Watchdog

Amnesty International is urging Russian authorities to end impunity for those who commit acts of violence against human rights activists and members of the media. The calls comes on the eve of the second anniversary of the murder in Moscow of crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

“Human rights activists and journalists are the ones who bring to the public’s attention the failure of governments to live up to their promises of justice and rights protection made in national law and their obligations under international human rights treaties,” Amnesty said in a statement.

“However, it is the human rights activists and journalists in Russia who too often themselves face harassment by the authorities and even become victims of human rights abuses themselves.”

Amnesty highlights four unsolved cases from this year alone:

-- The disputed killing while in police custody in Ingushetia of Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of the independent website ingushetiya.ru, on August 31.

-- Vandalism on August 14 against the flat where human rights activist Stanislav Dmitrievsky lives. Unknown assailants threw a brick through a window. No one was injured. The entrance of his apartment building was also covered with abusive language and threats.

-- An arson attack on August 1 on the flat of human rights defender Dmitri Kraiukhin in the town of Orel in the Central Russian Federal District. Kraiukhin was not at home at the time of the fire.

-- The abduction on July 25 of human rights activist Zurab Tsechoyev by armed men, thought to be federal law enforcement officials, from his home in Ingushetia. He was found hours later by the side of the road, severely beaten.

Politkovskaya herself was gunned down in her Moscow apartment building on October 7, 2006.

Amnesty notes her murderer is still at large and that no independent investigation has been conducted into those who may have ordered her killing.

The European Court of Human Rights has received nearly 2,000 applications from South Ossetians complaining of illegal treatment at the hands of Georgia, the president of the court, Jean-Paul Costa, has said.

The complaints have been filed over the past two months, since Russia and Georgia went to war over the breakaway Georgian region on August 7.

They follow applications made by Georgia to the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights against Russia, accusing its neighbor of war crimes, including ethnic cleansing.

Russia has also made complaints to international courts against Georgia, and Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said last month Russia would help any citizens of South Ossetia wanting to make complaints against Georgia.

"There will be a massive increase in the workload of the court," Costa told Reuters. "We cannot just throw away these cases."

Asked if he thought Russia was part of a coordinated effort to overwhelm the court with applications, he said: "Yes, it's possible. It's difficult to say that it's obvious or it's likely. But it's possible."

The European Court of Human Rights also has two outstanding claims by Georgia against Russia, the first dating from 2007 and the second from the recent war. The 2007 case relates to allegations of forced expulsions of Georgians from Russia and is not expected to be completed until early next year. The other case, dealing with events in August, is only at the preliminary stage, Costa said.