Week-ending 12 June 2020
Ensure Transparency of Yuri Dmitriev and Svetlana Prokopyeva’s Trials!
The Solidarity Task Force of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum calls on all those who cares about the right to the fair and transparent court trial to take part in the campaign for publicity of the trials against the Karelian historian Yuri Dmitriev and the journalist from Pskov Svetlana Prokopyeva. Samples of requests to broadcast court proceedings in these cases (in Russian) can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. The samples were prepared by the Citizens’ Watch (Saint Petersburg), Forum member organisation. In context of the epidemiological situation, access to the Russian courts is now extremely difficult, especially for the listeners from other regions. If they wish to attend a hearing, they must provide a certificate of COVID-19 absence issued no later than three days before entering the region where the hearing is taking place. Only in this case will the listener be allowed to the court. Given this requirement, as well as the restrictions on movement and quarantine still in force in some regions of the Russian Federation, most people will simply not be able to follow these court proceedings. Taking this into account, we urge you not to stand aside and to send your signed appeals for a live broadcast of the court proceedings.
Source: EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, 12 June 2020
