UN Rapporteur calls for treaty against “transnational repression” of Russia

Na tribute session to Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, murdered on October 7, 2006 in Moscow, Mariana Katzarova said that Russia is “exporting the rule of fear beyond its borders.”.

“ Since the start of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, between 650,000 and 900,000 people – perhaps over a million people – have fled Russia. And as Russian civil society grows in exile, the structure mounted to pursue it also grows,” he warned.

Katzarova pointed out that, with regard to “direct physical attacks”, the Russian Federation is currently ranked “third among the states responsible for more than 70% of documented incidents worldwide in the last decade.”.

Questioning about how justice can be guaranteed to people who are attacked by Russia across borders, the UN Special Rapporteur acknowledged that it is impossible to do so today within the country.

“ Responsibility is nonexistent. Sometimes the Russian authorities deny their involvement, while promoting or condemning alleged perpetrators,” he said.

To exemplify the situation, Mariana Katzarova gave the example of Russian deputy Andrei Lugovoi, Vice President of the Duma (the lower chamber of the Russian parliament), who was identified by the British authorities as “the main suspect of the poisoning” of Russian opponent Alexander Litvinenko with polonium in London in 2006.

“Russia refused to extradite him to stand trial in the UK. Instead, he was elected to the Duma ", observed.

In this context, Mariana Katzarova argued that the “international community must act”, stating that the European Parliament itself has already adopted a resolution in which “I have concluded that Russia is responsible for more documented incidents in the European Union than any other State”.

“ I ask you to take this job to the end. Call on the Commission [European] and the Member States to take responsibility and work together as United Nations Member States to develop a specific international human rights instrument: a binding United Nations Convention on transnational repression, with a monitoring and review mechanism”, he asked.

The UN Special Rapporteur made this request at a session marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist who documented the crimes committed by the Putin regime in the Second Chechnya War (1999-2005) and who was murdered in front of the elevator of her building in Moscow on October 7, 2006.

Present in her honor, the granddaughter of the former journalist, who is also named Anna Politkovskaya, in honor of her grandmother, called for the EU not to close its doors to Russian citizens who want to leave the country, telling the story of her “best friend, Sacha”, who was homosexual and killed himself because she did not feel safe in Russia, but could not go to Europe.

Politkovskaya stressed that the story of Sacha is also that of “journalists, activists, human rights defenders, family members of political prisoners and people who simply want to live in a country where they are accepted”, stressing that they suffer not only because of repression in Russia, but also because of “European decisions that sometimes close legal and safe ways to those who want to leave”.

“ I ask that a pan-European mechanism of emergency humanitarian visas be established for people who cannot remain safe in Russia: journalists, activists, students, LGBT+ people and those who are subject to violence and repression. These people should not pay with their own lives for their vulnerability. They must be able to reach a safe place”, he defended.