Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Russian Government Must be Held Accountable for Crackdown on Protest

Freedom House

CONTACT: Mary McGuire in Washington, +1-202-747-7035

Washington – May 7, 2012

The brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors this past weekend during a sanctioned peaceful protest in Moscow was an assault on Russians’ civil liberties. Freedom House condemns the crackdown and urges the U.S. Administration, Congress and other democratic states to support Russian citizens seeking to hold their government accountable to its international and constitutional commitments to respect and protect fundamental rights.

“The blatant use of force in the last two days sends a clear message that the days of tolerating opposition protests in Russia are a fleeting thing of the past,” said David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House. “We wholeheartedly express our solidarity with Russian citizens’ exercising their right to free assembly. The return to intimidation techniques and detention of activists without cause are a desperate attempt to prevent protest activity in the country and should be widely condemned.”

In the lead-up to Vladimir Putin’s inauguration to his third term as president of the Russian Federation on May 6, police violently dispersed the so-called “March of Millions,” an opposition demonstration which authorities had earlier approved.  Violating participants’ freedom to peacefully gather, law enforcement descended upon Moscow’s streets, gassed crowds, beat journalists and women, and detained up to 600 protestors, including three leading opposition figures.  Officers have continued to detain participants well into Monday.