Post-Soviet Political Persecutions in CIS Countries: New Context for Rule of Law

At a recent Kennan Institute talk, Valentin Gefter, General Director, Human Rights Institute, Moscow, and Galina Starovoitova Fellow on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, Kennan Institute, argued that political persecution occurs throughout the states of the former Soviet Union, although persecution is more common in some states than in others. This persecution takes various forms, ranging from harassment of political opponents, to politically-motivated arrests and sentences, to murders. He noted that political persecution is an issue of primary concern to human rights groups throughout the region.

According to Gefter, the legacy of political persecution in these states was inherited from Soviet times, but political persecution today is different than it was in the USSR. He argued that the large-scale, ideologically motivated repressions that occurred in the USSR do not take place in the post-Soviet states. The new states have adopted entirely new legislation on criminal prosecution and sentencing, and these laws are followed more frequently than were analogous Soviet laws. However, Gefter contended that CIS countries are still far from achieving the rule of law. While legislation has changed dramatically, the practice of law enforcement remains largely the same. Law enforcement officials and judges are under the influence of a complex mosaic of state and corporate actors, leading to politically motivated prosecutions, Gefter said.

Gefter went on to compare the extent of political persecution in several states. In countries such as Georgia and Tajikistan that have experienced armed conflict, persecution has definitely occurred, but it has been difficult to study and is of secondary importance in comparison to the more serious human rights violations that occur in war zones. Political persecution, Gefter argued, has been most serious in states such as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, where authoritarian regimes have been established and political activism is impossible. A lesser degree of political persecution occurs in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. These states have pro-Western and pro-democracy orientations and allow some degree of political activism, but persecution remains a problem. Russia, Gefter added, is a special case. The state has become increasingly authoritarian over the past several years, but opponents of the Russian government still have less to fear than do opponents of the Uzbek or Turkmen governments.

Gefter concluded by outlining the different types of persecution that have been used in CIS states. First, people affiliated with the opposing side in a civil conflict are harassed or prosecuted without legal cause. According to Gefter, ethnic Chechens are frequently harassed or arrested by Russian law enforcement officials without evidence of their having committed any crime. Second, influential individuals and political opponents are prosecuted. The best-known of such cases is the arrest of Mikhail Khodorovsky in Russia. Third, Gefter continued, former state officials and military officers who attempt to criticize the government and expose its mistakes—such as Aleksandr Nikitin and Grigorii Pasko—are tried for espionage. Fourth, members of "radical" religious and political groups, especially Islamic groups, are subject to persecution. Finally, Gefter said, some governments have prosecuted individuals who are believed to have "slandered" the state or opposed its ideology, although such cases are fairly rare.