- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
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27 September 2010
Follow-up on UA 52/10 (10 March 2010) - Fear for safety
MEXICO Juan Manuel Martinez (m)
Juan Manuel Martinez, a political activist from Oaxaca state, Mexico, had his house broken into on 24 September. He has been repeatedly harassed and threatened. His life and that of his family may be in danger.
On the afternoon of 24 September, Juan Manuel Martinez and his wife returned to their home in the Municipality of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, to find that it had been broken into and ransacked. Official documents related to complaints he had filed with the local public prosecutors office against previous acts of harassment and intimidation had been rifled through, but no valuables were stolen.
Juan Manuel Martinez was detained in 2008 for the murder of US journalist Brad Will, but was released in February 2010 after a federal court ruled that the charges against him were baseless. Amnesty International repeatedly raised concerns that his prosecution was unfounded and welcomed his release.
According to Juan Manuel Martinez, he and his family have been threatened and intimidated on several occasions since his release. He and his family have been forced to move home three times because of a pattern of harassment. Juan Manuel Martinez's wife has received threatening phone calls. Once, she was reportedly told: "stop causing problems or we will give you a serious beating" ("deje de chingar la madre o te vamos a partir la madre"). The family has also noticed that armed men have been keeping watch of their home and of the school their children attend.
A criminal complaint for has been filed with the Federal Attorney General's Office (ProcuradurÃa General de la Republica) for the repeated acts of harassment against Juan Manuel MartÃnez and his family.
Juan Manuel Martinez's lawyer, Alba Cruz, has previously also been threatened. She left Oaxaca City in March 2010. She went to Mexico City and then traveled abroad in search of respite. She recently returned to Oaxaca City to continue her human rights work.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Calling on the authorities to provide effective protection for Juan Manuel Martinez and his relatives, in consultation with them and in accordance with their wishes;
- Calling on them to order a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the threats and attacks Juan Manuel Martinez and his family have suffered;
- Calling for the authorities to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the killing of Brad Will.
APPEALS TO:
Attorney General of the Republic
Arturo Chavez Chavez
Procuraduria General de la Republica
Av. Paseo de la Reforma no 211-213,
Col. Cuauhtemoc, Del. Cuauhtemoc
Mexico D.F., C.P. 06500, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5346 0908
Email: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Attorney General/Senor Procurador General
Governor of Oaxaca
Lic. Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca
Carretera Oaxaca-Puerto Angel, Km. 9.5, Santa Maria Coyotepec,
Oaxaca C.P. 71254, Oaxaca, MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 951 502 0530
E-mail: gobernador@oaxaca.gob.mx
Salutation: Dear Governor/Senor Gobernador
COPIES TO:
Human Rights Organization
Comite 25 de Noviembre
E-mail: comite25noviembre@yahoo.com.mx
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan Casamitjana
Embassy of Mexico
1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20006
Fax: 1 202 728 1698
E-mail: mexembusa@sre.gob.mx
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 8 November 2010.
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
----------------------------------
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa13910.pdf
Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on June 23, 2010. Thanks!
28 September 2010
Follow-up on UA 139/10 (23 June 2010) - Legal Concern
RUSSIA
Yurii Samodurov (m)
Andrei Yerofeev (m)
On 12 July, Yurii Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeev were found guilty of ‘inciting hatred or enmity’ and ‘denigration of human dignity’ and ordered to pay a fine. On 4 October, the Moscow City Court will hear their appeal against this judgment. Amnesty International believes that they are being prosecuted for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Yurii Samodurov, former director of the Sakharov Museum, and Andrei Yerofeev, former head of the department for contemporary art at the State Tretiakov Gallery, were charged under Article 282(2) of the Russian Criminal Code and put on trial in Taganskii District Court for organizing a contemporary art exhibition in Moscow in 2007.
The exhibition Forbidden Art 2006 gathered together a number of works of art that had been refused inclusion at various exhibitions in 2006. It contained works by some of Russia’s most well-known contemporary artists, such as Ilya Kabakov, Alexander Kosolapov, the group Blue Noses, Aleksandr Savko and Mikhail Roginskii. The art presented included a photomontage of a photograph of a frame of an icon and a photo of caviar inside the icon. Other examples incorporated reproductions of religious paintings with the figure of Mickey Mouse inserted.
The prosecution claimed that Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeev had arranged the exhibition in such a way that it denigrates Christianity, and especially the Russian Orthodox faith, and incites hatred against Orthodox and other Christians. Trial observers stressed that out of 134 prosecution witness statements only three witnesses had admitted to having seen the works. One of them admitted, in his own words, he had only “glanced” at the exhibition. None of the witnesses could name an individual who had been incited to hatred or enmity against the Orthodox faith after visiting the exhibition. Despite this, the witnesses claimed that the exhibition did incite hatred. The prosecutor concluded that if at least two people felt their religious feelings had been insulted by the exhibition this was enough to invoke Article 282 and asked the Court to sentence the exhibition organizers to three years imprisonment.
Amnesty International believes that the exhibition Forbidden Art 2006 does not incite hatred. The organizers of the exhibition were peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and they should not have been prosecuted.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Yurii Samodurov, together with curator Ludmila Vasilevskaia, had previously received a conditional sentence after conviction for inciting hatred following their organization of an exhibition entitled Caution! Religion! in 2003, also at the Sakharov Museum in Moscow. Amnesty International considered that this earlier exhibition did not incite hatred either, and that Yurii Samodurov and Ludmila Vasilevskaia were sentenced solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
The Andrei Sakharov Museum opened in May 1996 to commemorate victims of political repressions in the USSR, but also functions as an NGO working to promote human rights and democratic values in Russia. It is a regular venue for conferences and other public events organized by human rights NGOs in Russia.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Expressing concern that Yuri Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeev were prosecuted solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression;
- Urging the authorities to stop the criminal prosecution of Andrei Yerofeev and Yuri Samodurov and to close the case against them.
APPEALS TO:
Prosecutor General
Yurii Yakovlevich Chaika
Prosecutor General’s Office of the RF
Ul. B.Dmitrovka, d.15a
125993 Moscow GSP-3
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 987 58 41
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
President of the Russian Federation
President Dmitry Anatolievich Medvedev
ul. Ilyinka, 23
103132 Moscow
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 9102134
Salutation: Dear President
COPIES TO:
Ombudsperson of the Russian Federation
Ombudsman of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Petrovich Lukin
Ul.Miasnitskaia, 47
107084, Moscow
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 495 607 74-70
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW
Washington DC 20007
Phone: 202 298 5700
Fax: 1 202 298 5735
Email: russianembassy@mindspring.com
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 9 November 2010.
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Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
$0.44 - Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Canada:
$0.75 - Postcards
$0.75 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To Mexico:
$0.79 - Postcards
$0.79 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
To all other destination countries:
$0.98 - Postcards
$0.98 - Airmail Letters and Cards (up to 1 oz.)
Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566
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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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