Subject: [CivilSoc] PRESS RELEASE: US Citizen Sues Krasnoyarsk Authorities for Return of Visa
From: Al Decie (agdecie@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Nov 16 2000 - 02:36:20 EST
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PRESS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kirill Polischuk
Norman DL Associates
Tel: 7-095-956-4040; Fax: 7-095-956-0548
E-mail: polishuk@norman.ru
Date: November 16, 2000
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US Citizen Sues Krasnoyarsk Authorities
for Return of Illegally Seized Visa
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Krasnoyarsk – Yesterday a lawyer representing U.S. citizen Albert G. Decie
filed a suit against the Krasnoyarsk authorities for the return of Mr.
Decie’s entry-exit visa. Decie’s visa was illegally seized on July 3, 2000.
A court date has been set for November 20, 2000.
On July 3rd, an inspector at the Krasnoyarsk Passport-Visa Services (OVIR)
invited Decie to OVIR’s office to show them his visa because, he said, they
could not read the visa number on their copy. When Decie arrived, Ms.
Valentina Karlova, director of OVIR, seized Decie’s visa on the basis of a
request from the Krasnoyarsk Krai Department for Taxes and Levies. At the
same time, the Krai tax department launched a probe into Decie’s personal
income tax payments.
Since July 3rd, Decie has not been able to leave Russia and return to his
family in the United States. All the while, Russian authorities have made
no charges or demands against him. For months, Decie, who’s 5 years of work
in Russia had come to an end a few days before his visa was seized, has had
his bags packed and has been staying at a friends apartment – just waiting
to return to his home in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
When seizing Decie’s visa, Karlova cited as justification the Russian law on
entry and exit into Russia. According to this law, OVIR may restrict a
foreigner’s departure from Russia if the Russian legal system determines
that he has not fulfilled his tax obligations.
Consulting with Moscow lawyers, Decie learned that the Krasnoyarsk
authorities had no legal authority to seize his visa. Before Decie’s visa
could be seized, the Russian courts were to determine if he had violated any
Russian law. This was not done in Decie’s case – the visa was simply taken.
The seizure of Decie’s visa violates the Russian constitution, the Russian
tax code and a December 1996 international agreement on civil and political
rights.
Decie’s request to Karlova, three months ago, for a legal explanation for
the visa seizure and for its prompt return have not been answered.
Resolution of Decie’s situation is further complicated by the reluctance of
Russian authorities to adhere to a 1992 US-Russia bilateral agreement on tax
exemptions for US technical assistance work in Russia. This agreement was
signed by both countries but not ratified by the Russian parliament. To
date, Russian authorities have given US technical assistance workers these
tax exemptions.
In August, the US Embassy said that “the information provided by Mr. Decie
to day to the tax authorities in Krasnoyarsk meets the threshold criteria
used in legally similar cases…The Embassy believes strongly that there
should exist no further impediments to concluding this case promptly and to
returning immediately the exit visa which was withdrawn from Mr. Decie.”
Decie, who had been working on grassroots democratic reform projects in
Siberia, says that he only wants the Russian authorities to adhere to
Russian law and international agreements. “For months behind closed doors
and through diplomatic channels,” Decie says, “we have asked Russian
authorities to follow the principles of rule of law. At this juncture, the
law suit against Krasnoyarsk authorities is the only way that I will be able
to return to my family.”
Kirill Polischuk, Decie’s Moscow legal counsel, says that “Russian
authorities had no right to take Decie’s visa before proving that he
violated the law. If authorities have pretenses against Mr. Decie then they
must act on them legally. Right now, my client is a hostage in Russia.”
Decie’s father, who has been working frantically for four months with family
and friends for the return of his son, says that "Personally, I hope he
never goes back again [to Russia]."
# # #
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