FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Natalia Arno, President
Phone: +1 202.549.2417
Email: natalia.arno@4freerussia.org

VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA TO JOIN FREE RUSSIA FOUNDATION (FRF) LEADERSHIP AS VICE PRESIDENT

WASHINGTON D.C., June 20, 2019. The Free Russia Foundation, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization working to defend civil liberties and human rights in Russia and restore the country’s path to democracy, has announced a new high-profile addition to its leadership team.

On July 1, 2019, Vladimir V. Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian democracy activist, author and filmmaker will join FRF as Vice President to lead the organization’s public diplomacy, global outreach and advocacy efforts.

“I am honored to join this team of committed defenders of democracy and the rule of law in Russia, whose passion is rivaled only by their effectiveness,” Kara-Murza said of FRF. “The Kremlin, for now, has monopolized all aspects of Russian public life at home, but we will not let it usurp the exclusive right to speak on behalf of Russia in the world. There are many Russians who have a very different, democratic vision for our country – and we must make sure that their voices are heard.”

“The Free Russia Foundation welcomes Vladimir Kara-Murza to our great team! We are honored to be colleagues with this outstanding hero and freedom fighter. Together, we will achieve even more in our efforts to push for positive changes in Russia and deter the Kremlin’s malign activities in the world,” FRF President Natalia Arno said of Vladimir Kara-Murza joining the organization.

David J. Kramer, Chairman of the FRF Board, said, “Having Vladimir Kara-Murza join the FRF team makes an amazing organization even stronger and more effective. He is a perfect fit with the vitally important work that Natalia and her dedicated team perform. The Board and I remain deeply impressed by and committed to the work of FRF and believe that the future of the organization will be even brighter with Vladimir in this new capacity.”

Kara-Murza was a longtime colleague of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and chairs the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. He is a former deputy leader of the People’s Freedom Party and was a candidate for the Russian State Duma. He has testified before Parliaments in Europe and North America and played a key role in the passage of the Magnitsky legislation that imposed targeted sanctions on Russian human rights violators in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and several EU countries. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called Kara-Murza “one of the most passionate and effective advocates for passage of the Magnitsky Act”; U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) commended him as “a courageous advocate for the democratic process and fundamental universal human rights.”

He is a contributing writer to the Washington Post and has previously worked for the BBC, RTVi, Echo of Moscow, Kommersant, and other media outlets. He directed two documentary films, They Chose Freedom and Nemtsov, and is the author of Reform or Revolution: The Quest for Responsible Government in the First Russian State Duma and a contributor to Russia’s Choices: The Duma Elections and After, Russian Liberalism: Ideas and People, Why Europe Needs a Magnitsky Law, and Boris Nemtsov and Russian Politics: Power and Resistance.

Kara-Murza led international efforts to commemorate Nemtsov, including with street designations in Washington D.C. and Vilnius. He is a recipient of the Magnitsky Human Rights Award, the Sakharov Prize for Journalism as an Act of Conscience, the Geneva Summit Courage Award, the Train Foundation’s Civil Courage Prize, and the Oxi Courage Award. He holds an M.A. (Cantab.) in History from Cambridge.

Natalia Arno, the founder of the Free Russia Foundation, will continue serving as President and Board Member (ex officio) and direct day-to-day operations from its headquarters in Washington D.C.

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For more information, please visit the Free Russia Foundation’s website, www.4freerussia.org, or contact Natalia Arno at +1 202.549.2417 and natalia.arno@4freerussia.org.

NPR was given exclusive coverage of the release: https://www.npr.org/2019/06/12/731578176/report-russia-exploits-western-legal-systems-institutions-to-its-advantage

Since our report was posted on our website, we have been under constant DDoS attacks and our website was down several times.

We have also created a separate account on Google and uploaded the report at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nQtI61LLlngxilP-yol9DBlQclzRsCMR/view?usp=drivesdk

Please help support our efforts to publicize the Kremlin’s attacks on the rule of law in the West by posting the report with the original and additional links and, if you wish, on your organizations’ websites – so it’s definitely available to media and policy makers tomorrow at our conference “STRATEGIES TO DEFEND DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS AND THE RULE OF LAW IN THE WEST” (https://www.4freerussia.org/strategies-to-defend-democratic-institutions-and-the-rule-of-law-in-the-west/) and later on.

May 30, 2019

FREE RUSSIA FOUNDATION STATEMENT AGAINST PERSECUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN OCCUPIED CRIMEA 

On May 30, 2019 two Crimean Tatar activists, Lutfie Zudieva and Mumine Salieva, were detained by the Russian authorities (Center for Combating Extremism) in occupied Crimea. Lutfie Zudieva was apprehended on her way home from the market, while Mumine Salieva was approached by security forces at her home.

Lutfie Zudieva and Mumine Salieva are being accused of “propaganda or public display of extremist organizations” under Article 20.3 of the Russian Federation Code of Administrative Offences.

Lutfie Zudieva is both a director of the children’s center “Elif” and an activist. She has also been a civic defender within the judicial process of participants in the picket on December 18, 2017.

Mumine Salieva, wife of political prisoner Seiran Saliev, is a human rights activist and founder of the “Crimean Childhood” initiative, which aims in assisting children in occupied Crimea. She is also an active participant of Crimean Solidarity movement, whose goal is to help all of the political prisoners suffering from injustice within Crimea at the hands of the Kremlin regime. To this end, members of Crimean Solidarity provide legal, financial, and moral assistance to the victims and their relatives.

The lawyers were denied access to Crimean Tatar activists. Trial hearings will take place at the de facto Kiev district court in Simferopol.

The Free Russia Foundation strongly condemns persecution of lawyers and human rights defenders in occupied Crimea and demands that the Russian Federation government immediately cease (1) its unlawful suppression and obstruction of lawyer work and human rights activities; and (2) its use of Russia’s “anti-extremism and anti-terrorism” legislation in the occupied territory, in violation of international humanitarian law, in order to persecute individuals for their public, legal, and human rights activities.

We ask international organizations and governments of democratic states:

• To continue pressuring the Russian government to put a stop to their ongoing persecution of Crimean Solidarity activists and to their efforts to obstruct the work of independent lawyers in occupied Crimea.
• To condemn Russia’s use of its own “anti-terrorism and anti-extremism” legislation in its persecution of lawyers, human rights defenders and civil society activists in occupied Crimea.
• To impose personal sanctions on persons involved in the gross violations of human rights in occupied Crimea as well as on those directly involved in the obstruction of lawyer work and persecution of the Crimean Solidarity movement.

For further information, please contact:

Natalia Arno

President, Free Russia Foundation

natalia.arno@4freerussia.org
+1 202 549 2417

It contains a set of twelve hypothetical evolutions for the political development of Russia through 2030, as well as analyses of key factors driving each future.

The report aims to shed light on key factors and early indicators bearing on the direction and specific content of Russia’s development (including continuity options); help evaluate the likelihood of each scenario and its significance for international security; and assist in developing a strategy for weighing and balancing risks associated with each scenario.

A 282-page report on the Kremlin’s political prisoners – The Kremlin’s Political Prisoners: Advancing a Political Agenda by Crushing Dissent – was authored by the public interest law firm Perseus Strategies, with support from Memorial Human Rights Centre (Russia), and was commissioned by the Free Russia Foundation, Human Rights Foundation, Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

The report documents how, decades after the last Soviet-era political prisoners were released, the Kremlin, under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, is once again engaged in the widespread detention of activists, regime opponents, and disfavored minorities.  In the last four years alone, the number of political prisoners have increased five-fold from 50 to more than 250.  While some of these political prisoners were convicted of fabricated crimes they simply did not commit, the majority are detained as a result of engaging in activities that are clearly protected under international law, such as posting on social media, participating in peaceful protests, practicing their religion, or associating with certain groups.  This persecution is enabled by an ever-increasing array of laws specifically designed to criminalize acts of everyday life and, therefore, allow the authorities to arrest, detain, and imprison anyone they want.

The Kremlin’s arrest, trial, conviction, sentencing, and imprisonment of political prisoners violates several multilateral treaties to which Russia is a state party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, European Convention on Human Rights, and Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.  In particular, the Kremlin is violating political prisoners’ rights to political participation and freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion.  Moreover, political prisoners are routinely denied basic due process rights – including access to counsel, the presumption of innocence, the presumption of bail, and a fair trial – and subjected to torture to force them to falsely confess.

While countless government officials are complicit in the Kremlin’s persecution of political prisoners, this report identifies 16 individuals that may bear particular responsibility. This includes eight high-level officials potentially liable under the principle of command responsibility – President Vladimir Putin; Alexander Bortnikov, Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB); Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council; Yuri Chaika, Prosecutor General; Gennady Kornienko, Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service; Aleksandr Konovalov, Minister of Justice; Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Minister of Internal Affairs; and Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee. The report also identifies eight judges, prosecutors, and investigators that have been involved in multiple political prisoner cases.

Download the report The Kremlin’s Political Prisoners: Advancing a Political Agenda by Crushing Dissent (pdf)