From: MSN Nicknamestorsjoe  (Original Message)    Sent: 12/29/2007 1:40 AM

Well-known writers ask about conditional release of Stomakhin

The Russian PEN-Centre, the Russian branch of the PEN-Club writers' international human rights organization have petitioned about early conditional release of Boris Stomakhin, a publicist of the "Kavkaz-Centre" Chechen separatists' website, who was sentenced to 5 years of general custody colony for kindling interethnic enmity and extremism. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Elena Sannikova, a member of the group in defence of Stomakhin and former Soviet political prisoner.

In the letter to Yuri Kalinin, Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, published in the website Zaborisa.narod.ru, Andrei Bitov, President of the PEN-Centre, and Vice-Presidents Andrei Voznesenskiy and Fazil Iskander express their concern with the state of health of journalist Boris Stomakhin who is serving his term in the detachment for invalids of colony IK-4 located in the settlement of Burepolom of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region.

The writers state that Stomakhin suffers from cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Besides, the letter runs, the serious traumas inflicted to him at detention have made him an invalid who needs special treatment.

"In view of the fact that Boris Stomakhin was sentenced for his publicist activity, never committed any grave criminal offences, is not a socially-dangerous person and is not accused of any violations of the custody regime, we are hereby asking you to promote to his early conditional release, since he has already served one third of his punishment," the well-known Russian writers-human rights activists write to the head of Russian colonies and prisons.

Meanwhile, Alexei Golubev, Stomakhin's advocate, said that in November the Panel of the Moscow City Court considered and rejected a supervisory complaint of the defence against the verdict to the oppositional journalist.