Russia Must Release Ill Lawyer Maria Bontsler, Detained In Retaliation For Human Rights Work: UN Special Rapporteur
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Mariana Katzarova, today condemned the arrest and ongoing arbitrary detention of Maria Bontsler, a 64-year-old human rights lawyer from Kaliningrad, who suffers from a serious chronic medical condition.
'This is a deeply troubling case of judicial harassment and criminalisation of a lawyer for simply doing her job,' Katzarova said. 'Maria Bontsler's arrest and prosecution are politically motivated and represent yet another example of the continuing attack on the independence of the legal profession in Russia.'
Bontsler was arrested on 29 May 2025 – two days before the Day of Russian Advocates on 31 May – and placed in pre-trial detention by the Leningradsky District Court of Kaliningrad. She was charged under article 275.1 of the Russian Criminal Code for alleged 'confidential cooperation with a foreign state, aimed at undermining the national security of the Russian Federation' – a charge carrying up to eight years in prison.
For over 30 years, Bontsler chaired the now-dissolved regional Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, defending the legal rights of conscripts.
Bontsler is also known for defending clients in politically motivated cases, including Igor Baryshnikov, a prominent political prisoner, who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for posting 'fake news' about the war in Ukraine. His health has rapidly deteriorated in detention, endangering his life. Just a week before her arrest, on 20 May 2025, the European Union sanctioned 28 Russian officials, including the judge in Baryshnikov's case, where Bontsler served as defence counsel.
'This timing raises serious concerns that Bontsler's arrest may be retaliatory,' the Special Rapporteur said. 'The charges allege she passed security-related information to a foreign State – claims that contradict her legal activities as a defence lawyer and remain unsubstantiated.'
Maria Bontsler's hearings are held behind closed doors, and her lawyers are bound by non-disclosure related to state secrets. 'Her family remains in the dark and has not been allowed to visit,' the expert said.
Since her detention, Bontsler, who suffers from severe chronic hypertension, has been denied essential medical care. Discharged from hospital the day before her arrest following a hypertensive crisis, she reported dangerously high blood pressure while in custody. Despite her complaints, she has received no treatment and lacks a blood pressure monitor. Her family has also been barred from providing any medication. She has reported being given insufficient food and water, and sustaining bruises during transportation following her arbitrary arrest.
'Denying medical treatment to a seriously ill detainee, alongside poor detention conditions, may constitute inhuman and degrading treatment,' Katzarova said. 'Russian authorities must ensure she receives adequate medical care immediately.'
She stressed that article 275.1 of the Criminal Code is 'vague and overly broad,' enabling the criminalisation of legitimate international cooperation and advocacy. 'This repressive law must be repealed,' she said.
'Maria Bontsler must be released immediately, and all charges dropped,' the expert said. 'Her case exemplifies the escalating repression of lawyers and human rights defenders in Russia. Since yesterday, in different regions, law enforcement have undertaken searches and arrests of journalists and human rights defenders. This attack on civil society should end.'
The Special Rapporteur has addressed the Government on this case.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
3 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Brics may be losing its bite
No-shows by key leaders at an annual summit underscored the difficulties of an international bloc that once sought to reshape world politics, James Kynge, of The Observer , writes. The annual summit of Brics, a growing world grouping seen as the Global South's answer to the G7, met in the Brazilian capital this week. But its two heaviest hitters stayed away. So what? Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were absent at a time when the coalition faces the toughest test of its relevance since it was founded in 2009, even as it expands. The 11 members of Brics account for about 40% of global GDP, and their average growth rate remains significantly ahead of the rest of the world. But the Rio summit faced critical challenges including last year's addition of Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia, which has brought fresh divisions and entrenched old ones; wars in the Middle East and Ukraine; and Donald Trump's tariff threats. Xi's no-show. China is by far the largest Brics economy and styles itself as a leader of the developing world. So Xi not turning up for the first time in more than a decade, without a credible excuse, has to be seen as a downgrading of the importance Beijing accords the group. Lula's loss. Xi's absence was particularly felt by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has ambitions to bolster his country's leadership role within Brics and among developing countries seeking the democratisation of the international system. Putin's absence. Putin, Xi's closest ally in Brics, beamed in by video link to claim the liberal world order is "obsolete". He faced arrest if he travelled to Brazil in person since the country is part of the International Criminal Court, which has an outstanding warrant for Putin for the alleged abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children. Another Bric in the wall. The grouping called the bombing of Iran, one of its new faces, a "blatant breach of international law" but didn't mention the US or Israel by name — an indicator of the limited influence of Brics, which cannot back up statements with policies. Autocratic drift. The more than doubling of Brics membership last year, largely driven by China, drew concerns from members such as India and Brazil because it tilts the grouping much further towards autocracy. Among the new members, only Indonesia is a democracy, while Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the UAE are authoritarian states in varying degrees. Competing loyalties. The Saudis and Emiratis, meanwhile, are staunch military allies of the United States, while India is also stepping up its defence partnerships with the West. This has further fragmented a bloc that was already struggling for cohesion. At a meeting in April, its foreign ministers failed to agree on a final statement. And yet. The grouping remains useful politically, especially to Russia. Its statement — signed off by two key US allies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE — barely mentioned Russia's actions in Ukraine, beyond calling for a "sustainable peace settlement" and criticising Ukraine's strikes on Russian infrastructure. For developing nations, the bloc still represents the most credible alternative to the US-led West and is a useful forum for expressing dissatisfaction with the current world order. About 30 countries have applied to join or expressed interest in joining, including Malaysia, Bangladesh and Turkey, a Nato member. Talk of the town. While its statement covered everything from AI and food production to boosting the representation of the Global South in multilateral institutions, Trump's trade policies took up much of the summit's attention. The bloc lamented "unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures", but did not directly call out the Trump administration — another pulled punch. That's unlikely to stop Trump ... In fact, he immediately hit back with a threat to impose extra duties of 10% on countries that align themselves with "anti-American policies".
Scoop
4 hours ago
- Scoop
The "Economy Of Genocide" Report: A Reckoning Beyond Rhetoric
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine, stands as a testament to the notion of speaking truth to power. This "power" is not solely embodied by Israel or even the United States, but by an international community whose collective relevance has tragically failed to stem the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Her latest report, 'From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide,' submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on July 3, marks a seismic intervention. It unflinchingly names and implicates companies that have not only allowed Israel to sustain its war and genocide against Palestinians, but also confronts those who have remained silent in the face of this unfolding horror. Albanese's 'Economy of Genocide' is far more than an academic exercise or a mere moral statement in a world whose collective conscience is being brutally tested in Gaza. The report is significant for multiple, interlocking reasons. Crucially, it offers practical pathways to accountability that transcend mere diplomatic and legal rhetoric. It also presents a novel approach to international law, positioning it not as a delicate political balancing act, but as a potent tool to confront complicity in war crimes and expose the profound failures of existing international mechanisms in Gaza. Two vital contexts are important to understanding the significance of this report, considered a searing indictment of direct corporate involvement, not only in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, but Israel's overall settler-colonial project. First, in February 2020, following years of delay, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released a database that listed 112 companies involved in business activities within illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine. The database exposes several corporate giants – including Airbnb, Motorola Solutions, JCB, and Expedia – for helping Israel maintain its military occupation and apartheid. This event was particularly earth-shattering, considering the United Nations' consistent failure at reining in Israel, or holding accountable those who sustain its war crimes in Palestine. The database was an important step that allowed civil societies to mobilize around a specific set of priorities, thus pressuring corporations and individual governments to take morally guided positions. The effectiveness of that strategy was clearly detected through the exaggerated and angry reactions of the US and Israel. The US said it was an attempt by 'the discredited' Council 'to fuel economic retaliation,' while Israel called it a "shameful capitulation" to pressure. The Israeli genocide in Gaza, starting on October 7, 2023, however, served as a stark reminder of the utter failure of all existing UN mechanisms to achieve even the most modest expectations of feeding a starving population during a time of genocide. Tellingly, this was the same conclusion offered by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who, in September 2024, stated that the world had 'failed the people of Gaza.' This failure continued for many more months and was highlighted in the UN's inability to even manage the aid distribution in the Strip, entrusting the job to the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mercenary-run violent apparatus that has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians. Albanese herself, of course, had already reached a similar conclusion when, in November 2023, she confronted the international community for 'epically failing' to stop the war and to end the 'senseless slaughtering of innocent civilians.' Albanese's new report goes a step further, this time appealing to the whole of humanity to take a moral stance and to confront those who made the genocide possible. 'Commercial endeavors enabling and profiting from the obliteration of innocent people's lives must cease,' the report declares, pointedly demanding that 'corporate entities must refuse to be complicit in human rights violations and international crimes or be held to account.' According to the report, categories of complicity in the genocide are divided into arms manufacturers, tech firms, building and construction companies, extractive and service industries, banks, pension funds, insurers, universities, and charities. These include Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Amazon, Palantir, IBM, and even Danish shipping giant Maersk, among nearly 1,000 other firms. It was their collective technological know-how, machinery, and data collection that allowed Israel to kill, to date, over 57,000 and wound over 134,000 in Gaza, let alone maintain the apartheid regime in the West Bank. What Albanese's report tries to do is not merely name and shame Israel's genocide partners but to tell us, as civil society, that we now have a comprehensive frame of reference that would allow us to make responsible decisions, put pressure on, and hold accountable these corporate giants. 'The ongoing genocide has been a profitable venture,' Albanese writes, citing Israel's massive surge in military spending, estimated at 65 percent from 2023 to 2024 — reaching $46.5 billion. Israel's seemingly infinite military budget is a strange loop of money, originally provided by the US government, then recycled back through US corporations, thus spreading the wealth between governments, politicians, corporations, and numerous contractors. As bank accounts swell, more Palestinian bodies are piled up in morgues, mass graves, or are scattered in the streets of Jabaliya and Khan Yunis. This madness needs to stop, and, since the UN is incapable of stopping it, then individual governments, civil society organizations, and ordinary people must do the job, because the lives of Palestinians should be of far greater value than corporate profits and greed. - Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ' Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out'. His other books include 'My Father was a Freedom Fighter' and 'The Last Earth'. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is
RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
UN reports 798 deaths near Gaza aid hubs in six weeks
By Olivia Le Poidevin , Reuters A Palestinian mourner breaks in tears during the funeral procession of people reportedly killed while waiting for aid delivery, in Gaza City, on 3 July, 2025. Photo: Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP The United Nations rights office said it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near convoys run by other relief groups. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation. After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach the GHF's aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called its aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards. "(From 27 May) up until the seventh of July, we've recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," UN rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva. The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, told Reuters the UN figures were "false and misleading". It denies that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites. "The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid site have been linked to UN convoys," a GHF spokesperson said. "Ultimately, the solution is more aid. If the UN (and) other humanitarian groups would collaborate with us, we could end or significantly reduce these violent incidents." The Israeli army told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimise friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes. The OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) said it based its figures on sources such as information from hospitals in Gaza, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground. Most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs recorded by the OHCHR since 27 May were gunshot wounds, Shamdasani said. "We've raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food," she said. After the GHF assertion that the OHCHR figures are false and misleading, Shamdasani said: "It is not helpful to issue blanket dismissals of our concerns - what is needed is investigations into why people are being killed while trying to access aid." Israel has said its forces operate near the relief aid sites to prevent supplies falling into the hands of militants it has been fighting in the Gaza war triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on 7 October, 2023. The GHF said on Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities". There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies 21 months into Israel's military campaign in Gaza, during which much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced. - Reuters
