Complaints Fail To Deter Ombudsman

The number of complaints received by the ombudsman’s office has increased by 150 percent since Shishlov took office.

By Yekaterina Kravtsova

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: July 4, 2012 (Issue # 1716)

WWW.SHISHLOV.RU City ombudsman Alexander Shishlov.

City ombudsman Alexander Shishlov said the number of complaints the ombudsman’s office has received since he was elected in April has increased by 150 percent and is continuing to grow, but refuses to let this dishearten him.

“For me it is a sign that the ombudsman as a government body is becoming more popular in St. Petersburg,” Shishlov said at a press conference last week at which he outlined his plans for the future and shared his opinion on the most high-profile issues of human rights violations in the city. “My goal in this respect is to make it more responsive.”

The new ombudsman hopes to make closer cooperation with both government bodies and non-governmental human rights organizations a priority.

“Experience has shown that it is much faster and more effective to restore violated human rights when government bodies work together, provided that those in St. Petersburg cooperate with federal bodies as well. That is why one of my most pressing tasks is to establish collaboration with federal bodies,” Shishlov said.

He noted that new agreements with the city’s Public Prosecutor’s Office, Directorate of Internal Affairs, Federal Migration Service and Federal Penitentiary Service have already been reached.

“Our activity is not confined to working with complaints — we organize hotlines and conduct field checks with other bodies as well,” Shishlov said.

Shishlov has begun collaborating with non-governmental organizations by cooperating with the city’s Human Rights Council, which was established in 2007 after St. Petersburg’s first ombudsman, Igor Mikhailov, was elected.

“Relations between the Human Rights Council with the two previous ombudsmen were fairly complicated,” said Natalya Yevdokimova, secretary general of the Human Rights Council, who was also a potential candidate for the ombudsman post.

“As for the third ombudsman, Alexander Shishlov, he came to the council ready to cooperate from the very beginning. Despite some disputes within the council, we decided to cooperate as well,” she added.

One of Shishlov’s first initiatives was to work with Yevdokimova to organize meetings with those who had complained to the ombudsman. “We will conduct such meetings on a regular basis,” Shishlov said.

The ombudsman also had his say on what are seen as the most pressing issues, such as the draft bill that could ban organized rallies and marches from taking place on certain streets and squares in the city center.

“I don’t want to make strong judgements about this draft bill, but I consider it to be a forced action similar to the passing of the federal law on public demonstrations, which I don’t approve of. It contradicts the spirit of the constitution, which guarantees people the right to hold peaceful rallies,” said Shishlov.

In regard to the rights of the LGBT community, Shishlov said he had not received any complaints besides those associated with the issue of public demonstrations. One complaint he gave as an example was about the notorious incident in Petrovsky Park on May 17, when a group of people participating in a sanctioned LGBT-organized protest event were attacked and two protesters were assaulted by a man with a gun firing irritant fluid.

“There were complaints regarding this case, and they will continue to be received, but before we even received them I had expected they would come — I consider such extremist behavior to be unacceptable and those who think they can practice vigilante justice should be severely punished themselves,” Shishlov said.

“I was disappointed by the lack of a reaction from the police, and later discussed the question with the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs,” he added.

Discussion about the recently elected head of City Hall’s Culture Committee, Dmitry Meskhiyev, also appeared on the agenda, as many of those working in the cultural sphere have expressed their disagreement with his culture policies. Some have even accused him of violating people’s rights to have access to their country’s cultural heritage.

“I have no right to interfere in the activity of the executive bodies, but I will examine all of the emerging collisions that fall within the framework of my power,” said Shishlov. “If rights are being violated, I will appeal to the head of the Culture Committee.”

Regarding the reconstruction of the historical center — a topic that concerns many St. Petersburg residents — Shishlov believes there should be a more open discussion between residents and non-governmental organizations and City Hall in order to find new solutions to the dispute. “We need partners to resolve the issue — not only those interested in bringing up the issue, but those prepared to find a better solution,” he said.

Boris Pustyntsev, head of the non-governmental human rights organization Citizens’ Watch, said it was too early to appraise Shishlov’s work, but that there is a lot of potential for future cooperation.

“Up to this point we haven’t seen much noticeable activity from Shishlov, but for a long time we have known him to be an adherent of universal human values, and we hope for fruitful collaboration,” Pustyntsev said.

“We have already discussed possible ways to establish such cooperation, and now we all need to turn it into real practice.”

Pustyntsev said the new ombudsman should focus on areas including freedom of choice, freedom of speech and the correspondence of local laws to international standards.

“Specific activities that involve us collaborating with Shishlov should be decided according to what the challenges concerning human rights violations in our society are,” Pustyntsev said.