BFF-37 Berlin condemns Russia protest crackdown

441

ZCZC

BFF-37

RUSSIA-DEMONSTRATION-DIPLOMACY-GERMANY

Berlin condemns Russia protest crackdown

BERLIN, Aug 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Germany on Sunday said a Moscow police
crackdown on peaceful protests “violates” Russia’s international obligations
and undermines the right to fair elections in the country, a day after
hundreds were detained at an opposition rally.

The arrests on Saturday were “out of all proportion to the peaceful nature
of the protests against the exclusion of independent candidates” from city
elections in Moscow next month, said the German government.

In a statement, Berlin condemned “the repeated interference in the
guaranteed right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression” which
“violates Russia’s international obligations and strongly questions the right
to free and fair elections”.

According to the independent protest monitor OVD-Info, some 828 people
were detained during Saturday’s rally in Moscow.

Police say 1,500 people took part after crowds gathered on the city’s
central boulevard in a protest “stroll”.

Authorities also upped the pressure on detained opposition leader Alexei
Navalny, a top Kremlin critic, by launching a criminal probe into his anti-
graft group on Saturday.

Navalny ally Lyubov Sobol, who is currently three weeks into a hunger
strike after being barred from taking part in the election, was dragged from
a taxi and detained as she set off for the rally.

Angela Merkel’s government called on Russia to “effectively protect the
fundamental rights of its citizens” and demanded “the speedy release of all
peaceful demonstrators”.

Sunday’s condemnation from Berlin follows an appeal last Monday calling on
Moscow to release 1,400 other protestors detained after a similar demo the
previous weekend.

BSS/AFP/ARS/2010 hrs