Maksim Chernigovsky and "The Moscow Illegals / Human Rights in Moscow " accuse Luzhkov of genocide and initiate a court examination.

An Open Letter

Being a consultant on a voluntary basis to the "Moscow Illegals" organization, answering an inquiry from that organization about the legal grounds for instituting proceedings against Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov for the illegal and arbitrary actions of the Moscow authorities with regard to persons belonging to the Caucasian ethnic group, proceeding from the information contained on the Internet site of the "Moscow Illegals", from mass media publications, from officially published documents of the Mayor's Office of the City of Moscow, I believe that the actions of Yuri Luzhkov constitute a corpus delicti and support bringing the accusations of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and complicity in genocide against Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov.

Under Article 2 of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, "genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group".

Under Article 357 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, genocide is actions intended for the total or partial destruction of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing members of the group, causing serious harm to their health, forcible prevention of births, forcible transfer of children, forcible resettlement or in another way creating conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of members of this group.

Thus, the well-known normative acts of legislation issued by Yuri Luzhkov and Valeri Shantsev, the instructions and orders of these persons, as well as of persons subordinated to them, in combination with the actions of the Moscow law-enforcement bodies, directed at (1) deporting persons of the Caucasian ethnic group; (2) deliberately creating conditions of life compelling persons of the Caucasian ethnic group to leave Moscow, by means of illegal and groundless detentions, beatings, inflicting bodily injuries of varying degrees of seriousness, illegal institution of criminal proceedings via fabrication of evidence, contain the distinctive features of genocide as an international criminal offence against humanity. In the media covering similar crimes in Yugoslavia, genocide came to be termed "ethnical cleansing". Many media also call what happens in Moscow ethnical cleansing. However, the substitution of one notion for another does not change the essence of this criminal deed.

In analyzing the nature of the actions of Yuri Luzhkov and other accessaries to the deed, one should take into account the fact that these persons commit GUILTY ACTIONS. In this case we are dealing with a mixed form of guilt. First, these actions are committed of direct malice prepense, i. e. the persons committing the deeds realize the socially dangerous nature of their actions, are aware of their socially dangerous consequences and deliberately wish those consequences to come about. This, first and foremost, pertains to the premeditated creation of conditions compelling the victims to leave the city of Moscow, as well as to the compulsory displacement (deportation) of victims. Second, there is implied malice prepense present in the deeds of Yuri Luzhkov and the other persons involved, i. e. they understand that their actions may entail socially dangerous consequences and consciously allow those to come about (Article 25 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). It is of implied malice prepense that Yuri Luzhkov commits deeds resulting in the infliction of serious bodily injuries on the victims (by officers of the militia), in their deportation to such localities where they may be physically destroyed (murdered, killed) by international terrorists (the victims in question are Chechens residing in Moscow, whose deportation to Chechnya may result in them dying at the hands of bandits) Thus, after the collection and study of evidence confirming the coming about of the socially dangerous consequences of this criminal deed, there are grounds for bringing in a verdict of guilty of genocide against Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov and his accesaries.

The deeds of Yuri Luzhkov are of a socially dangerous nature, because the demographic and cultural environment of Moscow is being destroyed due to his actions. Citizens of Russia of Caucasian extraction make their contribution to the cultural environment of Moscow, take part in economic relations within the city, their labor contributes to the city's wealth. Activities directed at evicting Caucasians from Moscow prepare the ground for xenophobia, for local chauvinism. Encouraging social psychosis and racism in everyday life creates a fertile soil for the expansion of the social basis of extreme Right, Nazi organizations. The attitude towards Caucasians in the Russian capital resembles the anti-Semitic sentiments in Germany on the eve of World War II.

Nevertheless, the Russian legal system does not allow to institute criminal proceedings against Yuri Luzhkov, because he is a member of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and therefore enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution. Until the expiration of his term of office, I cannot submit an official application to the law-enforcement agencies demanding to bring a criminal action against this person. There is every reason to suppose that the Council of the Federation will turn down a petition by the Prosecutor-General to institute criminal proceedings against Yuri Luzhkov even if the Prosecutor's Office does bring a criminal action. Then the criminal case against Luzhkov will have to be closed. In this way the person having committed the deeds described above will evade responsibility. Therefore I address the international human rights organizations with the proposal to carry out an independent investigation with the purpose of establishing whether the deeds committed by Yuri Luzhkov and other persons constitute the corpus delicti of genocide. After the completion of the independent investigation, an international human rights organization registered outside the territory of the Russian Federation may bring a suit with a court in the country of its registration in defense of an indeterminate number of persons that have been subjected to genocide. Part of the evidence has been collected already, part of it is being brought into conformity with the requirements of legal procedure, part of it still needs verification.

Given that genocide is an international crime and that, under the 1948 Convention quoted above, persons guilty of genocide, even if they are constitutionally responsible rulers, may be tried by an international tribunal, it is in an international tribunal that the accusation against Yuri Luhkov is planned to be brought, in case the facts of committing genocide are established and confirmed in legal form . From the moment of bringing the criminal action, Yuri Luzhkov, in case he finds himself in the territory of one of the countries recognizing the jurisdiction of the international tribunal, must be arrested and forwarded to court. The basis for considering the procedure of instituting criminal proceedings against Yuri Luzhkov described above to be lawful is the precedent of the Senator of the Republic of Chile Augusto Pinochet. The United Kingdom court found an authority to extradite him to Spain, because Pinochet does not enjoy the immunity of a Senator outside Chile. Ipso facto, Her Majesty's court deemed it possible to institute criminal proceedings against Augusto Pinochet. The difference between Pinochet and Luzhkov lies in that Pinochet was charged with ordinary criminal offences (murders), while Luzhkov may be accused of an international crime. It follows that, while Augusto Pinochet may be tried only by the national courts of the countries whose citizens the victims were, Yuri Luzhkov may be tried by an international tribunal.

Proceeding from the above, I address the international human rights organizations interested in stopping the grossest violations of human rights going on in Moscow with the request to aid in preparing this lawsuit. I call upon everybody who has been subjected to illegal treatment by the Moscow authorities in connection with their ethnic origins, race or religious faith (i. e. to ethnical cleansing) to give evidence. I guarantee them complete confidentiality throughout the independent investigation. I suggest to Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov to send in his lawyer for a comprehensive and impartial examination or to give an explanation with respect to his actions.

Maksim Chernigovsky, lawyer.

www.nelegal.ru

* The present article contains the author's personal opinions. The terms "criminal", "person guilty of a criminal deed", etc., are not to be considered as legal information and represent my personal opinion, because such definitions are in the competence of judicial bodies within the framework of a criminal case.