Statement by the Bureau of the regional branch of Yabloko, 5.11.2021

Photo by the Press Service of the Saratov branch of Yabloko

The Saratov regional branch of the Yabloko party is concerned about the revealed facts of human rights violations and torture in Saratov correctional facilities, the reaction of the region’s top officials and the inaction of the Human Rights Ombudsperson.

The conveyor system of torture in the Federal Penitentiary Service demonstrates the qualitative degeneration of the law enforcement system. The Soviet punitive justice system was fundamentally different from the modern Russian system of total corporate concealment of the inhuman crimes of the employees of the penitentiary service, while the current government only fuels repressive sentiments, which are so widespread in Russian society.

We are forced to state that no state and public institutions have worked failing to prevent atrocities in the penitentiary system of the region, including the institution of the Ombudsman for Human Rights. A short length of service did not prevent the Saratov Ombudsperson from showing herself as a person not interested in the protection of human rights, in particular, the constitutional right of citizens to assemble peacefully and without weapons (Article 31 of the Constitution). The actual disregard for the open letter of the Deputy Chairman of the Saratov Yabloko about massive violations of the rights of protesters at the January rallies speaks of the low competence and indifference of the Ombudsperson.

The fate of the activist Sergei Ryzhov is an evidence that an absolutely innocent person can fall into the clutches of the torture system. The Saratov branch of Yabloko continues to view the persecution as a retaliatory act, and the recent verdict as an unlawful judicial act.

We are confident that in order to improve the situation with the protection of human rights in the Saratov Region, the following measures must be taken immediately:

1. dismiss the Commissioner for Human Rights Nadezhda Sukhova;
2. dissolve the Public Monitoring Commission, the new composition of the Commission must include real human rights defenders rather than former and current government officials or law enforcement officers.
3. do not use the coronavirus [epidemic] as an excuse to close penitentiary institutions for public monitors, lawyers and relatives.
4. stop the persecution of Sergei Savelyev, who made public terrible videos of torture of prisoners.

We also demand the parole for political prisoner Sergei Ryzhov, and hope that the court will satisfy his petition as soon as the Criminal Penal Code the Russian Federation makes it possible.