ENVIRONMENTAL WATCH ON NORTH CAUCASUS, February 17, 2014

On February, 15 the IOC broke silence over the case of Evgeny Vitishko, who was sentenced to serve three years in a colony this week after his tireless work to expose environmental violations in Sochi. Here is what spokesman Mark Adams told journalists, according to the media:

“We have had confirmation from Sochi (Games organisers), who got the information for us from the relevant authorities, that this is not Games related,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.

“We understand that Mr. Vitishko was arrested after painting a house or vandalising a house about three years ago, he was given a suspended sentence at the time for that.

“Subsequently my understanding is he broke that suspended sentence and was subsequently jailed. So our understanding is that it is not Olympic related.”

“As you know, we have discussed relocation of people, workers’ unpaid wages, Akhshtyr village.”

“When we’ve raised those, we want action, we got action on those ones. On this particular one we do not think – we are assured – it is not Olympic related.”

In the two months since the IOC knew about Vitishko’s case, we suppose it could have at least gotten their facts straight: the original suspended sentence in 2012 did not concern a house, but an illegal fence in a public forest. There was no proof Vitishko was actually the one who painted slogans on said illegal fence, which, by the way, official letters to EWNC argued does not exist. The slogans would have cost about $40 dollars to wash off, but instead prosecutors hired an expert who calculated the damage at $4000 – enough to qualify this “crime” as very grave – grave enough to cause a three year suspended sentence.

That said, EWNC has not in fact argued that the suspended sentence was persecution over the Olympics. We argue that Vitishko’s vocal opposition to the Olympic destruction was the reason behind the decision by the Tuapse judge on December 20 to turn it into a real sentence. He ruled that two minor violations by Vitishko of his parole were “systematic”. This is completely disproportionate. Vitishko’s parole was much stricter than that of other convicts with suspended sentences. He was constantly watched and stopped repeatedly by police. Conditions of his parole changed two times, and he successfully obeyed them, although it was not easy. Two violations over a course of 1 year is not ‘systematic’ in any fair court system, the only reason it was ruled as such was the authorities desire to put away a critic of the Olympic Games.

We also wish the IOC would inquire why the authorities had to fabricate an additional administrative case against Vitishko and jail him on February 3, one day before the Olympic torch reached the Krasnodar region. We wish they had asked what proof police had of Vitishko’s alleged violation of “swearing in public”, and we also wish they had asked if his intention of traveling to Sochi for the opening ceremony had anything to do with the decision to arrest him.

We equally wish the IOC would inquire why the appeal hearing of Vitishko was rescheduled one day later, and set for a day when he would still be locked up in jail, robbing him of the right to defend himself before the judge. Instead he was forced into defending himself over video, with 2/3rds of his defense impossible to hear.

We want to give a few assurances of our own to the IOC. Everything that has happened to environmental activists in Krasnodar region prior and during the Olympic Games has to do with the Olympic Games. We want to assure you that we have been harassed, questioned, detained, and spent days in dingy cells that have been ruled by courts as unfit for humans because of the Olympic Games. We assure you that thugs have attacked our office and property as police looked on because of the Olympic Games. We would have assured you of this if you asked, but you didn’t, so you can read everything environmental activists have been through in the past months: https://www.facebook.com/notes/environmental-watch-on-north-caucasus/timeline-of-olympic-repressions/10152296027463833

The Olympic Charter lists the following as a mission of the IOC: “to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly.” We wish that the IOC would follow this mission instead of seeking “assurances” from the government which imprisons critical environmentalists.