person with the surname Kalyapin...I will not allow anybody... assist criminals”. human rights defenders held a press conference in Moscow in which they discussed the “collective punishment” and the recent statement by the head of Chechnya.
On 9 December 2014, Igor Kalyapin had filed a complaint addressed to the General Prosecutor and the Head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation asking them to investigate the recent statements by the Head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who had announced publicly that “if the insurgents murder a policeman or any other person, the family of the insurgents will be immediately expelled from Chechnya and not allowed to return, and their house will be razed to the ground”. This statement was issued in response to an attack by insurgents in Grozny on 4 December 2014, when fourteen policemen were killed and more than thirty injured after armed clashes. As Human Rights Centre “Memorial” reported, since 6 December 2014, law enforcement officers have allegedly burnt at least six houses in Chechnya as part of this “collective punishment”.
As Igor Kalyapin stated in his complaint, the collective punishment of insurgents' relatives is in contravention of Russian legislation. According to the law, the authorities may seize the property of the perpetrator's relatives as compensation for a terrorist attack, but only in the case that it is proved in court that the property came into their possession as a result of these illegal activities.
Human rights defender Mr Igor Kalyapin has been subjected to an ongoing defamation campaign.
The most recent incident took place on 25 February 2014, at a meeting of the Civil Chamber of the Chechen Republic, during which the Head of the Republic of Chechnya, Mr Ramzan Kadyrov, accused human rights defender Mr Igor Kalyapin of being a “traitor of the nation” and a man who defends “bandits and drug addicts” and “promotes his personal interests”.
On 25 February 2014, Ramzan Kadyrov, apart from calling Igor Kalyapin a traitor and defender of criminals and drug addicts, further accused the human rights defender of using human rights work to make a career. Ramzan Kadyrov stated that there are 'real' human rights defenders in Chechnya and that the Republic does not need 'Kalyapins'. This statement was broadcast by the state TV channel Vainakh. Kadyrov went on to list cases which are being investigated by Igor Kalyapin and the JMG, including that of Mr Islam Umarpashaev, who in 2009 was abducted and deprived of his liberty for four months by the Chechen Special Police Task Force, during which time he was tortured.
Ramzan Kadyrov also mentioned the case of Mr Ruslan Kutaev in an attempt to paint Igor Kalyapin as a careerist. The human rights defender and JMG have recently been working on the case and came to conclusion that from 20 to 22 February 2014 Ruslan Kutaev was subjected to torture. On 18 February 2014, the “Assembly of Caucasian nations”, of which Ruslan Kutaev is president, had organised a conference to commemorate 70 years since the deportation of the entire Chechen and Ingush population on 23 February 1944. During this conference, Ruslan Kutaev accused the authorities of disrespecting the memory of the victims by not celebrating this date in Chechnya. Shortly after the conference concluded, Ruslan Kutaev was invited to meet Ramzan Kadyrov on 19 February, an invitation which he declined. On 20 February, he was arrested and charged with possession of drugs. Soon afterwards the allegations of torture came to light.
This is not the first time that Igor Kalyapin and JMG members have been the targets of defamation and intimidation as a result of their work. On 7 July 2012, Igor Kalyapin was called for questioning by the Investigative Committee of Northern Caucasus Federal Region in the town of Yessentuki and threatened with prosecution. On 1 June 2012, the JMG members were summoned to a meeting with Ramzan Kadyrov which was conducted in a threatening manner. He declared that the JMG members “hate Chechens and come just to earn money.”