3 Oct 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Forty people have been arrested in Moscow during a gay pride rally. The rally, which took place on 1 October was one of the few gay rights events which had been approved by authorities. Participants in the rally found themselves faced with protesters, some of whom threw tomatoes at them. Authorities are trying to work out how many of those arrested were involved in the rally, and how many were trying to stop it. Attempts to hold gay pride marches in Russian cities in the past have been blocked by police, church activists and football fans. The arrests follow reports that Russia’s Arkhangelsk region has adopted a draft law banning all events promoting homosexuality, including Gay Pride marches.
20 Sep 2011 | Index Index, minipost
A new bill introducing stricter responsibility for online libel has been proposed by the head of United Russia political party. Alexander Mikhelson has introduced legislation on creating and spreading false information via the internet following online rumours that governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyeve, was found dead. Elsewhere in Russia, businessman and former millionaire Alexey Kozlov was released from prison. Kozlov was unjustly imprisoned in 2007 under trumped-up accusations, but his public popularity remained high due to his prison blog. Forbes.ru started its own version of the blog, covering other unjustly convicted businessmen.
24 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
Russian investigators have detained a former lieutenant police colonel as a suspect in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The campaigning reporter was openly critical of Russia’s involvement in Chechnya. According to the latest investigation, Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was offered cash to murder Politkovskaya, and he was a part of a group aiming to kill her, including Rustam Makhmudov. Makhmudov was arrested on 31 May for allegedly shooting Politkovskaya. There are also allegations that Pavlyucenkov used his position as lieutenant police colonel to monitor the movements of the journalist.
4 Aug 2011 | Index Index, minipost
40,000 copies of Izvestia Kaliningrada, a weekly published in Kaliningrad, Russia, were seized by regional governors on 29 July. Its editor was also detained for several hours at the Regional Centre for Combating Extremism. The edition, due to have been published on the eve of a visit by President Medvedev, contained an open letter to the Russian leader signed by more than 2,000 local residents calling for the regional government’s removal because several of its members were implicated in corruption. The head of the regional centre, Alexander Shelyakov, told the Interfax news agency that he intervened after being informed that the issue contained “extremist statements.” This is not a one-off event: on 4 July in St Petersburg of 90 per cent of the copies of the business weekly Kommersant Vlast were seized. The edition criticised the city’s governor Valentina Matviyenko.
