Russia: Rights groups slam teenage trials

Anna Pavlikova is staring into space. The 18-year-old looks sad as she sits behind a high glass wall in a Moscow courtroom. A row of news cameras flash in front of her. She is surrounded by police, who brought her in handcuffed. Her lawyer, surrounded by papers, is on the other side of the thick glass.

Pavlikova, who works as an zookeeper, has been accused of helping found an extremist group called "New Greatness," a criminal offense in Russia. She could face a fine of up to 200,000 rubles (€2,500 $3,000) and as much as eight years in prison. She was 17 at the time of her arrest. In the five months since then, Pavlikova has spent her time in a prison cell or a prison hospital.

It was entrapment, defenders say

Anastasiya, Anna's older sister, insists the charges are absurd and baseless. She told DW that Anna's arrest was the result of an entrapment operation by the FSB, Russia's intelligence agency. Anna was meant to meet friends at a fast food restaurant in Moscow, Anastasiya said, where three men joined them.

One of them, named as Ruslan D., made increasingly extreme political statements, going as far as to come up with a political agenda. It later emerged that he and the two other men worked for the FSB. Their report and recordings are the only pieces of evidence against the defendant.

Of the 10 people who met at the fast food restaurant, local media report that four are in jail while six remain under house arrest. It is not clear why some were sent to jail and others weren't. Observers say it could come down to the particular judge presiding over each case.

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According to that theory, Anna Pavlikova was unlucky. Leading human rights lawyer Lev Ponomaryov told DW she faced an unusually strict judge. The executive director of the Russian nonprofit organization, For Human Rights, said Pavlikova is innocent, and he has been advising her family throughout the process.

NGOs concerned

The trial is an example of an arbitrary system, Ponomaryov said, and overstaffed security services looking for something to do to justify their positions. Ponomaryov is one of the most well-known human rights lawyers in Russia. He has worked with other high-profile activists in Russia such as opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, and the journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Both were murdered.

Ponomaryov's organization of 20 people has called for Pavlikova's immediate release, and a change.org petition demanding the same has garnered 136,000 signatures.

His and similar human rights organizations have kept the spotlight on Pavlikova's trial. A "mother's march" was held on Wednesday evening on Moscow's Pushkin Square, close to the Kremlin. Hundreds turned up, demanding Pavlikova's and the other teenagers' release.

Among the Kremlin's critics there is hope that public pressure will eventually force the state to release those held. Meanwhile, Pavlikova continues to face uncertainty, as her trial has been adjourned.