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Summary

In October and November 2006, Russian authorities detained thousands of Georgians and expelled more than 2,300 of them to Georgia, including many Georgians residing legally in Russia. Russian authorities denied basic rights to many of the detained, including access to a lawyer or the possibility of appealing the expulsion decision taken against them. Most were given trials lasting only a few minutes. Georgians were held in sometimes appalling conditions of detention and in some cases were subjected to threats and other ill-treatment. Two Georgians died in custody awaiting expulsion.

Russian authorities have argued that the expulsions were part of an enhanced fight against irregular migration and organized crime and that they did not single out Georgians as a group. However, as this report documents, official statements and actions clearly singled out Georgians for detention and expulsion.

The Russian government’s campaign against ethnic Georgians occurred in the context of pervasive racism and xenophobia in Russia. In recent years, violent racially-motivated attacks and murders, often perpetrated by ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups have become common occurrences, especially in large cities. Although there have been some convictions in recent years for violent hate-related crimes, the Russian government has done little to effectively combat these dangerous trends. In some cases, senior officials exacerbate the situation through public statements and policies. Russian experts have documented an increase in xenophobic and nationalist language in political discourse as well as in the media. Although the government campaign against Georgians did not result in a particular increase in vigilante violence against Georgians or other minorities, the Russian government’s willingness to single out an ethnic group sets a dangerous tone and indicates a government tolerance for discriminatory attitudes and actions.

The Russian government’s readiness to single out members of an ethnic group in response to diplomatic conflicts is also particularly worrisome, as millions of foreigners live in Russia and could be at risk of similar reprisals should political disputes emerge between Russia and migrants’ home countries.

Following months of growing political tensions between Russia and Georgia, on September 27, 2006 Georgian officials detained four Russian military officers on charges of espionage. A day later Russia responded by withdrawing its ambassador, evacuating its embassy, and suspending issuance of all visas for Georgians. Under international pressure to stem the crisis, on October 2, Georgian authorities handed over the four Russian officers to representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Despite the transfer, Russia initiated what amounted to economic sanctions against Georgia, beginning with a halt to all air, land, and sea traffic with the country, and began a widespread crackdown on ethnic Georgians and Georgian-owned or Georgian-themed businesses and organizations in Moscow and several other parts of Russia.

Immediately following the escalation of Russian-Georgian political tensions in late September, Russian officials made repeated public statements singling out Georgians as illegal immigrants, portraying them as criminals, and calling for measures to be taken against them. Russian television stations, the largest of which are owned or controlled by people close to the Russian government, actively supported and justified the government’s singling out of Georgians through daily news programs and other programming, and often quoted senior officials making strong anti-Georgian statements

At the same time, Moscow police began to conduct widespread “document inspections” of ethnic Georgians. To more efficiently locate Georgians, some police officers targeted locations where Georgians were likely to assemble, such as the entrance to the Georgian embassy and to the Georgian Orthodox Church in Moscow. In several districts of Moscow, police demanded that schools produce lists of names of all ethnic Georgian children and their parents.

The crackdown spread to other parts of Russia, with police arbitrarily or illegally detaining thousands of ethnic Georgians. On October 6, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began expelling many of the detained Georgians to Georgia, initially sending approximately 150 people by cargo plane from Moscow to Tbilisi. Some 2,380 Georgians were expelled in just over two months and at least 2,000 others left Russia by their own means after receiving court-ordered expulsion decisions. An unknown number of other Georgians left Russia either to rejoin family members who had been expelled, because they were no longer able to find work, or because they no longer felt welcome in Russia.

Human Rights Watch recognizes the right of governments to expel or deport people who have not been given permission to enter or remain in a country so long as they are not in need of international protection, such as asylum, and are not removed arbitrarily or without regard to their safety and dignity. Some of the Georgians detained and expelled were undocumented or had irregularities with their residency or employment status in Russia. However, among those expelled were Georgians who told Human Rights Watch they were residing in Russia in full accordance with relevant laws, including ethnic Georgians with Russian citizenship or residency permits, citizens of Georgia with valid visas and residency registrations, and with work permits, some of whom were awaiting passport or visa renewal, as well as students enrolled in Russian universities.

Moreover, in cases documented in this report, those detained were routinely denied basic rights. They had no or only perfunctory court hearings, no access to lawyers, and no opportunity to appeal their detentions or expulsion decisions; they were furthermore detained in conditions that in some cases may have constituted inhuman treatment. The authorities coerced and threatened many detained Georgians into “confessing” to being in Russia illegally, agreeing to be returned to Georgia “voluntarily,” and consenting to forfeit their right to appeal the expulsion decisions against them. Many of those expelled were Georgians from the breakaway republic of Abkhazia, most of whom had fled fighting in the region 15 or more years ago and had no current familial, economic, or other ties to Georgia proper.

The political row with Georgia coincided with contradictory developments in labor migration policy in Russia. In recent years, the Russian government has struggled to develop a consistent migration policy, apparently unable to fully reconcile the necessity of attracting foreign workers to offset rapid population decline and meeting the needs of a booming economy with nationalist tendencies and a lack of public tolerance for minorities. Several months prior to the political crisis with Georgia, the Russian parliament had adopted new laws simplifying residency registration and other rules for migrants, including labor migrants. However, the October crisis appeared to serve as a catalyst for the Russian government to institute new laws on migration designed not only to crackdown on irregular migrants, but to place severe restrictions on migrant workers seeking to work in wholesale and retail goods markets throughout Russia. The government also introduced policies designed to attract ethnic Russians from countries of the former Soviet Union to relocate to Russia.

Russia is host to an estimated 13 to 20 million migrants. Russian officials believe that approximately half of Russia’s migrants are irregular, meaning that they do not possess documents necessary for legal migration to or stay in Russia. The majority of both legal and irregular migrants in Russia come from the countries of the former Soviet Union, and up to one million come from Georgia. The vast majority of migrants working in Russia do so without work permits, at least in part due to the difficulty of obtaining such permits.

Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and party to core regional and international human rights treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantee fundamental rights to all persons, including irregular migrants. Among those obligations, Russia must provide due process to any non-Russian national resident whom it wishes to expel, and is prohibited from undertaking collective expulsions of non-Russian nationals. Its other obligations, include the prevention all forms of racial discrimination, a guarantee of the right to a fair trial, as well as fundamental rights of the detained, including the right to counsel, the right to have a third party of his or her choice notified of the detention, and the right to request a medical examination by a doctor of his or her choice. Russia must also prevent all forms of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, which includes refraining from detaining people in conditions that amount to inhuman or degrading treatment.

Human Rights Watch calls on Russia to issue statements at the highest level condemning racism and xenophobia and racist statements or actions of any kind by public officials or private actors. In accordance with its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, Russia should immediately initiate investigations into all allegations of mistreatment of Georgians by Russian officials, into all allegations of illegal arrest and detention of Georgians and into the two deaths of Georgians in custody. Russia should undertake immediate measures to improve conditions of detention in special reception centers for foreigners to ensure conditions comply with international standards for the treatment of detainees.