OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir welcomes Russian Supreme Court decision as positive step, calls for release of Ali Feruz

VIENNA, 25 January 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation regarding the case of Uzbek journalist Khudoberdi Nurmatov, also known under his penname Ali Feruz, a contributing journalist to Novaya Gazeta.

“I welcome the Supreme Court ruling that the decisions of the lower court instances in his case should be dismissed and that the case is to be reviewed by the Moscow City Court. This is a positive step, but Nurmatov should now be released and be able to travel freely and join a country that is ready to host him,” the Representative said.

In its judgement of 22 January 2018, the Supreme Court noted that the lower courts’ orders to intern Nurmatov in a special facility until his expulsion from Russia were not based on criteria of justification, proportionality and reason. As a result, the Supreme Court said, Nurmatov was unjustly deprived of his liberty. According to the top court’s judgment, the case had not been studied in its entirety by the lower courts, and in particular the actual possibility of Nurmatov leaving Russia for Germany with the assistance of the International Red Cross was not reviewed.

Since August 2017, Désir has raised Nurmatov’s case several times with the Russian Federation, in a letter to the authorities, through contacts in Vienna and most recently during his visit to Moscow, where he asked the authorities to carefully consider Nurmatov’s case and not to expulse him to Uzbekistan (www.osce.org/fom/355616 and www.osce.org/fom/358456).

Nurmatov was detained in Moscow on 1 August 2017 based on the administrative charge of violating the residence regime, and then interned and fined.

Due to an urgent intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, the deportation from the Russian Federation was suspended, but Nurmatov has remained in detention in the Russian Federation since then.

“Until Nurmatov is released by the court and free to travel, I will follow his case with great attention and concern,” Désir said.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. He provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.