Moscow's human rights ombudsman Alexander Muzykantsky said on Monday he would prepare a report on violations of the Russian authorities of the freedom to hold demonstrations.
The Moscow government has been reluctant to allow opposition rallies in support of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right to free assembly. Only a few meetings of the "Kremlin-recognized" opposition groups have been authorized.
"This is a dangerous game, which violates the rights and freedoms stipulated by the Constitution," Muzykantsky said at a meeting with Moscow city lawmakers. "We will prepare a special report on this issue."
About 100 people came to an unauthorized rally on Moscow's downtown Triumfalnaya Square on March 31. Fifty-four, including the leader of the Other Russia radical movement, Eduard Limonov, and Left Front representative Konstantin Kosyakin were detained.
A sanctioned rally was simultaneously held a few hundred meters down Moscow' main Tverskaya Street at Pushkin Square. It was opened by Lyudmila Alexeyeva, who heads the Moscow Helsinki Group, and Lev Ponomaryov, the leader of the For Human Rights movement. About 350 people and 150 journalists were at that venue and no arrests were made.
On the same day, Solidarity movement head Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin, who leads the People's Freedom Party, were arrested during an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg. About 100 of the 300 people who came to the protests were detained along with the leaders.
"We will continue monitoring the situation in regard to the freedom of public assembly," Muzykantsky said.
MOSCOW, April 25 (RIA Novosti)
