Amnesty International Gives Medvedev Failing Marks on Human Rights
Amnesty International said that President Dmitry Medvedev has failed to deliver on his promise to uphold civil society and protect human rights activists, as it unveiled its annual global report on rights abuses.
Nicola Duckworth, director of Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia Program, said: "In 2009, we saw steps like President Medvedev speaking to civil society, on the other hand we also saw [Chechen human rights activist Natalya] Estemirova abducted from the street in broad daylight and killed...This clearly shows things are not right." She added that Russia's law enforcement system and courts were weak and unable to bring human rights violators to justice.
Amnesty faulted authorities for bringing "criminal charges against human rights activists to limit their freedom of speech," banning opposition and gay pride rallies, failing to reduce a "permanently high number" of hate crimes and violating human rights in the North Caucasus.
Amnesty criticized Russia for failing to convict anyone yet in the killings of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov, gunned down in January 2009, and opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose 2006 murder case fell apart after a jury cleared four suspects in February 2009. Amnesty also slammed a Moscow court's decision to fine Oleg Orlov, head of Memorial, a human rights group, for accusing Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov of human rights abuses.