A Russian opposition and LGBT rights activist, Ildar Dadin was the first and remains the only, person to be convicted under a notorious 2014 public assembly law. Aimed at punishing anyone who breaks strict rules on protest, the law was enacted to silence dissent after a wave of demonstrations following Putin’s last election victory. Dadin’s crime was to stage a series of one-man pickets, often standing silently with a billboard, attempting to duck the cynical law and push for free expression. For his solo enterprise, Dadin was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment in December 2015. In November 2016, website Meduza published a letter smuggled from Dadin to his wife, exposing torture he claimed he was suffering alongside fellow prisoners. The letter, a brave move for a serving prisoner, was widely reported. A government investigation was prompted, and Dadin was transferred – against his will – to an undisclosed new location. A wave of public protest led to Dadin’s new location in a Siberian prison colony being revealed in January 2017. In February 2017, Russia’s constitutional and Supreme Courts suddenly quashed Dadin’s conviction, ruling he should be released and afforded the opportunity for rehabilitation.
Активист, долгое время защищавший права ЛГБТ и оппозиции, Ильдар Дадин стал первым и единственным в России осужденным по принятой в 2014 году статье «Неоднократное нарушение установленного порядка организации либо проведения собрания, митинга, демонстрации, шествия или пикетирования».
Пытаясь обойти этот закон, Дадин провел серию одиночных пикетов против нарушений прав человека, за что был арестован и в 2015 приговорен к трем годам тюрьмы. В ноябре 2016, интернет-издание «Медуза» опубликовало письмо, которое Дадин передал через свою жену. В нем он рассказал о том, как его пытали, и о повсеместности насилия в российских тюрьмах. Публикация его письма – смелый шаг для отбывающего наказание заключенного – имело широкий общественный резонанс, вызвав реакцию со стороны правительства и став основанием для расследования. Дадина, против его воли, перевели из его колонии, после чего он исчез внутри российской пенитенциарной системы. Его местонахождение было раскрыто лишь в январе 2017 после волны общественных протестов. После того как Верховный суд отменил приговор, Ильдар Дадин вышел на свободу из колонии, 26 февраля.
2017 Freedom of Expression Campaigning Award-winning Ildar Dadin was presented an illustration created by cartoonist Aseem Trivedi
Good evening. I am Ildar Dadin, a civil rights activist, writing to you from inside Russia. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to join you in London.
When I first heard I had won an award – from my wife, whilst I was still in a Russian jail – I was glad. Because even though I had been imprisoned, those that wished to silence me had clearly failed.
When I was suddenly released eight weeks ago I began preparing for this trip almost immediately. I wanted to tell the world what I had seen inside Russian jails. But it became clear that the authorities had no intention of letting me join you. When I applied for an international passport, I was told that it could take some time, a very long time. So I may no longer be imprisoned, but Russian security officials want to keep me locked in. They want to try, again, to silence me.
This is a kind of travel ban I now face and I have been clearly told that it is due to my activism.
In 2012, I – like many other brave Russians – took to the streets to protest the dishonest parliamentary and presidential elections. I had been driven to join the demonstrations because I had worked as an observer at the polls and witnessed a large number of voting irregularities. I became convinced that there had been no true elections in Russia. We went through the motions of voting, like an act, but the outcome had already been decided.
Russia’s governmental institutions are a Potemkin put on. Russian police don’t protect citizens. Russian judges don’t adhere to the rule of law. Russian media is not independent and just parrots government propaganda over and over. Russian people – my people – are forced to think only one way, the way the government wants. Our thoughts are the government’s thoughts. Our voices have to follow a script that we are expected to be able to recite on command.
It is like the George Orwell novel Animal Farm. The judges and the police only serve the ruling regime and anyone who speaks their own mind is punished.
Anti-clerics, independent thinkers, the LGBT community: these and any other people who take to the streets and protest, they are punished. Or people who simply write their opinions on Facebook. They are punished. Opposition journalists and politicians aren’t just punished – they are killed. As happened to Natalia Estemirova, Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Nemtsov.
You think, perhaps, this story could not be any worse?
But when I was sent to prison for my activism, I learned about another level in Russia’s horrific dysfunction: torture.
This dehumanising practice debases our nation. It takes us not just back to the time of gulags but deep into the brutal Middle Ages. To “correct” incarcerated Russian citizens, prison staff beat them. They hang them on racks. They pull their legs in different directions as if to quarter them, and break their bones.
This is not speculation. This happened to real people, Russians, in the prison colony where I was imprisoned. I spoke with some of them, others gave their testimony to lawyers that I know. Their injuries and fractures have been documented. There are eyewitnesses to the violence.
This torture also happened to me.
But in every case that I am personally aware of, not one of these sadistic prison guards has been punished. Not one.
Tonight I tell you, that in Russia, there are no human rights. It is a society ruled through levels of cruelty and bigotry where Russians are forced to worship the great leader and any and all dissidents are stoned.
Maybe I cannot join you in London but I can refuse to be silent. And you, friends, can refuse to be silent too. You can refuse to let these people silence me. Together, we can refuse to look away.
Anastasia Zotova accepted the 2017 Campaigning Award on behalf of her husband Ildar Dadin. (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship)
For his one-man protests, Ildar Dadin was sent to prison in December 2015 where he was tortured, before his conviction was quashed in February 2017. Read the full profile.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”84888″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Добрый вечер. Меня зовут Илья Дадин и я обращаюсь к вам из России. К сожалению, как активисту движения за гражданские права, мне не разрешено быть с вами в Лондоне.
Жена рассказала мне про награду, когда я сидел в российской тюрьме. Я был рад что меня не удалось заглушить, даже если удалось посадить.
После внезапного освобождения восемь недель назад, я сразу начал готовится к этой поездке. Хотелось всему миру рассказать что видел в российских тюрьмах.
Но стало очевидно что власть не собиралась пускать меня к вам. Когда я подавал заявление на загранпаспорт, мне сказали что это может занять много времени. Да. Я не был за решеткой, но я не был свободен. Сотрудники спецслужб снова пытались заткнуть мне рот.
Я не могу выехать из страны и эти ограничения напрямую связаны с моей гражданской деятельностью.
В 2012 году, я, как и многие другие смелые российские граждане, вышел на улицу протестовать против нечестных парламентских и президентских выборов. К участию в акциях меня сподвигла работа наблюдателем на избирательном участке, где я был свидетелем многочисленных нарушений процесса голосования. Я убедился, что настоящих выборов в России не бывает. Мы проходим процесс голосования, но результаты уже решены за нас.
Российские госучреждения это Потемкинские деревни.
Полиция не защищает граждан. Суды не следуют букве закона. Российские СМИ зависимы и просто повторяют за правительственной пропагандой. Русских людей – мой народ – заставляют мыслить односторонне, в угоду власти. Наши мысли – мысли власти. Наши голоса должны повторять текст по команде наизусть.
Живем как в Скотном Двору из Джордж Оруэлла. Судьи и полиция служат правящему режиму, и наказывают любого кто высказывает свое мнение.
Антиклерикалов, независимых мыслителей, ЛГБТ-сообщества и всех кто не согласен и выходит на улицы . Даже тех, которые просто высказывают своё мнение на Фейсбуке. Их тоже наказывают. Оппозиционных журналистов и политиков не просто наказывают – их убивают.Так с Натальей Эстемировой, Анной Политковской, и Борисом Немцовым.
Думаете, что моя история не может быть хуже?
Когда меня посадили в тюрьму за мою гражданскую активность, я я узнал совершенно другой уровень ужасающей дисфункции России: пытки.
Этот античеловечная унижающая практика нашего народа. Это возвращает нас не просто во времена гулагов, а дальше в Средние Века. Чтобы “исправить” заключенных российских граждан,тюремщики избивает их.Подвешивают их на стояках. Тянут им ноги в разные стороны как-будто хотят четвертовать, ломая кости.
Это не придумано. Это происходило с ии реальными русскими людьми, русскими в колонии куда меня посадили. С некоторыми я я разговаривал лично, другие дали показания знакомым адвокатам. Их раны и переломы зафиксированы документально. Они видели насилии своими глазами.
Эти пытки также происходили со мной.
Но в каждом случае, о которых мне известно, ни один из этих садистов-надзирателей не наказан. Ни один.
Сегодня я говорю вам, что в России нет прав человека. Это общество управляетсяу через жестокость и ханжеств, где русских заставляют преклонятся перед великим лидером, а любых диссидентов закидывают камнями
Может я и не могу быть с вами в Лондоне, но я могу отказаться молчать. И вы, друзья, тоже можете отказаться молчать. Вы можете отказать этим людям в позволении заставить меня замолчать. Вместе мы можем отказаться отводить глаза.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1492790037727-479c648e-efcc-4″ taxonomies=”8935″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” full_height=”yes” columns_placement=”stretch” equal_height=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1594032073955{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/magazine-art-1460×490.png?id=80524) !important;}”][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Shakespearean actress Janet Suzman said about our special Shakespeare 400 issue: “From every corner of the unfree world the essays you have printed bear me out; theatre is a danger to ignorance and autocracy and Shakespeare still holds the sway. I congratulate you and Index on giving such space to a writer who is still bannable after 400 plus years.”” google_fonts=”font_family:Libre%20Baskerville%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20italic%3A400%3Aitalic”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
A quarterly magazine set up in 1972, Index has published oppressed writers and refused to be silenced across 252 issues.
The brainchild of the poet Stephen Spender, and translator Michael Scammell, the magazine’s very first issue included a never-before-published poem, written while serving a sentence in a labour camp, by the Nobel Prize-winning Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
The magazine continued to be a thorn in the side of Soviet censors, but its scope was far wider. From the beginning, Index declared its mission to stand up for free expression as a fundamental human right for people everywhere – it was particularly vocal in its coverage of the oppressive military regimes of southern Europe and Latin America, but was also clear that freedom of expression was not only a problem in faraway dictatorships. The winter 1979 issue, for example, reported on a controversy in the United States in which the Public Broadcasting Service had heavily edited a documentary about racism in Britain, and then gone to court attempting to prevent screenings of the original version.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left” color=”custom” align=”right” custom_color=”#dd3333″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”An archive of past battles won, and a beacon of present and future struggles. It’s unique brand of practical, practising advocacy is as necessary as ever.” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:left|color:%23dd3333″ google_fonts=”font_family:Libre%20Baskerville%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20italic%3A400%3Aitalic”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Index stood firmly against the apartheid regime. South African Nadine Gordimer, yet another Nobel prize-winning author, wrote regularly for the magazine. Big names from around the literary world flocked to contribute to the magazine, often before their struggles had brought internal accolade – a single issue in 1983 included the exiled Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, later a Nobel prize winner, and Czechoslovakian dissident Vaclav Havel, who went on to be his country’s last president before it split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Kurt Vonnegut and Arthur Miller were also among the more famous bylines. Salman Rushdie, the author at the centre of the Satanic Verses controversy, was frequently featured on Index’s pages while there was a bounty offered for his murder by the Iranian government.
After the fall of communism, there was a widespread misconception that censorship was “over”, but journalists, authors and dissidents have continually reached out to Index when squeezed. The Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya wrote in 2002 of the threats made against her life when she began investigating Russia’s war in Chechnya, four years before she was assassinated in Moscow.
After more than 40 years, Index continues to stand with the silenced all over the world. In October 2016, the Times Literary Supplement described it as “an archive of past battles won, and a beacon of present and future struggles. It’s unique brand of practical, practising advocacy is as necessary as ever.”
In times of extraordinary crisis, governments often take the opportunity to roll back on personal freedoms and media freedom.
Will you join with others from around the world who have concerns about restrictions on freedoms to support our work?
DONATE NOW[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”113840″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2016/12/fashion-rules/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ css=”.vc_custom_1481888488328{padding-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Subscribe” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:24|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsubscribe%2F|||”][vc_column_text]The world’s most important writers. In print, online. In your mailbox, on your iPad.
Subscription options from £18.
Every subscriber helps support Index on Censorship’s projects around the world.
The awards, now in their 17th year, honour those at the forefront of tackling censorship in the field of arts, campaigning, digital advocacy and journalism. Many of the winners face regular persecution for their work, including jail, death threats or harassment.
Award winners are honoured at a gala ceremony in London in April and receive training, promotion and year-long assistance from Index as part of their prize.
Judges for this year’s awards include Harry Potter actor Noma Dumezweni, former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown and award-winning lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher, who represented the families of the victims of the Hillsborough football disaster.
“The media is under threat throughout the world – and not just from ‘traditional’ enemies,” said Jodie Ginsberg, Index on Censorship chief executive. “In Europe, journalists and journalism organisations are under severe pressure. Governments are widening surveillance powers and national security laws in a way that makes investigating corruption and malpractice ever more difficult. In the United States, the language coming from those at the top is painting the media as the enemy.”
“Given the pressures facing the media, it’s great to be working with an organisation that understands and recognises these threats through its work internationally,” she added.
“CNN is proud to support journalism through our extensive affiliate network of over 1,100 broadcast and digital publishers worldwide,” said Greg Beitchman, Vice President, Content Sales and Partnerships, CNN International Commercial. “We admire the work done by the Freedom of Expression Awards and look forward to being part of this important initiative to recognise vital journalism done all over the world.”
In addition to CNN, VICE News has also renewed its sponsorship of the Index awards. In 2016, VICE News journalists Philip Pendlebury and Jake Hanrahan presented the Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism to Zaina Erhaim, a Syrian-based journalist training female reporters. Index had campaigned for Phil and Jake’s release and that of their colleague Mohammed Rasool after they were arrested and imprisoned by Turkish authorities on charges of assisting a terrorist organisation.
Neil Breakwell, London Bureau Chief, VICE News said: “VICE News is proud to support the Index on Censorship awards and the courageous work of journalists, many of whom risk their lives daily to bring us the news.”
He added: “2016 has seen an alarming increase in the arbitrary arrests of reporters, the silencing of dissenting news outlets and threats of violence to media workers around the world. Impartial, fact-based journalism has never been more important and neither has the work of those, like Index, who strive to protect it.”
Previous winners of the Freedom of Expression awards include Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Hundreds of public nominations are made for the awards each year. Many of those nominated are regularly targeted by authorities or by criminal and extremist groups for their work.
The shortlist for the 2017 awards will be announced in early 2017 and the winners will be announced on 19 April at the Unicorn Theatre, London.
For more information, please contact: Sean Gallagher – [email protected].
Notes for editors
Index on Censorship, founded in 1972 by poet Stephen Spender, campaigns for freedom of expression worldwide. Its award-winning quarterly magazine has featured writers such as Vaclav Havel, Nadine Gordimer, Arthur Miller, Philip Pullman, Salman Rushdie, Aung San Suu Kyi and Amartya Sen.
Harry Potter actor Noma Dumezweni, Doughty Street Chambers lawyer Caiolfhionn Gallagher, former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, Superflux co-founder Anab Jain and Heaven 17’s former manager Stephen Budd.
Harry Potter actor Noma Dumezweni will join a panel of judges that also includes Hillsborough lawyer Caiolfhionn Gallagher and former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown to decide the 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winners.
The awards, now in their 17th year, honour those at the forefront of challenging censorship in the field of arts, campaigning, journalism and digital advocacy. Many of the winners face regular persecution for their work.
Dumezweni, who plays Hermione in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was shortlisted earlier this year for an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress. Speaking about the importance of the Index Awards she said: “Freedom of expression is essential to help challenge our perception of the world”.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher is a public law specialist at Doughty Street Chambers who represented the bereaved families in the 7/7 London bombings, and the Hillsborough football stadium tragedy. In October 2016 she was named Human Rights and Public Law Junior of the Year at the Chambers UK Bar Awards.
“Freedom of expression is needed now more than ever, as many governments worldwide are attempting to stifle critical voices. Some do this in ways which are blatant breaches of fundamental freedoms, others’ methods are more subtle but still pose a significant threat to free speech and democracy. Now, more than ever, we must fight to protect and champion freedom of expression,” said Gallagher.
Other judges on the panel include Tina Brown, an award-winning journalist and former editor-in-chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker; Anab Jain, TED fellow and co-founder of Superflux, a company focused on emerging technologies; and Stephen Budd, chairman of the Music Managers Forum and co-founder of Damon Albarn’s ‘Africa Express’ musical collaborations project.
Announcing the judging panel, Index on Censorship chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said: “No one should be punished for speaking freely — yet across the world we see journalists muzzled for challenging politicians, musicians silenced for questioning the status quo, or cartoonists forced to drop their pens because they mocked the powerful and the corrupt.”
“Our awards celebrate those who fight back. And we’re delighted to have such an impressive panel selecting this year’s winners.”
Previous winners of the Freedom of Expression awards include Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Hundreds of public nominations are made for the awards each year. Many of those nominated are regularly targeted by authorities or by criminal and extremist groups for their work. Some face regular death threats, others criminal prosecution.
Previous judges include digital campaigner and entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, novelist Elif Shafak, journalist and campaigner Mariane Pearl, and human rights lawyer Keir Starmer.
The Freedom of Expression Awards 2017 will be held on April 19 at the Unicorn Theatre.
For more information, please contact Helen Galliano: [email protected].
Notes for editors
Index on Censorship, founded in 1972 by poet Stephen Spender, campaigns for freedom of expression worldwide. Its award-winning quarterly magazine has featured writers such as Vaclav Havel, Nadine Gordimer, Arthur Miller, Philip Pullman, Salman Rushdie, Aung San Suu Kyi and Amartya Sen.
Index on Censorship is delighted to announce CNN as its media partner for the 