On 9 March, a district court in Nizhnii Tagil in the Sverdlovsk Region of the Russian Federation decided that Mikhail Trepashkin should be transferred to a standard prison colony, which has a stricter regime than the open prison colony he used to be in. After his transfer, Mikhail Trepashkin has restricted access to his family, friends, lawyers and supporters. In addition, he may be at risk of further violations of his human rights including the continuing denial of adequate medical treatment which may lead to a further decline of his health.

Amnesty International is concerned that the appeal by the prison authorities to the court to transfer Mikhail Trepashkin to a stricter prison colony for alleged violations of the prison rules is politically motivated and that it is an attempt to prevent him from having access to journalists and to the public.

Mikhail Trepashkin was sentenced in May 2005 to four years’ imprisonment in an open prison colony for illegal possession of ammunition and divulging state secrets. During his imprisonment, he has on several occasions been ordered to spend days in a punishment cell for alleged violations of the prison rules.
On one occasion he was punished for allegedly bringing alcohol into the prison colony. According to his lawyer, Mikhail Trepashkin had bought a small bottle (7ml) of eau de toilette on a day when he was allowed to go into the town of Nizhnii Tagil. Upon his return to the colony he had shown the bottle to the guards in order to find out whether it was a permitted item.

On another occasion, he was accused of having sworn at a prison administration official. However, when later questioned in court by Mikhail Trepashkin’s lawyers, the official allegedly said Mikhail Trepashkin had not addressed him and had not insulted him but may have murmured a swearword. According to his lawyers, it was these two incidents which formed the basis of the prison administration’s appeal for Mikhail Trepashkin’s transfer to a stricter prison colony.

Background information :

Mikhail Trepashkin, an attorney and former Federal Security Service, FSB, officer was arrested on October 24, 2003, a week before he was scheduled to represent in legal proceedings the relatives of one of the victims of a terrorist attack in Moscow. Mr. Trepashkin's American client is Tatyana Morozova of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In September 1999, Ms. Morozova's mother was killed and her sister barely survived the bombing of an apartment house in Moscow. Officially, the crime was blamed on Chechen separatists, but Mr. Trepashkin was expected to present the findings of his investigation which suggested involvement of elements of the FSB in the 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow as well as an aborted attempted bombing in the city of Ryazan.

Mr. Trepashkin had been a consultant to the public commission set up by prominent human rights activist and former Duma Deputy Sergei Kovalev to investigate the 1999 bombings. The Kovalev commission asked many unpleasant questions but got precious few answers from the authorities. Meanwhile, in the course of his investigation Trepashkin discovered evidence that didn't track with the official version of the bombing incidents. This included events in Ryazan, where a bomb in an apartment basement was discovered by local police and safely detonated hours before it was due to explode. The two suspects in that case were released after presenting FSB identification documents. The whole incident was later declared a "readiness exercise" by Russian authorities.

Several months later, the co-chairman of the Kovalev Commission, Duma Deputy Sergei Yushenkov, was assassinated in front of his home. Four persons were convicted of the murder. Another member of the Commission died of food poisoning in a hospital, another was severely beaten by thugs, and two members lost their seats in the Duma. The activities of the decimated commission came to an abrupt halt.

A week before the October 24, 2003 trial opened, the police just happened to pull Trepashkin over on the highway, and just happened to find a revolver in his car. Trepashkin claims the gun was planted. Three weeks later, he was put on trial and sentenced to 4 years labor camp by a closed court for allegedly divulging state secrets to a foreign journalist.

RECOMMENDED ACTION : Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Russian, English or your own language :

• expressing concern about the transfer of Mikhail Trepashkin to a standard prison colony ;
• urging the prison authorities instead to send him to hospital immediately in order for him to undergo an exhaustive health check which would then form the basis of his medical treatment ;
• reiterating Amnesty International’s concerns that Mikhail Trepashkin may have been convicted following an unfair trial ;
• reiterating Amnesty International’s call to the authorities that Mikhail Trepashkin should be released from detention pending a full review of the case.

APPEALS TO :

Yuri CHAIKA
Procurator General of the Russian Federation
103793 Moskva, Ul. Bolshaya Dimitrovka 15a,
Fax : + 7 495 692 1725 (if someone answers say « fax please »)
Salutation : Dear Procurator General

Pavel Pavlovich Kukushkin
Procurator
Procuracy of Sverdlovsk Region
Ul. Moskovskaia 21
620219 g. Yekaterinburg
Russian Federation
Fax : +7 343 377 0241
Salutation : Dear Procurator

COPIES TO :

Yury Ivanovich KALININ
Director
Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments
Ul. Zhitnaia 14
119991 g. Moskva
GSP - 1
Russian Federation
Fax : +7 495 982 1930
Salutation : Dear Director

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY