22 November 2007, 21:14
William Bowring, British human rights activist who defended the rights of Chechnya residents, deported from Russia
William Bowring, a British human rights activist, who stood for the interests of the residents of Chechnya at the European Court, has been turned out of Russia.
The "Kommersant" newspaper writes that Professor William Bowring arrived to Astrakhan on November 15 for participating in the seminar "Application Practice of the Code of Administrative Offences by Common Courts' Judges", organized by the Judicial Department of the Astrakhan Regional Court.
On November 17, employees of the passport and visa service checked up the Professor's documents at the "Victoria Palas" hotel and found out that instead of a business visa he had a tourist one in his passport. It served as a pretext for deporting the Briton from the country.
People from the FSB (Federal Security Bureau) have confirmed to the "Kommersant" that a routine passport check was conducted in all hotels, and William Bowring's deportation was caused by the violation of visa regulations. However, a source from law enforcement bodies has assured the newspaper that Mr Bowring "began hinting that we have dictator's regime here and so on, therefore, a decision was made to turn him out."
"The fact that Mr Bowring had a tourist visa gave grounds to the authorities, most likely, to insist that he stop lecturing rather than deport him from the country," Mikhail Tarantsov, Ombudsman for the Volgograd Region thinks. "The reason was sooner in his fame of human rights defender related also to 'Chechen' cases in Strasbourg and YUKOS cases."
For reference: William Bowring, Professor of the London Metropolitan University, is a coordinator of the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC). Besides, he is an expert of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, and also Senior Adviser on legal issues of the British Ministry for International Development.
