Immediately terminate the unlawful criminal prosecution, release Ukrainian citizen, well-known blogger Bogdan Kaliusskyi and ensure his security
13:19, April 4, 2018 | Announcements, Own
On March 31, 2018 T. Yenokyan, the prosecutor of the Department for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases (PIC) of the RA General Prosecutor’s Office, initiated a criminal case under Article 325 § 1 and Article 329 § 1 (forgery of documents and illegal state border crossing). Charges were brought against Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Arkadievich Kaliusskyi (aka former citizen of the RF Maksim Arkadievich Baidak).
On April 1, 2018 the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan, presided by Judge K. Farkhoyan, upholding the motion filed by R. Avagyan, PIC investigator at the General Department for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the RA Investigative Committee, subjected Kaliusskyi to detention for a period of two months.
On March 27, 2018 Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Kaliusskyi (aka former citizen of the RF Maksim Arkadievich Baidak) arrived in Armenia via Flight PS 613 from Kyiv to Yerevan, passing through the border checkpoints of Ukraine and the Republic of Armenia. Thus, he was duly checked, and his identification document was considered as legal. Bogdan Kaliusskyi was supposed to return to Kyiv via Flight PS 614 at 3.30 pm on March 30, 2018. He passed all the chicking on that day, and it was only at the departure gate that he was approached by the employees of the RA National Security Service and was apprehended, after he was informed of being under international investigation.
The decision on Kaliusskyi’s arrest was passed at 5.30 am on March 31, 2018, which means that Kaliusskyi had been unlawfully deprived of liberty for at least 14 hours.
Yet on September 13, 2013, the Frunzensky Central Internal Affairs Department of Saint Petersburg in the Russian Federation had initiated a criminal case against Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Arkadievich Kaliusskyi (aka former citizen of the RF Maksim Arkadievich Baidak) under Article 2052 § 2 of the RF Criminal Code (public appeals, urging to commit terror acts and public justification for terrorism through the use of mass media). The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Center “Memorial” in Russia came up with their assessments on the aforementioned criminal prosecution being unlawful. They held that the prosecution was a restriction of religious freedoms and political views, and Kaliusskyi (Baidak) should be granted asylum in a democratic country, where he can freely express his religious beliefs and political views, and that his extradition to the RF will be a violation of human rights norms.
It should be noted that Bogdan Kaliusskyi travelled to different countries with his Ukrainian passport and did not face any issues related to his passport.
Accordingly, the criminal case initiated by the RA law-enforcement bodies against Bogdan Kaliusskyi on the grounds of forgery of documents and crossing the state border of the RA illegally is not substantiated. Kaliusskyi pleaded not guilty of the crime he has been accused of.
The descriptive part of the court decision regarding Bogdan Kaliusskyi mentions the criminal case initiated against him by the RF law-enforcement bodies and the international investigation; however, the preventive measure against him is substantiated through the criminal case initiated against him in the RA. HCA Vanadzor is concerned that, on the grounds of being under international investigation, Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Kaliusskyi may be extradited to the Russian Federation.
Taking into consideration the persecution and violence against civil activists and the opposition in the RF as well as the facts of inhuman treatment towards them in penitentiary institutions in the RF, and considering obvious the political undertone behind the criminal prosecution initiated by the RF against B. Kaliusskyi (M. Baidak), we hold that the possible extradition of Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Arkadievich Kaliusskyi (aka former citizen of the RF Maksim Arkadievich Baidak) by the RA authorities to the Russian Federation will lead to the violation of his rights secured by Articles 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights by the RA authorities.
In the light of the aforementioned, we request that the RA authorities refrain from the intention to extradite Ukrainian citizen Bogdan Kaliusskyi to the Russian Federation, immediately terminate the unlawful criminal prosecution against him and allow his free exit from the territory of the RA and entry into a third country.
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor
The organizations that joined the statement:
Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law
The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House
Legal policy research center (Kazakhstan)
Helsinki Association for Human Rights NGO (Armenia)
Human Rights Center Azerbaijan
Promo LEX (Moldova)
Protection of rights without borders (Armenia)