This draft legislation provides for further restrictions on freedom of assembly and strengthens the already restrictive provisions of the 2004 Law on demonstrations[1].
Indeed, article 5 of the bill provides that all persons with criminal or administrative convictions under the Law on the Fight Against Extremist Activities are banned from organising demonstrations. This provision is particularly worrying as this law has already been used to criminalise human rights activities and to sentence human rights defenders. For example, Mr. Stanislav Dmitrievski, Executive Director of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS), was convicted and sentenced to two-years of suspended imprisonment in February 2006 for “incitation to national hatred” in connection with his involvement in human rights.
Furthermore, under the proposed law, any person, non-governmental organisation, political party or religious organisation that has received a warning from the authorities under the above-mentioned law is banned from organising any demonstration for a period of six months.
Article 8 of the draft law increases the list of the places in which demonstrations are banned, in particular near to military camps or institutions.
Finally, article 12 of the bill would provides for the authorities to be able to ban any public demonstration during the period of two weeks either side of elections.
The Observatory considers that the adoption of this draft law would blatantly violate regional and international instruments on human rights that guarantee freedom of assembly, in particular the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Document of the Copenhagen Conference on Human Dimension of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998.
As a consequence, the Observatory urges the Duma to reject this bill, which is yet another attempt to clamp down on independent civil society, and calls upon the international community, in particular the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to take all necessary measures to ensure that the Russian Federation conforms, in all circumstances, to its international human rights commitments.
For further information, please contact:
OMCT : Delphine Reculeau, + 00 41 22 809 49 39
FIDH : Gael Grilhot, + 00 33 1 43 55 25 18
[1] See Observatory Annual Report 2004.