Speaking to Kasparov.ru, Aleksandr Averin of the Other Russia’s executive committee said that the filing deals specifically with the first of the coalition’s Strategy 31 rallies – thus named for the 31st article of the Russian constitution guaranteeing free assembly – held on May 31, 2009. At the time, Moscow city authorities had refused to officially sanction the rally – a trend that continued with each of the proceeding rallies, which the coalition has held on the 31st of each month with that date. Taking part in an unsanctioned rally in Russia violates federal law, and each of the unsanctioned demonstrations have resulted in scores of protesters being beaten, detained, or both.

The Other Russia lawyer Dmitri Agranovsky asserts in the Strasbourg complaint that by banning the May 31 event, Russian government agencies violated three separate articles of the European Convention on Human Rights: Article 6 – the right to a fair trial, Article 10 – the right to freedom of expression, and Article 11 – the right to freedom of assembly. If accepted for consideration by the court, the case may not be heard for years.

Many Russian human rights groups, journalists, and oppositionists often appeal to the Strasbourg court either after or instead of attempting to navigate Russia’s own judicial system – partially out of fears of corruption, and partially in hopes of gaining the binding mandate issued by the prominent European court. Along with the Strasbourg suit, the Other Russia is also filing suit against the Russian government in Russia’s Constitutional Court.

The coalition is also filing a separate case in Moscow’s Tverskoy Court regarding the most recent Strategy 31 rally held this past March. Rally organizers Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Eduard Limonov and Konstantin Kosyakin are arguing that the Moscow city administration’s refusal to sanction the rally is illegal under Russian law.

In a move that was both practical and symbolic, activists had prepared 50 thousand copies of the Russian constitution to hand out to police charged with manning the event. Renowned rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, who was detained in a New Year’s Eve protest despite being 82 years old, had signed each copy with the phrase “in kind remembrance.”

None of the officers present turned down their copy of the document.

A wide variety of opposition movements were represented at Saturday’s rally, and many made speeches chronicling their clashes with police violence and abuse of authority.

“I very much love the police that protect me, but I rarely see them,” said writer Viktor Shenderovich. “More often, I see the cops that beat and murder.” He stressed that the necessity for drastic police reform is a result of Russia lacking free elections, a free press, and free courts.

Referring to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s stated goal of wiping out corruption, White Ribbon movement representative Lyubov Polyakova pointed out that whistleblowing officers, such as Aleksei Dymovsky, had been poorly received when responding to the president’s call. “Look what they’ve done to them!” she said. “You don’t want to get rid of corruption; you say that we’re rocking the boat.”

“Yes, we’re rocking your rotten boat, which you, like beetles, have already completely eaten through,” Polyakova concluded.

Major Dymovsky was detained not long after posting two videos on YouTube in November that detail corruption in the Novorossiysk police department.

Sergei Davidis, coordinator of the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, appealed to the officers themselves. Remarking that the rally was calling for rights for the officers, he asked whether they really wanted to work for such paltry salaries and extort bribes to get by, and whether they really, after all, wanted people to hate them.

Solidarity movement member Anastasia Rybachenko stressed the importance of new methods for hiring law enforcement officers. “People who enter the police force intend to get police batons and power,” while others join simply to avoid Russia’s mandatory draft, she said. With the Internal Ministry scraping the bottom of society’s barrel and paying officers next to nothing, it follows that the resulting police force is less than ideal.

Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s federal designate on human rights issues, was noted among those present at the rally.

A resolution taken at the end of the demonstration called for the management of the Internal Ministry to be fired, that political persecution of whistleblowing officers be put to a stop, and that police force not be used in political investigations.

Two groups of counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the rally. Some cast leaflets into the crowd that were printed to look like hundred dollar bills, reading “these dollars are payment for the collapse of the police in Russia.” Members from one group were detained.

While the Russian police have long been notorious for their violent abuse of authority, they came under particularly harsh criticism after Major Denis Yevsyukov killed three and wounded dozens more in a Moscow supermarket while drunk late last April. With the renewed wave of media attention to police abuses that followed, prominent government and public officials began calling for the Internal Ministry to be dissolved. Last December, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered the Ministry to be extensively reformed, and in a January 24 statement said that the number of police personnel “needs to be reduced and wages should be raised.”

In the meantime, scandalous incidents of police brutality show no signs of slowing.

One demonstration at Prechistinskiye Gates took the form of a funeral memorial, with participants lighting candles and laying flowers at the base of a copy of the nation’s governing document.

The demonstration was jointly organized by the United Civil Front, Oborona, and the movement We. Together with a number of other activists, the group held placards enumerated the articles of the constitution that they believe no longer function. Another placard declared “In Russia, human rights are observed on three counts – the right to be silent, the right to endure, and the right to die.”

Roman Dobrokhotov, leader of the movement We, explained the reasoning behind the form of the protest. “Today we want to commemorate the constitution of the Russian Federation; since its birth we have observed the asymmetries of government authorities, and those have lead to its sudden death,” he said.

Dobrokhotov went on to say that the constitution has been subjected to “political incest” since 2000, the beginning of Putin’s first term as president.

Boris Nemtsov, a former Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Solidarity movement, said that authorities aim “to trample and annihilate the constitution and to strip citizens of all rights.” He added that censorship and alienation from the electoral process was harming the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens.

“Unfortunately, the majority of citizens feel that they have no power to contend with this. But there are nevertheless people in this country who are prepared to fight for freedom,” Nemtsov said.

Towards the end of the demonstration, participants laid a funeral wreath at the foot of the constitution while the national hymn played in the background. It concluded with a moment of silence, and the proceeding arrest of Dobrokhotov by law enforcement agents.

Solidarity activists held another demonstration outside the doors of the presidential administrative building in central Moscow. Approximately fifty people took part in the unsanctioned protest, holding placards with letters that together spelled out “Observe the constitution!”

A few minutes after the start of the demonstration, a number of men in plain clothes, believed to be officers from the Federal Guard Service, ran out of the building and began to aggressively detain the protestors.

While most of the activists managed to escape, six were detained, and the men confiscated a number of cameras and videos.

According to a survey released on Thursday, respect among Russians for the constitution has doubled over the past seven years. The number of Russians who feel that the constitution is unimportant and not respected fell to 21 percent from 40 percent in 2002, and those who feel that it should be amended only in extremely rare circumstances rose from to 47 percent from 35 percent in 2000.

The constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted through a popular referendum on December 12, 1993. The most recent amendment to the document was incorporated approximately a year ago by President Dmitri Medvedev, lengthening the presidential term from four years to six.

A national referendum is not required to make the proposed changes permanent. The legislation must be approved by two-thirds of the State Duma, then by three quarters of the Federation Council. If the law is then adopted by at least two-thirds of Russia’s regional legislatures, it will return to the president for signing.

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Hands off the Constitution! [A statement from Solidarity, 11.06.2008]

Yesterday, the Russian authorities for the first time voiced an initiative to amend the Russian Constitution and extend their own term limits. Ironically, [the initiative] was raised by Dmitri Medvedev, who has been in office for less than half a year. In his post, [Medvedev] has not had time to achieve any visible results whatsoever, apart from the war with Georgia, confrontation with the civilized world and the country’s accelerating crawl into an economic crisis. He has certainly not merited raising the issue of extending his term.

We do not see any basis for extending term limits for the president and other government bodies. Amid heavy suppression of media freedoms and the political opposition, the country is still being deprived of the ability to openly look upon the governing power structure, and the lamentable results of its time in office . The most important of these are unheard-of corruption, uncontrollable inflation and growing economic problems. Objectively, these rulers have earned dismissal, not lifetime appointments.

In today’s conditions, we categorically oppose discussing any possible changes to the Russian Constitution. Amendments like this can only be discussed when democracy is restored in the country. Today, when the citizens are numbed by unbridled government propaganda; when independent sources of information are inaccessible to the majority of the population; when the ruling “parliament” is appointed by the Executive Branch and independent politicians do not have the chance to get their ideas across to wide segments of the public; any discussions of amending the Constitution will resemble profanity and farce, and the amendments themselves will easily be dragged through in a way convenient for the ruling faction.

By voicing their intent to extend their own terms, the Russian authorities prove only one thing– that they are interested in nothing other than the effective usurpation of power in the country for an indeterminate period. This contradicts the goals of democratizing the country, and the return of Russia to the European path of development.

We are against turning Russia into a backwards, third-world authoritarian regime, where the rulers remain in power for life through different pretexts. The main purpose of “Solidarity,” the united democratic movement we are creating, is the unification of Russia’s citizens, for the sake of restoring democracy, order and lawfulness in the country. The founding congress of the group will take place on December 13, 2008.

We call on all Russians who value freedom to join with the Solidarity movement. [Solidarity] will fight against the illegal actions of the ruling junta, whose intention to change our Constitution is aimed at usurping power and perpetuating their rule, which is calamitous for Russia’s interests.

Down with autocracy! Hands off the Constitution!

Members of the coordinating group for the founding congress of the Solidarity movement.

D. Bilunov
G. Kasparov
O. Kozlovsky
O. Kurnosova
V. Milov
B. Nemtsov
L. Ponomarev
M. Reznik
A. Ryklin
Yu. Samodurov
I. Yashin

Democrat-info.ru

11.06.2008

translation by theotherrussia.org