Press release, 13.03.2015

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Human rights defender, deputy Chair of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO Andrei Babushkin announced at today’s YABLOKO conference that he wouldn’t be able to visit the Lefortovo pre-trail detention centre as a member of Moscow Public Observation Commission because he had been interrogated as a witness in the case of Boris Nemtsov’s murder.

Andrei Babushkin and Sergei Mitrokhin

If the suspects in Nemtsov’s murder case will be taken to another pre-trail detention centre, the human rights defender won’t be able to carry public control there as well.

YABLOKO Chair Sergei Mitrokhin claim that it’s a political measure.

“We know that such a measure has been used against the lawyers who were out of the investigation’s favour. This measure has become quite popular of late – giving a witness status to block the possibility of public, human rights or advocatory activities. I see no reason why Andrei Babushkin and his colleagues should be qualified as witnesses in this case,” noted YABLOKO leader at the press conference.

Sergei Mitrokhin claimed that the charges against human rights defenders published at the Investigative Committee website were groundless.

YABLOKO leader said that in the near future he would forward an appeal to the Investigative Committee, Prosecutor General’s office and President of the Russian Federation demanding to conduct a public inquiry into the facts of torture of the suspects and reclassify the Nemtsov’s case from Article 105 of the Criminal Code “Murder” to a more serious article 277 “Attempt on the life of a statesman or public figure”.

Andrei Babushkin spoke about visiting the suspects. He said that Zaur Dadaeyv had injuries on the wrists, which could have been the result of tight handcuffs or he might have been hanged on the handcuffs, or he could have inflicted injuries himself.

In addition, according to the human rights defender, there were injuries near the suspect’s ankles.

“Dadayev claimed that he had been shackled. And you know that shackles were prohibited in our country in the beginning of the XX century,” said Babushkin. He did not rule out that the marks on Zaur Dadayev’s fingers were the consequences of electricity torture.

“Of course, we did not discuss the criminal case, we can not discredit our responsibility,” he said.

“The more I talked to these people, the more I had doubts about their involvement in the criminal case. I may be wrong, they can be good actors,” said the human rights activist.

Andrei Babushkin emphasized that the law “On Police” was violated with respect to the suspects: they didn’t received the right for a phone call, for food, they are not taken to a toilet, they were not given a lawyer. In addition, the representatives of the investigation said that Dadaeyv refused a lawyer invited by his relatives, but Dadayev heard about this for the first time from the human rights defenders.

Babushkin stressed that he didn’t sympathize with the suspects, but it is important for him that the investigation must be conducted fairly, and all the civil rights of the suspects must be respected.

“The status of a witness will prevent me from visiting the pre-trail detention centre. It is a way to block the activity of all the members of the Public Observation Commission. This is a dangerous trend. I hope that law enforcement won’t follow this abuse line. I am convinced that the law enforcement agencies are interested in public control themselves,” said Andrei Babushkin.

Andrei Babushkin and Sergei Mitrokhin said that and would continue to monitor the Nemtsov’s case.

“We will do everything possible to get rid of that old GULAG spirit which still exists in some law enforcement agencies,” said Andrei Babushkin.

The human rights defender reminded that these were members of YABLOKO party – Valery Borschev, Sergei Kovalev who developed the law on public control back in the 90s, and the year 2008 became a very important Rubicon – public observation commissions appeared.