Contact: Audrey Wood
Russia Program Associate for Campaigns
Pacific Environment
(415) 399-8850, ext. 311 – office
(610) 864-6824– mobile
awood@pacificenvironment.org

Police Raid Office of Siberian Environmental Watchdog

Local Investigators Enter Baikal Environmental Wave Office Without Warrant, Confiscate Computers, and Escort Staff to Prosecutor’s Office Under Spurious Charges

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 29, 2010 – Police raided the office of Russian environmental watchdog group Baikal Environmental Wave yesterday without a warrant authorizing a search. Six officers from the local Department of Internal Affairs Consumer Affairs and Counter-Extremism units arrived to shut down the office, citing suspicion that the organization was using pirated software and violating fire safety regulations.

Although the requisite software licenses were presented to officials for inspection, they refused to read the documents. Instead, the policemen proceeded to confiscate staff computers and internal documents. When staff blocked the door to prevent the officers from removing the computers without the applicable warrants, the environmental advocates were escorted to the prosecutor’s office under charges of obstructing justice.

The raid came just as Baikalsk mayor Valery Pintaev and several workers from the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill spoke at a press conference in Moscow thanking Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for granting permission to reopen the polluting plant. The Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill discharged toxic waste water directly into the decades, but of widespread public outcry finally resulted in the October 2008 decision forcing the plant to shut its doors – until this month.

Baikal Environmental Wave co-director Marina Rikhvanova, a 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, was not in the office when the police arrived and was thus able to notify the press on her way to answer questions.

“It is clear that the stated reason for investigating Baikal Environmental Wave was just an excuse,” Marina Rikhvanova said by phone today. “The real reason for taking our computers is to paralyze our organization and keep us from protesting the January 18 decision to reopen the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill.”

Baikal Environmental Wave plans to conduct a public rally on February 13 to protest the decision to reopen the mill. “We were preparing to submit a permit application on Friday. This investigation is meant to keep us quiet and stop our protests,” the organization’s director insists. “I believe it is also in response to our recent letters to the prosecutors office protesting the expansion of the Angarsk Integrated Electrolysis Chemical Plant, a uranium refinery near Baikal,” she continued.

The organization is well-known for efforts to protect Lake Baikal – the deepest lake in the world and home to 20% of the world’s fresh water. In addition to negotiations with local officials and public outreach campaigns, Baikal Environmental Wave organizes large public rallies to protest threats to the lake.

Employees of the Baikalsk Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant discovered two weeks ago that effluent from the Baikalsk mill, which has been testing its equipment since last month, is contaminating the town’s aquifers. As of yesterday, the mill has not taken any measures to eliminate the problem.

The Baikal Environmental Wave staff computers are still being held by investigators as of this morning, and the organization’s website has also been shut down. Ms. Rikhvanova is meeting with a lawyer today to discuss next steps; she plans to file a formal complaint with a higher authority.

About Pacific Environment

Pacific Environment is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco that protects the living environment of the Pacific Rim by promoting grassroots activism, strengthening communities and reforming international policies. For nearly two decades, we have partnered with local communities around the Pacific Rim to protect and preserve the ecological treasures of this vital region.  Visit www.pacificenvironment.org to learn more about our work.

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