Ponomarev on Worldview today

Following up on my earlier post. Lev Ponomarev's interview on WBEX Chicago's Worldview program (taped when he was in Chicago) aired today, following news that he was indicted for criminal slandering of the head of the Russian prison system. Catch the podcast here.

Ponomarev since Chicago: Another activist criminalized

Since Lev Ponomarev visited CEERES at The University of Chicago, he has generated a lot of press, as well as ire back home. Unfortunately, this ire has led to Putin's government bringing criminal charges against him. It saddens me to have to reprint the text of the announcement I received this morning:

Russian authorities today brought criminal charges against Lev Ponomarev, head of the All Russian Movement for Human Rights, accusing him of slandering General Yuri Kalinin, head of the Russian prison system. The charges result from accusations made by Mr. Ponomarev that Russia's prison system is inhumane and that, in some prisons, prisoners are routinely tortured and otherwise severely abused. In addition to the criminal charges, Mr. Ponomarev's travel documents were revoked and he was told he would be arrested if he attempted to leave the country.

It appears that today's charges and the travel restriction are reprisals for his recent trip to the United States, where he was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer and gave public lectures on prison conditions and human rights in Russia at Harvard, Columbia, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and Boston University. While in the United States, Mr. Ponomarev also had a number of other meetings with foundations, academics, human rights groups as well as the Department of State and NSC in Washington. He returned to Moscow a week ago, 15 February.

In addition, I'm posting here other articles related to his visit in the U.S. and return to Russia:

"Holding Medvedev to his words", Washington Post, 2/25

Announcement of charges against Mr. Ponomarev [in Russian]:
http://www.zashita-zk.org/alert/1203686463.html

"Putin's Political Prisoners" in Wall Street Journal, 2/19, Opinion by Bret Stephens

Roma Rights in Macedonia

University of Chicago's Shayna Plaut is Amnesty International USA’s Macedonia country specialist. Amnesty recently released a report on discrimination against Romani women and girls in Macedonia. Shayna gave an overview of Macedonia’s ethnic landscape on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview.
http://chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=17713

Kosovo’s neighbor to the south is Macedonia. Macedonia has hosted a
substantial number of refugees from Kosovo. Today there are still more
than a thousand refugees in Macedonia. Some 95 percent of these are from
the Roma ethnic community.

Like most Balkan countries, Macedonia already had a considerable Roma
population. Roma are commonly called Gypsies. They have a history of
discrimination and marginalization throughout Europe.

Roma communities tend to be among the poorest, with low rates of education,
employment, and access to social services. Romani women and girls often
face discrimination based on ethnicity and gender. And some 70% report
experiencing some form of domestic violence.

Ripples of Kosovo

In the last blog, I listed a bunch of stories about Kosovo's declaration of independence. This is a major event for the people of Kosovo and the surroundings countries. This also raises the specter of independence-seeking by many groups around the world. Thus, large countries facing breakaway republics, e.g. Russia, China, and Spain, do not approve, whereas countries like Taiwan are supportive. Indeed, Russia faces both issues - for example, it has supported the breakaway republic of Abkhazia in Georgia, but has waged a vicious war in Chechnya to hold on to that republic. Here's a couple more news stories that discuss this point:

In Asian Reaction to Kosovo Declaration, Fears of Secession

Russia links Kosovo with Georgia

Kosovo Declares Independence

In an expected but contested move, Kosovo has finally declared sovereignty from Serbia, with whom they fought a bloody war for independence in the 90's as Yugoslavia dissolved. Following below is a wealth of media news stories from many different sources. In short, Kosovo's Albanians are elated, Serbia and Russia are not (Russia is worried about the status of numerous other breakaway republics), and the International community is warily encouraging of peace and non-violence.

Before that, I'm happy to point out that we at CEERES are welcoming an expert scholar of the region tomorrow for a Public Lecture. Steven Burg, Adlai Stevenson Professor of International Politics at Brandeis University, will present a talk entitled "Is Spain the next Yugoslavia? Ethnoregionalism, Devolution, and Democratization" [5pm, Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008, The University of Chicago, Weiboldt Hall 408 1050 E 59th St, Chicago] No doubt, questions about Kosovo's declaration are inevitable.

Now for news coverage of Kosovo:

Kosovo vow as independence looms
Kosovo's prime minister vows to protect minority rights as Serbia's province prepares to declare independence.
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Kosovo Status on BalkanInsight.com
[This is from BIRN, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, of which the founder and regional director Gordana Igric will be on hand at UC on March 6 for a very special and distinguished World Beyond the Headlines panel on the closing of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia]

Kosovo Grows as an EU Problem (David Cronin)

EuroNews video of angry protests in Belgrade Serbia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWPpns9irM8

The Economist: Kosovo: Independence Day
BBC: Kosovo MPs Declare Independence
RIA Novosti: Georgia has no plans to recognize Kosovo
Itar-Tass [ru]: http://www.itar-tass.com/level2.html?NewsID=12382868
AP: Serb police deserting Kosovo force
Reuters: Kosovo awaits recognition, and Serb challenge

And interesting story from Itar-Tass that I didn't see much in the English language media yet. It didn't make headlines, but if you search Kosovo and protest it does come up on English media as well
[ru] http://www.itar-tass.com/level2.html?NewsID=12382855&PageNum=0
[eng] http://www.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUSL1788584
http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&hl=en&ned=us&q=Kosovo&btnG=Search+News

[Thank you Shayna Plaut and Sasha Belyi for rounding up so much of this coverage]

PONOMAREV: Today's visitor in today's news

In preparation for our visit with Lev Ponomarev this afternoon, I found this article in the Wall Street Journal about him this morning: "Putin's Torture Colonies".

Here's a picture of him in action - link.