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officials say nato is breaking the un security council's arms involved also claiming to have intercepted a shipment of belgian made weapons from qatar on take the donkey level. up next spotlight north meets russian human rights activist and we have before his meeting with president medvedev and the coolness is discussing civil liberties and to terrorism stay with us either. hello and welcome to. the show on our take on the. prisoner. with human rights act this time it's taking place in the caucasus region of russia it's aimed at. contact between. rights

activists. but what else. we'll hear about it from the head of the presidential council it's. moving the council meeting out of moscow allows those involved to take a closer look at local problems because of complains of misunderstandings because as he says locals often speak with their hearts and officials with the red tape and regulations that's why he calls finding a common language crucial first. especially in such an unstable region as the russian tanks which. also think style is the only possible way to finding common ground because as he puts it when people they don't shoot.

thank you very much for being with us. regarding the upcoming meeting with the president why did you start these meetings out in the region. well by holding those meetings outside a mosque or you're not just meeting with the president but you also get to meet with the representatives of civil society in the corresponding region and learn about their ideas and problems and then to present those ideas to the president with those representatives can travel to moscow he they're interested in the meeting new well that's what we did last may. we invited representatives of numerous n.g.o.s from the north caucasus to come to moscow to meet with president medvedev moscow thought when you're in fact only two members of the council. in suitland and ganesh cannot but you are

a famous human rights activists were present at that meeting. is with other council members who weren't at that meeting with the president. at the stitches because again. here in berg on the contrary it was only council members that participated in the meeting with the president on february first. but prior to that meeting. we met with them there is representatives of civil society in the year old's school which is also it is possible to invite several people to moscow for a meeting with the council members that they were to buy new cities. which you can bring a whole full of people bringing several hundred people for a meeting with a total of only forty council members or would be strange to see what sort of q. and you couldn't get them all in moscow either because you can usually issue them

was certainly besides there is another very important point the way president made that it was in the crown when using a very different from the way he's say in your concern berg. could really. i had the opportunity to make this comparison. i don't know yet how our meeting instead of apollo is going to be well of course i hope it will be the same way. but i know that in your concern berg we had a lot more time for a free conversation with the president during our meetings in moscow but he said of him also you know the kremlin is very official and it makes people tense and nervous. there is something in the air. i believe something should be done about this place. perhaps transfer the country's

leadership somewhere outside of moscow. actually present in the dead of express this idea not longer goal he proposed moving government offices out of moscow. to think it is berg no just outside the city limits just build a satellite town for governmental officials somewhere outside moscow but then the road to moscow will always be jammed on the contrary there will be no traffic jams as officials will be staying in that town all the time. they will live and work there it sounds a lot like a leper colony you know i think it's rather like the city of london there's cradle london where people live in the city where there were so they keep these two things separate it's more like you have something similar. it would be great if it works are really alike there's a deal which in that this will create

a new environment new atmosphere. more new government. then the president's or worse events will reflect the president's ideas. which are we were like this idea. but when. then there was that let's go back to human rights you had a meeting in the north caucasus in june there was a meeting. and another one is coming up in its stead does this mean that the north caucasus is the most troublesome region of russia from the point of view of human rights. well i wouldn't put it this way. he said he wants to be closer to people in their problems certainly did this means they're all in the caucuses well prior to that we met in the euros does this mean that the urals region is the most troublesome no he treats and has its own human rights related problems which have to be resolved. this which is the reason we're going to

get carcasses is not just to tackle local problems after we're gone there to tackle russia's problems and in fact international problems. discussing the issue of civil societies involvement in fighting terrorism for example and terrorism unfortunately is an ailment over large number of countries today which. will also discuss the issue of civil societies involvement in consolidating the entire afaik and interstate harmony. busy issues are relevant not only in the north caucasus at the same problems exist for instance in the cold media or in boreal which is. the but i mean look at both the ship and in moscow. therefore these are not strictly the problems of the caucasus rather us these are the issues of the

entire russia. as i've said we are going into the caucuses such as it is very important for us first year to meet with the representatives of civil society there any other human rights activists in the region and then we meet with the president . we've had a meeting with civil society in douglas stan and today we are meeting with the president. also in the north caucasus. in the north caucuses human rights violations in even a violation. so the russian law are often justified by local traditions what do you think we should be colognes for local traditions or the russian law should be strictly applied throughout russia. well actually but this is one of the issues that we are going to discuss with the president. and with you when that mr pyne the shadow of our working group you know

we have thirteen working groups all together in our council and all of them have been working very actively each in its own area so there is this one group that works on developing ethno cultural communities. and professor emil pyne with harry now and expert on the ethnic policies he's ahead of his career by. so. mr pyne with we'll talk to the president in presenting his work in groups. on various problems in ways of resolving them. and you put stuff and he's working group has quite a number of experts including some specialists from the north caucasus which. says so mr pyne will tell the president. that relying on local traditions is actually

a good thing. it is not something bad is it. on prominent local leaders. or a tribal leaders old local clans is good. you know we often say that plans are terror both because it but when they were be say that we should always make it clear that what we actually mean is criminals clams mafia clans that we call every if it's just death family. there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. says that new head of the presidential council on civil society and human rights spotlight will be back shortly to break we'll continue this interview in less than a minute so stay with us they'll go. to

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we've got the future covered. cultures that so much are definitely there to give each musician on the market the united nations tribunals indicted some members of the lebanese shia movement hezbollah for the assassination of the former lebanese prime minister. welcome back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is me the thread on the presidential council on civil society and human rights this spring for the mission if you go to your meeting with the president scheduled for july fifth will be held as part of a project titled civil society for modernization of russia. is that true.

well actually it's not quite so because civil society for modernization of russia he's in fact a program for the council's visiting sessions while meetings with the president are in something different and they're simply our main form of work. i have a question there's a government project called civil society it's not a government project it was a no is it your project it is our project the councils project but if you meet the president and you somehow discuss this matter with him all of us perhaps including you have a feeling that it is mainly the government that is developing civil society in russia it is mostly the president and the prime minister who are promoting civil society am i right you see that so that is wrong. yes well yes yes of course it's true to some extent and naturally it's wrong. because naturally

civil society should grew up bottom. up. but if we wait for it to grow from the grassroots like in western europe say or in north america where civil society really brought a mob but that process took several centuries and we don't have the time for this natural growth in the mobile that's why we are trying in a sense to apply more than technology and accelerated look we don't like eating food produced by growth exhilarating technologies genetically modified products do we kill in this case is very important that they should be genetically modified in a proper way of course so that some really autonomy us and independent structures of civil society could emerge that they shouldn't be artificial organizations controlled by the state governments any governments create anything that it would

not control that well the state is not supposed to create these structures what the state should do is create conditions for these structures to emerge in the regions . is this you mean concerned this is our main task and we're absolutely not interested in creating artificial non-government organizations to please and i can tell you that we are preparing a surprise for our upcoming meeting with the president it's a bill on citizen oversight is a corner because you see we already have a number of laws related to citizen oversight including a law on public oversight commissions in prisons for example this law has been working for several years now and it is currently being revised if there is also a law on the public chambre it has also been working for several years in the new.

to be modified. but we don't have a framework law for all these forms of citizen oversight. for what is it that you want to money to or is it a premier law enforcement option not necessarily one about citizen oversight in the army. our council believes that we definitely need it. and there should be a citizen always always knew the new law and police does have some provisions about citizen all recite it but we don't have a framework law what that would define general principles of citizen all oversight and i was there so this is going to be our proposal to the president and if he accepts it then he will certainly draft this bill and i will submit it to the president. i have read that your counsel is about submit

a preliminary report on the need ski case what can you tease to disclose part of its conclusions have you seen the report yet you know i haven't seen it but i know that it's going to consist of three parts. one port will be devoted to the circumstances that led to the death of sydney mother meets in prison. there are questions related to medical care in prison whether a dead teenie can apply for medical examination and if he is seriously ill he should be in hospital rather than. moreover he should be in a regular hospital because a prison hospital may not always have the necessary conditions for treating his disease when the it's because you know there's a great variety of diseases and there are various clinics to treat them in

a prison can't have many different clinics that's simply impossible. so that's the first group of issues and actually serious progress has been achieved on this issue and i'm not to referring to the fact that some prison officials were fired they have also changed the regulations on keeping people in pretrial detention facilities. so that's the first part of their report. then the second poured concerns in the criminal case against magnitsky that was we're doing yoga little new deal with russia and you might guess that this is perhaps the most important part yes but there are important issues of whether the criminal case was initiated lawfully whether all the statutory requirements were observed during the criminal investigation and there are questions about the term of detention and

appeals and so forth at the. there are questions related to the investigation and the court rulings based on requests by investigators. so that's the second part and specialists in criminal procedure. dealt with this board it's hard for me to say anything about this as i'm not a specialist on criminal procedure and i'm not familiar with all the provisions of law that they refer to. and finally and the third board is about the allegations that actually led to this investigation the allegations that cause dean investigators to open a criminal case against. you mean that he accused them of corruption in the arrested him for that yes i'm referring to those relegations of corruption so that's the third part of the report that we're going to submit to the president. is

this report going to be what they call a bombshell should the media round up and get ready for a sensation. yes well i think that if our report says that the case was opened quite lawfully and the investigation was carried out by. captain charile absolutely cording to all the rules and regulations and that he was rendered all necessary medical assistance. then why make this report. then that would be a bombshell i see you're right. i think the public is expecting a different report and the report will be based on what the experts are saying not on what people are expecting to hear. one more question this one on the case within the next three months will produce an independent report on the second case

against you cause. why was it necessary to put fear an independent report does this mean you think the court's ruling was unjust. then why are you doing it's going to appear in independent reports. in each and every case we have talked i will instruct me editors to check every word you say you're welcome to do this you may check it i don't mind. you see some cases are high profile they get a lot of attention. it was so in some instances it is necessary to carry out a public examination of such cases. however we should take into account two points. first this is a non government initiative and second it is purely legal in other words we're not asking our experts if there is a political aspect to this case because otherwise these questions should be

addressed to political analysts not lawyers but that was the background and frankly i don't know how to conduct a political examination. i can't comprehend this. i do know how to carry out a legal examination as a legal expert myself so why do we think it is necessary. but first of all it was our initiative we told the president that we would like to carry out such a nongovernmental legal examination that this was during our meeting in your concern berg on the february first thing and then the president told us that since he was not an expert in criminal law because he's an expert in civil law and family law. he said he was not competent enough to best judgment on this situation.

he's just not a specialist in this part of the law. so he said i'm not a specialist in criminal law and criminal procedure so it would be interesting for me to know what experts in criminal law that any criminal procedure say about this case. so we found such specialists and actually not only from russia about half of them off from abroad including the united states canada the netherlands finland germany and many other countries all of them specialists in criminal law criminal procedure sation and so forth and what's important there are x. ports in russian law not that of their respective countries. so we hope that by early fall we will get older and conclusions and after that

you will pass them on to the president. we won't edit it down we won't make any conclusions instead of the experts when because it was we want this examination to be absolutely in. pendent when you would you ideally it should be taught only free from any kind of influence. and the experts who are taking part in that examination should confirm to us that they have nothing to do and have never had anything to do with a case of hot or coffee and love it as. so it will really be an absolutely independent examination of them because the school thank you very much just to remark that late yesterday was the shelf in the head of the presidential council on civil society and human and that's it for now. spotlight will be back

with more. comments on what's going on in and outside until then stay a party and take it as.

twenty years ago the largest country. to some to crazy to. what had been trying. to teach began a journey. where did it take them. close up jeanne has been to the republic of north ascension where half the area is occupied by nature preserve. this time our team goes to the region where men flock from all over the world to add a few centimeters to their self-confidence where young.