Sergei Mitrokhin about the violent eviction of the “For Human Rights” movement

Gazeta.ru, June 22, 2013

On the night of June 22, OMON (the riot police) and private security guards moped up the office of the “For Human Rights” movement in the centre of Moscow. The reason for the eviction of the human rights organisation was allegedly expiration of the rent agreement and unwillingness of the premises owner to lease it to civil activists in the perspective. According to the eyewitnesses, the assault of the office was accompanied by beatings of people and numerous violations: the police did not allow Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin to enter the office.

Private security guards pushing Lev Ponomaryov outside

On Friday night OMON took over the office of the “For Human Rights” movement at Maliy Kislovsky lane 7, Moscow, by storm. The forceful operation began after the human right activists and their head Lev Ponomaryov refused to leave the office calling the developments a forceful takeover. Lev Ponomaryov, his colleagues and Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the YABLOKO party and candidate for Moscow Mayor, were beaten in the course of the storm.

The Moscow authorities demanded that the human rights activists should leave the office which they had been renting for the past 15 years. The reason they stated was expiration of the rent agreement and unwillingness of the Moscow Property Department (which is the owner of the premises) to lease the building to the human rights organisation.

In his interview to Gazeta.ru, Sergei Mitrokhin told that “For Human Rights” movement representatives asked him to come to the office and help them to settle the situation. Sergei Mitrokhin, candidate for Moscow Mayor, could not get into the office of the human rights organisation at once, as three private security guards stopped him, so he had to break through them into the building.

In the office there were not only human rights activists, but several private security guards, an official from Central Administrative District of Moscow and two men in plain clothes (according to Mitrokhin, one of the men in plain clothes was controlling the take over, therefore Mitrokhin made a conclusion that he was a FSB officer). These people, except for the official from the Central Administrative District of Moscow, refused to tell their names and posts.

“The man in plain clothes commanded the group. They were shouting that the building was in the property of the city government and the rent agreement terminated. I looked through the documents shown to me by both (the sides of the conflict – Gazeta.ru). It turned out that there were absolutely no grounds for the eviction. The objections on behalf of the building owner as to prolongation of the rent agreement were given only the day before, but they tried to prove it happened three months ago and were thrusting me some fraudulent papers. It was obvious that the papers were a fake, for example, the postal receipt was not signed and did not have any other marks at all,” Mitrokhin said.

According to Mitrokhin, the representatives of the city authorities did not even have an order from the district head that they had to clear off the premises. A notice on termination of the rent was the only document they were referring to.

The human rights activists had been trying to start negotiations with the representatives of the city authorities for several hours, but failed.

Irina Vikhrova, representative of Russia’s Ombudsman, arrived to the office of the human rights organisaion first, then Alexander Muzykantsky, Moscow Ombudsman, and then Russia’s Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin arrived too. According to Mitrokhin and numerous witnesses, the latter was not allowed into the office even when he showed his credentials. So only Moscow Ombudsman Muzykantsky managed to get into the building, but he failed to find out who the representatives of the city authorities were and on what grounds they demanded from the organisation to vacate the premises.

The video shows that Vladimir Lukin who stayed in the street had to conduct negotiations with human rights activists leaning out of the windows to him.

According to Lev Ponomaryov, in February (Ed. as was stated by the other side) he did not receive any notices on termination of the rent agreement and, consequently did not sign such papers, therefore he thought the documents were a fake. “For Human Rights” movement paid the rent until the end of June since Lev Ponomaryov was unaware of any papers demanding that the organisation had to vacate the premises. Moreover for the past four months he had been maintaining correspondence with the owners, but the latter had never mentioned their plans to dissolve the agreement, they only asked to make replanning of the office. Human rights activists agreed to this and even paid for the work of the architects who were making the reconstruction project.

The second point Ponomaryov pointed out was that there was no judicial decision on the dispute. Vladimir Lukin agreed that the demand to vacate the premises was unlawful as there was no litigation on this. “I believe that if a dispute between you [the human rights activists] and the city authorities has emerged, then such issues should be solved in court. I have now requested the representatives of the city authorities to apply to court. But they do not want to do it and claim they are the owners and can do whatever they want,” he answered. When Alexander Muzykantsky came up to the window, Lukin told him, “This is out of this world. Such issues should be solved in the arbitration court.”

Shortly after 3 a.m. the riot police stormed into the office.

Pyotr Tsarkov, member of the Opposition Coordination Council, who arrived to support the human rights activists saw the police preparing for an attack.

“About 15 or 20 policemen were standing next to the wall. Then about eight riot police officers got out of the police van and entered the yard through the gates. And in a moment – without a warning or an explanation that people had to leave the building – the riot police officers and, as it turned out later, the private security guards and representatives of security services broke into the building,” the eyewitness said.

“Suddenly a group of riot police burst in and started grabbing the people,” recalled Mitrokhin who had been inside the office then. “They pulled people down the windowsills and threw them onto the floor with intentional cruelty, beat them and the hits were professional – without aftereffects. They hit me o the neck. In my eyes the FSB agents who were in charge of the operation were beating people. A huge two-meter high OMON officer pushed me down the staircase upside down on purpose so that make me fell down. Now I have big bruises and scratchs on my leg and on my elbow”.

After Mitrokhin they pushed down the stairs the leader of the “For Human Rights” movement Lev Ponomaryov, aged 72, who due to a severe hit now has a haematoma over his left eyebrow. Activist Igor Barikov felt sick. Eyewitness Vitaly Shushkevich wrote in his Twitter that cries were heard outside the office, as people were asking for a heart medicine.

The eyewitnesses who gathered outside the office chanted “Shame!” and “Fascists!”

“From the outside we saw that two large men were simply thrown onto the pavement. You can see this on the photographs,” Tsarkov said. “They pushed Lev Ponomaryov with twisted arms outside too, though they treated him a little bit more carefully. They dealt shortly with Mitrokhin as well. Private security guards were beating people while pushing them down the staircase and hit them mainly in the kidney area. Within a minute all the people who were inside (there were ten or twelve of them, I think) were thrown to the street”.

An ambulance arrived to the office and took the injured to the first-aid centre. According to Mitrokhin, when the doctor heard who had beaten the human rights activists he refused to give a copy of the certificate on injuries. The chief doctor also refused to do it.

Mitrokhin finds it symbolic that the assault took place on the night of June 22 (Ed. on the June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler attacked the Soviet Union). At about 4 a.m. he wrote in his Twitter, “Today outside the office of the “For Human Rights” office Putin made it clear that it will be like in Fascist Germany in Russia.” In his interview to Gazeta.ru Sergei Mitrokhin explained that he meant the historic date: the Great Patriotic War broke out on the night of June 22, 1941.

“It is symbolic that it happened at the moment when Hitler attacked our country. I am sure that the symbolism is intentional. Such jokes are in Putin’s manner. An openly staged frame-up of a fascist state on a particular day and time”, Mitrokhin said.

Photographs by Gazeta.ru

Lev Ponomaryov

The people who came to support the human rights advocates did not go away even at night

Igor Bakirov

Sergei Mitrokhin, Chair of YABLOKO

A police officer does not allow Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin to enter the office

An ambulance took the injured to the first-aid centre