A supporter wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Masha Moskaleva is seen during a court hearing in Russia that took place in April. The Yefremov Interdistrict Court held a closed session to discuss limiting the rights of Masha’s mother. In a previous incident during the spring, 12-year-old Masha created an anti-war drawing in an art lesson. This led to her father, Alexei Moskalyov, being fined and put under house arrest. He fled and was later apprehended in Belarus. Meanwhile, Masha was placed in a children’s home. (File Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE)
Aug. 6 (UPI) — A recent report from OVD-Info, a human rights project based in Russia, reveals that almost 20,000 individuals have been arrested for protesting the Ukraine war.
Published in July, the report states that between Feb. 24, 2022, and June 22, at least 19,735 people have been arrested during this period.
The report indicates that 19,062 of these arrests took place during protest rallies, while 325 occurred after the fact. Additionally, 360 individuals were arrested for social media posts or private discussions.
The majority of these arrests, approximately 15,354, occurred in the first month of the invasion, when the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin cracked down on dissent.
OVD-Info has also documented numerous new laws enacted by the Russian Duma, describing them as “repressions at the legislative level.”
Individuals detained in “anti-war” cases have reported inadequate access to drinking water and other mistreatment while in pre-trial detention, according to reports.
Last fall, the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern over the significant number of arrests made in Russia during protests against the war in Ukraine.
In a statement, the OHCHR emphasized that arresting individuals solely for peacefully exercising their right to assembly and freedom of expression constitutes a violation of liberty. The office called for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained individuals and urged authorities to uphold their international obligations to respect and ensure the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
These developments coincide with the sentencing of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who survived a poisoning attempt with Novichok by agents of the Federal Security Service. A Russian court recently added 19 years to Navalny’s existing 9-year prison sentence, convicting him of charges related to rehabilitating Nazism and inciting dangerous acts among children.
Navalny has been calling on Russians to resist the regime of Vladimir Putin, which has been employing the country’s legal system to suppress dissent since the invasion of Ukraine.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
