Human rights defenders recall achievements of “Centre for Assistance to International Protection”

The creation of the “Centre for Assistance to International Protection” organization 30 years ago was an important event for the development of human rights protection in Russia, and the “Centre” itself won hundreds of cases in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) when defending people whose rights were violated.

The date of creation of the “Centre for Assistance to International Protection” is considered to be December 24, 1994. The human rights organization brings together lawyers specializing in human rights protection, public figures, and volunteer human rights defenders. Some of the most tragic cases considered by the “Centre” are cases of violations of the right to life, including the cases of “Nord-Ost” hostage and the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

In 1996, when Russia was admitted to the Council of Europe (CE), Russian citizens had got for the first time the opportunity to defend their rights in international judicial bodies, noted Karina Moskalenko, a founder of the “Centre for Assistance to International Protection”. According to her statement, the first cases were won at the UN Human Rights Committee.

Karina Moskalenko mentioned several cases in the UN Human Rights Committee. The case of “Lantsova v. Russia” was a case of a mother whose son died in a SIZO (pre-trial prison) because of poor conditions of detention and failure to provide him with medical care. The case of “Gridin v. Russia” was a case on violation of the right to a fair trial and a violation of the presumption of innocence. The case of “Smirnova v. Russia” was a case on violation of the right to liberty and security of person.

“Among the first cases of the ‘Centre’ were several ‘Chechen’ cases on violations of the right to life, torture, unlawful arrests,” Karina Moskalenko emphasized.

Later, the “Centre for Assistance to International Protection” paid its attention to issues of freedom of speech and assembly. “The main ones were cases of political persecution and political assassinations,” Karina Moskalenko noted.

According to her information, more than 900 cases were won and about 1000 others are awaiting consideration.

After Russia quitted the Council of Europe, the “Centre for Assistance to International Protection” did not stop working in the field of international protection, the head of the “Centre” claimed.

The “Centre for Assistance to International Protection” played its role in disseminating international protection mechanisms in the legal and human rights community, noted Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance Committee”*.

Sergey Davidis**, the head of the “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” project, pointed out the importance of interaction with the “Centre for Assistance to International Protection” on issues of international protection of political prisoners and other victims of repression.

“In particular, such cooperation with the “Centre” was very active in protecting the rights of Muslims convicted on charges related to the ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’*** organization,” Sergey Davidis** emphasized.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**Included in the list of terrorists and extremists.

***An international pan-Islamist and fundamentalist political organization whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate. In 2003, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized “Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami” as a terrorist organization and banned its activities.