Statement of members of Andrei Sakharov Foundation
On March 2, in Moscow’s Taganskaya District Court, the prosecutor asked for sentences of 3 years deprivation of freedom for Yuri Samodurov, the Director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center, two years deprivation of freedom for Ludmila Vasilovskaya, the head of the Museum’s exhibition group, and two years deprivation of freedom (conditionally) for Anna Mikhalchuk, an artist, for their roles in mounting the exhibition “Caution, Religion” in January 2003. The defendants were charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code with inciting religious and national hatred. Moreover, the prosecutor Kira Gudim asked that Samodurov and Vasilovskaya be banned from working in their profession, and that the paintings, held by the court as material evidence, be destroyed. A verdict on this criminal case will be passed on March 28, 2005. The unjust tendentious accusation violates many articles of the Russian Constitution and Article 6 of the Federal Law on freedom of conscience and religious associations. Nothing in the actions of the defendants had been in contradiction with Russian Laws and the Constitution. However, even if the fault had been taken for granted, according to the Russian Federal Law this might have lead to administrative responsibility only. It seems clear to Russian human rights activists that one of the motives for the attacks on the exhibition is anger at the Sakharov Center’s support for liberal causes.
B.M. Bolotovskii, Professor, Doctor of Phys.-Math.Sci. V.Ya. Fainberg, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences L.V. Keldysh, Member of Russian Academy of Sciences L.B. Litinskii, Candidate of Phys.-Math. Sci. Yu.A. Ryzhov, Member of Russian Academy of Sciences A.E. Shabad, Doctor of Phys.-Math. Sci. March 17 2005, Moscow
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