Photo in header by: Yuri Aleksin
On 11 September 2024, a rally in support of Russian political prisoners was held in The Hague. The event featured speakers from Russia and the Netherlands who told the stories of people who were imprisoned for disagreeing with the Putin regime. Participants read an open letter calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners, an end to war and a halt to repression. In spite of announcing that we would like to hand over this letter to the ambassador and a list of peace prisoners that we are concerned about, no one at the embassy came to receive it. So we send it by surface mail and e-mail to mr Putin. The rally was organised by Russian activists with the support of Stichting Jeannette Noel House and Free Russia NL.
11 сентября 2024 года в Гааге прошел митинг в поддержку российских политзаключенных. В мероприятии приняли участие спикеры из России и Нидерландов, которые рассказали истории людей, лишившихся свободы за несогласие с режимом Путина. Участники зачитали открытое письмо с призывом к немедленному освобождению всех политзаключенных, прекращению войны и остановке репрессий. Несмотря на то, что мы объявили о своем желании передать это письмо послу, а также список заключенных, находящихся в мирном заключении и вызывающих у нас обеспокоенность, никто в посольстве не пришел его принять. Поэтому мы отправляем его наземной почтой и электронной почтой господину Путину. Митинг был организован российскими активистами при поддержке Stichting Jeannette Noel House и Free Russia NL.
Open letter to the President of the Russian Federation
To the President of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich!
We, a group of citizens of the Russian Federation, who are forced to stay outside their native country, appeal to you as the guarantor of the Constitution, rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation!
We consider unacceptable the situation when citizens of the Russian Federation are deprived of liberty or subjected to forced treatment for expressing an opinion, for comments, likes and other public actions. This is not just a violation of human rights, it is an absolute discrediting and discrimination against civil society in our country, aimed at suppressing any dissent or expression of disagreement.
State, law enforcement and judicial bodies of the Russian Federation systematically and massively violate Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Russian citizens are sentenced to unimaginable terms of imprisonment actually for the manifestation of the right declared by Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information by any lawful means.
Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states:
1. Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of thought and speech.
2. Propaganda or agitation inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred and enmity shall not be permitted. Propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic superiority shall be prohibited
(3) No one may be compelled to express his or her opinions and convictions or to refuse to express them.
4. Everyone shall have the right to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information by any lawful means. The list of information constituting a state secret shall be determined by federal law.
5. Freedom of mass information is guaranteed. Censorship is prohibited.
It is not uncommon for Russian citizens to be subjected to imprisonment (or other forms of punishment) for “intent” (as interpreted by the authorities) or “calling to commit a ‘crime’” (as interpreted by the authorities).
Under penalty of punishment, Russian citizens cannot express their personal opinions on political events, proposed or already introduced censorship regulations and responsibility for violating these regulations and censorship. This has been publicly recognised by your press secretary Dmitry Peskov. In an interview with the TASS news agency on Friday, 6 September, Peskov said the following: “…in the state of war we are in, restrictions are justified, just as censorship is justified, what’s the sin – we are in a state of war.”
You, Vladimir Vladimirovich, refer to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army only as a “Special Military Operation”. Russian citizens are punished under Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for labelling a Special Military Operation as a “WAR”. For the so-called discrediting of the army, this article provides for one of four forms of punishment:
– a fine in the amount of one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of one to two years;
– Forced labour for a term of up to three years, or arrest for a term of four to six months;
– imprisonment for up to five years with deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or engage in certain activities for the same period.
We, the citizens of the Russian Federation, are outraged by such selective application of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has literally been turned into a repressive instrument of pressure on the society of our country.
Together with this open letter, we, a group of Russian citizens, are sending a list containing 343 names of those who have been recognised as political prisoners by the Memorial Centre or the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial” and are serving a sentence of real imprisonment, are under detention or house arrest until the sentence enters into legal force.
We are convinced that a free person has the right, can and must express solidarity with those who were not afraid, with those who did not remain silent, with those who suffered for their and our beliefs. We, as citizens of the Russian Federation, have such a right, enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, of which you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, are the guarantor.
The reason for the introduction of censorship in the country, as publicly stated by Dmitry Peskov, is the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine. This war, like any other war that has happened in the history of mankind, can only become a catastrophe and is already becoming one.
War cannot be a normal ending in a family’s system of life values!
War cannot be a stimulus in demographic policy!
War is an obsolete political instrument!
Stop the war!
We demand the immediate withdrawal of troops from the territory of the sovereign state of Ukraine and an end to the fratricidal war unleashed by the Russian Federation on someone else’s territory.
We demand the immediate release of all political prisoners, as they are accused of disseminating information about the situation, causes, details of the conduct or results of the war, called “SWO” in official sources. Stop political repression!
We are sure that millions of our fellow citizens, who cannot express their position publicly in their own country, will support us. Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russians who publicly express disagreement with Russia’s military aggression have been severely persecuted. People are being imprisoned for expressing their civic position. Our fellow citizens from 14 to 72 years of age have already been imprisoned.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, you are the guarantor of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and are obliged to ensure that the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens are respected!
Freedom for all political prisoners!
Secretary of the initiative group – Ilmira Khusainshina
September 9th 2024