Week-ending 21 February 2020
Tanya Lokshina, Europe and Central Asia associate director, Human Rights Watch: ‘Imprisoning Konstantin Kotov for nothing more than exercising his right to peaceful assembly is simply abominable. The authorities are using a blatantly abusive law to trample on Kotov’s basic rights, and he should be unconditionally released.’
Source:
Russia: Quash Conviction of Peaceful Protester
Clear Konstantin Kotov of All Charges, Repeal Repressive Protest Law
(Moscow) – Russian authorities should withdraw all charges and immediately free a civic activist imprisoned for involvement in peaceful protests, Human Rights Watch said today. Russia’s parliament should repeal the 2014 law mandating criminal sanctions for repeated involvement in unsanctioned protests. The activist, Kostantin Kotov, a 34-year-old software engineer, has been behind bars for over 6 months in connection with peaceful political protests in Moscow in the summer of 2019 over the exclusion of opposition candidates from the city council elections. An appeals court hearing on Kotov’s case is scheduled for March 2, 2020. Human Rights Watch, 19 February 2020
Featured photo: Konstantin Kotov and his lawyer, Maria Eismont, wait for the verdict in his case at Moscow’s Tverskoi district court, September 5, 2019. © 2019 Tanya Lokshina/Human Rights Watch
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