The Cave-dwellers

In the Moscow Times, Joshua Rubenstein discusses Emma Gilligan's recent book Defending Human Rights in Russia: Sergei Kovalyov, Dissident and Human Rights Commissioner, 1969-2003. As Rubenstein notes,

The differences between the media's ability to cover the first and second Chechen wars tell us almost all we need to know about human rights in Russia today. A decade ago, Kovalyov and a team of activists could go to Grozny, witness the bombings and discuss their findings in Izvestia and on the then-liberal NTV television channel. While Kovalyov was roundly denounced by Russian nationalists, his principled, courageous efforts contributed to a ceasefire in 1995 and to the Khasavyurt peace treaty the following year.

Vladimir Putin learned from Kovalyov's breach. Ever since the outbreak of the second Chechen war in 1999, Russian reporters have been either systematically excluded from the region or arrested and assaulted en route to Grozny. Monday's court decision finding Sakharov Museum director Yury Samodurov guilty of inciting religious hatred with a provocative art exhibit only cemented the forces arrayed against activists who speak out against the war and other human rights abuses.It's ironic to think that the leader who initiated democratic reforms 20 years ago was an unelected Communist Party boss, when today an elected president strangles democracy and presides over an increasingly repressive state. As hard as Kovalyov and his colleagues worked, Russia failed to escape what Kovalyov calls its "cave-dwelling legal consciousness." Gilligan's book makes clear how hard he tried. Moscow may look like a normal European capital -- a tribute to the power of capitalism -- but the state of Russia's democracy reflects the renewed power of the KGB.