Prisoners

A new website has appeared on the Internet, GULAGu.net ('No to the GULAG'), with the aim of helping business people who have suffered from unlawful criminal prosecution. The creators of the website stress that the cases about which everyone knows are only the tip of the iceberg in the practice of Russian courts today.

The author of the project – human rights defender Vladimir Osechkin – was in the past himself a businessman and had an unfortunate “encounter” with Russian law enforcement and judiciary.

As Vladimir Osechkin has already told the Human Rights in Russia web portal (HRO.org), he was formerly the owner of a car salesroom and in 2006 it was suggested to him that he should “share” his profits. When he refused, criminal charges were brought against him for economic crimes and he was put in pre-trial detention. With no investigation going on and without a trial, the accused spent three years behind bars. When he was finally brought before a court he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in a penal colony. A few months ago he was released on parole. [Read more]