Russian police raided private apartments and office premises of human rights activists in the city of Voronezh — 500 kilometres south of Moscow — on Wednesday, Index learnt from direct accounts of the episode.

Early in the morning, anti-extremism police forces (known as “Centre E”) and investigators from Moscow entered and searched the private homes of six local activists, who were later taken to police facilities and interrogated. Computer equipment, leaflets and books were confiscated from their flats.

Later, also on Wednesday, eight plain-clothed police officers broke into the Human Rights House-Voronezh, headquarters of several local human rights NGOs. Their visit resembled a “gang raid” — said one witness to Index — rather than a legitimate search by a law enforcement agency. The officers refused to identify themselves or present a legal search warrant. They forced Victoria Gromova, director of the Youth Human Rights Movement, out of her office, blocked several activists in one of rooms, and locked themselves inside another, where they rummaged through documents and files. The raiders did not allow in an attorney the activists called during the incident. They left together with two computers, hard disks and USB drives they confiscated.

The official line on the busts was the investigation following the criminal case against three Russian opposition leaders, Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhaev and Konstantin Lebedev. They stand accused of plotting mass riots in Moscow in May 2012, in the context of the protests against the rigged elections that saw Vladimir Putin elected the president of Russia for the third time.

Andrey Yurov, a human rights defender and a member of the Presidential Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, told Index:

It looks like certain groups within the authorities try to ‘mix’ human rights defenders with political opposition. They want to show we are the same; that we are involved in political activities and struggle for power, while in reality we fight for rights and try to preserve political neutrality. Those groups in power just don’t want any neutral mediators to exist in the society, so it is ‘black and white’ and it is easier ‘to fight enemies of the state’.

Yury Dzibladze, the president of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, is convinced the latest events mark a new level of the Russian authorities’ war against civil society of the country:

The government certainly sees more and more people in Russia become politically involved; they go out in the streets to protest, they share their views online, they got involved with civic activism in different forms. This broadening activism and protest movement scared the authorities, who are willing to preserve power. This is exactly the reason why several repressive laws were adopted in Russia within last months that changed the very fundamental principles of functioning of the state and its relations with civil society.

The new legal framework that has an impacting on civil society includes regional laws that ban “propaganda of homosexuality”, for example, and restores criminal liability for libel.

However, the most notorious amendments include new rules on assembly, demonstrations and non-governmental organisations activities; those who receive foreign funds for their activities are expected to register as “foreign agents”.

Exactly at the same time when human rights defenders in Voronezh were searched by the police, the State Duma — the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament — adopted in the second reading a new repressive law, already dubbed the “anti-Magnitsky act”. It further deteriorates the legal framework for civil society organisations, as it provides, for instance, for suspending of activities of NGOs “involved in political activities” or “threatening Russian Federation’s interests.” Despite these terms not being legally defined and being clearly political, the State Duma is expected to adopt the draft law in the third, final, reading this Friday.

The laws are not only being adopted, they are implemented against activists that feel direct repressions,” Yury Dzhibladze says. “This is not a ‘cold war’ anymore; this war the authorities of Russia declared to civil society is becoming more and more real.”

Andrei Aliaksandrau is the Belarus and OSCE Programme Officer at Index; he tweets @aliaksandrau

The picture shows the mess left after the police raided Human Rights House-Voronezh. Photo Victoria Gromova’s Facebook page

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Investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova was among journalists and free expression advocates at the Frontline Club yesterday discussing the deteriorating situation for freedom of expression and human rights in Azerbaijan in the run up the Eurovision Song Contest — and to highlight the importance of keeping up pressure on the government after one of the biggest pop events of the year has passed.

The press event, which highlighted violence against critical voices and the government’s aggressive progamme of urban redevelopment, coincided with the publication of the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan‘s (IPGA)’s report Running Scared: Azerbaijan’s Silenced Voices, a joint report by Index on Censorship, ARTICLE 19, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and other campaigning and press freedom organisations.

Ismayilova, who spoke about the recent blackmailing campaign against her, widely accepted to be retaliation for her investigative journalism into corruption, was one of the panellists. On 7 March, Ismayilova was threatened in the most conventional of ways — she received a collection of intimate photographs through the post, with a note warning her to “behave” or she would be “defamed”. But authorities seriously miscalculated both her response and those of her family members.

They assumed, said Ismayilova, that, like some other journalists who have suffered similar blackmail campaigns,  she would bow to pressure and temper her reports. But Ismayilova went public with her story.  Days later, on 14 March 2012, an intimate video of Ismayilova filmed by a hidden camera was posted to the internet.

Exposing Ismayilova in this way was particularly vicious, as honour killings still take place in Azerbaijan and the authorities would have been well aware that Ismayilova’s life could potentially be in serious danger. Ismayilova demanded an immediate investigation.

In They Took Everything From Me, Human Rights Watch documents how residents have been forcibly evicted without reasonable notice and chronicles the demolition of homes. Senior Researcher for the organisation’s Europe and Central Asia Division Giorgi Gogai said the government had denied any residential properties had been destroyed to make way for Eurovision-related building work.

Media expert Vugar Gojayev spoke about the ways in which political life has shrunk in Azerbaijan, made worse by last year’s closure of the Human Rights House in Baku – the centre had been an important place for writers and civil society activists to meet. Outside the capital, things are worse. There are no opposition newspapers or opposition parties and most public gatherings are banned.

Azerbaijan works hard to present itself as a modern, democratic country with excellent business opportunities for multinational corporations. But recent attacks against journalists and activists reveal a government unwilling to hear the voices of its people: there are approximately 60 political prisoners in the country at the moment.

The IPGA’s report also examines the significant gap between the image the government is trying to promote and the situation on the ground and Index’s Head of Advocacy Mike Harris examines how the Azerbaijani government strives to influence opinion not only among the international business community but also, crucially, at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the political branch of the Council of Europe.

On Wednesday, Index’s Freedom of Expression Awards celebrates journalists, activists, innovators and artists working on the frontline for free speech.

Azerbaijani journalist Idrak Abbasov, who has reported on the activities of an Azerbaijani oil company and whose home was targeted in retaliation, is on the shortlist for the journalism awards.

Click here to download the report and to read more about the free expression crisis in Azerbaijan

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