Karina Moskalenko - a different kind of Russian guest

Human rights lawyer criticises Halonen for not raising human rights during Medvedev visit

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By Jussi Konttinen
     
      A day after the visit to Finland of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, a Russian visitor of a different kind arrived in Helsinki.
      Right at the beginning of the interview, human rights lawyer Karina Moskalenko, 55, takes up a matter that has caused her some consternation during her visit to Helsinki.
      “Why didn’t your president speak about Russia’s human rights situation during Medvedev’s visit? Relations between countries cannot be built without speaking about human rights. If there is a problem, it should not be kept in silence”, says Moskalenko.
      She feels that the Finnish silence on the matter is all the stranger because Medvedev himself has discussed the issue quite openly recently.
      “He has spoken about the legal nihilism that prevails in our country. A situation has developed, in which it has been possible to murder civic activists and journalists, and the guilty are not brought to justice. But it is not only about what the president says - it’s also about what he does.”
     
Moskalenko has quite a reputation as a jurist. She has represented imprisoned oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the family of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
      Her International Protection Centre, which she has set up in Moscow, deals with hundreds of Russian appeals to the European Court of Human Rights inui Strasbourg.
      Politkovskaya’s murder trial ended in February, when the young Chechen men who were charged with the killing were acquitted.
      Moskalenko, who represented the family of the murdered journalist, did not appeal the decision? Why not?
      “The entire investigation was conducted improperly. The defendants were kids who might have been taken advantage of. The case, which was not investigated properly, should never have reached the courtroom.”
     
Moskalenko’s other client, former oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was recently moved from a Siberian prison to Moscow for a new trial.
      “The last time he was convicted because his company had not paid taxes for the oil that he sold. Now he is accused of stealing the very same oil”, Moskalenko says.
      In her view, the Khodorkovsky case is about persecution, which is taking place before the eyes of a silent world.
      “His opponents have launched a new case, because otherwise he might have been released on parole”, the lawyer stipulates.
      Khodorkovsky’s appeals are awaiting handling in Strasbourg. If they succeed, his first trial might have to be reassessed in Russia.
     
Hundreds of Russians who feel that they have suffered miscarriages of justice, contact Moskalenko’s centre each month.
      “Decisions have come for dozens of our cases handled at the European Court of Human Rights, and usually the decisions have gone against Russia.
      Most of Moskalenko’s clients are quite unknown Russians - ordinary people, as well as prisoners and small-time criminals.
      The lawyer gives as an example two boys caught by police for joy-riding.
      “The police stuffed one of them in the boot of the car and they beat the other one so that his spine was fractured. Then they were forced to confess to other crimes. Now the European court has ordered Russia to pay them damages.”
     
Moskalenko says that Russian leaders like to speak of the autonomy of the court system.
      “In reality, disloyal judges are smoked out. We are contacted by judges who have lost their jobs after standing up to pressure.”
      It is not easy to be a human rights lawyer in Russia. There have been attempts to deprive Moskalenko of her lawyer’s licence. Tax inspections have been made at the centre that she leads, and employees have been interrogated.
      In the autumn a case was made public in which mercury was found in Moskalenko’s car in France. Then it was said that the toxic metal was from a broken thermometer of the previous owner.
      “I will not comment on the case while the investigation is still going on. what I can say is that there was very much mercury if just one thermometer was involved.
     
Moskalenko graduated from the faculty of law of the University of Leningrad a year after Vladimir Putin did.
      “We did not know each other personally. However, I do know what the atmosphere at the department was at the time. Andrei Vyzhinski was seen as the leading figure there, who emphasised the importance of the prosecutor, and who called for death to traitors.”
      Moskalenko wanted to be a prosecutor herself, but a more liberal professor prevailed upon her to become a defence lawyer.
      “One German journalist said that in a way I became a prosecutor - one that fights against criminals in uniform”, Moskalenko laughs.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 26.4.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Halonen pleased with yield of Medvedev visit (22.4.2009)

JUSSI KONTTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jussi.konttinen@hs.fi