We see the protection of human and civil rights activists is a new field of our activity in the North Caucasus. It is our concern to give protection to people helping us in our mission. We are talking of tortures and other ways of exerting pressure on human rights activists in connection with his or her work, and violations while handling public demonstrations. Not only specific individuals, but also entire human rights NGOs are concerned here. Admittedly, the pressure on human rights activists and relevant NGOs is much tougher than elsewhere in the country. The pressure can be applied in many different ways. For instance, environmentalist Yevgeniy Vitishko was convicted for making property damage: he made a graffito on the fence of the region governer’s estate which is unlawfully built in a nature reserve. Another instance would be unlawful crackdown on demonstrations planned and organized by the NGOs.
NGOs have been continuously reporting that supremacy of law has been substantially neglected in the region. Regrettably, violations of law very often remain undocumented due to the ubiquitous atmosphere of fear. This was pointed out in the report for the Council of Europe from 2010: “continuous disappearances of opponents of the government and human rights activists, as a rule, still remain unpunished, and are not duly investigated”. That is why, like in cases concerning protection of women’s and children’s rights, we have to follow certain security regulations while applying to the European Court.