On the anniversary of the 'Bolotnaya case,' Russia's opposition goes back on the streets
Moscow (AsiaNews) - Some consider them "hostages" of the Kremlin. Others view them as the main victims in Russia's biggest political trial of the year, a remake of Stalin's famous 'Moscow trials of 1936-1938, with a script that includes false accusations and forced confessions. They are the 'Bolotnaya prisoners', 28 activists, university students, managers, artists and pensioners indicted for taking part in an anti-Putin 'March of Millions' on 6 May 2012 in Bolotnaya Square, in central Moscow, which led to violent clashes between demonstrators and police.
Chosen by thousands of Russians in an online ballot, the opposition's coordination committee plans a rally for today in the same location to mark the first anniversary of last year's incident.
Amid mounting anger, Russia adopted a new tougher law on demonstrations in mid-2012, anger. Since then, 28 people have been charged with "mass riots" in connection with last year's 6 May protest.
Nineteen of these have been in custody for months (in prison or under house arrest) and five are required to report to police on a regular basis. One of those indicted, Aleksandr Dolmatov, committed suicide in the Netherlands, in January, after Dutch authorities rejected his request for asylum. Two others have already been convicted based on dubious confessions.
Leonid Razvozzhayev is in prison on charges of having organised riots for the purpose of overthrowing the government. Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov is instead under house arrest.
Georgian political leader Givi Targamadze is wanted for funding the alleged coup.
For human rights activists, charges of "mass riots" are unfounded and the investigation is "biased."
Vladimir Ryzhkov, a member of Parnas, the People's Freedom Party, noted that Article 212 of the Criminal Code defines "mass riots" as "violence, pogroms, arson, the destruction of property, the use of firearms, explosives, or explosive devices," none of which occurred on 6 May 2012. Russia's Council for Civil Society and Human Rights and a report released in April by an independent inquiry reached the same conclusion.
In fact, the 700-page report found that police was responsible for the clashes because they denied protesters access to the path agreed to before with the authorities, creating panic, eventually fed by some masked agents provocateurs, who threw Molotov cocktails and pieces of asphalt at the crowd. None of these has ever been identified.
Although some police officers were injured, none was investigated despite the number of videos and photos showing them repeatedly mistreating unarmed demonstrators. On the contrary, many of the injured agents received free apartments, as compensation.
On 8 April, investigators said they had almost completed their investigation and that they would be able to start other trials in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the "case Bolotnaya" has reached the European Court of Human Rights.
"This trial could become the culmination of the attack against civil society and nongovernmental organizations that began with Bolotnaya Square," political analyst Nikolai Petrov told Radio Free Europe.
"The May 6, 2012 protest is a very serious turning point, an apex in relations between authorities and the active part of society. How these relations will evolve, I think, will depend largely on the stance authorities will adopt on this matter."
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