Please write a polite letter on your personal or institutional letterhead requesting that charges against Stanislav Dmitrievsky be dropped—or copy the one below—and mail to President Vladimir Putin (postage 90¢), and Yury Viktorovich Ushakov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the U.S.
[Date]
His Excellency President Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
Fax: + 7 (495) 606-69-66
E-mail: president@gov.ru
His Excellency Yuriy Viktorovich Ushakov
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington, D.C 20007
Fax: (202) 298-5735
Your Excellencies,
I am writing to express my serious concern for human rights advocate and executive director of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), Stanislav Dmitrievsky, who has been sentenced to four years probation and two two-year suspended sentences.
I understand that on September 2, 2005, Mr. Dmitrievsky was charged under Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code for “actions aimed at inciting hatred or hostility,” and on February 3, 2006 was found guilty at the Soviet District Court in Nizhny Novgorod of “inciting interethnic hatred by using the mass media.” Under a new NGO law, introduced in January 2006, no person who has been convicted can head an NGO. Thus, the Nizhny Novgorod court ordered the RCFS to be closed due to Dmitrievsky’s conviction. The Russian Supreme court upheld the ruling on January 23, 2007. The RCFS has also been subject to what has been described as fiscal harassment by the federal tax department and ministry of justice.
I also understand that on August 17, 2007, the Nizhny Novgorod District Court approved a motion by the Regional Department of the Implementation of Criminal Sentences to increase the sentence handed down against Mr. Dmitrievsky in February 2006. Mr. Dmitrievsky was then sentenced to a two years' suspended prison term for "inciting hatred and enmity on the basis of ethnicity and religion" under Article 282 of the Criminal Code.
I strongly feel that the conviction and sentencing of Mr. Dmitrievsky to two two-year suspended sentences and four-year probation is a means to harass and punish him solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. I respectfully ask that all charges against Stanislav Dmitrievsky be dropped immediately and unconditionally. I also ask for an end to the harassment of Russia’s independent human rights organizations.
Furthermore, I urge the Russian government to respect its international human rights obligations, in particular Article 19 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, which guarantees the rights of all individuals to free expression.
Sincerely,
[Your name and signature]
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