IAPL: Russia: Office of Crew against Torture in Krasnodar raided
peopleslawyers
May 12
11/05/23
On 4 May 2023, representatives of the General Administration for Combating Extremism (Center ‘E’) in the city of Krasnodar raided the office of Crew against Torture in Krasnodar, in southern Russia. After the raid, law enforcement brought human rights defender and lawyer, Ilya Platonov, who was present at the office during the raid, in for questioning as a witness; he was let go later the same day. This is the third raid on Crew against Torture’s regional offices since 14 April 2023.
Crew against Torture is an informal union of Russian lawyers who, in their individual capacity, continue the work they used to do as a Russian-based human rights organisation “Committee Against Torture” (CAT). CAT was shut down on 10 June 2022 after it was listed as a foreign agent. CAT, established in 2000, used to be a prominent human rights organisation in Russia which investigated allegations of torture by state agents and represented victims of torture’s interests in the investigative bodies and the court, including the European Court of Human Rights. Human rights defenders who used to work with CAT were regularly subjected to defamation campaigns, physical attacks, detentions, and judicial persecution because of their peaceful human rights work.
On 4 May 2023, the representatives of Center ‘E’ raided the office of the Crew against Torture in Krasnodar, and brought human rights defender and lawyer, Ilya Platonov, in for questioning, releasing him later the same day. The raids were ordered by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of North Ossetia. The lawyers who are part of Crew against Torture have been systemically targeted, not only with raids on their offices, but also their homes, due to a torture case that they are currently litigating in the Republic of North Ossetia.
Similar raids on other offices of the Crew against Torture have been ordered by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of North Ossetia.
