MINELRES: Timeline of Human Rights in Krasnodar, 2002-2003

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Steve Swerdlow <sms2008@columbia.edu>


Dear Colleagues,

The past year has been one of the worst on record for human rights in
Krasnodar krai.  Thanks to the efforts of many courageous individuals
and organizations in the local civil society as well as Russian NGOs and
the human rights community as a whole, we have been able to provide
policymakers with a powerful case for addressing the problems of
xenophobia, state-sponsored ethnic discrimination, and vigilantism,
which have come to be associated with the region.  

However, faced with an overwhelming amount of information, a timeline of
the past year seems useful.  A month-to-month examination of
discrimination in Krasnodar illustrates both the aggressive policy of
the Krasnodar authorities to disenfranchise and expel unregistered
minority groups as well as the increasing level of violence and
interethnic intolerance that has followed in its wake.  

This timeline outlines many of the events of the past year but is in no
sense comprehensive.  Nonetheless, its sheer length testifies to the
deplorable state of human rights in Russia's southern province, and
bears witness to the need for immediate international action on behalf
of civil society and minority groups in Krasnodar, especially the
deported Meskhetian population.

I look forward to receiving your comments as well as additions to the
timeline.

Steve Swerdlow


TIMELINE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN KRASNODAR 2002-2003

2002
MARCH 
On March 18 speaking at a conference on migration issues in Krasnodar
krai, Governor Tkachyov proposed the creation of "filtration camps"
throughout the territory to detain and deport illegal migrants who have
non-Slavic surnames.  In addition, he called for expelling the
Meskhetians by way of charter flights to Tashkent, Uzbekistan and stated
he was ready to initiate high-level negotiations with Armenian President
Robert Kocharian for the "repatriation" of the local Armenian population
"back to Armenia."

APRIL 
On April 17, Skinheads deface approximately 40 gravestones at the
Armenian cemetery in Krasnodar.

On April 20, Hitler's birthday, typically a day that witnesses dozens of
hate crimes committed throughout the Russian Federation, ethnic mobs of
Armenians and Greeks formed self-units in the cities of Krasnodar and
Stavropol in anticipation

JUNE 
June 22, 2002: The desperation of minorities reached a zenith.  Left
with virtually no income, approximately 40 Meskhetians staged a 10-day
hunger strike to protest the economic devastation of the ban to
cultivate small acreages placed on them by the krai authorities and
enforced by Cossack militias.  Nearly a dozen Meskhetian protesters were
hospitalized but then suspended the strike amid pledges that President
Vladimir Putin would appoint a commission to investigate the continuing
human rights violations in Krasnodar krai.

SEPTEMBER 
On September 14, a riot directed against the Armenian minority took
place in the evening in the town of Slavyansk-na-Kubani, the Armenian
news agency Arminfo reported on the basis of information published in
the local newspaper "Yerkramas." According to locals, some 300
teenagers, with some adults among them, walked down the streets of the
town where various shops and cafes belong to Armenians. The crowd threw
stones at these establishments and beat Armenians whom they came across.

OCTOBER 
>From October 31, Krasnodar authorities refused to grant even temporary
registration and residence permits to the nearly 16,000 Meskhetians
living in the krai allowing for increased police detentions of
Meskhetian traders at the marketplace, raids in Meskhetian homes,
confiscation of passports, identification papers, and the charging of
fines.

NOVEMBER 
On November 8, an explosive device was thrown in the direction of the
Armenian church in Krasnodar at 4am as reported by Yerkramas.

Also in November, Mikhail Arutiunov, President of the International
Human Rights Assembly called the new law "On the Legal Status of Foreign
Citizens," a "military instruction for the expulsion of undesirables."

DECEMBER 
On December 9, Meskhetian leaders in Russia and Krasnodar, Sarvar
Tedorov, Nuratdin Chukadze, and Begzada Mamdaliev appealed in a letter
to President George W. Bush to grant the Meskhetian population of
Krasnodar krai political asylum in the US fearing the real threat of a
"third deportation" of their people in the last 60 years.  "We have
suffered serious abuse of our civil, political, economic, social, and
cultural rights� International organizations (OSCE, UN, Council of
Europe, Amnesty International, Moscow Helsinki Group) have repeatedly
called attention to human rights violations in Krasnodar krai,
especially against the Meskhetians.  However, with every day our
conditions are worsening." 

Also on December 9, the head of human rights organization, "Right
Matter" (Pravoe Delo) Andrei Mozzhegerov, was attacked at his home in
Armavir by unknown assailants and received serious head trauma.  Neither
his wallet nor any possessions from his home were taken.  Colleagues at
Pravoe Delo believe the attack came in response to Mozzhegerov's
organization drawing attention in their newsletter to the corruption of
several local politicians.

On December 16, Valerii Ostrozhnyi, representative of the Federal
Migration Service in Krasnodar, summoned Meskhetian leaders in Krymsk to
facilitate the distribution in their community of new "migration cards"
designed for new migrants and persons without citizenship.  The FMS
informed them that if they agreed to complete the cards they would
receive an additional 90 days of temporary registration past the October
31 law and hence a "semi-legal" status.

On December 21, Krymsk local authorities detained a 22 year-old
Meskhetian man en route to visit his mother at the hospital.  Local
police where the young man was being held were quoted by the
Novorossiysk Committee as stating that all officers have a right to
detain for three hours any person without a propiska, based on
regulations concerning the war in Chechnya.  According to the officers,
anyone without a propiska is a "bum," a classification that could easily
encompass the entire population of unregistered minorities in Krasnodar.

After December 31, 60 days after the passage of the controversial
federal law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens," Soviet passports
were no longer considered legal forms of identification, leaving many
internally displaced persons even less protected.

Also in December, the Novorossiysk Committee for Human Rights appealed
to local German and American firms such as Chevron to reduce their
economic investment in the krai to hasten an improvement in the human
rights situation.  It also began lobbying the US, Western and Central
European governments to deny entry visas to Governor Tkachyov, comparing
this action with the travel ban placed on President Aleksandr Lukashenko
for his suppression of democracy and human rights in Belarus.

2003
JANUARY 
On January 1, Krasnodar authorities introduce immigration cards for
foreigners arriving at the port of Sochi.  

On January 28, Meskhetians in Krasnodar krai reported that police in the
Abinsk and Krymsk raions launched a new show of force against them,
illegally detaining several marketplace traders and confiscating the
passports of several persons. 

Also in January, NCHR carries out workshop on children's civil,
political, social, and economic rights entitled "One day children will
become adults."   Since 1989, over 1000 children have been denied birth
certificates and over 5000 have been exempted from receiving any state
services such as healthcare and social services.  Thousands of children
at the school in Nizhebakansk have been schooled in segregated
classrooms. 

MARCH 
In March, representatives of the US Embassy visited Krasnodar krai to
discuss the possibility of a resettlement of the Meskhetians and other
unregistered minority groups to the United States in the form of
political asylum.

APRIL 
On April 15, Yuzhnaya Volna hosted an emergency conference on the status
of civil society and NGOs in the Krasnodar Region.

On 25 April in the villages of Kholmskoi 50 to 60 extremists between the
ages of 15 and 18 arrived in several automobiles and brutally attacked
approximately 30 Meskhetians, Adygs, Armenians, and other Caucasians,
causing them serious bodily harm and subsequent hospitalization.  A
second beating occurred later that night at a dance club in Akhtyrskaya
where one Meskhetian and two Armenians were beaten.  Local Meskhetian
leaders and human rights activists attributed the incident to Cossack
extremists and to the constant television broadcast the previous week of
Governor Tkachyov's xenophobic statement about 'illegal migrants.'  No
federal, regional or local press agencies reported a single piece of
information about the incident until weeks later after the continuous
advocacy of the Novorossiysk Committee for Human Rights, Yuzhnaya Volna,
and other local NGOs.

JULY 
On July 14, 2003 justice department officials in Krasnodar held a
meeting with Vadim Karastelyov, head of the School of Peace, one of the
most widely respected NGOs in Russia, during which they informed him
that his organization would be disbanded due to a minor technicality. 
According to the officials, local legislation requires an NGO have no
fewer than three founders, but Karastelyov's organization only has one. 
In the course of the meeting it became clear that the department's
officials had more pressing problems to discuss with the School of
Peace.  Mr. Karastelyov was told that his organization was being
targeted for liquidation because of its efforts on behalf of Meskhetians
and other migrants, and he was asked to divulge all contacts among
employees of international organizations.  They also demanded to know
who had invited him to come to Washington DC in November 2002, when he
attended an Amnesty International conference.

On July 24, Congressman Chris Smith (New Jersey) gave a speech in the
House of Representatives about the on-going human rights abuses leveled
in particular at Chechen internally displaced persons and the
Meskhetians of Krasnodar krai inside the Russian Federation.  As a sign
that Capitol Hill has begun to move towards a tougher stance against
Krasnodar, Representative Smith stated:

"I urge him and Members of the State Duma to rectify the status of
Meskhetian Turks and other stateless persons. Meanwhile, the Kremlin
should intervene to ensure that Krasnodar Krai officials desist in their
discriminatory treatment of the Meskhetian Turks until their status is
normalized, as well as guarantee the prosecution of violent criminals."