German government must watch trial against Organizing Secretary of MEMORIAL

To protect the Organizing Secretary of the Russian human rights organisation MEMORIAL, Oleg Orlov, the Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) has called for observation of the ongoing criminal case against the human rights worker by the German embassy. There must be a guarantee of a fair trial, said the Chairperson of the German section of the STP, Tilman Zülch. In his speech of thanks for the award of the Victor Gollancz Prize in Göttingen Orlov reported on the massive limitations on his human rights work by the Russian and Chechnyan authorities. Orlov has been charged with maintaining that the murder of his co-worker Natalya Estemirova was ordered by the Chechnyan President, Ramsan Kadyrov. On Friday Orlov was interrogated for five hours again in Moscow . In this year already eight human rights activists have been murdered in Russia and Chechnya .

At the Russia-EU Summit on Wednesday in Stockholm the German government must also make sure that a new cooperation agreement with Russia is coupled with civil and human rights. It must also call for regular information on the state of investigations against murderers of human rights activists and provide protection measures for witnesses if they are in danger in Russia . They must receive asylum in Germany or other EU member states. The Russian government must be called upon to ensure that particularly the North Caucasus is permanently accessible to reporters of international bodies like the OSCE and the UN.

At the Annual General Meeting of the STP at the weekend some 160 delegates, human rights experts and spokespersons of threatened peoples from Europe, Asia, Africa and overseas criticised that most of the governments of the western democracies have seen themselves forced by the world economic crisis, but also by self-interest to overlook the misuse of power and the suppression or persecution of small ethnic groups and to maintain good relations even with rulers who do not shrink from violence. The climax of the AGM of the STP was the award of the Victor Gollancz Prize to Orlov and the Organizing Secretary of the Brazilian Indian Mission Council CIMI, José Eden Pereira Magalhães.

The Chairperson of the German section of the STP, Tilman Zülch, will be glad to answer questions at politik@gfbv.de