On November 2, the Moscow Municipal Court pondered Rustam Muminov's complaint against the verdict of the Tver District Court that resulted in his deportation from Russia. The plaintiff himself was absent. The Moscow Municipal Court annulled the deportation order and demanded a new investigation. Muminov had been already deported from Russia on October 24 in utter violation of the acting legislation, when his appeal was not even contemplated.

This attempt to create at least an illusion of justice on the part of the Russian authorities is quite understandable. The day Muminov was deported to Uzbekistan where the authorities were all too eager lay their hands on him, the European Court for Human Rights appealed to Russia to suspend the procedure of deportation. The Russian authorities paid no attention.

The latest clumsy attempt to legalize the unlawful deportation is not the only effort to hush up the scandal. Mr. Laptev, Russian representative to the European Court for Human Rights, informed its Vice President Mr. K. Rozakis on November 1 that criminal proceedings had been pressed against the officials who deported Muminov (under Part 1 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code dealing with exceeding one's commission). Charges were pressed against some "unidentified" officials of Severny (one of the detention centers for foreigners in Moscow). Needless to say, it is going to be some scapegoats again. The Federal Security Service or FSB is not to be implicated. In the meantime, it was an FSB officer who accompanied the police team dispatched to the Civil Assistance office to arrest Muminov. ITAR-TASS and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported Muminov's deportation with references to the FSB PR Center. As long as deportation was a success, the FSB basked in praise and glory. When it turned out that the episode was an outrage from the standpoint of international standards that did nothing to improve the image of Russian justice, the gallant state security faded into the background.

No matter what Moscow and Strasbourg may be saying now, extrication of Muminov from the bearish hug of the Uzbek National Security Service is highly unlikely. Unless President Vladimir Putin decided to mend Russia's honor and asked his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov to return Muminov to Russia.

Novaya Gazeta, November 6, 2006