ST. PETERSBURG HR OMBUDSMAN - NOT YOUR EVERYDAY OMBUDSMAN

UNCLAS ST PETERSBURG 000022


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: RS PHUM PGOV
SUBJECT: ST. PETERSBURG HR OMBUDSMAN - NOT YOUR EVERYDAY OMBUDSMAN

REF: ST. PETERSBURG 69 , ST. PETERSBURG 189


1. (SBU) Summary. In a February 10 meeting with the Consul
General, the St. Petersburg Human Rights Ombudsman Igor
Mikhaylov expounded on his interpretation of human rights and
political views. The discussion ranged over his view of the
raid on Memorial's headquarters, migrant workers, the right of
assembly, and the role individual rights should play versus the
good of society. Theoretically, the St. Petersburg Human Rights
Ombudsman should play an important role in the protection of
human rights. In practice, however, Mikhaylov's views, goals,
and priorities are not what one would expect from a Human Rights
Ombudsman. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Mikhaylov was talkative, self-congratulatory, and
evidently proud of his achievements, enumerating his having
learned, without any formal study, several foreign languages as
well as his working with juvenile delinquents to teach them
proper gun handling and shooting techniques.


3. (SBU) Igor Mikhaylov was elected the St. Petersburg Human
Rights Ombudsman in July 2007 by the St. Petersburg Legislative
Assembly. Unlike Federal Ombudsmen, the St. Petersburg
Ombudsman has no mandate to request information on court trials
on his own, but rather must typically only respond to complaints
received from individuals or organizations. His office receives
about 30 written complaints per week, of which half are usually
dismissed as irrelevant. About 60 percent of the complaints are
regarding abuses by the court system and police. Most of the
remaining 40 percent are regarding housing problems. The St.
Petersburg Ombudsman has 25 staff members in his office.

=============================
The Human Rights Ombudsman vs. The Human Rights NGO Community
=============================


4. (SBU) The St. Petersburg human rights community was
strongly opposed to Mikhaylov's candidacy for the Ombudsman
post, since during his terms as a Legislative Assembly Deputy he
had been well known for his very strong support of governmental
policies and his general disdain for accusations of violations
of human rights. Human Rights activists have continued to
ignore Mikhaylov following his election, stating that
cooperation with him is unproductive. This unofficial policy
has been most recently reconfirmed by the NGO Memorial's
decision to not officially complain to him about their ongoing
difficulties with the government since the raid on their St.
Petersburg headquarters in December 2008.

=============================
Memorial: A Troublemaking Organization Which Happened to Win
its Court Case
=============================


5. (SBU) The Consul General thanked Ombudsman for his response
to our letter expressing our concern over the raid on Memorial.
Mikhaylov stated he had not yet received an official response
from the St. Petersburg Ministry of Internal Affairs to his
inquiry, but that he would forward it to the Consulate as soon
as he gets it. Unofficially, he believes, however, that
although the search was done with procedural violations, it was
a justified action because the ongoing Andreyev/Novy Petersburg
case investigation at the time was at risk of losing important
material evidence. He said it was important to conduct the
search as quickly as possible because Andreyev's case was one of
national security, and that the investigation had to be done in
order to prevent a catastrophe similar to that of September 11
in the United States. (Note: This line is the same as was
given by the Russian government to the European Court of Justice
in response to Memorial's complaint). Mikhaylov also stated the
investigators had found what they were looking for. He accepted
that the court ruling which required all materials be returned
to Memorial had to be obeyed, despite the ultimate legitimacy of
the government's search and seizure. The Ombudsman then assured
us that Memorial has already received everything back. We found
this to be a confusing statement since our other sources have
confirmed to us Memorial has not received anything back thus
far. Mikhaylov then opined that although the Prosecutor's
Office is now appealing the case, it is unlikely to succeed
because the court did rule that the investigators had violated
the law when conducting the search. Mikhaylov's opinion was
that the Prosecutor's Office appealed the case only as a
face-saving measure.


6. (SBU) Mikhaylov was in general critical of Memorial,
stating that in his view it is wrong for an organization to be
constantly dwelling on the past and making people feel guilty
for things that happened in the past. He stated that throughout
Russian history there have been repressions, and that thus the
communist repressions, including those committed under Stalin,
needed to be understood within that context, and not
specifically singled out for criticism.

=============================
Immigrants Can Be Emigrants, Too
=============================


7. (SBU) Official statistics have it that there are around
200,000 immigrants living in St. Petersburg - the actual number
is higher. The Ombudsman expressed his concern about growing
unemployment among migrants, which he stated will lead to more
of them turning to crime. He noted that over one quarter of all
sexual crimes in Russia are committed by non-Russian citizens.
He elaborated on the fact that Central Asian residents of the
former Soviet republics had always been used in the Soviet Union
as unskilled labor force, since they have no education nor
aptitude for any other type of work, and that this situation has
continued on into modern-day Russia,. In anticipation of
tensions caused by rising immigrant unemployment, the Ombudsman
is working with the Red Cross on creating a legal support center
wherein even non-Russian speakers will be able to receive free
consultation services. At the same time, Mikhaylov is
cooperating with Muslim community leaders in order to form a
center for migrant repatriation to their homelands on a
voluntary basis.

=============================
People Have a the Right of Assembly, Where the Government Says
They Do
=============================


8. (SBU) To our query regarding his views on the people's
right to publically express their views, Mikhaylov responded
with a hypothetical example. He stated that demonstrations by a
handful of unhappy people which blocked central city streets was
unfair to, and could even be considered a violation of the
rights of, other people who drive around the city doing their
errands. So, the demonstrations should be held in locations
where their disruption of everyday life would be minimized. The
government, of course, is best placed to make decisions as to
what would or would not be disruptive to the majority of the
citizenry, and thus had the responsibility to control
demonstrations run amok. However, Mikhaylov did underscore that
the right to protest needed to be protected, and that the best
ultimate solution would be to designate five or so special sites
in relatively central locations, wherein protests could proceed
unhindered. Unfortunately, he said, St. Petersburg cannot pass
such a law designating appropriate spots, as that would violate
federal legislation.

=============================
Individual Human Rights Violations: OK if in Society's Interest
=============================


9. (SBU) Ombudsman Mikhaylov shared his views on the
relationship between law enforcement and youth culture and
minority groups by describing two recent incidents. The first
was the use of government pressure in November 2008 which
prevented a gay and lesbian film festival, and the second was a
February 7 raid on a youth music club. In both cases, the
Ombudsman explained, government and law enforcement had imposed
limitations and reduced the freedom of a small number of
individuals in order to defend the interests and safety of
society at large. In the first case, he stated gay activists
did not need to have an entire week of film shows since all the
films were publicly available anyway. So, he said, having this
festival was just an attempt by homosexuals to aggressively
advertise their sexual viewpoint which is unacceptable to the
general public. In the second case, the law enforcement raid on
the night club was justified because there was reason to suspect
that many of the fans of the main music group were members of
neo-Nazi organizations.


10. (SBU) Comment. Our meeting with Mikhaylov was reminiscent
of the Soviet era, wherein responses to questions consisted of
formulaic and almost canned answers. We are sympathetic to the
views of the local Human Rights community that it is difficult
to deal with a man who believes one of the major ongoing human
rights violations in the city is the inability of the people to
have access to all the accumulated artworks of the Hermitage and
who does not agree with Memorial's goal of fully exposing the
repressions of the communist era. We will continue to engage
him, but do not expect any serious dialogue with him on real
human rights issues. We hope to be proven wrong.


GWALTNEY