Leopoldina · Postfach 110543· D-06019 Halle (Saale)

Leopoldina · Postfach 110543· D-06019 Halle (Saale) His Excellency Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin President of the Russian Federation Office of the President ul. Ilyinka, 23, 103132 Moscow Russian Federation

German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Human Rights Committee Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Zenner Jägerberg 1 D-06108 Halle (Saale) Tel. [phone] Fax [phone] [e-mail]

12.09.2015

cc: His Excellency Wladimir M. Grinin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Germany, Behrenstr. 66, 10117 Berlin

His Excellency Ulrich Brandenburg, Ambassador of the German Federation to Russia, Uliza Mosfilmowskaja 56, 119285 Moskau

Mr. Matthew Rojansky, Director, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center

for Scholars, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington D.C., DC 20004, Vereinigte Staaten

Dr. Andreas Schockenhoff, MdB, Platz der Republik 1, 11011 Berlin

Excellency:

I am writing in my capacity as chairman of the Committee on Human Rights of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina to express our concern about the detention and upcoming trial of Mikhail Savva, a Russian professor of political science at Kuban State University and director of grant programs at the Southern Regional Re­source Center (SRRC) in the city of Krasnodar. It is our understanding that he faces charges of alleged large-scale fraud in connection with a state grant that he received from the Krasnodar regional government.

According to our information, on April 12, 2013, Professor Savva was detained after seven FSB officers searched his home for six hours. He reportedly was interrogated at length, during which he was denied the right to have a lawyer present. According to his wife, Elena Savva, who was at home with her husband during the search, the officers did not ask Professor Savva any questions about the government grant funds he had received, but instead asked him questions about his trips abroad, meetings with foreign NGO representatives, and the foreign grants his organization receives. We also understand that reports and photographs from his trips abroad were confiscated.

The following day, Sunday, April 13, the Oktyabr district court in Krasnodar was called into ses­sion to hear Professor Savva’s case, the time of the hearing was not announced, and observers who showed up were refused entry into the court. Professor Savva reportedly was charged that day under Article 159.2, Section 3, of the Russian Criminal Code with “large scale fraud through receipt of payments by a person using their official position” involving 366,000 rubles granted to the SRRC by the Krasnodar regional government for a project about local attitudes toward migrant workers that was directed by Professor Savva. According to reliable reports, the prosecu­tion requested that Professor Savva be held in custody on the grounds that he allegedly would pressure witnesses and hinder the investigation if released on bail. We understand that, although the prosecution failed to provide any specific facts to support its arguments and the court was given approximately a dozen statements from academics, politicians, public figures, and journalists attesting to his good character, the court ordered Professor Savva to be held in deten­tion for two months. His detention subsequently was extended indefinitely without evidence to support the need for pretrial detention.

We further understand that, in mid May 2013, the government brought new accusations of fraud against Professor Savva, this time accusing him of receiving 90,000 rubles from the University of Krasnodar for teaching a course that the prosecution alleges he did not teach. According to one of Professor Savva’s lawyers, Marina Dubrovina, 90,000 rubles is virtually his entire annual salary from the university, so the prosecution’s scenario that the university gave him that amount of money to teach one class is illogical.

We are also troubled by the charges brought against Professor Savva because we understand that the Krasnodar regional government did not report any possible impropriety on the part of Professor Savva with regard to the funds it disbursed to him for the project on migrant workers. Furthermore, at the end of 2012, Krasnodar government officials accompanied him to Moscow, where he received the 1st place award among the socially beneficial projects funded by grants from Russia’s Ministry of Social Development. Secondly, in the weeks prior to Professor Savva’s arrest, the FSB conducted several inspections of the offices of the SRRC as well as other NGOs in the Kuban region, some of which work closely with the SRRC. While the inspections were ex­pected as part of the new NGO foreign agents law, the harshness of the FSB’s procedures was unprecedented. Their inspections took up to nine hours during which all employees were de­tained in the buildings and forbidden from contacting anyone. Several employees were visited at home by FSB officers and taken to its headquarters for 10 hours of questioning. Large numbers of documents reportedly were seized from the SRRC and other NGOs with which it works in the region.

According to reliable reports, Professor Savva had been outspoken about the large number of government inspections in the area and their unusual severity compared to such inspections of NGOs in other parts of the country. Professor Savva was scheduled to address the Presidential Council for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights about this issue in Moscow on April 15, but was arrested just two days prior to the event.

Given the information above, we cannot help but conclude that Professor Savva’s rights to due process are being violated on several counts and that the charges brought against him may be politically motivated. We respectfully urge that consideration be given to his release pending

trial, which is scheduled to begin on November 5. We will be monitoring his trial closely and trust that the proceedings will accord with international fair trial standards.

Sincerely,

H.-P. Zenner, Chairman of HRC

Professor and Chairman

University Hospital

The University of Tübingen, Germany

The German Academy of Science Leopoldina (“Leopoldina” for short) was founded in 1652 and has a major division in Germany and two adjunct divisions in Austria and Switzerland. The head office of the Leopoldina is located in Halle/Germany. The Academy is headed by President Prof. Dr. J. Hacker, supported by 4 vice-presidents, a general secretary, and an executive board. Currently, three quarters of approximately one thousand academy members live in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), one quarter resides in other countries around the world. Only prominent and internationally recognised scientists can be elected as members who represent all natural sciences, medicine and some areas of behavioural and social sciences as well humanities. At present, 34 Nobel Laureates are members of the Leopoldina. The HRC is a permanent committee of the Leopoldina with members from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

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