Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 29 – The wives, mothers
and fathers and other close relatives of young men convicted in Penza earlier
this month have issued a statement decrying the propensity of Russian courts to
hand out ever longer sentences even when there is no evidence of any wrongdoing
(mbk-news.appspot.com/suzhet/byt-drugim-ne-prestuple/).
Their words deserve to be heard, and
an informal translation of their declaration is below:
‘To
Be Different is Not a Crime’
An
Appeal by Relatives of Muslim Political Prisoners
On February 10, a sentence was
handed down on ‘the Network,’ which has been identified in Russia as terrorist. We, Muslim mothers and wives, viewed this
with pain in our hearts. Young men were tortured, forced to confess and
condemned to long sentences, up to 18 years in a strict regime colony.
We would like to remind Russian and
international society that Muslims have been persecuted for membership in the banned
Hizb ut-Tahrir organization already for more than ten years.
The inflation in the length of terms
has been so rapid that today practically everyone who is convicted under the ‘terrorist’
article 205.5 receives from 10 to 24 years in a strict regime colony even
though none of them has committed or prepared a terrorist act. At present in
Russia, more than 200 people are under arrest in cases involving Hizb
ut-Tahrir.
This organization was declared to be
terrorist in our country by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
on February 14, 2003. In its decision, the court did not offer any evidence
about the terrorist activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir that correspond to the definition
of terrorism given in the Russian Criminal Code and in the Federal Law on countering
terrorism of March 6, 2006, which makes it obvious that declaring this
organization terrorist is without foundation.
No less strange is the fact that in
many democratic countries, it legally operates without any potential danger for
society, with the exception of certain states where its public activity is
prohibited. The Memorial Human Rights Center verifies the lists of those
arrested and recognizes those convicted in cases connected with the banned Hizb
ut-Tahrir as political prisoners.
In the eyes of ordinary people from teachers
to politicians, our children are terrorists. Russian media despite a high level
of censorship present them as such. But even they cannot present even a single example
where and when our children committed a crime of violence or of terrorist
character. And what harm have society and the state suffered as a result of their
activity?
They have not committed any act which
violates the law by practicing their religion and discussing among themselves religious
and political issues. The right of a citizen to observe any religion or not to observe
it, collectively or individually, is given by the legislation of our country.
Already for many years, our children
have been serving their censuses in corrective labor colonies even though there
is no basis for this. Young people at the height of their powers are deprived
of freedom, leaving numerous children orphans even though their fathers are alive.
The lives of their fathers, and their wives and also grief-stricken relatives
are ruined. And where is the guarantee that our children will be in prison under
horrific conditions and come out of it alive? They are subject to constant
pressure – moral, psychological and physical by jailors at the direction of the
FSB.
We live together in a multi-national and
poly-confessional country where to be different is not a crime. Let us now by
displaying solidarity support Muslim political prisoners and demand their
liberation from jails and the end of unjust arrests for religious convictions.
We are deeply convinced that such bestial and baseless sentences lead only to
the further radicalization of young people who, disappointed in the organs of the
judicial authorities and the state will seek alternative means for the defense
of people from injustice.
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