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FM AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG
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INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0993
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 0584
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 0594
RUEHYG/AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 1385

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 YEKATERINBURG 000054 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI RS
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP:  YEKATERINBURG VISIT OF DRL 
 
REF: YEKAT 30 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Not for Internet distribution. 
 
¶1. (U) Introduction:  Susan Corke, DRL's EUR team leader, 
visited Yekaterinburg July 26-28, meeting with local human 
rights activists and sitting in on a blogger's class conducted 
by the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations.  Her visit 
provided an excellent opportunity to catch up on local human 
rights issues and freedom of the press in the region.  End 
introduction. 
 
Memorial Active but Unseen 
------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) At the Yekaterinburg office of Memorial, our hosts 
commented on the usefulness of the DRL-funded training for 
investigative journalists.  One of Memorial's goals is to raise 
public awareness of human rights issues but there is a limited 
number of journalists or media outlets willing to work in this 
area.  Memorial's experience is that journalists who have 
completed the training are more willing to work with them, and 
more skilled in presenting the issues.  In addition to 
interaction with media outlets, Memorial collaborates closely 
with schools and universities.  To raise awareness of human 
rights among the younger generation, Memorial organizes round 
table discussions, conferences, seminars, cultural, and 
historical projects.  Memorial sponsors academic competitions 
for students on the history of repression, and for teachers on 
the history of totalitarian regimes in Russia.  In Krasnoyarsk, 
students of the faculty of history of Krasnoyarsk Pedagogical 
University (i.e., future teachers of history) meet with victims 
of Stalin's repression, providing them an understanding of the 
social tragedy that resulted from Stalin's policies. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Four years ago Memorial Yekaterinburg received a grant 
from the National Endowment for Democracy to develop a media 
center.  Memorial is grateful for the grant with which it 
purchased computers, software, and video conference equipment. 
Their web-site is being developed.  They have turned their media 
center into a sort of NGO incubator.  NGOs without premises may 
meet at the Memorial offices and access the internet.  Leaders 
of various NGOs meet at Memorial periodically to discuss 
opportunities for collaboration in the region.  Memorial also 
hopes to create a mini-museum on the premises with an exhibition 
on the period of Stalin's regime.  Paintings by the Urals artist 
Belokryilov, a former GULag prisoner, will be exhibited soon. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Describing the environment under which civil society 
organizations (CSOs) operate, the members of Memorial agreed 
that CSOs are subject to moderate pressure by authorities and 
law enforcement bodies.  The situation has improved since 1998 
when several members of Memorial were blockaded in their small 
office for five days.  Later, the organization was evicted from 
its premises, ostensibly due to a need for renovation.  Today 
the organization is simply ignored by authorities.  Members are 
never invited to any official or informal political event and 
the organization is not represented in the oblast Public 
Chamber. 
 
Soldiers Mothers Concentrates on Individual Cases . . . 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
¶5. (SBU) In contrast to Memorial members, the head of the 
Soldiers' Mothers Committee in Yekaterinburg, Marina Lebedeva, 
is focused on individual cases rather than rights (or abuses of 
rights) broadly.  She actively cooperates with the oblast 
Ombudsman for Human Rights, human rights NGOs, and political 
parties such as Yabloko, but has not considered approaching the 
Russian Ombudsman or other federal level organizations.  She is 
very concerned about 14 soldiers who are MIA from the first 
Chechen war and is working to raise funds to help their mothers 
travel to the Caucasus to find their sons.  She is also very 
concerned about three wounded soldiers who, she says, cannot get 
adequate medical care.  More broadly, she commented on a 
violation of Russian law regarding conscripts.  Although it is 
prohibited, new conscripts are frequently sent immediately to 
hot zones and then do not receive combat pay because only 
professional soldiers ("contract" soldiers) qualify for such 
benefits.  According to oblast statistics, forced labor in the 
military is rare.  Lebedeva says, however, that conscripts are 
still sometimes called on to construct dachas for superior 
officers and forced to wear civilian clothes so that observers 
cannot distinguish them from regular construction workers. 
 
. . . While Sutyazhnik is Concerned about Defending Broader 
Human Rights 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
¶6. (SBU) We enjoyed a lively conversation with representatives 
of several human rights organizations in a meeting at Sutyazhnik 
offices.  One of them, the Interregional Center for Human Rights 
(ICHR), was represented by Vladimir Shaklein, who has chaired it 
since its founding in 1996.  Shaklein is currently assisting in 
 
YEKATERINB 00000054  002 OF 003 
 
 
the case of a Volgograd journalist, Yelena Maglivannaya, who 
reported on the torture of Chechen prisoners in one of Volgograd 
penitentiaries.  On May 13, 2009, she was fined R200,000 for 
publication of misleading information.  On May 31 Maglevannaya 
left the country for Finland, where she is seeking political 
asylum.  Shaklein suggested that international assistance with 
her case might be useful.  He mentioned that the Center for 
Solidarity rendered great assistance to Russian human rights 
NGOs until its head was deported five years ago.  The local NGOs 
want the Center for Solidarity to renew its work in Russia. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Sutyazhnik was also founded in 1996, with help from the 
Macarthur Foundation.  As all human rights NGOs we have 
contacted, Sutyazhnik has strained relations with the 
government.  Tensions reached their peak in 2002, when the 
Federal Arbitration Court declared Sutyazhnik's registration 
invalid.  After the 1999 legislation requiring re-registration 
of all NGOs, Sutyazhnik applied for renewal of the registration 
several times, but was denied due to "spelling mistakes."  After 
its first, successful lawsuit, Sutyazhnik was re-registered; 
after a year, however, its registration was annulled without any 
notification and they were surprised to find out they have been 
"acting illegally" for about a year.  Sutyazhnik then turned to 
the European Court for Human rights, which decided in favor of 
Sutyazhnik this year, ordering the Russian government to pay 500 
euro to the NGO.  Our interlocutors do not believe that the 
recent amendments to the Law on NGOs will provide any real 
benefit to NGOS as the government will still control NGO 
finances by making them pay income taxes on grants.  Financial 
regulations imposed in 2006 became a great challenge for the 
non-commercial sector. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Both Sutyazhnik and ICHR are involved in the case of 
Alexey Sokolov, a human rights activist arrested May 13 on 
suspicion of participation in a robbery in 2004 (see reftel). 
His lawyers expected that he would be released on July 13 but he 
was remanded to the pre-trial detention centre until August 23. 
 At a July 31 hearing, Sokolov was released on bail, only to be 
re-arrested on different charges (see septel). 
 
Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶9. (SBU) According to Sergei Plotnikov and Olga Zakoryukina of 
the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, Sverdlovsk 
oblast has a more favorable climate for a free media than any 
other Russian region.  Although Sverdlovsk journalists 
experience governmental pressure, they exploit an opening caused 
by the strained relations between Yekaterinburg's mayor and 
Sverdlovsk oblast governor.  Plotnikov told us that 
investigative journalism is losing popularity because the local 
population prefers entertainment programs to hard news. 
Journalists also self-censure through selective coverage. 
Plotnikov emphasized the importance of DRL's project. He said it 
has helped restore the popularity of investigative journalism 
among the local media and that the international certificates, 
to be issues in the end of the project, are a great motivation 
for project participants. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Plotnikov suggested that authorities will continue to 
use the legislation on extremism to expand control over media 
outlets.  Investigative journalism, especially investigation of 
political issues, brings nothing (no money and no fame) to 
reporters, only problems.  A number of minor incidents of 
harassment have caused many reporters to turn to investigation 
of social problems, such as conflicts with housing services 
agencies, environmental protection, or protection of homeless 
animals -- social issues which nevertheless still represent an 
indirect reflection of the political climate in the region. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Plotnikov characterizes Ombudsman Merzlyakova as 
probably the only governmental official who remained open to 
interaction with media as the bureaucratic machine becomes more 
closed.  It is more and more difficult for a journalist to talk 
to political leaders or government representatives.  The 
economic crisis poses additional challenges for media:  several 
newspapers and radio stations were forced to suspend operations 
due to lack of readership or advertising revenue.  The crisis 
has also provided authorities with new a mechanism of control 
over media.  For example, information agencies are being charged 
for use of unlicensed software as authorities carry out regular 
checks on use of unlicensed software.  At the same time, high 
prices mean struggling media outlets cannot afford to buy 
expensive software from manufacturers.  The regional Union of 
Journalists solved the problem by negotiating with the regional 
Microsoft office for discounts on software purchase. 
 
A Marginalized Ombudsman? 
--------------------------------- 
¶12. (SBU) Our final meeting was with Tatiana Merzlyakova, Human 
Rights Ombudsman of Sverdlovsk Oblast, who commented favorably 
 
YEKATERINB 00000054  003 OF 003 
 
 
on DRL's investigative journalism training and added that she 
was invited to teach one session.  She mentioned that modern 
journalists lack understanding of investigative journalism.  In 
Russia, she said, most articles present only the government 
line, significantly decreasing the population's trust in mass 
media.  United Russia and the government impose informal 
restrictions on what, when and how to cover stories, and editors 
are forced to adhere to this guidance because the businesses 
that own media outlets want to remain in favor.  In addition, 
vague legislation on extremism significantly limits freedom of 
speech and freedom of press.  Until recently, she said, the 
Internet was seen as a place for relatively free presentation of 
personal views; however, recent charges by the Ministry of 
Communications against the Ura.ru media agency has changed 
public opinion on the freedom of cyberspace.  Regarding the 
Ura.ru case, Merzlyakova observed that the "extremist" comments 
were posted by a visitor to the site, not the news agency. 
Considering the popularity of Ura.ru in the Urals, these 
postings might have been placed by competitors or even 
government entities that wanted to shut down the site. 
Merzlyakova told us she had appealed to the federal Ombudsman to 
intervene on behalf of the agency.  They are now preparing a 
series of actions to promote the issue of free media on the 
federal level. 
 
¶13. (SBU) According to Merzlyakova, the general awareness of 
human rights among the population of Sverdlovsk is quite low. 
She believes the most serious human rights violations happen 
prisons. Torture of prisoners, including electric shock, and 
poor conditions have been the biggest issues for Merzlyakova 
since the beginning of her tenure as Ombudsman.  She actively 
cooperates with counterparts in other regions to develop 
effective approaches to this and other problems.  Merzlyakova 
thinks high-ranking officials disregard the office of ombudsman. 
 Though formally recognized, it is not regarded even as an 
advisory institution by policy makers or law enforcement 
officials. 
 
Comment 
---------- 
¶14. (SBU) It is clear that despite some room for freer 
expression created by the tensions between Yekaterinburg's mayor 
and the oblast governor, Sverdlovsk human rights defenders and 
journalists experience the same pressures felt in other regions 
of Russia.  As in other regions of Russia, authorities seek to 
quiet any voices that question government actions. 
Difficulties with registration, bogus legal cases, and financial 
pressure continue to be the tools of choice to keep human rights 
defenders and journalists in line.  The praise expressed by all 
our contacts of investigative journalism training funded by DRL 
indicates the need for continued projects of this type.  The 
experiences of the human rights organizations with which we met 
point to the low esteem in which human rights are held by 
authorities.  The regional human rights ombudsmen, many of whom 
are active and dedicated, appear to have little or no power to 
protect human rights in the broad sense.  Their actions appear 
to be tolerated so long as they intervene only on individual 
cases rather than on a societal level. 
SANDUSKY