On 3 February 2012, the district police inspector carried out a search at the home of human rights defender Mrs Stefania Kulaeva, head of the Anti-Discrimination Centre 'Memorial' (ADC 'Memorial'), following a complaint that a brothel was operating at her address, lodged by the murderer of human rights defender Mr Nikolai Girenko. ADC 'Memorial' fights against racism and all forms of discrimination and conducts several projects to defend the rights of Russia's Roma population.

On 3 February 2012, Stefania Kulaeva's home was searched after the aforementioned complaint was lodged to the police of Saint-Petersburg by Mr Aleksei Voevodine, who was found guilty by Saint-Petersburg city court on 14 July 2011 of a number of racist attacks and murders, including the murder in June 2004 of ethnologist and human rights defender Nikolai Girenko at his home. He is currently serving a life sentence for these crimes. Of the 14 other members of the 'Borovikov-Voevodine' gang accused in the case of Nikolai Girenko's murder among other attacks and murders, two men were acquitted, and 12 convicted and given sentences ranging from two years to life imprisonment.

On the same day as the home search, another member of ADC 'Memorial', human rights defender Mr Philipp Kostenko, was badly beaten by two unidentified individuals in Saint-Petersburg. See Front Line Defenders' appeal dated 7 February 2012: http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/17305.

Stefania Kulaeva has been threatened by the 'Borovikov-Voevodine' gang on previous occasions: she has received threatening phone calls and her apartment door has been marked with swastikas. Moreover, during his interrogation as part of the investigation into the murder of Nikolai Girenko, Mr Prokhorenko, a member of the 'Borovikov-Voevodine' gang who was an accomplice of the crime, stated that the gang had been planning the murder of Stefania Kulaeva. He is now serving a life sentence, however this statement did not receive further attention under the investigation.

In light of the above information, Front Line Defender expresses concern that the complaint lodged by an individual serving a life sentence for the murder of a human rights defender is receiving the full attention of the Saint-Petersburg's police. The fact that this complaint contains the home address of Stefania Kulaeva is even more worrying as it constitutes a direct threat to her security and that of members of her family. Front Line Defenders believes that the search carried out at the home of Stefania Kulaeva is directly linked to her human rights work. Front Line Defenders is also seriously concerned for the security of Stefania Kulaeva and her family.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in the Russian Federation to:

1. Ensure that any investigation initiated on foot of the complaint lodged by Aleksei Voevodine is immediately closed, as Front Line Defenders believes that it is directly related to her human rights work;
2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Stefania Kulaeva and members of her family;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

addresses for action will be here shortly: http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/act