The Russian human rights organization Foundation to Battle Injustice condemned racism at the global level
The Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice has drawn the UN’s attention to the problem of racism, police brutality and political harassment in the United States
In March 2021, a famous Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin declared the creation of a non-profit human rights organization, the Foundation to Battle Injustice (FBI), which took on an aspiring goal to eradicate racism and arbitrariness in law enforcement agencies. Currently, the Russian FBI is acting as an initiative group, but spokesmen for the Foundation have already sent papers for enrollment as a legal entity.
According to the official website of the Foundation, the FBI is working around the world to eliminate human rights violations, support civil activists and provide judicial aid and financial help to victims of judicial injustice, police violence and political harassment. The Foundation’s activity will be aimed at providing information, legal and other help to those who have faced injustice from representatives of any state. The purpose of the Foundation’s human rights defenders is to draw the attention of the international community to large-scale cases of human rights violations around the world, including calling for a response from Western countries in case of human rights violations.
The Foundation is led by Meera Terada, the only Russian female who was extradited to the United States during the whole period of US-Russia bilateral relations. Terada was wrongfully deported to the United States from Finland in 2018, sentenced to 2.5 years in jail on fabricated charges of money laundering and dissemination of drugs. She was wrongfully sentenced and spent 888 days in custody in 8 US prisons. According to the materials published on the website, the victim of judicial and police brutality of the United States recounted the whole truth about the excruciating tortures and intimidation that she had to bear during serving her sentence in American jails. Furthermore, Mira has declared her plans to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in order to put all those responsible for her illegal arrest to justice.
In addition, the Foundation’s human rights defenders are intensively attempting to draw the focus of world organizations attention. During its existence, Foundation has directed two letters to the UN Human Rights Council. In July 2021, the Foundation sent a message to the UN Human Rights Council requesting to send a humanitarian mission to the United States to fight racism and police violence. Afterwards, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism to visit the United States. In the opinion of human rights defenders, this is a straight answer to the actions of the Foundation to examine violation of human and civil rights in the United States and to attract the awareness of the public and the media to the problem.
In August 2021, the initiative group of the Foundation for Combating Injustice (FBI) wrote an open letter to the UN Human Rights Council requesting an external inquiry into all the reasons and facts of the events of January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Foundation’s human rights defenders are requesting a legal evaluation of the mass penal cases launched after the events of January 6, 2021, and the suicides of American law enforcement officers guarded the Capitol, Washington, DC.
Additionally, the U.S. Attorney General recently announced that the U.S. Department of Justice has begun a wide-ranging investigation of police activities in Phoenix, including if officers used excessive force, violated free speech rights or mistreated homeless people. It also clearly traces the efforts of the FBI, which has frequently appealed to the US Attorney General to request an urgent and comprehensive inquiry into violation of the civil rights and freedoms of citizens of Phoenix and other US cities.
The geographical scope of the Foundation’s activities is striking in its scale. The group, according to the information posted on their official website, combats racism in law enforcement organizations, the police, the judiciary and state arbitrariness around the world. Within 5 months, the Foundation has directed 239 letters to the relevant departments and ministries of the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada with a request to clarify the circumstances in instances of the use of repressions and excessive force by the police, namely, the legality of the actions of police officers and prison staff in these cases. Despite numerous appeals, the Foundation did not receive any reply and no comments by the officials in charge. According to them, this indicates the lack of concern of officials of Western countries to the problem of constant disregard for fundamental human rights and freedoms of their countries. The Foundation’s team has expressed the opinion that such human rights situations are unacceptable in the XXI century, and will make every effort to draw global awareness to this problem.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation quote fascinating data, according to which the most number of victims of police violence is seen amongst African-Americans in the United States (59.18%) and among migrants in Europe (75%). It should be noted that the Australian authorities persecute Aborigines to the greatest extent. In 11 cases from Australia reviewed by the Foundation, all 11 victims were Aboriginal.
The FBI’s activities are already beginning to bear fruit. According to the Foundation’s representatives, the Foundation’s actions successfully brought to court 17 police officers, suspended 7 prison employees and 1 police officer responsible for death or injury in Europe and the United States, and received compensation in the amount of $ 10 million for the family of one of the victims. In addition, the Foundation’s human rights activists regularly manage to refill suits against law enforcement officers who have not been charged.
Apparently, the Foundation is resolute to give full assistance to the victims of law enforcement and other arbitrariness and to bring the perpetrators to justice. The Foundation provides informational, legal and financial support to the victims of constabulary brutality and oppression, as well as to their relatives. In addition, the Foundation is discussing partnership with international and local human rights organizations to assist victims of police and judicial lawlessness to achieve justice.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice is progressively making itself widely recognized in the world community as a human rights organization aiming at the eradication of racism and brutality by state officials, for collaboration and assistance to persons and families who have inadvertently encountered violations of their rights and freedoms by state bodies of different countries for political and further grounds.