PUBLIC AI Index: EUR 46/006/2007

08 February 2007

Further Information on UA 154/06 (EUR 46/027/2006, 31 May 2006), and follow-up (EUR 46/067/2006) Health concern/ denial of medical treatment

RUSSIAN FEDERATION Mikhail Trepashkin (m) lawyer

Amnesty International continues to believe that lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin is receiving inadequate medical treatment at IK 13, an open prison colony located in the Sverdlovsk Region. The organization has received a copy of a doctor's report, stating that Mikhail Trepashkin's health isverypoor, which under Russian legislation should allow himto be released on medical grounds. However, it is feared that he will instead be transferred to a stricter prison colony, where access to his lawyers and to other visitors would be restricted.

Mikhail Trepashkin recently suffered a bout of flu. When one of his lawyers visited him in late January 2007, she reported that he had a high temperature. His lawyers have repeatedly asked for him to be transferred to a hospital for a period of about 10 days for a full medical check-up.

On 12 February a court in Nizhni Tagil in Sverdlovsk Region will hear another case against Mikhail Trepashkin, initiated by the authorities at the IK 13 prison, who accuse him of violating prison rules. The hearing could result in him being transferred to a prison colony with a stricter regime. His lawyers and human rights activists in Russiafear that such a move would be an attempt to restrict access to him and to limit his opportunities to communicate with lawyers and human rights activists.

Amnesty International has seen a doctor's report written in May 2006, while Mikhail Trepashkin was in hospital for a short period. According to the report, the lawyer suffers from a form of bronchial asthma, which under the criminal administration code and Ministry of Health guidelines, is severe enough to mean that he should be released from prison. Until recently the administration of the IK 13 prison colony had denied his lawyers permission to see the report, and had reiterated that Mikhail Trepashkin is receiving adequate medical treatment in detention.

According to Genrik Reznik, a lawyer and head of the Moscow Bar Association, it is usual to initiate procedures for releasing a prisoner found to be suffering from serious illnesses such as the form of bronchial asthma from which Mikhail Trepashkin suffers. Genrik Reznik, who met with representatives of the Federal Service for the Execution of Punishment to discuss MikhailTrepashkin's case, told a press conference held by Russian human rights activists in support of Mikhail Trepashkin that there were no legal grounds on which to deny Mikhail Trepashkin such procedures for release from prison. Genrik Reznik had therefore concluded that the authorities' refusal to free him is an act of reprisal for Mikhail Trepashkin's outspoken criticism of the authorities in the Russian Federation.

A former KGB and Federal Security Services (FSB) officer, Mikhail Trepashkin had been assisting the independent commission investigating a series of explosions that took place in apartment buildings in Moscow and other cities in 1999. The authorities had blamed the explosions on Chechen separatists, but there are allegations that the FSB had been complicit in the explosions, which the Russian government had used as a pretext for military action in Chechnya. He was arrested in October 2003, one week before he had been due to appear in court to represent the family of one of the people killed in the 1999 explosions. He was eventually convicted of "divulging state secrets" and "illegal possession of ammunition" by a Russian military court in May 2005, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Amnesty International is concerned that he may have been prosecuted in order to prevent him continuing his investigations, and his work as a lawyer, around the bombings.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Russian, English or your own language:

- expressing concern at a medical report suggesting that Mikhail Trepashkin suffers from a serious form of bronchial asthma, which should allow for him to be released from prison;

- expressing grave concern that despite this report, he faces a possible transfer to a place of detention with a stricter regime;

- urging the prison authorities to transfer Mikhail Trepashkin to a hospital immediately in order for him to undergo an exhaustive health check on which then to base his medical treatment;

- reiterating Amnesty International's concerns that Mikhail Trepashkin may have been convicted following an unfair trial;

- reiterating Amnesty International's call to the authorities that Mikhail Trepashkin should be released from detention pending a full review of the case.

APPEALS TO:

Yury Ivanovich KALININ

Director

Federal Service for the Execution of Punishments

Ul. Zhitnaia 14

119991 g. Moskva

GSP - 1

Russian Federation

Fax: +7 495 982 1930

Salutation: Dear Director

Yuri CHAIKA

Procurator General of the Russian Federation

103793 Moskva, Ul. Bolshaya Dimitrovka 15a, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Fax: + 7 495 692 1725 (if someone answers say "fax please")

Salutation: Dear Procurator General

COPIES TO:

Procuracy of Sverdlovsk region

Ul. Moskovskaia 21

GSP 1036

620219 g. Yekaterinburg

Russian Federation

and to diplomatic representatives of the Russian Federation accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 22 March 2007.

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