Support Russian Activists Calling for their Constitutional Rights

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Background Information:

On March 31, 2010, hundreds of protesters are expected to gather in Moscow and other Russian cities to exercise their right to freedom of assembly which, though guaranteed under Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, is often denied in practice to those critical of the current Russian government. The protests began in Moscow on July 31, 2009 and have spread to other cities, resulting in the detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters including prominent political leaders Eduard Limonov (leader of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) and co-founder of The Other Russia), Boris Nemtsov (former Prime Minister and co-founder of Solidarnost) and Garry Kasparov (co-founder of The Other Russia), as well as leading human rights activists like Lyudmila Alexeyeva (founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group), Oleg Orlov (chair of Memorial) and others.

The demonstrations are organized by a coalition of democratic opposition movements under the name of Strategy 31. In accordance with the law, Strategy 31 has applied to state authorities for permits to assemble before each demonstration. The Russian authorities have routinely denied permits for the requested times and locations, claiming that other activities had already been scheduled. Organizers claim that federal authorities are doing whatever they can to block the demonstrations.

Asserting the right to “gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches and pickets” has united political parties and individuals with a broad range of political views in defense of this fundamental political right. The mistreatment and detention of protesters by heavily armed riot police has generated concern and condemnation from the international community.

The number of protesters—and members of the security forces deployed to contain them—has increased at each rally. On January 31, several hundred protesters gathered at Triumfalnaya Square in downtown Moscow. The police arrived early in the morning with instructions to create a tight ring around the area. They installed metal gates to keep protesters out and surrounded the square with two dozen buses and trucks. Protesters said that it was virtually impossible to move. As many as one hundred protesters and by-standers were detained. Numerous activists were injured as they were dragged into buses by police in riot gear. This was the first rally attended by Boris Nemtsov who put ideological differences aside after seeing photos of Lyudmila Alexeyeva seized by OMON (counter-terrorism police) officers and dragged onto a bus at the December 31 rally. Alexeyeva was arrested again on January 31, as were Oleg Orlov, Lev Ponomarev (executive director of For Human Rights), Nemtsov and Limonov.

Rallies were held simultaneously in Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Omsk, Rostov-on-Don, Murmansk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk and St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg as many as 200 protesters attended. Forty-one were detained, including Andrei Dmitriyev, leader of the St. Petersburg NBP. He was charged with participation in an unsanctioned rally. Some of the demonstrators were beaten with truncheons and dragged into police buses. Dmitriyev said, “It’s an ongoing campaign, and we will come again and again until we win the right to assemble and speak freely in our own city without being detained by the OMON and police”.

A day after the demonstrations, a member of the OMON riot police published a letter to President Medvedev complaining that his battalion commander had ordered each officer to arrest no less than three demonstrators or lose bonuses and awards.

The New Year’s Eve demonstration in Moscow was attended by several hundred demonstrators as well. Many wore badges inscribed with “Article 31 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation,” including Alexeyeva, doyenne of the human rights movement, who was dressed as a snow maiden. She said, “the crush was terrible, because they (the police) had surrounded the whole Square, leaving a very narrow space.” Police started taking people away almost immediately and loaded them into the many buses that were available. Alexeyeva, arrested with 50 others protesters, declared that: “What happened on Triumphal Square today was really a disgrace for the city authorities and for the federal authorities… We’ll continue to fight for our own constitutional right to peaceful rallies, marches and demonstrations until the authorities recognize this right, not only on paper, but in reality.” Oleg Orlov was detained on the grounds that he was taking part in an unauthorized rally and shouting “Freedom!” and “Long Live Article 31 of the Constitution.” He said the police “seized people out of the crowd – those who held up placards, those who were shouting, or simply those they didn’t like the look of for some reason or other.”

At the October 31 rally in Moscow, in which more than fifty participants were arrested, Orlov said, “in order not to provoke arrests, organizers called participants not to bring any flags or banners or chant slogans.” He suggests that in order to find a “pretext” to make arrests, “members of Rossiya Molodaya (Young Russia), a Kremlin-aligned youth group, were used as provocateurs.” They brought flares, chanted slogans and distributed leaflets. They were arrested, but released without being charged. Limonov was charged for “disobeying police orders” and faced detention. Policeman and soldiers beat protesters as they were dragged into police vans.

As well as being a protected right in the Russian Constitution, freedom of assembly is also upheld by binding international human rights treaties of which the Russian Federation is a State Party. Article 11(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that “Everyone has the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly…” Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: “The rights of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety…”