Lawyers from the International Department of the Committee are asking the European Court to expedite the communication of complaint of Alexander Novoselov from Nizhny Novgorod about a violation of rights by the Russian Federation.

      The experts of the Committee believe that it is necessary to expedite the procedure of communication (by which the Court advises the Russian Federation of the claims lodged against it). This is urged by a criminal prosecution which is reinstituted against Mr. Novoselov. In the nearest future A.Novoselov may be apprehended. The lawyers of the Committee have some reasons to believe that in such a way they might put a constraint on Mr. Novoselov.

    At the end of December 2006, the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Prosecutor’s Office charged A.Novoselov with a wittingly false communication about an act of terrorism (art. 207 of the RF Criminal Code). The suspect himself disallows the allegations.

     You might remember, that the complaint “Novoselov v. Russia” against officers of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Central Police Department (GUVD) was registered by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on 3 April 2006.  Mr. Novoselov had addressed the Committee with a complaint that he had been allegedly coerced by law-enforcement officials in order to extract a confession to taking part in the organization of the attempted homicide of Oleg Sorokin, a businessman from Nizhny Novgorod. Lawyers of the Committee, after conducting a public investigation into Novoselov’s allegations, came to a conclusion that Novoselov was in fact cruelly treated. Thus, we believe, that the Russian Federation violated articles 3 and 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

   Experts from the International Department of the Committee hopefully believe that the European Court of Human Rights will agree with our arguments and expedite the communication of the complaint.