(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm, Opinion Page Editor – July 26, 2013) All autocracies have two things in common: They exaggerate the threats they face from leading opposition figures and take extreme, repressive measures to limit or remove those threats. Russia is certainly no exception, and the trial and conviction of opposition leader Alexei Navalny is a case […]
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(Interfax – July 25, 2013) The Thursday resolution by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding a complaint lodged by Yukos ex-CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev should prompt the Russian authorities to annul their first conviction. “The court recognized a violation of [the right to] a fair trial. The conviction should be annulled,” Khodorkovsky’s […]
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(Interfax – July 23, 2013) Russia’s business ombudsman Boris Titov, who proposed the idea of economic amnesty, has said that it is difficult to grant it now to opposition leader Aleksey Navalnyy and former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovskiy from the legal standpoint. Titov said this at a news conference in Moscow on 23 July, as reported by Russian news agency […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 23, 2013) The trial of the alleged murderers of Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya that is starting on Wednesday will be “patently illegitimate,” the journalist’s son and daughter said on Tuesday, refusing to attend the trial. “In our absence and that of our lawyers, the judge began to select jurors and approved the jury,” Ilya Politkovsky […]
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Subject: Call for Nominations Klebnikov Fellowship Program From: The Paul Klebnikov Fellowship at the Harriman Institute <lch2111@columbia.edu> Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 Columbia University Harriman Institute Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies Dear Friends and Colleagues, We write to ask for your help in identifying extraordinary candidates for the Harriman Institute’s Paul Klebnikov Russian Civil Society Fellowship for the 2013/14 […]
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(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan, Editor and Correspondent at themoscownews.com – July 22, 2013) For all the Byzantine intrigue behind the decision to let opposition blogger Alexei Navalny go free pending appeals, I was sincerely glad for him, his family and his supporters. Last Thursday’s ruling, which slapped Navalny with a five-year term in a penal colony, brutally wiped out […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 23, 2013) Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s participation in the Moscow mayoral elections will enhance their legitimacy, although no one thinks Navalny will win, political analysts said. “Navalny will definitely lose in an honest game,” Konstantin Kostin, chairman of the Civil Society Development Foundation, said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. The front-runner, Sergei Sobyanin, […]
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(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Kristen Blyth – July 22, 2013) Even for Muscovites who aren’t very much into politics, the September mayoral elections are about to get interesting. The surprising five-year sentence for opposition candidate Alexei Navalny – and the equally shocking decision to free him the very next day pending appeal – has both exacerbated political […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ksenia Galouchko & Vladimir Kuznetsov – July 22, 2013) The conviction of Alexey Navalny, a political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, highlights risks faced by investors as they weigh whether to buy assets in the world’s biggest energy exporter. Russia, which earned about $350 billion from oil and gas exports last year, has a Baa1 […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 19, 2013) Moscow Bar Association President Henri Reznik has called the release of opposition activist Alexei Navalny from custody with travel restrictions the day after his incarceration unprecedented. “I must tell you I cannot recall a similar situation. I cannot remember a single case of a prosecutors’ objection to the measures chosen by a court after […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 22, 2013) The Kremlin’s spokesman on Monday said President Vladimir Putin had played no role in opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s sudden release from jail last week. Navalny, who is running for mayor of Moscow, was taken into custody Thursday upon being sentenced to five years in prison for masterminding a 2009 embezzlement scheme that […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko & Oleg Sukhov – July 22, 2013) Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, unexpectedly freed by a Kirov court a day after being jailed on embezzlement charges, got a hero’s welcome from hundreds of supporters when his train arrived in Moscow over the weekend, and he immediately announced that he would pursue his long-shot bid […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – July 18, 2013) Opposition politician and anticorruption blogger Aleksei Navalny got all the press during the nearly four months of his trial. But he was not alone in the dock, as he took pains to point out during his closing remarks on July 5. “First, I would like to take this opportunity to […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – July 19, 2013) The Kremlin was hit with what is like to be a serious of extremely expensive bills following the conviction of opposition blogger Alexei Navalny to five years in jail on corruption charges by a court in Kirov on July 19. Russia’s stock market tanked as the […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Irina Filatova – July 19, 2013) The Russian stock market reacted pessimistically Thursday following the ruling of a regional court that sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny to five years in prison for embezzlement. The sentence is widely believed to be another blow to Russia’s image and is likely to result in an a more dramatic […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, July 18, 2013) Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin hopes that the appeal will lead to a serious change in the sentence given to opposition activist Aleksey Navalnyy, whom a court in Kirov jailed for five years. “I have no right to comment on the political aspect of the events. However, there will, most likely, be an […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) Gleb Pavlovsky, a political analyst and head of the Efficient Politics Foundation, considers opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s conviction a mistake and believes this will only cause his popularity to grow. “Navalny made a lot of mistakes in the past. But in the past month, during the trial, Navalny has behaved very correctly, politically speaking. […]
» Read more(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) The Russian opposition will try to take advantage of Alexei Navalny’s conviction in pursuing its political ends, but protests against this will not be very significant, says Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst and a member of the Public Chamber. “Some actions have been prepared and will be held, but they will be very […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) Russian public figures and foreign diplomats on Thursday weighed in on the five-year jail sentence handed down to anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny, with opinions ranging from grim pessimism among liberals and “disappointment” from the U.S. ambassador to mixed forecasts by economic analysts and claims of a fair trial by pro-Kremlin pundits. – […]
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(RIA Novosti, The Moscow News – themoscownews.com – July 18, 2013) Russia’s stock market fell sharply on Thursday according to Moscow Exchange data, after investors took in the news that opposition blogger Alexei Navalny had been found guilty in a controversial fraud trial and sentenced to five years in jail. The court in the city of Kirov, about 900 kilometers […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigning blogger who was handed a five-year-jail term on Thursday, is to withdraw his candidacy for the upcoming election for Moscow mayor, his campaign office said. Navalny’s campaign office will proceed with canceling his registration for the early Moscow mayoral vote, scheduled for September 8, […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) The sentence of opposition activist Alexei Navalny is affecting the interests of small and middle-sized businesses and will lead to the outflow of young lawyers and businessmen from Russia, leader of the Civil Platform party Mikhail Prokhorov said. “The sentence passed on Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov is not just a sentence to the […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) The Russian presidential Human Rights Council will conduct an independent public analysis of the criminal case in which a Kirov court sentenced opposition activist Alexei Navalny to five years in prison on Thursday. “I have already talked with a number of Council members. I believe the Council will decide to arrange a public legal […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 18, 2013) Russian senators said they proposed waiting for a superior court ruling on the case of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, sentenced in Kirov to five years, and that if there was a political component in the trial, then only that Navalny’s violations had been checked in priority. “It is not a fact that superior agencies […]
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(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, July 17, 2013) Vladimir Putin’s “restorationist policy” is rapidly leading Russia to the abyss of a new totalitarianism, one in which political repression will spread across the entire society claiming ever new victims and ultimately Putin and his entourage as well, according to Vladimir Pastukhov, one of the most brilliant analysts of […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Jason Corcoran & Henry Meyer – July 17, 2013) Alexey Navalny faces possible imprisonment tomorrow in the highest-profile case against a critic of President Vladimir Putin since the prosecution of former oil billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky. A judge in Kirov, 900 kilometers (560 miles) northeast of Moscow, will rule on charges that Navalny defrauded state-owned timber company […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 15, 2013) Russia’s Investigative Committee has denied allegations that the investigation of the 2009 assassination of Chechen human rights activist Natalya Estemirova has stalled and reiterated that, contrary to what is claimed by rights defenders, it sees militant Akhazur Bashayev as the primary suspect in the case. Investigations into Estemirova’s murder “have never been suspended” and […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 15, 2013) The Russian voter rights movement Golos (Voice) said it counted on receiving 14 million rubles from the state budget for its program whose aim is to increase public confidence in elections. “We have drafted a project, which is aimed at increasing society’s trust in the voting infrastructure and have written an application, which we […]
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(Interfax – July 12, 2013) Aleksey Pushkov, chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, has warned against “whipping up” tension in relations between Russia and the USA, commenting on reports that Washington is planning to expand the Magnitskiy list after a court in Moscow found the late lawyer, Sergey Magnitskiy, and the head of the Hermitage Capital Management fund, […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 12, 2013) The head of the Kremlin’s human rights council on Friday harshly criticized Russia’s lower chamber of parliament, the State Duma, for being too hasty in passing legislation. “The State Duma is currently approving bills in vast quantities. Recently, 56 laws were adopted at once,” Mikhail Fedotov told Russia’s Public Chamber, a regulatory body […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 12, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged Washington to stow plans for an extended Magnitsky List and warned it would react sternly, given the rights abuses the United States is committing globally. “We urged the U.S. administration to demonstrate wisdom and not to take steps that would spoil the atmosphere of bilateral relations,” Russian Foreign […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 11, 2013) British investment fund Hermitage Capital has attacked Thursday’s posthumous conviction of its lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and in absentia conviction of its chief executive William Browder. “This trial reflects the authorities’ disrespect for fundamental international legal values and personal rights and freedoms,” Hermitage said in a statement made available to Interfax. Moscow’s Tverskoi Court convicted […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – July 11, 2013) During the Second Chechen War, witnesses described Chechnya’s Chernokozovo prison as a place where suspected Chechen rebels were tortured until their relatives paid a bribe sufficient for their release. Prisoners arriving at the facility were greeted with the phrase “Welcome to hell” and subsequently forced to undergo a series […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. July 10, 2013) The Russian human rights and educational society Memorial has dismissed Prosecutor General Yury Chaika’s statement that Memorial has set up a ramified structure in order to evade registration as a foreign agent. “Memorial (branches) emerged in many cities and consolidated into one organization on its own, and it had nothing to do with those […]
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(Interfax – July 9, 2013) Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, has said he hopes the controversy over Russia’s “foreign agent” NGO law will subside if the legislation is amended to clearly distinguish between organizations engaged in political activity and those working on social issues, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 9 July.(1) “Everything depends on which amendments are […]
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(Interfax – July 9, 2013) Russian veteran human rights defender, Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) head Lyudmila Alexeyeva has supported the British ban on 60 Russians on the Magnitsky List from entering the UK. “Certainly, I would like people involved in the Magnitsky case to be punished here, in Russia. That would have displayed our wish to become a democracy, put […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, July 5, 2013) A former tax inspector included on a draft version of the Magnitsky List of Russian officials banned from the United States for human rights abuses has become a suspect for Russian investigators looking into a huge tax scam, Kommersant newspaper reported Friday. Olga Tsymai, a former employee of the Federal Tax Service, […]
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(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – July 2, 2013) In June, former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, co-leader of the Republican Party of RussiaPeople’s Freedom Party (RPRPARNAS), visited the United States. In an interview with IMR Advisor Olga Khvostunova, Kasyanov discussed the opposition’s plans for the new political season and shared his views on the situation in Russia. Recent […]
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(RIA Novosti – July 4, 2013) Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeniy Urlashov has pleaded not guilty to charges of extorting a bribe, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on 4 July. He made the statement at a court session that had been convened to decide whether to keep him in custody. Urlashov, who belongs to Mikhail Prokhorov’s Civil Platform opposition party, […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – July 5, 2013) Investigators officially charged Yaroslavl Mayor Yevgeny Urlashov and a group of his subordinates with attempted bribery Thursday as members of the Kremlin human rights council met to discuss the case, which Urlashov’s supporters say they suspect has been fabricated by his political enemies. But members of the council, generally […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW,. July 3, 2013) The defense team of Hermitage Capital’s auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a detention facility, said that a guilty verdict within the framework of the trial in absentia of Magnitsky was needed to justify his death. “The trial is needed just for this – to tell the entire world – here, look, the court […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 2, 2013) Russian human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said he expected the economic amnesty, declared by the Russian State Duma on Tuesday, to have positive effect. “Any amnesty of not very serious criminals is a positive deed. I welcome this amnesty,” Lukin told Interfax on Tuesday. “Arguments on how wide and deep the amnesty is are […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 2, 2013) Russia’s oldest human rights activist, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva said she criticized the economic amnesty declared by the Russian State Duma on Tuesday. “The obligation to repay damages undercuts this entire amnesty. This is a fly in the ointment,” Alexeyeva told Interfax on Tuesday. “If a person indeed did steal, […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, July 1, 2013) The presidential council for human rights (CHR), having examined the situation with the eviction of members of the movement For Human Rights from their office, has urged the head of state to take measures to protect non-commercial organizations (NGOs) in cases of this kind. “Considering this conflict in the general context of current tasks […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – July 1, 2013) The Movement For Human Rights is among dozens of organizations teetering on the brink of a shutdown for protesting new legislation on NGOs and the first one that authorities have evicted by force. Lev Ponomarev, a 71-year-old human rights activist, is going through a hard time […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 27, 2013) Moscow prosecutors have launched a probe into Saturday’s eviction of a Russian human rights organization from its office, a Moscow deputy prosecutor said on Wednesday. “The city’s prosecutor instructed to probe actions by Moscow Mayor’s office officials and by police officers,” Moscow First Deputy Prosecutor Alexander Kozlov said, adding that prosecutors would also […]
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(RIA Novosti – June 27, 2013) Most Russians polled by the Levada Center stated that they are not afraid of any abuse of power by the government, world wars or natural catastrophes. Most respondents are, however, worried about the country’s future. The poll conducted by the Levada Center shows that Russians do not fear mass repressions (76 percent), criminals (81 […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, June 26, 2013) The suspension by the Justice Ministry of the operation of the Golos (Voice, or Vote) association will not prevent its leaders from registering a new and similar organization; moreover, Golos has recently launched the winding-up procedure, deputy executive director of the association Grigoriy Melkonyants has told RIA Novosti. The Justice Ministry has suspended […]
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(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 24, 2013) Police and private security guards crushed a computer in evicting Russia’s For Human Rights group from its Moscow headquarters early on Saturday, according to the organization’s leader. For Human Rights, one of Russia’s oldest and largest rights groups, was thrown out of its office in the city center in a predawn raid because of […]
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(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 25, 2013) Russian billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov, who leads the Civil Platform party, will donate 1.5 million rubles ($45,870) to pay the annual rent for a Russian human rights group evicted from its office last weekend, a party member said on Tuesday. Prokhorov made his pledge at a meeting with Lev Ponomaryov, leader of the […]
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