The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of the Russian Federation on 6 June 2023. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this time frame. If a reply is received it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since the communication was sent, the First Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction declined the human rights defenders’ cassation complaint after two hearings on 12 July 2023. The defenders intend to file a complaint to the Supreme Court.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the persecution of the environmental human rights defenders and anti-war activists Ms. Polina Oleynikova, Mr. Arshak Makichyan and his family members.
Mr. Arshak Makichyan and Ms. Polina Oleynikova are environmental human rights defenders and anti-war activists from Russia. Mr. Makichyan has been the coordinator of the Fridays for Future movement in Russia since 2019. Mr. Artur Makichyan has worked as a businessman since 1997 and ran a print shop until he was forced to leave Russia. Mr. Gagik Makichyan is a musician and Mr. Armen Makichyan is an IT specialist. Mr. Artur Makichyan is the father of Messrs. Arshak, Armen and Gagik Makichyan.
ALLEGATIONS
Since 2019, Mr. Makichyan and Ms. Polina Oleynikova have been participating in several protests and strikes in relation to climate change and anti-war activism, as well as protests organized by opposition leaders. They have been persecuted and administratively sanctioned several times, as detailed below.
On 23 July 2019, Mr. Makichyan participated in a one-man demonstration in Moscow to draw attention to climate change. An unknown man allegedly approached him and started threatening to stab him if he did not take the poster down. After a couple of minutes during which Mr. Makichyan was being insulted, he eventually removed the poster and decided to call the police. The unknown man left before police arrived and Mr. Makichyan filed a complaint against him.
On 27 July 2019, Mr. Makichyan participated in a protest in Moscow organized by opposition leaders banned from running to Moscow City Duma. According to the Kuzminsky District Court of Moscow decision on 8 August 2019 (case N° 5-1215/19), Mr. Makichyan was fined 20,000 RUB (approximately 250 USD) under article 20.2 para.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on violations of the established procedure for holding public assemblies. According to the court decision, Mr. Makichyan ignored police orders and continued chanting slogans offending the President of the Russian Federation and the authorities, attracting the attention of citizens and media.
On 25 October 2019, Mr. Makichyan participated in another climate event, in Moscow, holding a poster with the inscription “CLIMATE EMERGENCY,” “The climate crisis affects absolutely everyone.” According to the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow decision on 20 December 2019 (case n°05‑2965/2019), Mr. Makichyan was administratively arrested for a 6‑day period under article 20.2 para.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on the organisation or holding of public events without providing prior notification. According to the court decision, Mr. Makichyan was amongst the participants holding a poster with the inscription specified above, attracting the attention of citizens, bloggers and media to himself and the other participants in the action.
On 24 July 2020, Mr. Makichyan participated in a one-man picket, in Moscow, holding a poster “Strike for the climate.” According to the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow decision on 17 September 2020 (case N° 05-0593/2020), Mr. Makichyan was fined 15,000 RUB (approximately 190 USD) under article 20.6.1 para.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on participation in unauthorised public assemblies that interfered with the functioning of life support facilities, transport or social infrastructure. In its decision, the court argued that the one-man protest qualified as public assembly and therefore infringed on the emergency measures in force at that time in relation to COVID‑19.
On 7 January 2022, Mr. Makichyan participated in a one-man protest, in Moscow, holding a poster stating “A new war stole New Year” to protest the deployment of Collective Security Treaty Organization’s troops in Kazakhstan. According to the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow decision on 15 June 2022 (case N° 05‑0091/2022), Mr. Makichyan was fined 20,000 RUB (approximately 250 USD) under article 20.2 para.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. The court decision is classified and not available to the public.
On 16 January 2022, while Ms. Polina Oleynikova was posting leaflets on the police departments’ buildings in Moscow, she was allegedly arrested and taken to the police station of the Tverskoy District of Moscow before being charged under article 20.1 para. 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences with petty hooliganism, namely her acts were qualified as a “violation of the public order by showing disrespect for society accompanied by damage to someone else’s property, namely, she posted a leaflet on an information stand located on the facade of the building of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Tverskoy District of Moscow”.
The following day, police came to her home, allegedly in connection with the leaflet action, intending to charge her under article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences for violation of public assembly rules. Ms. Oleynikova allegedly managed to exit her apartment without being arrested, concerned for her own safety.
On 25 January 2022, she was allegedly detained and taken to the police station of the Khamovniki District of Moscow, where she was charged under article 20.2 para.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The following day, the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow sentenced her to 30 hours of compulsory community service for the alleged violation of article 20.2 para. 5 of the Code of Administrative Offences. According to the court decision, Ms. Oleynikova undertook actions which she gave notice of in advance on her social media account on Instagram, namely, she picketed in front of the building of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khamovniki District of Moscow with a placard in her hands, which she later posted on the façade of the building, drawing the attention of citizens and the media. She appealed the decision with the Moscow City Court on 7 February 2022, which was dismissed as of 5 May 2022.
On 25 February 2022, as Mr. Makichyan and Ms. Oleynikova were on their way to the Moscow city centre, they were stopped by police in a street near their home. Ms. Oleynikova was dressed in an army uniform covered in bright red paint and was holding a flag with the inscription “Empire of evil you are ordinary murderers”. As she later explained, she was planning to draw public attention in protest to the armed attack by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which commenced on 24 February 2022. However, she did not manage to do it as she was pre-emptively arrested. The Presnensky District Court of Moscow fined Ms. Oleynikova 20,000 RUB (approximately 250 USD) under article 20.2 para. 5. As per court decision of 2 March 2022 in the case N° 05 0407/2022, Ms. Oleynikova was found guilty of participating in an unauthorised public assembly.
On 19 March 2022, Mr. Makichyan and Ms. Oleynikova fled Russia given their alleged continuing persecution and criminalization for their activism.
Regarding the Russian citizenship of Mr. Makichyan and his family members
Mr. Artur Makichyan, came to Russia from Armenia in 1995 and obtained a permanent residence registration in 1997. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he did not receive Armenian citizenship. He lived in Moscow with a Soviet passport, which was permitted by the Law of 28 November 1991 No 1948-I “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation.”
In 2002, Mr. Artur Makichyan applied for a Russian passport based on article 14§4 of the Law № 62-FZ “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation,” dated 31 May 2002. Mr. Artur Makichyan met all requirements. In November 2002, the Migration Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs issued him a passport.
In 2004, Mr. Artur Makichyan’s sons, namely Messrs. Arhsak, Armen and Gagik Makichyan, also received Russian passports at their father’s request under article 14, part 6(a).
In May 2022, the Shatura City Prosecutor appealed to the Shatura City Court of Moscow Region, demanding to cancel the decisions on the acquisition of citizenship by Mr. Arshak Makichyan, his father and two brothers, claiming that in 2004 when Mr. Artur Makichyan applied for citizenship for his children, he would have deliberately provided false information about himself.
On 24 October 2022, the Shatura City Court of Moscow Region, issued a decision (Case No. 2‑864/2022) partially satisfying the Shatura City Prosecutor’s appeal. It recognized the illegality of the decision of the Federal Migration Service of Russia to issue the Russian citizenship to Mr. Artur Makichyan’ sons on 12 October 2004, as well as the illegality of the decision of the Federal Migration Service of Russia to issue a new passport to Mr. Artur Makichyan on 30 October 2007. The court decision therefore did not recognize Mr. Artur Makichyan and his sons as having acquired the citizenship and removed them from the residency registry.
On 28 November 2022, Mr. Artur Makichyan and his sons’ legal representatives filed an appeal against the Shatura City Court decision (Case No. 2-864/2022).
On 25 January 2023, the Court of Moscow Region held a hearing on the appeal complaint, during which one of the judges asked the representative of the Interior Ministry and the prosecutor’s office to provide clarifications. The hearing was postponed until 27 February 2023. However, the next day, the family’s legal representative received a call from the court’s secretary, informing them that the court would resume the hearing on 1 February 2023.
On 1 February 2023, the judge who had clarifying questions was replaced, and all the arguments put forward in the appeal complaint were ignored by the presiding judge. The latter also refused to satisfy all motions from the family representatives. The court left the decision of the Shatura City Court unchanged.
On that same day, while exiting the court hearing, officers of the Patrol and Checkpoint Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested Mr. Artur Frunzikovich Makichyan, on the alleged presence of signs of forgery in his passport, claiming that an expertise should be carried out. Mr. Artur Frunzikovich Makichyan was brought to the Ministry of Internal Affairs Migration Department in Krasnogorsk, where an officer issued an act of passport seizure. Artur Makichyan was also given a notification about the decision of the Federal Security Service that the “period of temporary stay of a foreign citizen or stateless person was reduced” and he must “leave Russia within three days.” He was also notified of an indefinite ban from entering the Russian Federation.
At about 4:00 p.m. that same day, Mr. Gagik Makichyan was arrested by Federal Security Service agents in Moscow and brought to the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Krasnogorsk at about 5:30 p.m. He was taken to a “preventive interview” (“профилактическая беседа”), where no legal representative was admitted. No documents were drawn up and issued to Mr. Gagik Makichyan, although he was also told that he was forbidden to enter the Russian Federation and must leave the country within three days. Since Mr. Gagik Makichyan did not have a passport of another country, he was asked to immediately leave the country before 11.59 p.m., as after this deadline his passport would be marked as cancelled in the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ information system. At 6:36 p.m., Russian Federal Security Service agents took Mr. Gagik Makichyan to Vnukovo Airport, and he left Russia without any belongings and without a chance to say goodbye to his relatives.
On 3 February 2023, Mr. Artur Makichyan left Russia.
On 28 April 2023, the President of the Russian Federation signed a new law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation”. Its article 26 gives the Federal Security Service the authority to annul citizenship if a person “poses a threat to national security.” Such person will only have 10 days to appeal and will be deported if the decision is upheld by a court. The law will enter into force after 180 days.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our utmost concern at the criminalisation, sentencing and deprivation of nationality of the human rights defenders mentioned above and some of their family members. We remind the Russian Government that the criminalization of the legitimate defence of the human rights of others and exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression, as well as the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, would be incompatible with international human rights law. We are concerned that the criminalization and the withdrawal of citizenship are acts of intimidation and retaliation for their legitimate work as human rights defenders. We also express our concern about the new law that was signed by the President of the Russian Federation on 28 April, which can be misused to silence critical voices.
