Russia’s Ombudsman and one of the founders of the YABLOKO
party Vladimir Lukin says that the heads of the interior should
apologise before the participants of the rally they arrested
at the Triunfalnaya Square, Moscow.
He also refuses to sign an agreement on cooperation with
the Interior Ministry until this is done, runs the BBC service.
Lukin has also prepared or is going to prepare and submit
to the heads of the state proposals on “normalisation of the
situation with conducting rallies,” Grani.ru informs with
a reference to the Echo Moskvi radio station. Lukin announced
this while commenting on police breaking of the action held
in protection of Article 31 of the Constitution of Russia
which guarantees freedom of assembly. “The Russian law does
not contain such words as “sanctioned” or “unsanctioned”,
and all the talk about sanctions are purely subjective,” Lukin
stated. He also added that the heads of the Interior Ministry
should conduct a thorough investigation of the events at the
Triumfalnaya Square in Moscow on May 31.
Lukin also reiterated that he himself had been present at
the rally and “can state that the law enforcement acted in
an extremely tough and rude manner”. He also noted that on
the same day the authorities gave a permission to conduct
“a ‘gala-medical’ action”; whereas all the participants of
this action were allowed to conduct a rally in the centre
of Moscow from early in the morning till late at night. “I
haven’t seen such action even in India,” Lukin said.
He also noted that, according to the version offered by the
Moscow authorities, it was this event devoted to the Blood
Donor Day which caused the prohibition to conduct a ‘spontaneous’
rally. Lukin also stressed that the basic democratic value
implies that “citizens’ rights should be realised in such
a way so that not to affect realization of other citizens’
rights”. Lukin also noted that the “so-called unsanctioned
rally” was taking place peacefully, nevertheless its participants
had to confront “unjustifiably rude” [police] actions. “The
actions of the authorities can be tough only towards extremists’
actions, but they should treat with humanity people who came
to express their point of view,” Lukin said. “Manifestations
should become a part of democratic every day life,” he concluded.
See also:
Human
Rights
Freedom
of Assembly
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