Posts Tagged ‘Russia’
July 20th, 2012
Three members of Russian punk group
Pussy Riot have had their detention extended by a further six months by a Moscow court,
reports say [ru]. Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Semutsevic will remain in jail until at least January 2013, with their detention already being extended from 24 June to late July. The trio were arrested in March and face charges of hooliganism for allegedly staging an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February. If convicted they face up to seven years in prison.
Pussy Riot spoke to us exclusively in May, read the interview here.
July 18th, 2012
A court in
Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, has
blocked [Ru] popular blogging platform LiveJournal after one page was accused of publishing “extremist” material. The ban, which will affect an estimated 60,000 Livejournal account holders in the region, and their readers, has been opposed by internet service providers and
Roskomnadzor, the federal telecommunications regulator.
July 13th, 2012
Russian parliamentarians have passed legislation that will establish a central register of banned websites. The new laws are ostensibly designed for child protection, but Andrei Soldatov says the real aim is to take control over the country’s burgeoning social networks
(more…)
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Tags: Tags: Andrei Soldatov, censorship, Facebook, free speech, internet, livejournal, Russia, social networks, Twitter, Vladimir Putin,
July 10th, 2012
Russia’s Wikipedia and LiveJournal
blacked out today to protest a draft law that would allow websites that promote drugs, suicide or contain contain porn or “extremist” materials to be blacklisted without judicial oversight. Activists fear the powers will be abused for political purposes.
Index on Censorship CEO Kirsty Hughes said today:
The Bill currently passing through the Duma is aimed squarely at clamping down on online dissent. The law will force ISPs to install filters at huge cost to prevent access to websites that the Communications Regulator deems “extremist”, with no judicial oversight. With Compromat.ru, a site exposing regime corruption targeted by the Moscow prosecutor last week, it’s clear that in Putin’s Russia freedom of expression is in decline.
July 10th, 2012
A draft law is set to create a digital blacklist of Russian websites which promote drugs or suicide or contain contain porn or “extremist” materials.
The draft law would allow websites to be blacklisted without judicial oversight — it merely requires law enforcement authorities to notify a hosting and/or telecom access provider. The provider then informs the website owner they must delete the controversial content, if the content is not removed within 24 hours the provider blocks not just the URL of the particular material but the whole website’s IP address and domain name. If the provider doesn’t block the website, it shares responsibility with the website’s owner.
Because it was composed by senior officials from the four major political parties, the draft law is likely to be passed quickly. The legislation’s authors insist it will protect children, but human rights activists see it as an attempt to censor a segment of the Russian internet and fear it will be used to threaten political protest.
Russian-language Wikipedia has been blocked in protest of the draft law
“As a rule limitations and censorship are imposed under the pretence of protecting children,” Andrei Soldatov, editor-in-chief of website Agentura.ru and an expert on Russia’s intelligence services told Index. “Hosting and telecom access providers will have to buy special blocking equipment, which can later be used anything the state wants to block.”
Russia’s Presidential Rights Council has published a brief analysis saying:
Legal users are likely to suffer mass blockings, because tough restrictions will be based on subjective criteria, which makes Russian jurisdiction highly unattractive for Internet business.
The councils experts went on to say:
The draft law doesn’t imply possibilities to review the decision about website’s URL and DNS blocking and to prove it wrong, so its difficult to interpret such blocking as anything, but actual censorship.
Ever since Vladimir Putin came to power extremism legislation, together with drug and defamation laws, have been used to silence the Kremlin’s critics. Human rights activists fear this new blacklist will also be abused for political purposes.
Activists see it as a third legislative response to the huge anti-Putin protests staged over recent months. Two other new laws passed since Putin’s return to the Presidency toughened fines for breaking the rules on holding rallies, and targeted NGOs that receive overseas financing.
The first hearing on the blacklist law will be held this week, it will provoke street protest but activists know they are unlikely to influence the Duma, lawmakers are also unmoved by a new UN resolution condemning attempts to limit freedom of expression on the internet.
Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive of Index on Censorship said:
The Bill currently passing through the Duma is aimed squarely at clamping down on online dissent. The law will force ISPs to install filters at huge cost to prevent access to websites that the Communications Regulator deems “extremist”, with no judicial oversight. With Compromat.ru, a site exposing regime corruption targeted by the Moscow prosecutor last week, it’s clear that in Putin’s Russia freedom of expression is in decline.
June 21st, 2012
A
Russian court has ruled that three members of political punk rock group Pussy Riot
will remain in prison until late July. The group of feminists performed an unauthorised “punk prayer” at the pulpit of Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral
in February, calling for the fall of Vladimir Putin. The court judge ruled that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich will remain in detention until 24 July while a police investigation continues. Outside the court, police detained at least five people as supporters of the band chanted anti-Kremlin songs, and clashed with Orthodox activists calling for the feminists “to repent.”
May 29th, 2012
A
Russian journalist has been hospitalised after being
stabbed 20 times. Sergei Aslanyan from Radio Mayak, was lured out of his house by an anonymous caller who invited him for a chat at around midnight. The former presenter on Echo Moskvy, Russia’s leading liberal radio station, was stabbed repeatedly in the chest, neck and arms. Local newspapers have suggested the attack was a result of a recent radio appearance, in which Aslanyan insulted the prophet Muhammad. The journalist remains in hospital, where his condition is believed to be stable.
May 15th, 2012
The Russian feminist collective tells Index’s Elena Vlasenko they will continue to speak out, in spite of arrests and harassment
A Moscow court has confirmed the legality of the pre-trial detention of alleged Pussy Riot members Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Semutsevich.
The women had appealed against the Tagansky court decision detaining them until 24 June — when they will face a criminal trial on charges of hooliganism for allegedly staging an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral in the run-up to recent presidential elections. But the court has turned down their appeal.
Two of the three accused Pussy Riot members are mothers of young children. The maximum sentence for their charges is seven years in prison.
Tolokonnikova, Alekhina and Samutsevich deny the allegations and are considered prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International and other leading human rights activists in Russia and abroad.
The women’s arrests triggered an emotional public discussion about the Orthodox church’s relationship with Russian authorities and society. Radical nationalist movement members have been preventing activists from protesting against Pussy Riot arrests. The Church, led by patriarch Kirill, who publically supports Vladimir Putin, performed a public prayer in April “against blasphemers”. Kirill’s support of the Pussy Riot prosecution has concerned many religious Russians, who have petitioned for the release of the women.
Pussy Riot members who have not yet been arrested are now in hiding and are difficult to reach. They gave this exclusive email interview to Index on Censorship.
– Did you expect these consequences — arrests, criminal proceedings, your supporters being beaten and insulted by radical nationalists — when you planned your cathedral performance? Would you repeat the performance if you knew how this would end?
– We didn’t expect the arrest. We are a women’s group which is forced to consume the ideas of patriarchal conservative society. We experience each process that happens in this society. Besides, we are a punk band, which can perform in any public place, especially one which is maintained through our taxes. That’s why we would definitely repeat our prayer. It was worth it: look at the awakened pluralism — political and religious!
– The state remains intolerant towards much artistic expression. What about broader Russian society?
– We are trying to educate society and will definitely take the importance of this process into account in our further actions. We expect people to at least look through Wikipedia after watching us on YouTube.
– What must you do now to avoid arrests?
– After Putin’s inauguration, just wearing a white ribbon on your clothes — a symbol of protest — has become a reason for arrest in Moscow. So we don’t wear them now.
– Will you continue performing? You said that anonymity helps you replace the band members in case they get arrested. Have many people offered to join you?
– Many people have expressed their wish to participate in our perfomances and we are planning them right now. We don’t consider the patriarch’s ignorant opinion and are not going to perform any protest songs against him personally.
– The Russian Orthodox church, according to notable human rights activists, has lost its right to establish moral standards after having severely condemned you, as did some intellectuals who preferred not to notice your persecution. Who, in your perspective, is likely to take their place?
– We think that one can learn moral values through literature, music and art, but definitely not in church. And as far as people are concerned, any human being who advocates humanistic ideas should support any prisoner who has lost her freedom because the authorities are afraid to give up their power.
