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Boris Nemtsov at the World Economic Forum
Russia gets poor marks in general when it comes to human rights. Today, the group Human Rights Watch described the rights climate in the country as “deeply negative.” Various groups rank Russia amongst the worst in the world when it comes to freedom of the press, corruption and a transparent government. Lately, however, international observers and other rights groups have been focusing on other freedoms they feel are disappearing, such as the ability to demonstrate and the right to a fair trial.
Article 31 of Russia’s constitution guarantees citizens the right to rally in public places.
Russia, like many western countries, requires demonstrators to get approval before they’re allowed to protest. But unlike protesters in other countries, Russians who do receive permission to hit the streets are often arrested anyway. One prominent protester who wound up in jail recently is opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
“This action shows what does it mean police state,” Nemtsov said. “And I think such kind of actions are important to insist power to think about rules of law and constitution.”
Nemtsov spoke about his experience at the Foreign Policy Initiative in Washington, DC. He was arrested on New Year’s Eve for participating in a sanctioned demonstration near the Kremlin. Ironically he was participating in a monthly rally demonstrating for Article 31 of the constitution, the right to protest. Police maintain they didn’t arrest Nemtsov for asserting his rights. They say he was jailed for disobeying police orders.
A video posted on Nemtsov’s political party’s website shows the opposition leader being taken to an awaiting police van by five officers in riot gear. At one point one can hear Nemtsov, saying to the policemen, “Calm down, calm down!”
During the trial, the judge refused to allow videotape of Nemtsov’s arrest to be used as evidence in court. Nemtsov’s lawyer told Reuters news that the judge clearly sided with the government.
“It astonished us how easily the court used a variety of far-fetched arguments to deny the evidence of 13 people who were near Nemtsov and who saw everything during the rally. At the same time they accepted the evidence given by two policemen,” Nemtsov’s lawyer said.
Nemtsov’s lawyer and rights activists claim that if the judge would have allowed the videotape in court, everyone could have seen that Nemtsov was arrested for no reason. He was sentenced to and served 15 days in prison over the New Year’s holiday. Nemtsov said that wasn’t the first time he’d encountered unfair government reprisal for those who exercise their right to march on the streets.
“We have Russian Flag Day in August 22nd and we decided to carry a Russian flag on Arbat Street, this is the famous Moscow street. And after that police arrested everybody who carry a Russian flag, you know? Yeah, this is funny story but two guys were arrested for ten days. You know, we do not carry American flag, we carry the Russian flag.”
Despite Nemtsov’s negative experiences with Russia’s court system and police, Human Rights Watch Moscow Director, Anna Sevortian, said all hope shouldn’t be lost. She noted that Russians have the option to seek justice outside their country.
“They have access to the European Court of Human rights when they exhaust all their legal meanings and remedies within the Russian system. And that’s the great change of the last years. They’re very fortunate over the last ten years that they can access the European system of justice.”
And, Nemtsov’s lawyer took that advice to heart. He filed an appeal with the European Court — or ECHR — over his client’s arrest by the Moscow police, claiming he knew Nemstov would never get a fair trial in Russia.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov, about one hundred and twelve thousand cases are before the ECHR, some 30 thousand of them from Russia. Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has consistently promised to reform the country’s corrupt court system. Despite the European option and Medvedev’s promises, Nemtsov said he plans to continue taking his demands for freedom of assembly to the streets of Moscow.
“We have to continue… to protect constitution and to insist Kremlin and Putin to think that Russian people have rights.”
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