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Medvedev Reminded of Civil Rights
Amnesty International released yesterday a special report dedicated to impairing civil rights in Russia. The report is the fifth criticizing statement that the western right defenders aimed at Russia since early this year. Russia’s analysts attribute the surge in their activities to forthcoming presidential election in Russia and to their hopes that future president Dmitry Medvedev would stick to a more liberal course than President Vladimir Putin.
Amnesty International’s report "Freedom limited. The right to freedom of expression in the Russian Federation" sums up the data of a few years. It predictably emphasizes increasing harassment of people willing to express their opinions and stand for their rights in Russia. The report mentions all basic violations of human rights in the country, ranging from dispersal of opposition marches and tougher control over the state TV channels to slow progress in investigating the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
In essence, the recent report of Amnesty’s experts on curtailing freedom in Russia echoes the reports released by Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and International Committee for Protection of Journalists. What’s more, right defenders have never concealed that their lambasting conclusions are timed to March 2 presidential election in Russia.
Reporters Without Borders, for instance, directly addressed presidential candidate Dmitry Medvedev, urging him to create conditions for improving freedom in Russia. “Indeed, the election is a serious cause for reminding authorities about multiple violations of civil rights,” said Sergei Nikitin, chief of Russia’s office of Amnesty International.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 27, 2008
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