Making changes together

We believe it is. Our lawyers carefully revise the appeals' content so that the authorities have no ground to put pressure on signees. A citizen has the right to apply to government agencies. The appeal may be oral, written or electronic, in the form of a proposal, statement or complaint. It may contain different requirements, for example, to conduct an inspection. Article 33 of the Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to apply personally, as well as to send individual and collective appeals to government and municipal agencies. This right is also guaranteed by the Federal Law "On the Procedure for Consideration of Appeals by Citizens of the Russian Federation".

Article 6 of the above law guarantees the safety of a citizen in connection with their appeal — it is forbidden to persecute the author even if their appeal contains criticism of the authorities. The fact that you have submitted an appeal is public information, but its content and your personal data may not be disclosed. There have been several known cases of defamation based on the appeals' content, but to be qualified as defamation the information has to be deliberately false. If an appeal contains a request for verification or for any action to be performed (as is the case with our appeals), it cannot be qualified as defamation.

The text of an appeal may only lead to prosecution if the signee intends to cause actual harm, rather than protect their rights. This hypothesis does not apply to a requirement to conduct an inspection.

We at OVD-Info believe that it is necessary to combat human rights' violations using all available legal methods. Sending complaints and appeals is one such mechanism, and it does work.

Even if the concerned agency only provides a pro forma response, it will still have to admit the perceived issue and address it through internal processes. And if the complaint is filed correctly, the response has to be provided. Even the pro forma response is more than just a text: behind it there are approvals, interdepartmental correspondence and a certain effort to clarify the essence of the issue raised. This requires considerable resource and thus complicates the work of government officials. Mass appeals make the issue visible. They show that what is happening is being monitored, and that violations will not go unnoticed. The more signatures there are, the harder it is to silence the issue. Pressure is growing, and sometimes this is what forces officials to resolve the issue in order to avoid repeated complaints. Violating human rights is becoming more difficult.

Collective action helps not just the cause, but also the members of the collective. When there are many of us, everyone's voice sounds louder. Your voice will help others feel that they are not alone.

Yes. According to Article 9 of the Federal Law "On the Procedure for Consideration of Appeals by Citizens of the Russian Federation", an appeal is subject to mandatory consideration, provided that it meets the established criteria (we assure these are met).

Under the law, a written appeal received by an agency is to be considered within 30 days from the date of its registration. In exceptional cases requiring additional information the deadline may be extended for another 30 days.

Some recipients of the appeals stopped accepting emails from the .com, .net, .rs, and .ua domains. At the moment, emails from other non-Russian addresses are accepted so you may try using any of those on a case-by-case basis.

If you don't have a conforming email address yet, a free mailbox may be created using the Proton Mail service — it's secure, and the appeals originated there are currently being accepted.

A confirmation link from the prosecutor's office's website will be sent to the email address you specified. It is mandatory that you use it. Without this, the appeal will not be accepted!

An email containing the link is usually being sent within 24 hours - sometimes later during the peak periods. If the confirmation link has not been received within a few days, you should try re-sending your appeal.

If your mailbox is not on any of .ru domains, it is possible that a recipient no longer accepts emails from those. In this case, consider using a different email address. If you don't have a conforming email address yet, a free mailbox may be created using the Proton Mail service — it's secure, and the appeals originated there are currently being accepted.

Even if you are not a Russian citizen, you may still submit an appeal through our "Dyatel" tool. Article 1 of the Federal Law "On the Procedure for Considering Appeals by Citizens of the Russian Federation" does state that the law regulates the submission of appeals by Russian citizens only. However, this does not mean that citizens of other countries are prohibited from submitting appeals—there is no such ban under the current legislation. Moreover, when submitting an appeal, your citizenship status is not subject to verification.

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"Dyatel" is not the only way to support those who face state pressure. We bring together people who need help and those who are ready to provide it and take action so that no one is left alone against the system.

"Vestochka" is a tool to be used if you want to write a message to someone who is being politically persecuted by the state. You may choose a specific recipient yourself by name, shared interests, or field of work, or, if you're not sure whom to write to, you may leave the choice to "Vestochka" and write to a random person in immediate need of your support.

"Zaodno" is a platform that allows direct money transfers to defendants in criminal cases under our care. "Zaodno" features the stories of specific individuals who have faced state pressure and are currently in need of your support.

More than 5,000 volunteers from 67 countries around the world work with us—and so can you! Follow the link to the volunteer bot to fill out the application form.

To learn about additional ways to help consult our Telegram bot "Drozd".

This platform was created and is being maintained by OVD-Info, an independent human rights media project. Its goal is to achieve the end of all politically motivated persecution in Russia.

You can support OVD-Info, the human rights project at the origin of this platform. Together, we can help many other projects and initiatives launch their own appeal and petition campaigns to bring about positive change.