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RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER Alexei Navalny has been jailed for 15 days for resisting police orders after he and more than 1,000 other demonstrators were detained yesterday at an anti-corruption protest in Moscow.
The protests were branded a “provocation” by the Kremlin.
The United States and the European Union have voiced deep concern about the detentions during the biggest protests seen in Russia in recent years, with the State Department describing them as an “affront to democracy”.
A Moscow district court also ordered Navalny, who said he plans to run for president next year, to pay a 20,000-ruble (€320) fine for having organised an unsanctioned protest.
Navalny had called for yesterday’s protests after publishing a report accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of controlling a property empire through a murky network of non-profit organisations.
“The authorities are being accused of multi-million theft, but they remain silent,” a haggard-looking Navalny said in court, insisting the protests were legal.
“More than 1,000 people were arrested yesterday but it is impossible to arrest millions,” the 40-year-old lawyer said.
About 7,000 to 8,000 people demonstrated in the heart of the Russian capital on yesterday, according to police, making it one of the biggest unauthorised rallies in recent years.
The Kremlin branded the protest a “provocation”, claiming children had been promised “financial rewards” to demonstrate.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin respects the population’s “civic stance” when expressed in accordance with the law.
Without mentioning Navalny by name, Peskov said the Kremlin was worried that “some people will continue using (politically) active people… to their own ends, calling them to illegal and unauthorised actions”.
Demonstrations were held not just in Moscow and Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg but also in a number of provincial cities where protests are rarely seen.
They attracted a significant number of minors born during President Vladimir Putin’s 17 years in power.
“I am very happy that a generation that wants to be citizens, that isn’t afraid, was born in the country,” Navalny said.
Free protesters ‘without delay’
Navalny was arrested as he was walking to the Moscow protest and another 1,030 people were detained, according OVD-Info, a website that monitors detentions of activists.
The vast majority were released overnight after being fined, while about 120 remained in custody today, OVD-Info said.
One policeman was hospitalised after suffering a head injury, the interior ministry said.
The European Union urged Russia to release the demonstrators “without delay”.
An EU spokesman said police actions had “prevented the exercise of basic freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly – which are fundamental rights enshrined in the Russian constitution”.
We call on the Russian authorities to abide fully by the international commitments it has made, including in the Council of Europe… to uphold these rights and to release without delay the peaceful demonstrators that have been detained.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the detention of “peaceful protesters, human rights observers, and journalists is an affront to core democratic values”.
‘Hope for a normal future’
The protests were reminiscent of the mass anti-government rallies that swept Russia in 2011 over vote-rigging after a parliamentary election, which snowballed into the biggest challenge against Putin since he took power in 2000.
Navalny said Sunday that he was “proud” of the demonstrators.
“You are the country’s best people and Russia’s hope for a normal future,” he wrote on Twitter.
Despite the large scale of the protests, Russian state television news did not cover them, instead broadcasting soap operas and nature films.
Pro-Kremlin television host Vladimir Solovyov accused Navalny during a talk show on Sunday of being a “paid provocateur” seeking to “destroy” the country.
The Russian constitution allows public gatherings, but recent laws have criminalised protests unauthorised by city authorities, which frequently refuse to grant permission for rallies by Kremlin critics.
Navalny first announced plans to run for the presidency after he won a surprise 27% of the vote in the Moscow mayoral election in 2013.
But he has been the subject of several legal prosecutions in recent years, and in February he was found guilty of embezzlement in a case he has condemned as politically motivated and given a five-year suspended sentence which could make him ineligible to run in next year’s vote.
© – AFP, 2017 With reporting from AP
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No doubt this was somehow the fault of the West. Putin can do no wrong
/sarcasm
@Brian Houlihan:
15 days? Putin and the Kremlin are getting soft. In the old days the protesters would have faced serious criminal charges like false imprisonment and years in jail in a gulag somewhere. Now that would be a real “affront to democracy”.
That criminalization of political dissent would never happen in a civilized western democracy like Ireland of course? Our Gardai and DPP etc are above reproach? Right?
@Benjy Dooley: Ate the aaa welcoming the inprisonment of actual peaceful protestors?
@Alan Brogan: The name of the party is Solidarity. The clue is in the logo and the word “Solidarity”
@Benjy Dooley: solidaiy with Putin, the richest man in the world. Never mind that he crushes the proletariat that you claim to represent (on 2%). Solidarity with crushing of the free press and opposition parties.
@Alan Brogan:
It’s no surprise that you would express solidarity with Putin and the other parasitic elites. We on the other hand understand that he’s a KGB thug and an enemy of the majority working class as are our political establishment of FF, FG, Labour etc here.
@Benjy Dooley: no, no, that would be you Conor.
@Benjy/Connor/Wally: Would you be okay with myself and a few others holding a protest against your wall of text AAA/PBP political spamming and surround your car or house so you can’t get out or go anywhere?
@Darren Tully:
No worries. You can all stand around the car while I’m in bed.
@Darren Tully:
And will I be allowed a 100+ Guards and the riot squad to mind me from you and the other desperadoes?
@Brian Houlihan: the real surprise here is that pat odwyer isn’t on here screaming about pizzagate and saying “look over there!”
A bit hypocritical of the USA and the EU. The Nth Dakota pipeline protests have seen much worse reaction by police authorities in the USA.
Spain, Italy and Ireland have seen repressive reaction to protests against varying anti austerity protests.
All hypocrties to condemn Russia.
@Dave Doyle:
The difference is that Navalny wasn’t standing in the way of lawful construction work. By the way, the US and the EU don’t put polonium in people’s cups of tea!
@Ciarán Masterson:
Do you imagine security services of the U.S and Europe don’t murder people?
@Benjy Dooley:
The US and western European security services only assassinate people who are not innocent, e.g. Jihadi John.
@Ciarán Masterson:
You surely can’t be that naïve? Do the U.S drone strikes for example only kill those “guilty” of something or do they in fact regularly slaughter innocent men, women and children?
@Benjy Dooley: When was the last time Western Security Services used radioactive material to poison someone? When have they had an assassin open fire in a public street to kill a former member of Parliament? When have they jailed or banished political opponents just because they were political opponents?
@Ciarán Masterson:
Or what about this? Where the U.S. security services admit to killing people based on who they’ve phoned etc.
“Essentially confessing to mass murder and multiple other crimes, retired Gen. Michael Hayden, the former boss of both the NSA and the CIA, admitted that the Obama administration has been murdering people around the world based solely on the so-called metadata collected by U.S. intelligence agencies. The controversial insider’s remarks confirmed growing fears and warnings by critics of the out-of-control federal government that, despite efforts to downplay its unconstitutional spying and assassination programs, Americans have much to be concerned about…… Of course, it is now public knowledge that the Obama administration has murdered thousands of people around the world including women, children, and even an American teenager, using its drones and missiles. In fact, the White House even claims to believe it has the legal authority to murder its victims despite never charging or prosecuting them for a crime — much less securing a conviction in a court of law. Immediately following the shocking admission and a brief pause, though, Hayden tried to suggest that the mass-murder program relying on metadata does not apply domestically. .”
@Mick Jordan:
Are you saying it would have been preferable if Putin had used a drone strike for example to kill Litvinenko in London rather than polonium poisoning?
@Ciarán Masterson: There is a whole list of people who have died in the USA of mysterious circumstances while Clinton was President.
@Benjy Dooley: ah Wally, the topic is about Russia and he turns it around to the USA, never ceases to make political gain. Have you permission to use a political logo? Are you back on good terms with Paul Murphy?
@Benjy Dooley: @Benjy Dooley: I would have thought that you would be happy to see leading members of ISIS and AQ removed as their deaths save thousands of lives. Do you think Litvinenko’s death had the same effect in saving lives? Or what about Anna Provskyia, Boris Nemytsov or the dozens of others murdered that opposed Putin?
@Ciarán Masterson: What’s lawful about the Nth Dakota pipeline??
@Ciarán Masterson: Naive stupidity to believe that.
@Benjy Dooley:
The intention of drone strikes is to kill terrorists and the killing of civilians in those strikes was unintentional.
The unintentional killing of civilians in a war zone is not a war crime.
@Ciarán Masterson:
You should get on to the families of the slaughtered innocents and let them know that their deaths don’t count as they were unintentional.
And you also missed the part above where the U.S have admitted murdering people on the basis of who they’ve been in contact with. So for example Bin Laden’s local takeaway workers were a legitimate target under the criteria of C.I.A.
@Mick Jordan:
So you don’ think a drone strike on Litvineko was a better idea then? And the U.S. assassination methodology is in fact worse than the Russians?
Both ruling classes are of course vicious enemies of the majority working class but you cheerlead one while condemning the other. Both deserve utter condemnation.
You know this isn’t the Cowboys Vs Indians and there doesn’t have to be a good guy.Right?
@Benjy Dooley: Are any of those that were killed due the Metadata ever named? Would for example their names have been Abdullah or Mohammad by any chance. And why were they targeted. Was it for ordering KFC or a Pizza or would be that they were involved in International Terrorism? Surely if the US was like Russia, Obama would have had Trump publicly murdered as an example to others.
@Mick Jordan:
So you believe people deserve to die because they’re named Abdullah or Mohammad ?
Incredibly it seems you do think this is a cowboys Vs Indians scenario. I think your mammy should take your Smartphone away.
@Benjy Dooley: Now you are being pedantic. I asked you were they killed because they were ordering from the local takeaways or was it their role in International Terrorism as is your want you chose to disregard that part. It has been said many times before you would support Pol Pot, Stalin and Mao if they were alive and in power today.
@Mick Jordan:
You’ve said a lot of things Mick and it’s mostly ill informed and reactionary guff.
@Dave Doyle:
What evidence is there that the pipeline is unlawful? If the protesters believe it’s unlawful then they should take a court case.
@Benjy Dooley:
The blame for the deaths of civilians rests with the terrorists who used them as human shields. More people have died of Islamic internecine violence and disease then in drone strikes.
@Benjy Dooley:
Litvinenko was innocent. He was murdered for exposing Russian government criminality – as were Sergei Magnitsky and Denis Voronenkov.
There seems to be agreement that virtually every government assassinates people, being a reporter in Russia is a dangerous profession – especially if you choose to be critical of the government. Dozens have been killed. As we’ve heard America has killed thousands, probably tens of thousands with drone strikes, which despite the marketing aren’t the surgical weapon they’re made out to be and often kill innocent civilians too. Hamas military leader Mazen Faqha was assassinated last Friday in a manner straight out of a novel, he was shot 4 times by a silenced weapon while parking his car and nobody heard a thing, Israel’s Mossad are suspected.
The point is it’s agreed all governments assassinate bad guys, the only thing that differs is the weapons used and the method.
@Dave Doyle: No, no there haven ‘t, tin foil hat man.
Ireland has become repressive about street protest.
False imprisonment and kidnapping are the pretexts in Ireland.
The homes of young adolescents are dawn raided and and the full might of oppressive law is applied.
So, let us see the mote in our own eye whilst we validly criticise over oppressive regimes.
Other repressive regimes.
@Tony Daly: How many of Kennys opponents have mysteriously died?
@Tony Daly:
Dawn raids on young adolescents’ homes?!
You do know that the lad convicted in relation to the Jobstown protest against Joan Burton got the benefit of the Probation Act and thus will have no criminal record if he doesn’t get into trouble with the law again, right?!
@Honeybadger197: none that I am aware of.
The point is that repression starts gradually with the abuse of legal process and develops from there. It is a matter of degree.
It is right and proper to criticise other regimes but we also need to look closer to home.
@Tony Daly: Do you have any objective evidence of your claims or are you just spreading false accusations:
1) Please show examples of repressing street protests? How were peolple jailed or injured extra-judicially?
2) What false imprisonment is going on, and to whom?
3) what kidnappings do you refer to? What are they the pretext to?
4) What homes of what youth are being dawn raided ? Why ? are they being raided – what particular oppressive law is being applied?
By no level can the activity of the Irish state be even remotely compared to Russian oppression.
Remember, just because you have an opinion on something does not mean it is actually happening.
@Tom Purcell: My answer to you seems to have been removed. WHY?????
@Tony Daly: Ireland is every bit as bad as Russia if not worse. State control everything..Judges…Police..Courts and so on
@cormac o neill: Go outside and get some fresh air for yourself.
It is misleading to call him an opposition leader for a start. He’s the leader of an opposing party which is independent of the Kremlin. In Moscow’s eyes these people are nothing but renegades. I’m not making a judgment on this but the context in which we understand Russian politics is all wrong.
Russia really has become a Mafia State under Putin. Where as Yeltsin merely had no control of the criminality. Putin has brought it into the heart of the government. One only has to look at Putin’s Son in Law. Less than a year after marrying into the family he was a Billionaire. And Putin’s inner circle also Billionaires.
@Mick Jordan: Russians may not appreciate Western affairs for Yeltsin, but we know better and stupid Russians are no need to be asked!!
Russia has only the GNP of Italy with a war in Syria and mini conflict in the Ukraine….US increasing its military spending by $50 billion and democrats back to 1950′s cold war rhetoric demanding yet more sanctions…..Reminisient of last days of Soviet Union…
@John003: And this has what to do with the above report? This was an Anti Corruption protest. Any gathering of more than 3 people in Russia can be deemed an illegal gathering especially if it is in any way anti Government.
And this is who Trump is in bed with… dictator to the right of us and megalomaniac to the left
@john Appleseed:
I think that’s an exaggeration on your part.
Trump has a lot of time for Putin but that doesn’t mean he condones what Putin does.
By the way, I wouldn’t worry about the amount of power that Trump has. Sure, even the party that chose him as its candidate for the presidential election blocked his attempt to change the healthcare system.
You’d have to be fairly brave to stand up to Putin, considering the power he has. At best you could expect to be framed and jailed for years, at worst, well you’d have an accident.
@Jamie McCormack: Putin doesn’t even bother with the accident line. He just has you openly murdered. Just look at the list of dead opponents in Russia.
@Jamie McCormack: Can you imagine if Kenny had that power, considering the nod and wink he gives to wholesale corruption.
Calling this guy the opposition leader is akin to calling Paul Murphy the opposition leader. …. Wait a minute… Didnt the irish government want to jail him too for protesting. Hmmmm.
@Shane Kinsella: We are Democracy. We have right to jail, torture and murder people because We’re Goooooood!!!
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