defenders, independent journalists and 1. Romania falls short of its international human rights obligations on lawyers continuing to face personal risks in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (EUR 39/004/2014) their work. www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR39/004/2014/en 2. Romanian local authorities must provide housing for homeless BACKGROUND families after forced eviction (EUR 39/018/2013) In February, Russia hosted the well-attended www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR39/018/2013/enRomania: Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. By the end Families homeless after forced eviction (EUR 39/019/2013) of the year, following its annexation of Crimea www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR39/019/2013/enRomanian from Ukraine in March and its continuing government is failing homeless Roma in Eforie Sud (EUR support for separatists in Ukraine’s eastern 39/021/2013) region of Donbass, Russia was facing www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR39/021/2013/enRomania: increasing international isolation. Submission to the Pre-sessional Working Group of the UN Committee The Russian authorities adopted an on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 53rd meeting (EUR increasingly belligerent anti-Western and anti- 39/02/2014) Ukrainian rhetoric, which was widely echoed www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR39/002/2014/en in the government-controlled mainstream 3. How the EBRD’s funding contributed to forced evictions in Craica, media. Despite growing economic difficulties Romania (EUR 39/001/2014) and projected cuts in social spending - www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR39/001/2014/en caused in part by Western sanctions and falling oil prices (Russia’s major export commodity), and corruption - the Russian leadership enjoyed a surge in popular support, fuelled in large measure by the RUSSIAN widely hailed annexation of Crimea (which had been under Russian administration in the FEDERATION Soviet Union until 1954). Fighting in Ukraine continued after a Russian Federation Russian-brokered truce in September, Head of state: Vladimir Putin albeit on a reduced scale. The government Head of government: Dmitry Medvedev consistently denied that Russia was supplying military hardware, personnel and other assistance to the separatists in Donbass, Media pluralism and the space for the despite growing evidence to the contrary. In expression of dissenting views shrank occupied Crimea, Russian laws took effect, markedly. Restrictions on the rights to and the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of expression, assembly and assembly and association were significantly association, introduced in 2012, were curtailed as a result. assiduously enforced and further added to. Some NGOs faced harassment, public FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION smear campaigns and pressure to register as Media and journalists “foreign agents”. Several protesters and civil The government strengthened its control over society activists were convicted following mainstream media, which became noticeably unfair, politically motivated trials. Torture less pluralistic. Most media not nominally and other ill-treatment continued to be used under state control exercised an increasing with impunity. The situation in the North degree of self-censorship, seldom if ever Caucasus remained volatile and marred by giving platform to views unwelcome by the human rights violations, with no effective authorities. Dissenting media outlets faced legal remedies for victims, and human rights considerable pressure in the form of official

Amnesty International Report 2014/15 305 warnings, the removal of editorial staff and the challenges and the outlets remained blocked severing of business ties. Publicly owned and at the end of the year.1 private media outlets with pro-government Several independent media outlets sympathies were used to smear political received official warnings about “extremist” opponents and critical voices, including or other purportedly unlawful content. independent NGOs. Independent radio station Echo Moskvy Dozhd TV was taken off air by satellite was forced to remove a transcript from its and cable broadcasters in late January after website of a studio discussion on 29 October it initiated a controversial debate about the with two journalists who had witnessed the siege of Leningrad in World War II. It was fighting at Donetsk airport and expressed also refused an extension on the lease of its pro-Ukrainian views. Roskomnadzor alleged studio space. Although commercial reasons that the programme contained “information were cited, the political influence on these justifying the commission of war crimes”. The business decisions was apparent. Dozhd TV host of the discussion, Aleksandr Pliuschev, was well known for its independent political was later suspended for two months in broadcasting, giving the floor to opposing connection with an unrelated inappropriate views and offering markedly different personal tweet. His suspension was the coverage of EuroMaydan events in Ukraine. It result of a compromise reached between the was forced to broadcast online only and resort editor-in-chief Aleksey Venediktov and the to “crowdfunding” to survive. management of Gazprom Media, the station’s In March, the owner of online news principal shareholder, who had initially outlet Lenta.ru replaced its editor-in-chief sought to dismiss Aleksandr Pliuschev and after receiving an official warning for threatened to remove Aleksey Venediktov. publishing an interview with a right-wing Physical attacks on journalists continued. Ukrainian nationalist activist who had come In August, several were assaulted in separate to prominence during EuroMaydan. Many incidents, as they attempted to report members of staff resigned in protest, and on secretive funerals of Russian military the previously independent editorial policy servicemen allegedly killed in Ukraine. changed markedly. On 29 August, Lev Shlosberg, publisher of Greater controls were imposed on the Pskovskaya Guberniya, the first newspaper internet. In February a law was enacted giving to report on the secret funerals, was brutally the Prosecutor’s Office the authority to order beaten and hospitalized with head injuries. the media regulator, Roskomnadzor, to block The investigation failed to identify his three websites without judicial authorization for assailants and was suspended at the end of purported violations, including publishing the year. calls to participate in unauthorized Timur Kuashev, a journalist from public assemblies. Kabardino-Balkaria who worked closely with In March, popular online news outlets local human rights defenders, was found Ezhednevnyi Zhurnal (Daily Journal), dead on 1 August. His unexplained death Grani.ru and Kasparov.ru were blocked was reportedly caused by a lethal injection. after reporting on the dispersal of several The killings of other journalists in the North peaceful spontaneous street protests in Caucasus in previous years, including Moscow. The Prosecutor’s Office argued Natalia Estemirova, Hajimurad Kamalov that their sympathetic reporting on these and Akhmednabi Akhmednabiev, were demonstrations amounted to calls for not effectively investigated and their killers further “unlawful actions”. Its decision remained unidentified. In June, five men were was repeatedly upheld in subsequent legal sentenced to imprisonment for the killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya

306 Amnesty International Report 2014/15 in Moscow in October 2006, but those who In July, penalties were significantly ordered her killing remained unidentified. increased and criminal liability punishable by imprisonment introduced for repeated ACTIVISTS violations of the law on public assemblies.3 Individuals and groups with dissenting views The authorities proceeded with the also continued to be denied their right to prosecution of those accused in connection freedom of expression. Sexual minorities were with the May 2012 Bolotnaya Square protest: among those targeted, including under the 10 individuals were sentenced to between two 2013 federal law prohibiting “propaganda and a half and four and a half years in prison of non-traditional sexual relations among for their participation in and alleged violence minors”. LGBTI activists were consistently during the protest, which was qualified as prevented from holding peaceful assemblies, “mass disorder”. Sergei Udaltsov and Leonid including in locations specifically designated Razvozzhaev were convicted of organizing the for public gatherings without prior permission, “mass disorder”. typically less frequented parks with low On 20 and 24 February, police violently footfall. Courts upheld the right of LGBTI dispersed hundreds of peaceful protesters activists to peaceful assembly in relation assembled outside the court building in to previously banned events on three Moscow as it was delivering its verdict in the occasions, but their rulings had no impact on Bolotnaya trial and at subsequent gatherings future decisions. in the city centre. Over 600 were arbitrarily In January, activist Elena Klimova, from arrested, most of whom received fines. At Nizhniy Tagil, was accused of “propaganda” least six were sentenced to between five and for her online project “Children 404” aimed 13 days’ “administrative arrest”. at supporting LGBTI teenagers.2 Charges In subsequent weeks, numerous were issued against her, then dropped, then peaceful protesters were arrested, fined and issued again, threatening the closure of her sometimes detained for their participation project. In April, the screening of a film about in protests against Russia’s military “Children 404” in Moscow was disrupted involvement in Ukraine and the annexation by protesters who forced their way into the of Crimea. At the same time, pro-government auditorium and shouted abusive slogans. demonstrations on Ukraine were allowed They were accompanied by armed police who to proceed in central locations that were insisted on checking the identity documents regularly denied to opposition protesters. of all those present in order to establish In Samara, several activists received whether any minors were present. anonymous death threats after they held a series of single-person pickets (the only FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY form of protest allowed without a prior Street protest activity declined overall in authorization) on 2 March.4 comparison to previous years, but spiked In August, three women were briefly briefly in February and March, and again in detained at a police station in Moscow for December, in response to the Bolotnaya trial wearing clothes in blue and yellow, the and Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine, colours of the Ukrainian flag. Similar incidents and to the announced health care system were reported across the country. reforms and the conviction of Aleksei and At the end of the year, small-scale protests Oleg Navalny. took place, mostly unhindered, in a number Onerous approval procedures for public of cities across Russia against planned health assemblies remained in place. With few care cuts, but in Moscow, four protesters were exceptions, most public protests were sentenced to detention of between five and severely restricted, barred or dispersed.

Amnesty International Report 2014/15 307 15 days after demonstrators briefly blocked Vitishko lost an appeal in a criminal case on a road. exaggerated charges brought to silence him Over 200 people were detained in Moscow and his NGO, and was transferred directly on 30 December when the verdict in a to a prison colony to serve his three-year politically motivated criminal trial against sentence.7The work of Ekovakhta was political activist Aleksei Navalny and his suspended by a court decision in March, brother Oleg was announced two weeks and the NGO was liquidated by another before it was scheduled, and spontaneous decision in November, for a minor formal protests took place. Two detainees were transgression. sentenced to 15 days’ detention and a further The Ministry of Justice applied to the courts 67 held overnight and released pending trial to close the Russian Society Memorial for a in January. purportedly incorrect form of registration. The hearing was postponed while the NGO took FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION formal steps to rectify this. Civil society activists continued to face harassment, public attacks on their integrity TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT and, in some instances, criminal prosecution. Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment Throughout the year, independent civil continued to be reported across the country, society organizations faced growing pressure while many of those who sought redress under the so-called “foreign agents law”. faced pressure to withdraw their complaints. This was introduced in 2012 to force NGOs Investigations into such allegations were receiving foreign funding and undertaking almost invariably ineffective. Confessions loosely defined “political activities” to register extracted under torture were used as as “organizations fulfilling the functions of a evidence in court. In only a handful of cases, foreign agent” and mark their public materials typically involving human rights NGOs, accordingly. In 2013 and 2014, hundreds charges were brought against the implicated of NGOs were subjected to intrusive official law enforcement officials. “inspections” and dozens were embroiled Members of an independent public in protracted court hearings to fend off this monitoring commission repeatedly requirement. In May, the law was amended documented instances of torture and other to give the Ministry of Justice the authority to ill-treatment of detainees at the prison register an NGO as a “foreign agent” without colony and pre-trial detention centre IK-5 in its consent. By the end of the year it had Sverdlovsk Region. In July, they requested registered 29 NGOs including several leading the authorities to investigate allegations of the human rights organizations as “foreign torture of E.G., held there on remand pending agents”.5 At least five NGOs chose to dissolve trial, and produced photographic evidence themselves as a direct result of harassment of his injuries. A member of the Prosecutor’s under the “foreign agents law”. Office responded in a letter that, based on Members of the NGO Environmental Watch staff questioning at IK-5 and the paperwork for North Caucasus (Ekovakhta), who were held by its administration, E.G. had not been highlighting environmental damage caused subjected to violence at this institution and by the Sochi Olympics, were subjected to that his injuries predated his transfer there. a sustained campaign of harassment by No further investigation was undertaken. security officials ahead of the Games.6 Two of them, Yevgeny Vitishko and Igor Kharchenko, NORTH CAUCASUS were arrested on trumped-up administrative The situation in the North Caucasus remained charges and detained during the Games’ volatile, with armed groups engaging in opening. While in detention, Yevgeny sporadic attacks against security officials.

308 Amnesty International Report 2014/15 Over 200 people reportedly lost their lives threats and harassment from law enforcement in multiple incidents, including dozens of officials and unidentified individuals. civilians. Security operations, conducted in Civil society activist Ruslan Kutaev Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya complained of torture, including beatings and and elsewhere, were accompanied by serious electrocution, after his arrest in February on human rights violations, including unlawful trumped-up charges of heroin possession. detention, torture and other ill-treatment, His injuries were well documented by alleged enforced disappearances and independent monitors.9 However, the extrajudicial executions. investigative authorities accepted the alleged On 4 December, armed fighters attacked perpetrators’ explanation that Ruslan Kutaev’s government buildings in Grozny, Chechenya, injuries resulted from a fall, and refused to killing at least one civilian and 14 police investigate his complaints further. He was officers. The next day Ramzan Kadyrov, Head convicted following an unfair trial in July in of the Republic, publicly promised to expel Urus-Martan, Chechnya, and sentenced to relatives of the armed group members from four years in prison, reduced by two months Chechnya and demolish their houses. At on appeal in October. least 15 houses, homes to dozens of people Dagestani lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova, including small children, were burnt down or who was seriously assaulted by police in 2010 demolished.8 Human rights defenders who at a police station when visiting a detained condemned this practice and demanded an client, continued to receive anonymous investigation were pelted with eggs at a press death threats and threats from investigation conference in Moscow on 11 December. officials, both veiled and open. None of Ramzan Kadyrov used social media to accuse her official complaints were effectively Igor Kalyapin, leader of the Joint Mobile investigated. She remained concerned for Group for Chechnya, of supporting terrorists. her own, her colleagues’ and her family’s The Group’s office in Grozny was destroyed safety, but refused to give up her work.10 by fire on 14 December in an apparent arson The investigation into her beating by police attack, and its two members searched and in 2010 was formally reopened, but the detained for several hours by police without authorities failed to demonstrate any progress explanation, their phones, cameras and or intention to prosecute her assailants. computers confiscated. The near-total lack of legal remedies for victims of human rights violations prevailed, 1. Violation of the right to freedom of expression, association and as the criminal justice system remained assembly in Russia (EUR 46/048/2014) ineffective and subject - for the most www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/048/2014/en part clandestinely - to high-level political 2. Russian Federation: Journalist charged under “propaganda law”: pressure. However, in Chechnya judges and Elena Klimova (EUR 46/009/2014) jury members were openly admonished by www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/009/2014/en Ramzan Kadyrov for decisions in criminal 3. A right, not a crime: Violations of the right to freedom of assembly in cases that he considered lenient towards Russia (EUR 46/028/2014) the defendants. www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/028/2014/en Reporting on human rights violations 4. Russian Federation: Peace activists receive death threats remained a difficult, and often dangerous, www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/022/2014/en/56bb391a- occupation, and many violations were be6b-458f-8bca-05723a2eb17b/eur460222014en.html believed to have gone unrecorded. Human 5. Violations of the right to freedom of expression, association and rights defenders, independent journalists assembly in Russia (EUR 46/048/2014) and lawyers who worked on cases involving www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/048/2014/en human rights violations continued to face

Amnesty International Report 2014/15 309 6. Russian Federation: Serious human rights violations associated to remember the victims reiterated the need with the preparation for and staging of the Sochi Olympic Games, for the international community to continue open letter to the Chair of the International Olympic Committee, 10 to improve its response to emerging mass February 2014 (EUR 46/008/2014) atrocities.1 www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/008/2014/en Economic progress and development 7. “Russia: Legacy of Olympic games tarnished by arrests, 22 February continued. However, the political landscape 2014” (Press release) continued to be dominated by the ruling www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/russia-legacy- Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) without olympic-games-tarnished-arrests-2014-02-22 any meaningful opposition. The authorities 8. Russia: Burning down homes after Chechnya clashes appears to be continued to react harshly to any criticism, collective punishment (News story) especially regarding its human rights record. www.amnesty.org/en/news/russia-burning-down-homes-after- In late July, President Kagame reshuffled chechnya-clashes-appears-be-collective-punishment-2014-12-09-0 the cabinet and Prime Minister Habumuremyi 9. Russian Federation: Imprisoned activist must be released was replaced. The President of the Senate, immediately: Ruslan Kutaev (EUR 46/052/2014) Jean-Damascène Ntawukuriryayo, resigned www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/052/2014/en in September. 10. Russian Federation: Further information: New death threats against In June, a report by the UN Group Dagestan lawyers (EUR 46/034/2014) of Experts noted that the fate of former www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/034/2014/en combatants and political cadres of the March 23 Movement (M23) armed group remained unresolved, including escapes of individuals from camps in Rwanda. Many M23 members had fled to Rwanda following their defeat by RWANDA the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) troops in late 2013. Republic of Rwanda Head of state: Paul Kagame POLITICAL ASSASSINATIONS ABROAD Head of government: Anastase Murekezi (replaced The Rwandan government denied allegations Pierre Damien Habumuremyi in July) that they were linked to successful or attempted assassinations of political dissidents abroad. Freedoms of expression and association in On 1 January, Patrick Karegeya, a leading Rwanda continued to be unduly restricted member of the opposition Rwandan National by the authorities. Rwandans were unable Congress (RNC) and former Head of External to openly express critical views on issues Intelligence (RDF), was found dead in a perceived as sensitive by the authorities hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa. and the environment for journalists, human Investigations into his killing were carried out; rights defenders and members of the however, the perpetrators were not identified. opposition remained repressive. There were Public statements following his death by the reports of unlawful detention by Rwandan Rwandan authorities, including President military intelligence and past cases of Kagame, sought to justify the killing of people torture were not investigated. who were traitors to the country. In August, a South African Court found BACKGROUND four men guilty of the 2010 attempted 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the 1994 assassination of Kayumba Nyamwasa, an genocide in which around 800,000 Rwandan exiled RNC dissident and former Chief of Staff Tutsi and Hutu opposed to the government of the RDF. The judge was cited in media were killed. Around the world, events held

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