Two members of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation were searched

This has never happened

Two members of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights – Tatyana Margolina and Svetlana Makovetskaya – were searched. For security forces to break into the homes of human rights activists appointed to the Human Rights Council by decree of the head of state, this has never happened before. Never.

Members of the Council do not enjoy any kind of immunity. But they have status. And it implies the trust not of anyone else, but of the president himself. So what happened is nonsense. The search itself was carried out with violations, the personnel (including those with family members) got into the Network, the seized property (including relatives) was not returned. This is similar to the very arbitrariness that is an indicator of a rollback into legal nihilism.

The searches took place on May 19, 2023 in connection with the case of the alleged removal of the documents of the Perm “Memorial” (recognized as a foreign agent). Not so long ago, the chairman of the Center for Historical Memory, who is considered the successor of the liquidated Memorial, Alexander Chernyshov, was detained at the airport – however, for some reason, he was first charged with hooliganism (allegedly swearing and insulting passengers, which sounded wild to those who knew Alexander).

Neither Svetlana Makovetskaya nor Tatyana Margolina have ever been members of the organization. But by the very duty of their human rights activities, they communicated with all NGOs. Makovetskaya, by the way, heads just the profile commission in the HRC. And Margolina herself comes from Perm, for many years she was the commissioner for the protection of human rights in the region. When Chernyshov was detained, Perm human rights activists cut off the phones of Margolina and Makovetskaya: “What is wrong with him? Where is he? For what?” And they, of course, tried to understand it. That’s all. There was no other connection between the two members of the HRC and the criminal case on the alleged attempt to export the archive, and could not be. But let’s say they knew something. Wouldn’t they report it directly to law enforcement? And the search implies that not only did they not report, but also hid something relevant to the case at home. It even sounds like madness. It turns out that the people whom the president believed (and I hope he believes) actually unconditionally hid material evidence for many, many years in a row?

Here it would be useful to tell about both women, who proved their right to be called real human rights activists.

Tatyana Margolina is a teacher by education, she has gone through a unique path from the chairman of the Committee on Education and Science of the city of Perm (she was chosen through a competition) to the Deputy Governor of the Perm Region (she was in charge of education, culture, protection of children’s rights). From 2005 to 2017, she was the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Perm Region, and from September 20, 2007, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Perm Territory. She held the position of commissioner until November 2017. Since the same year, he has been a member of the Board of the European Ombudsman Institute. If we list her merits in the development of civil society, a separate article will not suffice. And there is also scientific and teaching activities: Professor Margolina at Perm State University leads the areas of “conflictology”, “protection of human rights”.

Svetlana Makovetskaya, director of the GRANI Center for Civil Analysis and Independent Research, has devoted her entire life to NGOs. She is one of the authors of strategies for the development of public institutions. Today she is called the main defender of NGOs, and the government relies on her expert opinion. And again – it would be too long to list everything, but even in this case one could miss something.

And now these two women with an impeccable reputation, members of the HRC for many years, were under suspicion. Otherwise, why would searches be necessary?

Footage from this, frankly, unpleasant procedure, which took place at Margolin’s house, was leaked to the Internet. A person close to her got on the video.

In Makovetskaya’s house, all the equipment was confiscated (and how should it work now?), For some reason they took an archive of documents from one of the family members. All this seems to be arbitrary. And about it, the other day, the chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, Valery Zorkin, wrote a wonderful (historical) article. It ends with the following questions: “Who and why is calling even now—allegedly in the name of conservatism—for the country to abandon the legal barrier? Is it possible, on the basis of legal nihilism, to approve “a court that is quick, just, merciful and equal for all”, that is, to approve justice? Is it possible, after the terrible lessons of the past, which turned into two state catastrophes in the 20th century alone, to praise as the best the very disastrous thing that gave rise to these catastrophes? Are there not enough feats and great achievements in our history of both the 20th and previous centuries? So why do we often choose as our guide not these feats and accomplishments, but the spirit of unfreedom and arbitrariness, which destroyed everything great that was created by our noble ancestors?