A declaration by the Action committee of the Civil Congress.

Today it is quite clear that throughout the last few months no juridical obstacles prevented gravely ill Vasily Aleksanyan from being transferred from jail to the hospital. He could formally have remained in custody while receiving treatment at a specialist civilian clinic. Now, however, they are keeping him chained (!) at City Hospital No. 60, in a small room with bars on the window.

Not only did his treatment in jail amount to torture. They are continuing to torment him even now. It is hard to shake off the suspicion that this is being done to make him incriminate himself and give evidence against other leading figures in the “Yukos affair” — and to punish him for his bravery in naming his tormentors.

Such behaviour by the investigative agencies and the prison authorities can only be defined as criminal. All the high-ranking organisers and the specific perpetrators of these forms of torture must be charged and brought to court.

We demand that Vasily Aleksanyan be released from his chains without delay!

We demand that the bars be taken from the windows in his ward!

We demand that he be allowed to see his family!

We call on the Russian Federation ombudsman for human rights to swiftly put an end to this mockery of the law and denial of human rights. We request the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's office to qualify our declaration as a report on crimes committed by those in authority and act in accordance with the following articles of the RF Criminal-Procedural Code and the Criminal Code.

Articles 140-141 & 144.2 of the RF Criminal-Procedural Code set the terms for institution of a criminal case, report on a crime, and the obligation to check on a crime that has been reported in the mass media.

The offences committed are defined in the RF Criminal Code (Section 10, chapter 31) as “Crimes against the Administration of Justice”. They are listed under articles: 294 (3), Obstruction of the Administration of Justice and of Preliminary Investigations; 296 (4), Threats or Forcible Actions in Connection with the Administration of Justice or Preliminary Investigation; 302 (3), Compulsion to Give Evidence; 303 (3), Falsification of Evidence; and 309 (4), Bribery or Compulsion for Giving Testimony or for Evading Giving Testimony.

On 19 February the For Human Rights movement drew up a formal application to the main investigative department of the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor General's office, addressing it personally to first deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Bastrykin.

www.zaprava.ru, 19 February 2008