An initiative group for the organization of a Public Tribunal to investigate crimes against humanity in the Russian Federation was established on 6 March 2008. Its members include human rights advocates Ludmilla Alexeyeva, Valery Abramkin, Andrei Babushkin, Valery Borshchev, Lev Ponomarev, Yuri Samodurov, Mikhail Trepashkin, and Ernst Cherny. The first hearing by the Tribunal is slated for April. We offer the text of the declaration of the Initiative Group and a first draft of the Rules of Procedure of the Tribunal: