[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 131 (Tuesday, November 16, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1995-E1996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE CASE OF MIKHAIL TREPASHKIN

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 2004

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, there is reason to fear for the 
fate of rule of law in Russia. I want to present one relevant example.
  Mikhail Trepashkin, an attorney and former Federal Security Service, 
FSB, officer was arrested on October 24, 2003, a week before he was 
scheduled to represent in legal proceedings the relatives of one of the 
victims of a terrorist attack in Moscow. Mr. Trepashkin's American 
client is Tatyana Morozova of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In September 1999, 
Ms. Morozova's mother was killed and her sister barely survived the 
bombing of an apartment house in Moscow. Officially, the crime was 
blamed on Chechen separatists, but Mr. Trepashkin was expected to 
present the findings of his investigation which suggested involvement 
of elements of the FSB in the 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow as well 
as an aborted attempted bombing in the city of Ryazan.
  Mr. Trepashkin had been a consultant to the public commission set up 
by prominent human rights activist and former Duma Deputy Sergei 
Kovalev to investigate the 1999 bombings. The Kovalev commission asked 
many unpleasant questions but got precious few answers from the 
authorities. Meanwhile, in the course of his investigation Trepashkin 
discovered evidence that didn't track with the official version of the 
bombing incidents. This included events in Ryazan, where a bomb in an 
apartment basement was discovered by local police and safely detonated 
hours before it was due to explode. The two suspects in that case were 
released after presenting FSB identification documents. The whole 
incident was later declared a ``readiness exercise'' by Russian 
authorities.
  Several months later, the co-chairman of the Kovalev Commission, Duma 
Deputy Sergei Yushenkov, was assassinated in front of his home. Four 
persons were convicted of the murder. Another member of the Commission 
died of food poisoning in a hospital, another was severely beaten by 
thugs, and two members lost their seats in the Duma. The activities of 
the decimated commission came to an abrupt halt.
  A week before the October 24, 2003 trial opened, the police just 
happened to pull Trepashkin over on the highway, and just happened to 
find a revolver in his car. Trepashkin claims the gun was planted. 
Three weeks later, he was put on trial and sentenced to 4 years labor 
camp by a closed court for allegedly divulging state secrets to a 
foreign journalist.

  Mr. Speaker, I don't know all the details of this case, but it looks 
very much like Mr. Trepashkin was prosecuted in order to prevent him 
from releasing potentially damaging information regarding the 
activities of the FSB. The

[[Page E1996]]

U.S. State Department has commented diplomatically: ``The arrest and 
trial of Mikhail Trepashkin raised concerns about the undue influence 
of the FSB and arbitrary use of the judicial system.''
  Today Mr. Trepashkin is held in a Volokolamsk city jail in a 130-
square foot, lice-infested cell, which he shares with six other 
prisoners. He suffers from asthma but reportedly has been denied health 
care or even medicine. These arduous conditions may be retaliation for 
Mr. Trepashkin's filing a complaint to the European Court of Human 
Rights in Strasbourg.
  It is difficult to believe that President Putin, given his KGB and 
FSB background, is unaware of the controversy surrounding the bombing 
investigations and the possibility that elements of the security 
services were involved. He must realize that corruption and personal 
vendettas within the FSB are dangerous commodities not only for the 
people of Russia, but for an entire civilized world that relies on the 
combined efforts of the intelligence community in the war against 
terrorism.
  I urge President Putin to order a thorough and honest investigation 
of Mikhail Trepashkin's jailing and full cooperation with the Kovalev 
Commission. While the jury is still out on the 1999 bombings, 
persecution of those who want to find out the truth does not add to Mr. 
Putin's credibility among those in the West who so far have been 
willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

                          ____________________