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STORY: UN / HUMAN RIGHTS IN RUSSIA
TRT: 06:21
SOURCE: UNITED NATIONS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 OCTOBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
29 OCTOBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“The aggressive war, the full-scale invasion against Ukraine, which started three years ago in 2022 has exacerbated, actually, the repression against civil society, against any antiwar expression inside the Russian Federation.”
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“Russian soldiers who decide, or officers who decide, already in Ukraine, that they don't want to follow criminal orders, they do not want to participate in the war, they have been subjected to despicable torture in so called “zindans” pits in the ground, or they have been suspended from trees without water, without food while they've been severely beaten. Some has been shot in the back while trying to escape the war zone.”
6. Wide shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“There are rules of war, but when the authorities of any country, and here we're talking about the Russian government, starts hunting down journalists on assignment, this shows a desperation by the authorities to really cover up, to silence the truth about the aggressive war in its third year against Ukraine.”
8. Med shot, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“More than 30 so far as we know, journalists, Russian journalists, who stood up against the war, and they're in detention in Russia as political prisoners. This is only a fragment of the whole picture of detained political prisoners in Russia. I have a very modest estimate of 1300 plus, but NGOs are telling me that they are more than 1700, maybe even more. We don't know what's happening in many regions of Russia.”
10. Med shot, photographer
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“A young poet who wrote a poem against the war in Ukraine, at arrest he was gang raped by three police officers, just to punish him for writing a poem and for having the courage to read it out loud at a literary reading in Moscow. And after they raped him, they of course, beat him severely. He was brought to a court, and the judge, although the poet bravely asked for investigation into his torture and declared, ‘I was tortured,’ – the judge turned a blind eye.”
12. Med shot, journalist
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“In Russia, antiwar critics receive really lengthy sentences, as you know, Vladimir Kara-Murza received 25 years imprisonment for three articles and two speeches against the war. He's now, thank God, free through the recent prisoner exchange. At the same time, a priest received seven years for staging a service in his in his church against the war.”
14. Med shot, journalist
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“At the same time other groups of society, marginalized groups like the LGBT, it's very worrying what's happening with them, because the Russian Supreme Court last year pronounced them, a year ago, pronounced the whole LGBT movement as extremists, which actually carries criminal persecution and also carries lengthy sentences as extremists. Whether you're LGBT or not LGBT, if you allow yourself to wear the rainbow flag, you are promoting the symbols of extremist organization.”
16. Wide shot, press briefing room
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“Female genital mutilation is practiced in Russia, and I have been outraged by this. It's not outlawed in Russian legislation, young children, young girls, are subjected to female genital mutilation.”
18. Wide shot, journalists
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariana Katzarova, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation:
“Domestic violence, violence against women, which is also escalating in Russia. And mind you, there is no law in Russia that outlaws domestic violence, not at all.”
20. Wide shot, end of press briefing
21. Various shots, Mariana Katzarova and Vladimir Kara-Murza
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Vladimir Kara-Murza, political activist, journalist and former political prisoner:
“Just three months ago, I thought I was going to die in that Siberian prison. I never thought I was getting out. So, this is a miracle the prison exchange on the first of August. It was a miracle, that's the only way to describe it, but it was, in so many ways, a human made miracle that was made possible by relentless, sustained advocacy by so many people in the democratic world.”
23. Wide shot, Mariana Katzarova and Vladimir Kara-Murza
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Vladimir Kara-Murza, political activist, journalist and former political prisoner:
“The situation with political prisoners in Russia today's is no longer a crisis. It's a catastrophe. We have more political prisoners in Russia alone now, than there were in the whole of the Soviet Union. So that's 15 countries put together towards this later period in the middle of the 1980s”
25. Wide shot, Mariana Katzarova and Vladimir Kara-Murza
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Vladimir Kara-Murza, political activist, journalist and former political prisoner:
“In Putin's Russia, people are getting longer prison sentences for peacefully expressing their opinions than other people get for rape or murder or drug trafficking. This is the reality of Vladimir Putin's Russia today.”
27. Wide shot, Mariana Katzarova and Vladimir Kara-Murza
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Vladimir Kara-Murza, political activist, journalist and former political prisoner:
“I believe it's vitally important that now, for the first time ever, there is a specific mandate holder within the United Nations system tasked with documenting human rights violations in the Russian Federation. This is the first time ever that such a mandate holder has been appointed with responsibility for a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and that alone speaks volumes about the horrendous state of Vladimir Putin's Russia.”
29. Wide shot, Mariana Katzarova and Vladimir Kara-Murza
Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation said, “the aggressive war, the full-scale invasion against Ukraine” has exacerbated “the repression against civil society, against any antiwar expression inside the Russian Federation.”
Special Rapporteur spoke to reporters Tuesday (29 Oct) in New York, describing instances of Russian citizens, soldiers, and critics who resist the war facing severe punishment, ranging from beatings to torture.
Katzarova said, “Russian soldiers who decide, or officers who decide, already in Ukraine, that they don't want to follow criminal orders, they do not want to participate in the war, they have been subjected to despicable torture in so called “zindans” pits in the ground, or they have been suspended from trees without water, without food while they've been severely beaten. Some has been shot in the back while trying to escape the war zone.”
The clampdown has also extended to Russian journalists covering the conflict, with Katzarova detailing how authorities have detained more than 30 reporters. She said, “there are rules of war, but when the authorities of any country, and here we're talking about the Russian government, starts hunting down journalists on assignment, this shows a desperation by the authorities to really cover up, to silence the truth about the aggressive war in its third year against Ukraine.”
Katzarova estimated that over 1,300 people are currently detained as political prisoners, though some NGOs place the number above 1,700. Among these cases, she pointed to a young poet, arrested after reading an anti-war poem publicly in Moscow, who was reportedly gang-raped by police officers in detention. Despite the poet’s request for an investigation, Katzarova said, “the judge turned a blind eye.”
Other dissenters, including prominent activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, have received lengthy prison terms for speaking out. Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years for “publishing three articles and delivering two speeches against the war.” His recent release as part of a prisoner exchange is an exception in Russia, Katzarova emphasized.
Beyond political repression, Katzarova highlighted the troubling status of marginalized groups in Russia, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, which was labeled “extremist” by Russia’s Supreme Court last year, criminalizing expressions of LGBTQ+ identity and symbols. She said, “if you allow yourself to wear the rainbow flag, you are promoting the symbols of extremist organization.”
Katzarova also condemned Russia’s tolerance of other severe human rights abuses, including the prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) in regions like Dagestan, a practice that remains legal in the country. "Russia is a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture, which mandates torture be criminalized under national law," she stated, noting that domestic violence and torture remain unaddressed by Russian legislation. "There is no law in Russia outlawing domestic violence, nor any distinct criminal offense of torture in Russian legislation,” said the Special Rapporteur.
Following her UN briefing, Katzarova joined a meeting with public and grassroots organizations, hosted by the German Mission, where Vladimir Kara-Murza, now free, also addressed attendees. Speaking later with UN News, Kara-Murza said, “I believe it's vitally important that now, for the first time ever, there is a specific mandate holder within the United Nations system tasked with documenting human rights violations in the Russian Federation. This is the first time ever that such a mandate holder has been appointed with responsibility for a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and that alone speaks volumes about the horrendous state of Vladimir Putin's Russia.”
Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
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