PIONTKOVSKIY EXTREMISM CASE ADJOURNED PENDING NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 004750 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2017 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PINR SOCI RS SUBJECT: PIONTKOVSKIY EXTREMISM CASE ADJOURNED PENDING NEW TEXT ANALYSIS REF: A. MOSCOW 4597 ¶B. MOSCOW 4596 Classified By: Pol M/C Alice G. Wells. Reasons: 1.4 (b,d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) The trial of writer and Yabloko member Andrey Piontkovskiy on charges of extremism ended inconclusively at Moscow's Basmanniy District Court September 25, when the prosecutor was unable to prove that Piontkovskiy's book, "Unloved Country," contained passages that violated the law on extremism. Piontkovskiy told us September 26 that the judge in the case had requested that the MOJ's Federal Center of Forensic Specialists examine his book for evidence that it violated the law on extremism and postponed his case until that examination is completed. The judge's decision came after the prosecutor was unable to cite a single offending passage in the book, and Piontkovskiy's lawyer, well-known human rights advocate Yuriy Shmidt, had moved that the case be dismissed. The Piontkovskiy case is seen here as the first high-profile test of the law on extremism, and the challenge it might pose to freedom of expression has caused an unlikely alliance of Communist Party Duma deputies, nationalists, and Kremlin insiders to indicate their willingness to rally to Piontkovskiy's defense. The Ambassador has weighed in on Piontkovskiy's behalf in conversations with Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin and MFA DFM Yakovenko (reftels). End summary. Origins of Case -------------- ¶2. (C) The case against scholar and publicist Andrey Piontkovskiy began April 28 when the Krasnodar Administrative District Prosecutors office formally warned the Krasnodar branch of Yabloko not to distribute Piontkovskiy's book. Yabloko successfully appealed the Prosecutor's decision, but in July the prosecutors in the Moscow districts where Yabloko's central offices are located and Piontkovskiy lives began investigations of their own, which led to the September 25 trial. ¶3. (C) The prosecutor's case was based on examinations of the text conducted by the Krasnodar Internal Affairs Directorate and a professor at the Moscow State District University. Both examiners concluded that the book contained speech that incited hatred of Americans (in the form of comments about President Bush),Russians (President Putin),and Jews (Boris Berezovskiy). Neither study cited offending passages in Piontkovskiy's book, which forced the judge on September 25 to adjourn the case for lack of evidence, and for Piontkovskiy lawyer Yuriy Shmidt to move that the case be dismissed. Yabloko Angle -------------- ¶4. (C) Piontkovskiy told us that with the court's decision to postpone the trial until an additional textual analysis is completed, Yabloko would be able to participate in the December Duma elections. (The book was published by Yabloko, and the party could have been suspended had it been found guilty of distributing extremist literature.) Piontkovskiy worried, however, that the case against him and the party could be revived after the elections, when a new textual analysis is scheduled to be completed by Ministry of Justice Federal Center of Forensics specialists. Shmidt had proposed that professors at either Moscow State University or St. Petersburg State conduct the analysis. The decision to hand the analysis to the MOJ, Piontkovskiy thought, could only mean another finding that his book had violated the extremism law. Unlikely Allies -------------- ¶5. (C) The charges against Piontkovskiy have been seen here as a test case of the law on extremism, and they have rallied an unlikely group of allies. Testifying on Piontkovskiy's behalf September 25 was Communist Party Duma Deputy Aleksey Kondaurov, who told the judge that a decision to ban distribution of the book would violate his right, under the European Charter on Human Rights, to uncensored access to information. Piontkovskiy told us that he had received calls offering support from at least one other KPRF Duma deputy, as well as nationalist television personality and editor of Profil magazine Mikhail Leontiev, and the Kremlin-cozy Vyacheslav Nikonov. (Duma Deputy Nikolay Ryzhkov, Piontkosvkiy told us, volunteered to testify, then regretted MOSCOW 00004750 002 OF 002 as the trial date neared.) Ambassador Weighs In -------------- ¶6. (C) In conversations September 17, the Ambassador voiced his serious concern over the application of the extremism law, and raised the Piontkovskiy's case in conversations with Ombudsman Lukin and DFM Yakovenko. Lukin believed the case would ultimately be resolved in Piontkovskiy's favor. Yakovenko appeared to be unfamiliar with the matter. Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) Piontkovskiy left Moscow September 27 for the U.S., where he will continue his work at the Hudson Institute. The Basmanniy District Court is well known for its pliability, and the decision of the judge to opt for further expertise from an MOJ institute, instead of dismissing the case for lack of evidence is not an encouraging sign. It is also possible that the case will languish, however, and ultimately be forgotten, or overtaken by other experiments with the extremism law. Russell