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 Russia on 25 October 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 timeframe. If a reply is received, it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the recent sentencing and continued judicial harassment of human rights defender Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev in retaliation against his work in defence of human rights.
Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev is a human rights defender and lawyer specialising in migrants’ rights. He has worked as an active human rights defender in Russia since 1992. He is the head of “Erdam” (Help), an organisation which works to protect and promote the rights of migrant workers from Central Asia in Russia. Mr. Khamroev has also assisted the cases of individuals who have allegedly been subject to judicial harassment based on perceived or actual membership with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, recognized as a terrorist organisation by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in 2003. He was previously a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning civil rights group Memorial, before its dissolution was ordered in 2021.
ALLEGATIONS
On 15 February 2018, a criminal investigation was opened against Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev after he was obliged to disclose the identity and details of the two foreign citizens who were residing with him at the time, one being an asylum seeker and the other his relative. The criminal case, which pertained to the offence of having assisted in the “fictitious registration” of foreign citizens as per article 322.3 of the Russian Criminal Code, was initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in the Bibirevo district of Moscow. The Criminal Code allegedly does not stipulate the number of individuals who can be registered at a given address, nor does it define “fictitious registration”. The court ordered Mr. Khamroev to pay a fine of 200,000 rubles in relation to this charge.
In 2019, Mr. Khamroev was detained and subsequently fined for holding a solitary picket demanding the release of political prisoners in Tajikistan during that country’s presidential visit to Moscow, as well as for organizing a “For Fair Elections” rally in Moscow.
On 21 February 2022, it is reported that the Moscow Investigation Department of the Federal Security Service initiated a new criminal case against Mr. Khamroev in relation to his alleged connection to the organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
On 24 February 2022, in connection with the above, Mr. Khamroev was arrested on charges of “propaganda of terrorism with the use of mass media or information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet”, an offence stipulated under article 205.2-2 of the Russian Criminal Code. According to the Federal Security Service, Mr. Khamroev used his personal Facebook page to post materials that fall under the definition of “propaganda of terrorism with the use of mass media or information and telecommunication networks, including the Internet”.
As part of the investigation process, the Moscow Investigation Department of the Federal Security Service requested the psycho-linguistic assessment of 6 posts on Facebook dated: 16 May 2018, 2 June 2019, 3 April 2020, 5 November 2020, 18 November 2020 and 15 October 2021, which were deemed to constitute the dissemination of materials on activities by Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
On 25 February 2022, Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev was placed in custody for two months. During this time, the human rights defender was held in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention centre, in Moscow.
On 4 March 2022, the Federal Security Service searched the offices of the organisation Memorial and the Civic Assistance Committee. It is alleged that the raid on these offices were carried out in relation to the criminal case against Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev, in an effort to obtain information about the human rights defender who, though not an employee of the organisation, was a member of the Memorial Human Rights Centre. The authorities in question seized documents and computers, and also subjected several people to questioning in the course of their activities.
On 9 December 2022, the charge of “organising activity of a terrorist organization”, as per article 205.5-1 of the Russian Criminal Code, was also levelled against the human rights defender in addition to that of previous charges. This charge was deemed to relate to the human rights defender’s activity in defence of individuals considered to have had associations with the terrorist designated Islamic organisation Hizb-ut-Tahrir, including support on asylum requests and cases before the European Court for Human Rights.
On the 9 December 2022, Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev was officially indicted.
During the course of Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev’s trial, the human rights defender was accused of multiple activities perceived to contravene articles 205.5-1 and 205.5-2 of the Russian Criminal Code.
Although it is reported that the evidence compiled in relation to Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev’s activities did not show that he had undertaken any actions of “organizational character”, the court characterized inter alia the following actions of Bakhrom Khamroev: Delivering a speech at a conference on 26 August 2011; the collection and dissemination of “extremist” literature; and the dissemination of materials on activities relating to Hizb-ut-Tahrir on Facebook.
Mr. Khamroev pleaded not guilty to the aforementioned crimes. He denied ever being a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir and he refuted claims that he subscribes to their ideology. Rather, he stated that his only association with the organisation was that, through his work in defence of human rights, he assisted those who were facing unlawful prosecution, including cases of extremist and terrorist charges.
As regards the literature found in his home that was labelled of an “extremist” character, Mr. Khamroev maintained that he had studied these books by himself in pursuit of his human rights work. The Federal Security Service has found single copies of each book, which indicates that they were not intended for dissemination.
Similarly, he maintained that the speech he delivered on 26 August 2011 as part of a conference at a hotel centred on political repression in Uzbekistan rather than on religious ideology. Neither the conference space nor the invitation indicated that Hizb-ut-Tahrir was an organiser of the event.
On 23 May 2023, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that the court sentence Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev to 21 years of imprisonment.
On the same day, the Second Western District Military Court delivered their verdict that the human rights defender be sentenced instead to a punishment of 14 years in prison. This sentence is to be comprised of three years in a prison, as well as 11 years in a maximum-security penal colony.
As part of the court’s verdict, the charges brought against Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev were reportedly reclassified to include “participating in the activities of an organisation recognized as terrorist”, as per article 205.5-2 of the Russian Criminal Code; and “public justification and propaganda of terrorism committed with the use of mass media or electronic or information and telecommunication networks”, as per the same article. The court rejected the accusation of “organizing the activity of a terrorist organization”.
It is reported that during the examination of the case, the court relied solely on evidence produced by the prosecution, which included the testimonies of two secret witnesses and the expert opinion of the texts posted on Facebook. The motions presented by the defence, including the request for an additional analysis of the texts by a different expert, have been rejected. This reliance on the prosecution’s evidence denied Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev the opportunity to have his side heard and present his defence, creating a situation in which there were significant imbalances and unfair advantages that undermined the fairness of the procedure.
On 10 October 2023, the Military Appellate Court reduced the sentence by three months, now amounting to 13 years and 9 months.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express concern about the criminalisation of Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev, as well as the continued judicial harassment of the human rights defender, which appears to be in connection with activities he has carried out as part of his work in defence of human rights, including the exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Moreover, we would like to raise concerns regarding the non-observance of the guarantees of Mr. Bakhrom Khamroev’s right to a fair trial, which may render his deprivation of liberty arbitrary.
We similarly reiterate our concern surrounding the searches carried out in the offices of the Memorial Human Rights Centre, which we note were conducted without prior judicial authorization and without the presence of lawyers.
We remain concerned at the serious chilling effect the aforementioned actions may have on human rights defenders and on fundamental freedoms, notably the freedom of expression, and the freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association, as well as the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, including research and publications. Both the harassment of Mr. Khamroev, as well as the disbanding and continued harassment of civil society organisations, appear to point to an alarming trend of closing civic space, including through targeting human rights defenders, both individually and as part of organisations.
