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Russian Zoologist Gazaryan and Geologist Vitishenko Threatened with Criminal Charges for Environmental Protest

May 10, 2012

Fines and threat of criminal prosecution against these scientists appear to be aimed at intimidation,  according to reports received by CCS, because both scientists protested state and local actions they believe violate Russian environmental laws.

Alexandr Nikolaevitch Tkachev
Governor of Krasnodarskiy Kray
350030 Krasnodar, Krasnaya street, 35
Russian Federation, Krasnodarskiy Kray

May 9, 2012

Dear Governor Tkachev:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in concern for Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko.

Suren Gazaryan, a zoologist and member of the Russian Academy of Science, and Evgeny Vitishko, a geologist, belong to the Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus, a group concerned with the preservation of the Russian environment. According to news reports, the group has been concerned that the regional authorities built a large compound in a protected forest in violation of the law protecting the area, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. During some protests, the protesters admittedly damaged the fence in order to reach the public area within.

On March 13, 2012, Dr. Gazaryan and his lawyer, Viktor Dutlov, returned to the forest to assess the damage to the fence. According to the protesters, the compound’s guards beat both Gazaryan and Dutlov. The guards then arranged for local police hold the two men overnight in jail. In April, Gazaryan was charged with intentional destruction of property in the amount of 119,000 rubles ($US4,050), an amount far in excess of the damage, according to Gazaryan’s lawyer. Gazaryan is also facing a criminal conviction of up to five years in jail. An additional charge of injuring the guards who allegedly beat him was added afterwards.

Absent any other explanations, it would appear that all of the actions of the authorities were designed to deter and intimidate Gazaryan, Vitishko and their associates from engaging in protests against actions that they believe violate Russian law. Such expressions of opinion and the right to due process of law are protected under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Russia is a signatory. The protesters’ claim that the authorities acted in violation of Russian environmental law (on which we express no opinion) needs to be determined by judicial inquiry, not by violence against protesters, excessive fines, and criminal prosecution.

We urge you to investigate the circumstances of this case, to review the reasonableness of the fine, and to dismiss the criminal prosecution against Gazaryan.

Sincerely yours,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies to:

Judge Avdjy Galina Leontievna
Taupse District Court
352800 Tuapse, Pobedy street, 22
Russian Federation, Krasnodarskiy kray,
Phone +7-86167-221-25

Chaika Yuri Yakovlevich,
Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation
Boashaya Dmitrovka
15a GSP-3, Moscow 125993 RUSSIA
Information Telephone: + 7 (495) 987-56-56

Vladimir Lukin
Ombudsman of Russsian Federation
Russia 101000,Moskow, Myasnitskaya street 47
Phone: +7 495 607-19-22

Filed Under: CCS Cases, Russia Tagged With: Scientists

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

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Myles Axton, Chief Editor, Genetics and Genomics Next

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Giorgio Parisi, Roma I University La Sapienza

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs*

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Former Honorary Board Members

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Raoul Bott (deseased) Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser (deceased), Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy (deceased), University of Pittsburgh

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

Louis Nirenberg (deceased), New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Myriam Sarachick (deceased), City College of New York

Harold Scheraga (deceased), Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Steven Weinberg (deceased), University of Texas, Austin*

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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