Statement on unjust court proceedings against Yury Samodurov and Andrey Erofeev
On December 13th 2009, during its annual session held in Gothenburg, the European Cultural Parliament adopted the following resolution:
We, the members of the European Cultural Parliament, take note of the court proceedings against Yury Samodurov, the former Director of the Sakharov Museum in Moscow, and Andrey Erofeev, a former curator at the State Tretyakov Gallery, who are facing serious and unfounded charges of inciting religious and ethnic hatred by the organization of a "Forbidden Art" exhibit in 2007.
We express our grave concern about these proceedings and are of the opinion that, in prosecuting this case, the Russian authorities are violating their commitments and their obligations in domestic and international law to respect the right to freedom of expression.
We regard freedom of expression a basic and essential right to all human societies and consider the proceedings a misuse of anti-extremism legislation used to silence human rights defenders.
We consider this matter urgent and call on the prosecutor's office to drop the charges against Samodurov and Erofeev and close the case on the grounds that no crime has been committed.
The members of the European Cultural Parliament
December 13, 2009
Gothenburg
