Palais des Nations in Geneva. UN Special Rapporteurs: Russia Should Drop Charges Against Human Rights Defender Alexei Sokolov Human Rights
UN special rapporteurs have welcomed the release of Yekaterinburg human rights activist Alexei Sokolov, who was released from jail on January 4 on bail pending trial.
Sokolov was arrested on July 5, 2024, on charges of “repeatedly publicly displaying the symbols of an extremist organization” for posting the logo of Facebook, which Russian authorities have deemed “extremist,” online. The arrest followed a court ruling banning Meta, Facebook’s parent company, over its “extremist activities” and “fake news” about the Russian army in Ukraine.
“While we welcome the release of Alexei Sokolov from detention,” the special rapporteurs said in a statement, “we reiterate that he should never have been imprisoned in the first place. The charges against Sokolov that violate his right to freedom of opinion and expression must be dropped immediately and he must be released unconditionally from any form of detention.”
In 2005, Alexei Sokolov founded the public organization Legal Basis, which works to combat human rights violations in places of detention in the Russian Federation. He has represented victims in complaints pending before the UN Committee Against Torture.
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“Despite constant harassment and intimidation, he continues to defend the rights of prisoners and expose torture and ill-treatment in penal institutions,” the special rapporteurs said. “We call on the Russian authorities to ensure a prompt and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of which Aleksei Sokolov himself was a victim.”
The statement said that during a search of Sokolov’s apartment in Yekaterinburg, law enforcement officers subjected him to severe beatings and threats, and also seized confidential documents of torture victims authorizing Sokolov to represent their interests in UN treaty bodies, raising concerns about possible reprisals.
“We are deeply concerned by attempts to target Sokolov for his human rights work with UN treaty bodies, which highlight the risks he faces because of his international human rights work,” the special rapporteurs noted. – We urge the authorities to cease all forms of intimidation and reprisals against individuals and civil society organisations seeking to cooperate with the UN and its human rights mechanisms, and to ensure that such persecution does not occur in the future.”
The Special Rapporteurs said the arbitrary detention of Alexei Sokolov on charges of “extremist activity”, which could carry a maximum sentence of four years in prison, was yet another example of the grave suppression of freedom of opinion and expression through the targeting of civil society, human rights defenders, independent media and opponents of the war since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Special Rapporteurs said they had appealed to the Russian authorities against Sokolov’s arbitrary arrest and called for his immediate and unconditional release. The response to that questioning has yet to be received, they added.
Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. They are not UN staff and are independent of any government or organization. They serve in their personal capacity and do not receive a salary for their work.