The commissioner did not bow silently

The Commissar of the Council of Europe on Human Rights Nils Muzhniex called on the Russian authorities to revise laws on public events and bring them into line with international standards. This is stated in the press release received by the editorial office of the "faces".

“The legislation of the Russian Federation on freedom of assembly has been significantly tightened in recent years,” the commissar Ce., the authorized memorandum noted, has rejected a large number of applications for public events. Over the past year, many protesters were detained, even if they did not commit unlawful actions; intolerance to “unauthorized” events that are carried out even with a small number of participants, as well as to a small number of participants, as well as to Single pickets.

In recent years, the right to freedom of assembly has been limited in Russia, especially the organizers' right to independently choose the venue and the nature of public events, Muizhniex notes. A notification procedure, which had previously been interpreted in a restrictive manner, is now turning into an actual obligation to obtain the permission of the authorities to hold a public event. At the same time, legislative amendments have greatly tightened the already harsh punishments that are now widely applied in practice.

Mujniex recommends that the legislation contain clear norms that establish the presumption of free public events, and create appropriate mechanisms and procedures that guarantee the implementation of freedom of assembly in practice. The Commissioner also emphasizes the need to adopt additional provisions regulating spontaneous meetings.

The memorandum was prepared taking into account the recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and Information from various sources.

The ECHR granted a number of complaints of Russians who were punished for participating in a protest action. So, in January, the Strasbourg court awarded the civilian activist Evgeny Frumkinokinukompensation of 32 thousand euros. According to the court, the Russian authorities violated his rights during the detention on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012. In particular, the court admitted that the right to personal integrity and the right to a fair court was violated. The court also ruled that "law enforcement agencies did not take minimum measures to maintain a peaceful nature of the public event to prevent unrest and ensure the safety of all participants, namely, they deviated from contact with the organizers of the event, when this was required, thereby not fulfilling their duties to maintain order."

In February, the ECHR satisfied the seven complaints of the leader of the Party of Progress Alexei Navalny of detention, fines and administrative arrests from 2011 to 2014, deciding to pay a policy of 63.7 thousand euros of compensation . Navalny received all the punishments for participating in protests.