In a Memorandum published today, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, recommends that the Russian authorities thoroughly revise the country’s legal framework governing public events, in consultation with domestic human rights structures, so as to bring it in line with international standards.
“The Russian legislation on freedom of assembly has been made considerably more restrictive in recent years”, says the Commissioner. “As a result, the authorities have rejected a high number of requests to hold public assemblies.Over the past year, there have been many arrests of people participating in protests, even if they had not behaved unlawfully, as well as a growing intolerance towards “unauthorised” events involving small numbers of participants and even of single-person pickets. This runs counter to Russia’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and its own Constitution, which both enshrine the right to freedom of assembly.”
