On the 31st of January, 2008, a group of human rights activists announced a statement in which they demand an immediate investigation into Aleksanyan’s and Khodorkovsky’s statements and called on Mikhail Khodorkovsky to cancel his dry hunger strike. Signatures continue to be collected at zpch@zaprava.ru

Statement


More and more details are emerging about the reasons and circumstances behind Vasily Aleksanyan’s tragedy. The Investigation committee was allegedly ready to release him on bail and the administration of pre-trial detention facility Matrosskaya Tishina had asked the court about the possibility of transferring Aleksanyan to a specialized civil hospital. Aleksanyan himself and his former client, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, publicly stated that keeping a seriously ill Aleksanyan in jail is blackmail on the part of the prosecution and also an appalling form of torture – both physically and morally for Aleksanyan and morally for Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

We know that the President of the Russian Federation - guarantor of constitutional rights and freedoms man and citizen (item 2, article 80) - is well-informed about the situation.

Vladimir Lukin and Ella Pamfilova made an official request to the Prosecutor General’s office of the Russian Federation and the Federal Penitentiary service.

It is unlikely that Putin will get away again with claiming that he couldn’t get hold of the chief prosecutor, the justice minister or any others responsible for resolving the issue.

The European Court of Human Rights demands an immediate transfer of Aleksanyan to a civil hospital.

We demand an immediate implementation of the European court’s instructions and the release of Aleksanyan.

We demand an immediate investigation into whether the prosecutors obtained their evidence by blackmailing Aleksanyan with his life.

We ask Mikhail Borisovich to suspend his courageous action of solidarity and to under no circumstances resort to a dry hunger strike – we take upon ourselves the task of fighting for Aleksanyan’s release and for his executioners to be held responsible.