Strasbourg, 02.10.2012 – In its first full monitoring assessment in seven years, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has urged the newly-elected President Putin to “democratise the system” in Russia.

In a resolution based on a report by György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), the Assembly said Russia was “at a unique moment” in its short history of democratic development and needed concrete reforms to realise the potential of the “momentum for change” created by recent events, such as the mobilization of more than 100,000 citizens following recent elections, the awakening of a very engaged civil society and the willingness of the authorities to hear the call for reforms.

The Assembly said a number of laws introduced since December 2011, including amendments to the law on political parties, changes in the electoral law and the re-introduction of direct elections of governors, constituted “positive steps” and illustrated a will to liberalise the system and make it more inclusive.

However, other measures and decisions taken this year “raise serious concerns”, the parliamentarians said. Four laws adopted in June and July 2012 are particularly worrying: the laws on criminalisation of defamation and on the Internet, and amendments to the law on Assemblies and the law on NGOs. (more...)

Russian Federation and the Council of Europe