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Protest law readied for rally
Anna Arutunyan - Moscow News - themoscownews.com - 6.8.12 - JRL 2012-104

Opposition leaders fear protesters will face much harsher sentences after both Russia's parliamentary chambers rushed to pass a bill hiking fines for unauthorized protests. The bill is likely to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in time for an anti-Kremlin rally on June 12. Moscow Protest file photo

"You're framing it wrong by saying it's a bill about protests," said Gennady Gudkov, a Duma deputy for the Just Russia party who has been one of the main protest organizers. "It's a bill that in effect bans protests. It's wrong to ask what we will have with the passing of the bill. The bill will have us."

The law increases fines for taking part in unsanctioned rallies to 300,000 rubles ($9,000) ­ unprecedented for an administrative offence, a category where fines rarely exceed $100. The Duma passed the bill in its third Tuesday, despite attempts by Just Russia to slow its passage by voting on each of its 400 amendments separately. On Wednesday the Federation Council took an hour to pass the bill, leaving it to Putin to sign it into law.

Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Presidential Human Rights Council, had asked in a letter addressed to the Federation Council for more time to discuss the bill, which he called potentially unconstitutional. But Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko said the letter, which Fedotov had faxed, never made it to her office.

Earlier Fedotov and leaders of the Just Russia party had pledged to ask Putin to veto the bill, but Gudkov expressed little hope that he would do so, with experts speculating that the idea for increased restrictions may have originated with Putin himself.

"Hope dies last, but I don't believe that he will veto it," Gudkov told The Moscow News Wednesday after an unsuccessful filibuster attempt by his party.

Putin, who now has 14 days to sign the bill into law, "would only be against the bill if it contradicts accepted practice in other countries," his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying Wednesday.

'Draconian' bill

Critics of the bill, which they say is "draconian," fear that the way it is formulated will give authorities the green light to step up politicallymotivated punishments for its opponents. The bill's supporters claim that the fines and jail terms prescribed in it are in line with Western norms, however, and insist the penalties are necessary to deter violent protests.

Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who has made overtures to the opposition despite being widely regarded as remaining a key ally of Putin's, criticized the bill for giving law enforcement potentially arbitrary authority.

By holding organizers responsible for "mass public gatherings," the bill "could fine a newly-married couple for a brawl at a wedding, or fine teachers for a noisy school party," Kudrin wrote in a statement posted on the website of his Civil Initiative Committee.

Fedotov, in an earlier letter to Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, asked the authorities to reconsider the amendments, criticizing them for mixing administrative and criminal offences.

"De facto, the amendments would stipulate a criminal punishment for an administrative offence," he said in the letter, posted on the Presidential Human Rights Council's website.

Others have pointed to a potential incentive to bribery for police officers, who, under the bill, could fine people for gathering in the streets.

"The livelihood of a certain category of law enforcement officers will be considerably benefitted by the bill," Gudkov said. "If [someone] criticized the government at a concert, there will be a pretext to fine them too. Basically, all this means that if you were born in Russia, you are automatically guilty before the government."

The bill is also being widely seen as a means to discourage people from taking part in the planned June 12 protest, over a month after dozens of people, including police, were injured in clashes during a May 6 rally of 50,000 people on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration. During his presidency, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had vetoed similar amendments increasing fines for unauthorized rallies, suggesting that the new bill already had Putin's backing and that he was unlikely to veto it.

Opinion split

Proponents of the bill in the United Russia party cited similar restrictions in Western countries to justify the amendments. Supporters of the bill in the Federation Council, meanwhile, say that anti-Kremlin protests have little support in the regions, where many find them a nuisance.

"People are waiting for a gift from us to uphold the law," Federation Council member Oleg Panteleyev was quoted by Kommersant as saying. Another senator, Yury Solonin, said the recent spate of protests had "extremist" tendencies.

A recent public opinion poll suggests the population is split on the protests and the bill increasing fines. Just 15 percent of respondents voiced support for protests and public walks, while 23 percent said they should stop, according to a Levada Center poll released this week.

However, only 17 percent of respondents supported the increased fines; another 26 percent supported fines in general, but found those in the bill too steep.

Keywords: Russia, Protests, Politics - Russian News - Russia

Opposition leaders fear protesters will face much harsher sentences after both Russia's parliamentary chambers rushed to pass a bill hiking fines for unauthorized protests. The bill is likely to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in time for an anti-Kremlin rally on June 12.

Moscow Protest file photo

"You're framing it wrong by saying it's a bill about protests," said Gennady Gudkov, a Duma deputy for the Just Russia party who has been one of the main protest organizers. "It's a bill that in effect bans protests. It's wrong to ask what we will have with the passing of the bill. The bill will have us."

The law increases fines for taking part in unsanctioned rallies to 300,000 rubles ($9,000) ­ unprecedented for an administrative offence, a category where fines rarely exceed $100. The Duma passed the bill in its third Tuesday, despite attempts by Just Russia to slow its passage by voting on each of its 400 amendments separately. On Wednesday the Federation Council took an hour to pass the bill, leaving it to Putin to sign it into law.

Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Presidential Human Rights Council, had asked in a letter addressed to the Federation Council for more time to discuss the bill, which he called potentially unconstitutional. But Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko said the letter, which Fedotov had faxed, never made it to her office.

Earlier Fedotov and leaders of the Just Russia party had pledged to ask Putin to veto the bill, but Gudkov expressed little hope that he would do so, with experts speculating that the idea for increased restrictions may have originated with Putin himself.

"Hope dies last, but I don't believe that he will veto it," Gudkov told The Moscow News Wednesday after an unsuccessful filibuster attempt by his party.

Putin, who now has 14 days to sign the bill into law, "would only be against the bill if it contradicts accepted practice in other countries," his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying Wednesday.

'Draconian' bill

Critics of the bill, which they say is "draconian," fear that the way it is formulated will give authorities the green light to step up politicallymotivated punishments for its opponents. The bill's supporters claim that the fines and jail terms prescribed in it are in line with Western norms, however, and insist the penalties are necessary to deter violent protests.

Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who has made overtures to the opposition despite being widely regarded as remaining a key ally of Putin's, criticized the bill for giving law enforcement potentially arbitrary authority.

By holding organizers responsible for "mass public gatherings," the bill "could fine a newly-married couple for a brawl at a wedding, or fine teachers for a noisy school party," Kudrin wrote in a statement posted on the website of his Civil Initiative Committee.

Fedotov, in an earlier letter to Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, asked the authorities to reconsider the amendments, criticizing them for mixing administrative and criminal offences.

"De facto, the amendments would stipulate a criminal punishment for an administrative offence," he said in the letter, posted on the Presidential Human Rights Council's website.

Others have pointed to a potential incentive to bribery for police officers, who, under the bill, could fine people for gathering in the streets.

"The livelihood of a certain category of law enforcement officers will be considerably benefitted by the bill," Gudkov said. "If [someone] criticized the government at a concert, there will be a pretext to fine them too. Basically, all this means that if you were born in Russia, you are automatically guilty before the government."

The bill is also being widely seen as a means to discourage people from taking part in the planned June 12 protest, over a month after dozens of people, including police, were injured in clashes during a May 6 rally of 50,000 people on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration. During his presidency, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had vetoed similar amendments increasing fines for unauthorized rallies, suggesting that the new bill already had Putin's backing and that he was unlikely to veto it.

Opinion split

Proponents of the bill in the United Russia party cited similar restrictions in Western countries to justify the amendments. Supporters of the bill in the Federation Council, meanwhile, say that anti-Kremlin protests have little support in the regions, where many find them a nuisance.

"People are waiting for a gift from us to uphold the law," Federation Council member Oleg Panteleyev was quoted by Kommersant as saying. Another senator, Yury Solonin, said the recent spate of protests had "extremist" tendencies.

A recent public opinion poll suggests the population is split on the protests and the bill increasing fines. Just 15 percent of respondents voiced support for protests and public walks, while 23 percent said they should stop, according to a Levada Center poll released this week.

However, only 17 percent of respondents supported the increased fines; another 26 percent supported fines in general, but found those in the bill too steep.


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