Administrative cases against antiwar picket organizers considered in court

This week, the Meschansky District Court of Moscow is considering administrative cases against two organizers of the February 23 meeting for peace and democracy in Chechnya on Lubyanskaya Square, which was banned by the authorities and dispersed by the police. The case of Lev Ponomarev, executive director of the Movement for Human Rights, was to be considered on March 16, and the case of Nikolay Khramov, secretary of the Russian Radicals movement, is to be considered on March 17. The head of the Moscow-based International Protection Centre, Karina Moskalenko, acts as advocate in both the cases.

Lev Ponomarev says the decision to be delivered by the court on the case is of fundamental importance: either giving notification will still be the only necessary requirement for the holding of actions or everything will be closed now."

Nikolay Khramov thinks the authorities are trying to limit citizens' constitutional right to freedom of assembly, "basing on indistinct by-laws, which have become old, and their own high-handedness." "This new front in the battle for civil rights in Russia needs to be open, which is proved by the illegal ban imposed by the Moscow authorities on another peaceful manifestation, the antiwar picket held by the Committee for Antiwar Actions last Thursday, and the detention of its organizers," Nikolay Khramov says.

Editors note: See also the article "Basmanny Court delivers guilty verdict against participant in a meeting for peace in Chechnya".