INTERNATIONAL MONITORING MISSION ON THE TRIAL OF PRISONERS WHO PROTESTED AGAINST TORTURE AND EXTORTION IN KOPEYSK PENITENTIARY COLONY NO. 6 CHELYABINSK REGIONAL COURT, RUSSIA JUNE 2015 – APRIL 2018 FINAL REPORT Editors : E. Mezak, A. Laptev, A. Bartolini, P. Baigarova, J. Krikorian, H. de Suremain Cover illustration : Konstantin Potapov @ European Prison Litigation Network, 2019 www.prisonlitigation.org With the financial support of : Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Barreau de Paris Solidarités Table of content Origin of the monitoring mission and methodology ...................................................................... 5 1. The origins of the Kopeysk case: the incidents of November 2012 and their causes ................. 6 1.1 The penitentiary colony n°6 of Kopeysk, a prison facility described as a place of torture .... 6 1.2 A climate of total impunity ..................................................................................................... 6 1.3 A protest movement as a cry for help .................................................................................... 7 2. The follow-up given by the authorities to the events of 2012..................................................... 7 2.1 Institutional reactions to the revelations on the situation in the colony .............................. 7 2.2 The judicial treatment of cases of torture and other ill-treatments ...................................... 8 2.3 The criminal proceedings introduced against the detainees ............................................... 11 2.3.1 The triggering of criminal proceedings .......................................................................... 11 2.3.2 The charges against the defendants .............................................................................. 11 2.3.3 The criminal qualifications used .................................................................................... 13 2.4 The situation of the accused during the preparatory stages of the criminal proceeding 14 2.4.1 Allegations of mistreatment .............................................................................................. 14 2.4.2 Breaches of the rights of the defence ............................................................................... 15 3. The hearing phase ...................................................................................................................... 17 3.1 General presentation of the proceedings : the formation of the court, the parties ........... 17 3.1.1 The Court ........................................................................................................................ 17 3.1.2 The defendants .............................................................................................................. 17 3.1.3 The prosecution ............................................................................................................. 19 3.1.4 The victims. .................................................................................................................... 19 3.1.5 The witnesses ................................................................................................................. 19 3.1.6 Other participants .......................................................................................................... 20 3.2 Conditions of appearances of the accused........................................................................... 20 3.2.1 Communication with lawyers during the hearings ........................................................ 20 3.2.2 Access to case material .................................................................................................. 20 3.2.3 Right to be assisted by a lawyer of his own choosing ................................................... 21 3.2.4 Translation ..................................................................................................................... 21 3.2.5 Conduct of court proceedings........................................................................................ 22 3.2.6 Conditions in the courtroom .......................................................................................... 23 3.3 The debates at the court ...................................................................................................... 23 3.3.1 Position of the public prosecutor.................................................................................. 24 3.3.2 Position of the defendants ............................................................................................. 27 3.4 The verdict ............................................................................................................................ 30 4. Assessment of the respect of fundamental rights of the accused............................................. 32 4.1 Compatibility of prosecution and sentences with international law ................................... 32 4.1.1 The Court's formal approach to dismissing allegations of torture ................................ 32 3 4.1.2 The disproportionate repression of the disobedience movement in the light of the tolerance shown towards the regular practice of torture ...................................................... 34 4.1.3 The failure to take into account freedom of expression and freedom of assembly ..... 35 4.2 Pressure on some of the defendants ................................................................................... 36 4.3 Grounds for pre-trial detention ............................................................................................ 36 4.4 The overall fairness of the trial ............................................................................................. 36 4.4.1 The turnover of lawyers ................................................................................................. 37 4.4.1 Summoning of witnesses and access to relevant evidence ........................................ 37 4.4.3 Participation of the accused in the proceedings and confidential communication with their lawyers............................................................................................................................ 38 4 Origin of the monitoring mission and methodology This report is the outcome of a monitoring trial effort conducted by the European Prison Litigation Network (EPLN), upon being approached by human rights activists and lawyers in 2015 who expressed the need for an international organization monitoring the trial against 17 individuals accused of mass riots in connection with the protests held in Colony No. 6 on 24-25 November 2012. The conduct and outcome of the trial is considered by the EPLN as of major importance as it could reveal the Russian authorities' position on ill-treatments in places of detention and the authority given to the recommendations of the Prison Public Monitoring Commissions in Russia1. Two Russian observers, the jurist Ernest Mezak and lawyer Alexey Laptev, were mandated by the EPLN to observe the hearings in compliance with a methodology set up by the EPLN and approved by the Steering Committee of the Monitoring Mission. The Steering Committee in charge of approving the observation methodology and supervising the trial monitoring progress, is composed of2: - Anton Burkov, Director of the Department of European Law at the Free University of Human Sciences, Ekaterinburg - Aurore Chaigneau, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Picardie, France - Leonard Hammer, Professor of Modern Israel Studies at the University of Arizona, and Associate Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Krassimir Kanev, Director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bucharest - Sacha Koulaeva, at that time Head of Eastern Europe and Central Asia Office at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) - Mikael Lyngbo, Prosecutor in Denmark and expert at the Council of Europe for the reform of criminal justice in Ukraine - Andrey Nikolaev, Professor of Constitutional Law and International Law at the Russian State University of Social Sciences - Kirill Titaev, Researcher at the European University of Saint Petersburg, Russia The methodology of the trial monitoring is based on: - the analysis of case file materials - a legal analysis of the bill of indictment - the analysis of audio-records of hearings - interviews with defence lawyers, human rights activists and former members of the Public Monitoring Commission of Chelyabinsk - The direct observation of court hearings from 14 to 18 November 2016, from 23 to 27 January 2017, from 19 to 23 July 2017 and from 5 to 9 February 2018, when the key prosecution and defence witnesses were examined and the pleadings took place. 1 A Public Monitoring Commission is established in accordance with applicable legislation in every region of the Russian Federation. They consist of representatives of domestic human rights NGOs and are entrusted with the task of monitoring observance of human rights in detention facilities. The Commissions have three main tasks: to perform inspections of detention facilities, prepare recommendations for improvement to the facility authorities and handle complaints by inmates. They have no power to issue binding decisions. 2 The assessment and conclusions of the report on the fairness of the trial and respect for the fundamental rights of the defendants is the sole responsibility of the European Prison Litigation Network only. 5 1. The origins of the