Letter to Russian Human Rights Ombudsman from Human Rights Activists
October 25, 2005


To: Vladimir Lukin, Human Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation

Dear Vladimir Lukin:

Almost 100 years ago, the third State Duma debated the transfer of prisons from the remote regions of Siberia and the Urals to Central Russia – for humanitarian reasons. The totalitarian Communist regime that created the GULAG sent millions of people to their deaths in the Far North, Siberia and Kazakhstan steppes.

That is why the legal provisions of Article 73 of the Penal Code which explicitly require that convicts are held in (regular) prisons in the areas where they have been living or were sentenced or – in special cases – in the nearest ones, seemed to herald the end to the centuries-long practice of punishing prisoners (as well as their relatives) by detaining them in harsh climatic conditions and at long distances away.

But the formal introduction of humanitarian rules that are in compliance with the legal standards of civilized countries is totally ineffective when confronted with unlawful motives. The clear undertones of the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are manifest in this selection of the remotest prisons.

Despite his physical condition, Moscow resident Platon Lebedev has been sent to regular prison No. 98/3 located within the Arctic Circle, in the settlement of Harp of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region. Moscow resident Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been sent to regular prison YG-14/10 near the town of Krasnokamensk, Chita Region. This is an obvious violation of the civil rights of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. If legal provisions have been deliberately ignored in their case, then we have a case of law enforcement discrimination which is strictly prohibited under universally recognized international laws.

We call on you to intervene immediately and do everything in your power to make sure that the violations regarding Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are stopped and that prisons in Moscow or adjacent regions are found for them.

Respectfully yours,

L. Alekseeva, Chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group
V. Alekseeva, Magadan Law and Equity Public Movement [Non-governmental Organization]
L. Akhedjakova, holder of the National Actress of the USSR award
V. Belotserkovsky, writer, human rights advocate
Elena Bonner, human rights advocate
N. Boltyanskaya, journalist
A. Vinnikov, Group for the Rights of Ethnic Minorities (St. Petersburg)
A. Gerber, Holocaust Foundation
A. Yermolin, member of the State Duma
A. Kondaurov, member of the State Duma
E. Kiselev, journalist
A. Kremer, composer, honored Russian artist
O. Kryshtanovskaya, social scientist (ISS of the RAS)
V. Kurenkov, Chairman of MPO Tula Rights Advocacy Center
M. Kuperman, Chairman of the Rights Advocacy Center of the Sakhalin Region
A. Luboslavsky, rights advocate, journalist
On behalf of Platon Lebedev’s defence – lawyers Evgeny Baru and Elena Liptser,
On behalf of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s defence – lawyers Genrikh Padva, Yuri Schmidt, Karinna Moskalenko, E. Levina and I. Mikheev,
M. Magomadova, RPO Chechnya Mothers
S. Mitrokhin, Deputy Chairman, RDP Yabloko
Lev Ponomarev, Executive Director, NPM For Human Rights
Yu. Samodurov, Director, Andrei D. Sakharov Museum and Public Center
S. Sorokina, journalist,
I. Starikov, member of the Federal Political Council of the Union of Right Forces
N. Tagankina, Executive Director, Moscow Helsinki Group
E. Cherny, Secretary of the Public Committee for the Protection of Scientists
A. Tkachenko, Russian Pen-Center
V. Shaklein, Urals Interregional Center for Human Rights
T. Shmyga, holder of the National Actress of the USSR award
G. Yakunin, Committee for Protection of Freedom of Conscience.


The collection of signatures is continuing. The names listed above reflect those collected as of October 25, 2005.