Yuly Andreyevich Rybakov (russian: link=no, Юлий Андреевич Рыбаков; born 25 February 1946) is a Russian
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
activist, a former member of the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
(1993–2003), a former Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights (2000–2003), the founder of the magazine "Terra incognita", a former political prisoner.
Biography
Rybakov was born in 1946 in
Mariinsk
Mariinsk (russian: link=no, Мариинск) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Kiya River (Ob River, Ob's drainage basin, basin), northeast of Kemerovo, t ...
, Kemerovo Oblast in Siberia, at a
camp for political prisoners, to a family of naval officers from Saint Petersburg. His parents were illegally purged. In 1974, Rybakov finished art school, college, and later studied at the
Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting.
He was arrested by the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
in 1976 for taking part in the dissident movement for human rights, as well as the distribution of
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...
's books, leaflets and creating slogans (such as the inscription on the wall of the bastion of the Czar's
Peter and Paul Fortress
The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...
: "you may crucify freedom, but the human soul knows no shackles"). He was arrested under the 70th ("anti-Soviet") article of the Criminal Code. Rybakov was convicted for a particularly daring act of "hooliganism" and embezzlement to six years imprisonment at a stronger prison regime. In 1982, he returned to Leningrad and studied law. In 1988, he became one of the organizers and leaders of the Leningrad branch of the
Democratic Union Party, which stated publicly its goal to eliminate the Communist Party's monopoly on power and establish democracy in Russia.
In 1990, he was elected to the Leningrad City Council, and organized the first state commission on human rights. In 1993, Rybakov was elected to the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
. After the death of
Galina Starovoytova
Galina Vasilyevna Starovoitova (russian: Гали́на Васи́льевна Старово́йтова; 17 May 1946, in Chelyabinsk – 20 November 1998, in Saint Petersburg) was a Soviet dissident, Russian politician and ethnographer known ...
, he headed the
Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia (Russian: Демократическая Россия, abbreviation: ДемРоссия ''DemRossiya'') was the generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communis ...
Party. He resigned as chairman in October 2000. In the same year, he was elected to the State Duma of III convocation. In March 2010, he signed an address of the Russian opposition, entitled
Putin Must Go
"Putin Must Go" () is a Russian website and public campaign organised for the collection of signatures to an open letter demanding the resignation of President of Russia, President (formerly Prime Minister of Russia, Prime Minister) Vladimir Put ...
.
Events in Budennovsk
In 1995, in the midst of
Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis
The Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis took place from 14 to 19 June 1995, when a group of 80 to 200 Chechen separatists led by Shamil Basayev attacked the southern Russian city of Budyonnovsk (pop. 60,000, often spelled Budennovsk), some ...
, Rybakov, together with the State Duma
Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Adamovich Kovalyov (also spelled Sergey Kovalev; russian: link=no, Сергей Адамович Ковалёв; 2 March 1930 – 9 August 2021) was a Russian human rights activist and politician. During the Soviet period he was a diss ...
and Viktor Kurochkin, on behalf of Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (russian: Ви́ктор Степа́нович Черномы́рдин, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Unio ...
negotiated with
Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev ( ce, Салман ВоӀ Шамиль ; russian: Шамиль Салманович Басаев; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006), also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a senior military commander in the Cheche ...
, who seized the hospital. The talks failed to agree on the release of most hostages – to ensure the safety of terrorists along with them on the buses back to Chechnya, only 140 volunteers were to go, including negotiators. In the village of Zandag, Rybakov was released along with the other hostages.
Advocacy of Human Rights
In 1990, Rybakov created the first Soviet Human Rights Commission. Member of the International Society for Human Rights, the editorial board of the journals "The Edge" and "Seeding" partnership "Free Culture".
During the
war in Chechnya from 1996–1999, Rybakov participated in the liberation of 2,500 servicemen who were in Chechen captivity.
From 2000 to 2003, he was chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
.
Since 2006, he was member of the
Yabloko
The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko) (russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossíyskaya obyedinyónnaya demokratícheskaya pártiya "Y ...
Party, co-chair the human rights group in the party Yabloko.
Since 2007, he has not been in a political party.
In June 2007, the "Human Rights Council of St. Petersburg" was formed, which included several human rights organizations and defenders such as Rybakov, Yuriy Nesterov, Natalia Evdokimova and Leonid Romankov.
«Правозащитный Совет Санкт-Петербурга» объединил представителей разных организаций
, 18 July 2007
Awards
* Order of Saint John
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
(Maltese Cross)
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Rybakov's website "Human rights" (Russian/English)
Law and Order – Terra incognita (Human Rights Almanac) (Russian)
Article on the book of memoirs "My Century" by Yuly Rybakov on "Novaya Gazeta" (Russian)
The "Soloveckii Stone" in St. Petersburg set up two artists (Russian/English)
* ttp://www.solovki.ca/events/stonepiter.php The "Soloveckii Stone" in St. Petersburg (Russian/English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rybakov, Yuly
1946 births
Living people
People from Kemerovo Oblast
Yabloko politicians
Russian activists
Russian activists against the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian dissidents
Russian human rights activists
Soviet dissidents
First convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
Second convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
Third convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)