Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Human Rights Council, believes that the problem of transparency in getting permission to hold rallies can be resolved in court

Press Release, 17.08.2018

The Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko formulated its demands as to the protection of freedom of rallies in its written appeal to Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation.

Members of the Yabloko party made a proposal to make the procedure for getting permission for the date, time and venue of the rallies more open and transparent. Yabloko activists say that one of the solutions to the problem maybe creation of an online schedule of events and their venues which should be published on the official website of the Mayor’s Office, or a handwritten magazine with a similar demonstration of the timetable open to all those interested to organise a public event or action.

Photo: Visiting session of the Human rights Council in Novosibirsk

On August 15, Svetlana Kaverzina, Chair of the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko, voiced a demand at the visiting session of the Human rights Council in Novosibirsk to ensure equal rights for all political forces in organising rallies and other public events.

Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Human Rights Council, responded to such demand with a proposal to solve such problems by appealing to courts.

Svetlana Kaverzina refers to such advice skeptically: “All our experience of applying to courts shows that courts always stand on the side of power. We sent dozens of appeals, and only twice the court recognised the refusal to hold a rally unlawful.”

Photo: Svetlana Kaverzina

Nina Shalabayeva, Ombudsperson of the Novosibirsk Region, answered Svetlana Kaverzina’s question about why the round table that had to discuss the problem of freedom of rallies in the region and scheduled for 2017 did not take place. Then, at the end of 2017, the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko sent an appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Novosibirsk region to hold a round table discussion of the problem of freedom of assembly.

According to Nina Shalabayeva, on the eve of the presidential elections in Russia, the staff of the Mayor’s Office, who had to be present at such a discussion, “were busy”. And this time again they “were busy” preparing for the election of the governor. For this reason, only after the voting day, 9 September, the round table could be possible, with a reservation to the fact that representatives of other parties should support such an initiative. Otherwise, the discussion of the problems of freedom of peaceful assembly appears to the Ombudsperson to be meaningless. At the same time, the Novosibirsk Ombudsperson noted that Yabloko was the only party that turned to her with such a problem.

Activists of the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko believe that the Mayor’s Office wants to turn the round table into an imitation of an honest discussion of an acute problem and inconvenient issues for officials. Nevertheless, Svetlana Kaverzina is certain that the round table will allow to publicly express the party’s opinion on this issue and bring the topic of the ban on rallies to the discussion.