Russia: Politically motivated searches follow new law restricting freedom of assembly Moscow, 11.06.12: ARTICLE 19 is concerned by reports of investigators and police searching the homes of high-profile opposition activists across Moscow today, 11 June, and the arrest of regional activists wanting to travel to Moscow for tomorrow’s opposition meeting, named the ‘March of Millions’. […]
Russia: Politically motivated searches follow new law restricting freedom of
assembly
Moscow, 11.06.12: ARTICLE 19 is concerned by reports of investigators
and police searching the homes of high-profile opposition activists
across Moscow today, 11 June, and the arrest of regional activists
wanting to travel to Moscow for tomorrow’s opposition meeting, named
the ‘March of Millions’.
The searches come in the wake of President Putin signing the Law on
Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations, Processions and Pickets, which
violates the right to freedom of assembly, as enshrined in Article 31
of the Russian Constitution and in international human rights law.
“Whilst the Russian authorities continue to arrest individuals during
and after peaceful meetings on politically motivated charges, lawmakers
have quickly moved forward to enshrine into law the repression of the
rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and of
association, and of peaceful protest,” said Dr Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE
19 Executive Director.
“President Putin has not followed the recommendations of his own
Council for Human Rights and has hastily signed this law into force,
turning the screws on those wanting to peacefully express their
discontent or opposition,” she added.
The searches have so far included the homes of blogger Aleksei
Navalnyi, activists Sergei Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin, and TV presenter
Kseniya Sobchack. None of their phones are being answered and are
reportedly switched off. The Investigative Committee under the
President posted on its website that it is conducting these searches as
part of its criminal investigation into the riots and violence against
government officials on 6 May in Moscow during mass protests.
Since President Putin was elected on 4 March, there has been an
increase in the repression of the rights to freedom of expression and
freedom of assembly, including demonstrations, artistic performances or
political activities. The situation has dramatically deteriorated
following the inauguration on 7 May 2012 of Vladimir Putin for his
third term in presidential office.
President Putin signed the Law on Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations,
Processions and Pickets together with amendments to the Code of
Administrative Offences on 9 June. It had been adopted by the State
Duma on 5 June and approved by the Federation Council on 6 June. An
expert analysis of the draft law that was presented to President Putin
on 7 June by the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human
Rights indicated serious flaws but was ignored.
The new law provides for excessive administrative fines of up to RUB
300,000 ($9,300) and includes vague terminology, such as ‘mass
simultaneous stay or movement’, ostensibly in an attempt to incorporate
new forms of protest, such as flash mobs or mass protest walks.
The introduction of excessive sanctions is a further sign of the
authorities wanting to enshrine into law repression of those peacefully
exercising the right to express their opinion in a public manner.
facebook icon [3]Find us on Facebook twitter icon [4]Follow us on
RSS icon [5]Follow our RSS feed mail icon [6]Forward to a friend
[7]Friend on Facebook
[8]Follow on Twitter
[9]Forward to a Friend
For press queries and interview requests, please contact the press
office:
T: +44 (0) 20 7324 2510
E: [10]pressteam@article19.org
M: +44 (0) 7515 828 939
Links:
3. http://article19.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=f2b5affbed&e=290a5d4aa5
4. http://www.twitter.com/article19org/
5. http://article19.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=7cab1a20bf&e=290a5d4aa5
6. http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=d73dfc5363&e=290a5d4aa5
7. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1448716238
8. http://www.twitter.com/article19org/
9. http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=d73dfc5363&e=290a5d4aa5
10. mailto:pressteam@article19.org
Like Russia: Politically motivated searches follow new law
restricting freedom of assembly on Facebook
Links:
1. http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=d73dfc5363&fblike=true&e=290a5d4aa5&socialproxy=http%3A%2F%2Fus2.campaign-archive2.com%2Fsocial-proxy%2Ffacebook-like%3Fu%3Dde9f45d125dffa47919a18815%26id%3Dd73dfc5363%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fus2.campaign-archive1.com%252F%253Fu%253Dde9f45d125dffa47919a18815%2526id%253Dd73dfc5363%26title%3DRussia%253A%2520Politically%2520motivated%2520searches%2520follow%2520new%2520law%2520restricting%2520freedom%2520of%2520assembly
share on Twitter
Links:
1. http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2FmDUyH&text=Russia%3A+Politically+motivated+searches+follow+new+law+restricting+freedom+of+assembly+via+%40article19org&count=none
About ARTICLE 19
ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works
globally to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It
takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which guarantees free speech.
[11]follow on Twitter
[12]friend on Facebook
[13]forward to a
friend
You are receiving this email because you signed up during an event or online and requested updates on freedom of expression and information.
Links:
11. http://www.twitter.com/article19org/
12. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1448716238
13. http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=d73dfc5363&e=290a5d4aa5
We can be contacted at:
ARTICLE 19
60 Farringdon Road
London, England EC1R 3GA
Tel: +44 20 7324 2500
Fax: +44 20 7490 0566
Email: info@article19.org
[14]Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a [15]Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Links:
14. http://article19.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=c1c6f10341&e=290a5d4aa5
15. http://article19.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=ac061dc2f9&e=290a5d4aa5
ARTICLE 19, Registered Charity no. 327421, a Company Limited by
Guarantee registered in England and Wales no. 2097222.
[16]unsubscribe from this list
[17]update subscription preferences
Links:
16. http://article19.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=c3bf82663f&e=290a5d4aa5&c=d73dfc5363
17. http://article19.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=de9f45d125dffa47919a18815&id=c3bf82663f&e=290a5d4aa5
Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser .
Russia: Politically motivated searches follow new law restricting freedom of assembly
Moscow, 11.06.12: ARTICLE 19 is concerned by reports of investigators and police searching the homes of high-profile opposition activists across Moscow today, 11 June, and the arrest of regional activists wanting to travel to Moscow for tomorrow’s opposition meeting, named the ‘March of Millions’.
The searches come in the wake of President Putin signing the Law on Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations, Processions and Pickets, which violates the right to freedom of assembly, as enshrined in Article 31 of the Russian Constitution and in international human rights law.
“Whilst the Russian authorities continue to arrest individuals during and after peaceful meetings on politically motivated charges, lawmakers have quickly moved forward to enshrine into law the repression of the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and of association, and of peaceful protest,” said Dr Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director.
“President Putin has not followed the recommendations of his own Council for Human Rights and has hastily signed this law into force, turning the screws on those wanting to peacefully express their discontent or opposition,” she added.
The searches have so far included the homes of blogger Aleksei Navalnyi, activists Sergei Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin, and TV presenter Kseniya Sobchack. None of their phones are being answered and are reportedly switched off. The Investigative Committee under the President posted on its website that it is conducting these searches as part of its criminal investigation into the riots and violence against government officials on 6 May in Moscow during mass protests.
Since President Putin was elected on 4 March, there has been an increase in the repression of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, including demonstrations, artistic performances or political activities. The situation has dramatically deteriorated following the inauguration on 7 May 2012 of Vladimir Putin for his third term in presidential office.
President Putin signed the Law on Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations, Processions and Pickets together with amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences on 9 June. It had been adopted by the State Duma on 5 June and approved by the Federation Council on 6 June. An expert analysis of the draft law that was presented to President Putin on 7 June by the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights indicated serious flaws but was ignored.
The new law provides for excessive administrative fines of up to RUB 300,000 ($9,300) and includes vague terminology, such as ‘mass simultaneous stay or movement’, ostensibly in an attempt to incorporate new forms of protest, such as flash mobs or mass protest walks.
The introduction of excessive sanctions is a further sign of the authorities wanting to enshrine into law repression of those peacefully exercising the right to express their opinion in a public manner.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow our RSS feed
Forward to a friend
Friend on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Forward to a Friend
For press queries and interview requests, please contact the press office:
T: +44 (0) 20 7324 2510
E: pressteam@article19.org
M: +44 (0) 7515 828 939
About ARTICLE 19
ARTICLE 19 is an independent human rights organisation that works globally to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression. It takes its name from Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees free speech.
follow on Twitter
friend on Facebook
forward to a friend
You are receiving this email because you signed up during an event or online and requested updates on freedom of expression and information.
We can be contacted at:
ARTICLE 19 60 Farringdon Road London , England
EC1R 3GA United Kingdom Add us to your address book
Tel: +44 20 7324 2500
Fax: +44 20 7490 0566
Email: info@article19.org
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License .
ARTICLE 19, Registered Charity no. 327421, a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales no. 2097222.
unsubscribe from this list
update subscription preferences
