Brussels, 07/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton has expressed her “concern about the detention of hundreds of protesters” demonstrating after the Duma elections of 4 December, and about reports of “police violence against activists, journalists and bystanders”, her spokesperson said on Wednesday 7 December. Ashton pointed out “the need to respect freedom of assembly and expression”.
The previous day, Ashton said that “procedural violations, such as lack of media impartiality, lack of separation between party and state, and the harassments of independent (election) monitoring attempts” which marked the elections were “of serious concern”. She said she expected the issues raised in preliminary findings and also by local observers “will be addressed by Russian authorities to allow for smooth and fair presidential elections in the spring”.
Respect for the right to protest. European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said that he was “concerned” about the events following the elections: detention of dozens of protesting opposition activists, intimidation against the independent election watchdog Golos and the cyber attacks against leading independent news websites. He called for the immediate release of all those “unfairly detained” and for an end to intimidation “against the people who are legitimately calling for a fairer and freer political system”.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said that the arrest of demonstrators was “a matter of concern” and he called for the right to protest peacefully to be respected.
Members of the Russian opposition, meeting at the European Parliament on Tuesday, called on the EU and European governments to take action, by offering greater support to the “victims” of repression, by raising the situation with their Russian counterparts whenever possible and by calling for an investigation into events. They also want the EU to introduce a visa ban on and to freeze the bank accounts of those responsible for the crackdown. (CG/transl.rt)