Memorial: Regarding the attack on Vadim Karastelev

On 27 February 2010 in a suburb of Novorossiysk, the Head of the Novorossiysk Human Rights Committee Vadim Karastelev was brutally beaten by unidentified assailants.

Karastelev has recently being involved in the case of Alexei Dymovsky – the first Russian police officer to have come out in criticism of the management and system within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Dymosky was sacked and then remanded in custody. Karastelev was arrested and on a trumped-up charge sentenced to a week’s administrative arrest. A day after his release, Vadim was beaten up.

We do not know exactly who organized the attack on Vadim Karastelev. However we can confidently assume that this was no coincidence but the latest episode of pressure on independent civic activists or settling scores with them. Beatings, fabricated criminal cases, even murders of human rights defenders, journalists, civic figures and simply those who criticize the authorities have become the system in our country. To a large degree these crimes remain unsolved.

Despite this we continue to insist that all such crimes are investigated and those guilty of them punished.

We demand that the beating of Vadim Karastelev be investigated without delay and those responsible brought to answer.

We wish Vadim Karastelev, our colleague in human rights protection over many years, a swift recovery, fortitude and courage.

The Board of Memorial