[gipfelsoli] St. Petersburg

[gipfelsoli-l at lists.nadir.org]

Legal advice for people coming to G8 protest actions in Russia

Visas

It is far from easy for an average Russian citizen to make an invitation
required for a visa. Thus legal group of Network Against G8 has decided to not
even attempt to help with the invitations. But in almost any country it is
rather easy to acquire a Russian visa through a travel agency. So make
comparing what they have to offer - in terms of prices and chances to have a
registration. Share this information with other people you know that might be
interested to travel from your area. Pass information and links to us, so that
we could help other people interested to travel from your area. We have not
decided yet, if we will publish such information online - perhaps we do not
want to give Russian authorities hints which travel agencies activists are
about to use. If there are many people interested to come from your area, it
could be a good idea to use different travel agencies and to submit
applications separately.

During G8 meeting in St. Petersburg in July 2006, city will be closed for other
foreign citizens except those of the summit organization. Thus, when applying a
visa through a tourist agency of your choice, select any other city than St.
Peterburg as your destination (for example Moscow). Destination city will not
be printed to visa itself, thus it is unlikely that this trick will result any
negative consequences for you.

Registration

According to law, a foreign citizen, coming to Russia for a period of more than
3 days, should register during 3 days. In case of moving from a location to
another, a foreign citizen should register during three WORKING DAYS from
arrival to the new place from the previous one. For a registration, you should
pass authorities your passport (or equivalent document) and migration card
which you filled in the border. Do not loose your card - and do not forget to
check in the border that authorities put a stamp to your migration card! Many
tourist agencies offer you registration only for days you make a booking in
hotel or hostel they offer for you. In case you do not want to pay for this
hotel, ask if they have other alternatives, and if not, ask from another
agency. Unless you have a place to stay in St. Petersburg, staying in a hotel
or a hostel would be a good alternative, since for security reasons there will
not be common camping for protesters in St. Petersburg. Legal group will also
be looking for independent companies who make registration without booking in a
hotel - contact us to know if we found something that might be of use for you.
It is also not that hard to find such companies on your own while here. Last
year, it was still possible to have a registration for a period of one month
with 20 dollars without booking in a hotel, we do not know yet what will be the
situation next summer, but we expect that it will still be much more cheaper
than booking a room in a hotel.

If you are only coming for the protests for 3 days or less, it does not make any
sense to register at all. If you come to week of build-up actions in Moscow, you
may register in Moscow, and then move to St. Petersburg, staying there less than
3 working days - in this case you must keep a ticket so that you may prove that
you have been in the city less than 3 working days. Making a registration in
St. Petersburg during summit may be pretty cumbersome.

Border guards did not used to care about lack of registration when you are
leaving, so few years ago it was only a problem if you were arrested or
randomly controlled in the streets. But lately border guards have activated
control efforts, mostly to extract bribes from unregistered guests. Chances to
get into trouble for a lack of registration are higher in airports than in
ground borders. Usual bribe is 500 rubles (19 dollars), whereas fine for a
foreigner for a lack of registration according to law is 1000-1500 rubles
(37-56 dollars). But in case you had not registration when leaving the country,
do not pay bribe too eagerly, or border guards may try to get some more.

Arrest

Let us suppose you happened to be in a spot of an action, which was not agreed
with the authorities, or police decided that your behavior was "disturbing
public order" and you were arrested. What to do?

First of all, do not panic, there is no reason to worry. In vast majority of
cases, you will loose nothing but time. At second, do not insult cops, but
demand them firmly to respect your rights. Law only requires you to submit  to
legal demands of the police, but not to any other demands. This is a summary of
your rights, and some recommendations from us.

1. When talking to you, police officer should present himself, show his/her
documents and announce reason of your arrest. In case of an action that was 
not agreed by authorities ("nesankcionirovannaya akciya"), police should
announce that action is not agreed by authorities and ask people to disperse.
As long as they do not do this, you have a right to stay in place.
It is rather likely, that in case you refuse to follow police, they will begin
pushing you to police car. You may show passive resistance (sit to ground, do
not move, grab hand of a friend), in which case you may be given an additional
misdemeanour charge of "refusal to fulfill legal orders of police", which you
may question in court, as orders of police were not legal. These charges may
result a short jail arrest of up to 15 days, but in vast majority of the cases
court only gives you a fine. In case you choose to resist  violently, you may
be given felony charges.

2. If you are taken to a police station, officers have a right to keep you there
for three hours, although this norm is often violated. Police should make either
"minutes of delivery" ("protokol o dostavlenii") (if they just want to establish
your identity),  or "minutes of arrest" ("protokol o zaderzhanii") and "minutes
of misdemeanour" ("protokol ob administrativnom pravonarushenii"), in case you
are accused of having committed one. In case some property of yours was taken
away, they should also make "minutes of requisitioning" ("protokol ob izyatii")

3. In case you were arrested, police should announce your location to your
family members upon your request and give you a possibility to use an attorney.
You have also a right to read all minutes and transcriptions, to write
explanations with your own hands to respective sections (or a separate
additional list) of the minutes, to which you may include information on
conditions of arrest, illegal actions by police officers and so on. It is
important to write to minutes if before arrest you were not asked to leave spot
of action, and if you were threatened, verbally abused or beaten up during the
arrest.

4. You have a right to refuse from giving any testimony, by referring to 51st
article of the Constitution of the Russian Federation ("Nobody should give
testimony against himself or his close relatives..."). In this case you have a
chance to consult an attorney before giving testimony in court. This is what
human rights activists recommend. You may include notion on illegal actions of
police to minutes even if you declined from giving any testimony. In case you
were beaten up during arrest, visit clinic immediately when you are free in
order to have a proof on paper to be used against police later on.

5. In any moment of the process, you may ask participation of your public
defender or an attorney. A foreign citizen has a right to have a translator
during interrogations and in the court, and also to have police to contact
consulate of his country and announce arrest.

6. Take care that each point of the minutes which relates to your case was
filled correctly. You have right not to announce your place of work and
studies. Carefully read any documents before subscribing them. It is recommend
to draw line to all fields of the minutes that were not filled. Try to receive
copies of minutes on the spot, they may be of use when complaining about
actions of police officers. You have a right to receive copies of all minutes.

7. Police officers have not right to take your passport. If they try to keep
your passport as a deposit to have you appear in a court later, make a protest.
Refuse to leave police station until you are given back your passport, point out
that it is illegal to take away your passport.

8. In case police refuses all your demands to follow law, point out clearly and
peacefully that you are not make all this fuss just for the sake of it, but in
case police keeps taking illegal actions, you have no other way but to submit a
complaint to prosecutor. You may demand to talk to "station master" ("dezhurniy
po otdelenie"), who is responsible for everything that takes place in the
police station, and make same note to him as well. Where an average police
officer may hide his name, it is no any trouble for a prosecutor to find out
the station master.

9. If you are not taken to court immediately after finishing with the minutes,
most likely you will be asked to sign "obligation to show up in court"
("obyazatelstvo o yavke"). You may sign this document without hesitation, as it
is not a subpoena and has no any legally binding force whatsoever - you may not
be punished for not fulfilling it. If you do not show up in court in given
date, judge should send a subpoena to your place of residence. Only if you
still do not show up after this, judge has a right to make a decision without
you being present. Usually, if person accused of misdemeanor does not appear in
court, process is delayed for an indefinite period, and after 2 months process
is closed and forgotten.

10. You have a right to have an attorney in a court process. In case you were
not released after writing minutes but taken to court, make a written plea to
delay court for a few days, so that you could have a lawyer and that lawyer
could acquaintance himself with materials of the case. Never agree to have a
public lawyer proposed by the court! In case judge agrees to delay case and you
are free, you may discuss with an attorney about further steps to be taken.

11. Most likely you will be accused according to article 20.2 of administrative
codex "Violation of established order of organization or realization of a
meeting, demonstration, march or picket". Organizer of an action may be fined
an amount of 10-20 monthly minimal wages, which is currently 1000-2000 rubles
(30-60 euros), whereas a participator may be fined an amount of 5-10 monthly
minimal wages (15-30 euros). But in most of the cases you may avoid this fine.

12. There are plenty of legal opportunities for authorities to shorten validity
period of your visa down to three following days, for example if they consider
you "a danger to national security", or if you commit any misdemeanor, such as
a failure to register in time. In case you do not leave Russia during these
three days, you may deported, but even in this case it is unlikely that you end
up to a detention center, since they are full - most likely they just threat you
with a detention but let you out to the street with an annulled visa, demanding
that you get to border on your own. In case you were sentenced to an arrest for
a few days, you have a right to overstay in Russia.

13. If court took place, but you do not agree with the decision, you may appeal
decision of the court to court of appeal during 10 days. Do not waste time, but
immediately contact a lawyer or a human rights activist who may help you in
preparing the appeal.

In case you get arrested, call to telephone

we try to help you any way we can. E-mail contact of the legal group:
piter.legal at yahoo.com

[piter.legal at yahoo.com]