Arkhipov links attempt on him with his defence of rights of Matveevka residents in preparation for Sochi Olympiad

Today, at about 3 p.m., at the metro station "Culture Park-Ring" in Moscow, unidentified persons made an attempt on the life of Evgeniy Arkhipov, chairman of the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights. Mr Arkhipov is known for presenting the interests of Matveevka, a village near Moscow, which last autumn was in the centre of scandal in connection with preparations for 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

Today in the afternoon, in the station "Culture Park", two young men, aged 18-20, according to Arkhipov, entered the metro car. One of them was in a medical mask, the other - in a cap pulled down over his forehead and practically hiding the face. When the guys sat down close to Evgeniy Arkhipov, one of them took out a knife and aimed it in direction to lawyer's heart. However, one of the attackers noticed that Evgeniy was watching his movements, and he also saw a video camera. Then, with the words "Dangerous, no action!" he hide the knife.

Let us remind you that under preparation for the Olympiad the authorities plan to essentially broaden the Federal Highway ?4 "Don" that runs from Moscow to Sochi and to introduce toll lanes. The points for collecting fees were planned right near Matveevka village. The construction started last September; however, a couple of weeks later it was suspended because of mass discontent of the owners of land plots in Matveevka.

With the help of Evgeniy Arkhipov and his colleagues, an initiative group of land owners from Matveevka wrote an open letter to the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacque Rogge about violation of citizens' rights in the context of preparation for the Olympiad; they also asked to move the 2014 Winter Games outside Russia.

The reaction from the IOC's headquarters in Switzerland followed literally in a couple of days. Mr Rogge addressed Matveevka residents via his representatives and said that he was seriously concerned with the complaints arriving both from residents of Sochi and Matveevka villagers.

Lawyer Arkhipov, as well as his colleagues-human rights activists, believe that the incident has to do with his work on Matveevka. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the Association that now he spends all his time preparing documents for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on facts of violations of the rights and freedoms of the owners of land plots committed under the aegis of Olympiad-2014.

Members of the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights told that this attempt on Evgeniy's life was preceded by his persecution in June 2009, when the lawyer was forced to leave Russia for some time. Besides, in November 2009, an attempt was undertaken to deprive him of his lawyer's status. And quite recently - on January 22 - a notebook computer with all the materials on Matveevka, prepared for submission to the ICC, was stolen from the office of the Association.