Worried about reports of increasing pressure on human rights defenders in the run-up to the March of dissent in Nizhnii Novgorod today Amnesty members in the UK voted unanimously to support civil society activists in Russia. Members also expressed serious concern at the latest attempt to restrict freedom of expression and urge the Russian authorities to respect the right to peaceful protest.
The text of the motion reads:
"As more than 500 delegates, representing two hundred and fifty thousand members from Amnesty International in the UK assemble for their annual conference in Edinburgh, the March of Dissent, another gathering of activists from a variety of human rights and political organisations is similarly attempting to exercise their right of freedom of assembly and of expression by peacefully marching on the streets of Nizhnii Novgorod in Russia.
Previous such marches have resulted in the police and security forces violent dispersal and arrests of sometimes hundreds of participants.
Amnesty International has received reports from civil society activists that in the days running up to the march the authorities have been harassing and intimidating human rights defenders, journalists and political party activists. Intimidatory visits have been made to homes of family members. A raid was carried out on the offices of the Nizhnii Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance with the reported intention to arrest members Oksana Chelysheva and Stanislav Dmitrievskii. 60,000 copies of a newspaper promoting the March of Dissent were seized.
This AGM of Amnesty International (UK) expresses its serious concern at this latest concerted attempt to restrict the rights to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of assembly in Russia.
We call on AIUK to apply pressure on the UK Government to urge the Russian authorities to respect the right to peaceful protest such as that due in Nizhnii Novgorod today and the rights of human rights defenders and journalists, including Oksana Chelysheva and Stanislav Dmitrevskii, to monitor and report on this basic democratic activity."
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