11 Jul 2012 | Russia
Last week the Russian parliament pushed through a bill that in its current form would brand non-profit organisations receiving funds from abroad as “foreign agents” and would require them to take part in a stringent reporting process. Opponents say the bill is part of a concerted campaign to stifle protests against President Vladimir Putin.
Index joins rights groups concerned that the amendments to Russian NGO law may limit the space for a vibrant civil society in the country. (more…)
6 Jul 2012 | Russia
Tens of people gathered near Moscow’s Tagansky Court on Wednesday to protest against the prosecution of members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot.
Three activists locked themselves in a cage near the court building and police struggled hard to unlock it and detain them “for taking part in an unsanctioned rally”. Six other activists were detained for having stood in the traffic area near the court. They later faced administrative charges for “breaking the rules of the rally organisation”.
Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Semutsevich have been accused of hooliganism for allegedly staging an anti-Putin performance in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
The court set a deadline for the women to acquaint themselves with the criminal case reading materials. They have until 9 July to read the volumes which, according to one of their their lawyers, Mark Feigin, “violates the defence’s righs to get prepared for the proceedings,” as they do not have enough time to read them. The trio announced a hunger-strike in protest.
Outside the court building people wore t-shirts with the band’s picture and white ribbons, a symbol of protest against Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian policy. Most of them told Index they did not believe their actions could influence Pussy Riot’s destiny, but nor could could staying silent
Russian intellectuals and artists have condemned Pussy Riot members’ persecution in an open letter, stating the criminal case “compromises the Russian judicial system” and “undermines the confidence in Russian authorities”. The letter was signed by notable directors, writers and actors, including Viktor Shenderovich, Dmitry Bykov, Chulpan Khamatova, Mikhail Zhvanetskty, Eldar Ryazanov.
Rock group Faith No More invited free Pussy Riot members to participate in their Moscow concert on 2 July, where the women asked to “support their sisters” and chanted out:
Russian rebellion. We do exist. Russian rebellion. Putin has pissed with fear.
However, the number of protesters near the court on 4 July did not exceed 300 people. One of them, notable Russian poet Lev Rubinshtein, told Index that in spite of international rights activists’ community concerns over Pussy Riot’s persecution, “most people in Russia are simply not aware of Pussy Riot case, or have heard the name and condemn the women without finding out the details.”
This lies in two things: censorship on Russian television prevents the public from understanding the Pussy Riot story in detail, and the lack of solidarity between activists in Moscow and other Russian cities prevents others from protesting against the group’s prosecution outside the capital.
27 Jun 2012 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A court in Turkey has sentenced a man with speech and hearing impairments to eight years in prison for spreading propaganda on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Mehmet Tahir Ilhan was sentenced after attending a demonstration in in April 2011. Following his involvement in the protest, Ihlan was also charged with “committing a crime on behalf of a terrorist organisation,” “resisting security forces” and “contravening the Law of Assembly and Demonstration”. Ilhan claimed he was not one of the protesters who threw stones and Molotov cocktails during the rally.
20 Jun 2012 | Russia
Russian investigators are planning to question 600 people accused of participating in clashes with police during an anti-Putin rally on 6 May. More than 1,200 people have already been interviewed, one of whom— Stepan Zimin — faces criminal charges for using force against policemen.
Russia Day — a national holiday on 12 June — was marked with mass protests against Vladimir Putin’s presidency. Up to 100,000 people condemned the persecution of opposition activists and demanded an end to it.
In the meantime State Duma passed a scandalous law, increasing fines for breaking rules relating to holding rallies and stipulating up to 200 hours of forced labour for rally organisers. Dozens of activists who protested against the law near Duma building were arrested, including Yabloko party leader Sergei Mitrokhin.
Just Russia and Communist Party deputies attempted to prevent United Russia, which has a majority in Duma, from passing the law talking out the bill: they slowly read aloud a number of amendments they proposed to the controversial law. But United Russia passed the law in the end, and the next morning it was approved by the upper house of Russia’s federal assembly – the Federation Council.
Senator Lyudmila Narusova — widow of prominent Russian politician and mentor of Putin, Anatoly Sobchak, and mother of well-known “it-girl” turned political activist Ksenia Sobchak — questioned the hasty approval of the law. She was the only senator who suggested that the law should be discussed.
The council’s speaker, Valentina Matvienko, told her “not to insult” the house. The only senator who voted against the law was Larisa Ponomareva, mother of opposition leader Ilya Ponomarev. The rest, according to Russian human rights activists, proved the council’s full dependence on the Kremlin.
Finally, the law was signed by president Vladimir Putin, despite recommendations from his human rights counsellor Mikhail Fedotov. Presidential council made a resolution stating the new law violates the Russian Constitution and a number of laws, as it criminalises the right for peaceful demonstrations. According to the resolution, the law stipulates punishments for deeds, which are defined very vaguely, and as such, any opposition leader is likely to be sentenced to forced labour or up to 300 000 roubles fine (about £6000).
The law came into force right before the 12 June rally, but no organisers were fined. Most of them — Sergei Udaltsov, Alexey Navalny, Ilya Yashin and Ksenia Sobchak — were searched by investigators instead because of their participation in the opposition.
