Yuri Dzhibladze: the TV story where a German human rights activist accuses Dmitrievskiy falsified

"If one thinks about what kind of articles Stanislav Dmitrievskiy writes, one realizes that he is a real mouthpiece of international terrorism who expresses its ideas," declared Klaus Winkel, employee of the German human rights organization Menschensrechtsbund (Human Rights Union), to the TV information program "Vesti-Privolzhie" of the Nizhni Novgorod TV and radio company. Winkel said that he had come to Nizhni Novgorod on a private business and learnt by chance about court proceedings with regard to Dmitrievskiy. "In my view, the person who is now under trial has nothing to do with human rights activists. Rather, he is a businessman who works for the money given by the sponsor," said Winkel. "In terms of humanism, there is no use from the activity of this "human rights activist" whatsoever," he stressed. This has been reported by the Nizhni Novgorod telegraph agency.

"After watching this news program I have started to ask our German partners. No one of them knows such organization. They are now making additional inquiries, but neither the representative of the German embassy who attended the court hearing along with us, nor leading non-government organizations of Germany have ever heard about such organization or about this person," said Yuri Dzhibladze, president of Moscow's Centre for Development of Democracy and Human Rights, by telephone from Nizhni Novgorod to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He was monitoring the Dmitrievskiy's trial progress.

"It very much looks like a forgery. A man wearing dark glasses, a moustache and a face covering hood. The story was shown like this: here is Dmitrievskiy; he is convicted for the publication of materials containing calls for inter-national hatred, as evidenced by expert evaluation and the court ruling. A picket of the "Nashi" movement in support of Dmitrievskiy's conviction, held by the court building, was shown, the prosecutor's opinion was cited, and then, after the words to the effect that "even his colleagues, human rights activists, condemn him and turn their back on him", they showed Klaus Winkel, the so-called representative of a German human rights organization," relates Yuri Dzhibladze.

"No opinion of Dmitrievskiy or even a piece of his testimony in court was given. They have failed to show a picket in support of the accused, which had also taken place by the court building; they failed to give the floor to representatives of Russian human rights organizations a lot of whom had come to support Stanislav. We know that all Russian and international human rights community supports it, while here they showed an obvious lie that it is all vice versa," says the human rights activist indignantly.

Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, director of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RChFS) has been convicted today by the Soviet district court of Nizhni Novgorod to two years of suspended imprisonment, with a four-year probation, reported Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee and member of the "Memorial" human rights centre Council, by telephone to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

For reference, on September 2, 2005, Dmitrievskiy was charged under article 282 of RF CC, "actions aimed at stirring hate or hostility, or at humiliation of dignity of a person or a group of persons on the basis of sex, race, nationality, attitude to religion or membership in a social group." The article entails a punishment up to five years of imprisonment. The prosecution asked the court for a punishment of four years in a penal colony for Stanislav Dmitrievskiy.

The criminal proceedings were initiated last January after the publication in "Pravozaschita" (Human Rights Defence) newspaper Dmitrievskiy edited of the address of Aslan Maskhadov and Ahmed Zakaev with calls for a peaceful settlement of the Russian-Chechen conflict.

The publications contained sharp critics of the actions by Russian leadership, Russian armed forces and personally by President Vladimir Putin. The human rights activists believe the charges to Dmitrievskiy to be politically motivated and aimed at liquidation of the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of speech.

On November 15, "International Amnesty" made an open statement in which it expresses its concern about the pressure campaign led by various state institutions with regard to the RChFS and announced its intention to consider Dmitrievskiy prisoner of conscience in case he is convicted.