March against Hangmen Homophobic bill passed Trial continues Threat of removal Moscow elections Prison violence alleged More time for prosecution Blasphemy Scientists on secular state Maria Alekhina FSB on NGOs and schools | Right of assembly On 12/6 an estimated 10,000 Muscovites marched to Bolotnaya Square in a demonstration against President Putin's 13-year rule. (The Moscow Times, HRO.org; 13/6) LGBT rights On 11/6 the State Duma passed unanimously a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18. Gay rights campaigners clashed with anti-gay activists outside the Duma. (BBC; HRO.org; 11/6) Aleksei Navalny On 11/6 the trial of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny on embezzlement charges entered its 12th day, the judge refusing to recuse himself. (The Moscow Times, 11/6) On 13/6 reports said opposition leader Aleksei Navalny is to be forcibly brought back to Kirov from Moscow at prosecutors' request for the continuation of the embezzlement case against him. (The Moscow Times, 14/6) On 10/6 the Moscow City Duma set the date for the city's mayoral elections at 8/9. They were brought forward from 2015 after mayor Sergei Sobyanin resigned. Together with Sobyanin, Navalny (if he is not convicted in Kirov before then) will be among the candidates. (The Moscow Times, 10/6) Torture On 4/6 there were reports of widespread violence against prisoners at Penal Colony No. 1 in Nizhny Novgorod region. (HRO.org, 13/6) Freedom of conscience On 10/6 a bill was introduced into the State Duma to increase the time limits for the administrative prosecution of individuals in the sphere of freedom of conscience. (HRO.org, 13/6) On 11/6 the State Duma passed a bill criminalizing blasphemy. (Amnesty International, 11/6) On 13/6 over 90 members of the Russian Academy of Science called on the Ministry of Science and Education to close the Department of Theology within the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, which was opened in October 2012. (HRO.org, 13/6) Pussy Riot On 11/6 Maria Alekhina was reported to have moved out of the hospital at the Perm penal colony where she is serving her sentence. (HRO.org, 11/6) Right of association Reports say the FSB has told teachers they must report on contacts between the schools and NGOs. (HRO.org, 10/6) |
