E/CN.4/1995/34/Add.1 page 4 5. The Russian Federation has only recently emerged from the Soviet period in which scant regard was paid to the rights of accused and convicted persons deprived of their liberty. In that period, the treatment accorded to persons detained because of their perceived political opposition or human rights activity was especially cruel. In this regard the Special Rapporteur wishes to pay homage to all those prisoners of conscience who suffered under that system and, in particular, to thank them for their extensive cooperation and support former prisoners of conscience Sergei Kovalev, Head of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights; Viacheslav Bakhmin, Head of the Directorate of International Humanitarian and Cultural Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Yuli Andreevitch Ribakov, Member of the State Duma from St. Petersburg; Valery Abramkin, Director of the Moscow Centre for Prison Reform; and Viktor Kogan-Yasni, Chairman of the Society "Right to Life" against the Death Penalty and Torture. 6. Since that period the human rights situation in the country has been transformed beyond recognition. There is real freedom of speech, political criticism, outspoken media and multiparty competition. After the set back of the 1993 attempted coup d’état and its ensuing repression, parliament was elected in a free, fully democratic election on the basis of a constitution adopted by popular referendum. There is a legal right to direct access to a lawyer immediately after detention in a police station. As indicated in the previous paragraph, many former victims of human rights violations are now in prominent public positions, hold posts of high official responsibility or are actively involved in the many non-governmental organizations that have flourished since the easing of Soviet systems of control under perestroika and glasnost and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. 7. The fairly sudden arrival of political freedom has also given rise to some manifestations of political irresponsibility, perhaps resulting partly from the absence of an entrenched culture of tolerant political activity, as well as the economic and social problems mentioned below. This has led to some growth in support for extremist political parties and leaders. Some of these advocate expansionist imperial policies abroad and repressive measures at home. If these policies were to be accompanied by effective power, there would be dire consequences for the human rights situation. 8. Hand in hand with political liberalization has gone extensive economic liberalization which has led to unemployment unmitigated by an effective social security net, serious decreases in many peoples’ standard of living, breathtaking inflation (slowly coming under control at the time of the Special Rapporteur’s mission) and a generalized sense of economic insecurity. While the Special Rapporteur was in the Russian Federation there occurred the collapse of the MMM investment enterprise in which thousands of persons who had invested their often hard-earned savings in what appeared to have been a get-rich-quick operation seemed likely to lose what wealth they had. 9. Attendant upon the political and economic instability, there has been a perceived crime wave of huge proportions. There is no end of talk expressing concern at organized crime and banditry, with violence used as a means of buttressing operations involving theft, fraud, embezzlement and the like. Some alleged economic "crime" may merely reflect an antipathy on the part of law enforcement agencies, schooled in the former anti-capitalist ideology, to