The Other Russia: Russian Film Director Recants After Anti-Government Comment
|
posted by eagle on April, 2009 as Human Rights
April 17th, 2009  Russian film director Fyodor Bondarchuk got the Russian internet buzzing Tuesday when word got out that he was asserting that present-day Russia was descending into a totalitarian regime.
Speaking at a press-conference for the second installment of his latest film, The Inhabited Island, Bondarchuk was asked to speak on symbolism in the movie. The futuristic sci-fi flick, based on a 1971 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, takes place on a planet ruled by a military dictatorship, where authorities use a network of towers as mind-control devices over the population. Bondarchuk, a member of the ruling United Russia party, told the audience that “we are heading into the toilet,” suggesting that the film’s towers represented propaganda and the complete lack of media freedom in Russia. The words were picked up in the Russian blogosphere, spreading like wildfire after they appeared on the Kasparov.ru online newspaper. With ...
comments (0)
CK: Abkhazian MFA Indignant With Vollebekk's Accusations Of Oppressing National Minorities
|
posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Abkhazian MFA indignant with Vollebekk's accusations of oppressing national minoritiesThe statement of Knuth Vollebekk, Supreme Commissioner of the OSCE on national minorities (dated April 14, 2009), in which he accused Abkhazia of forced passportization, recruiting to army and restriction of teaching in the Georgian language, was groundless and engaged, as spoken in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Abkhazia.
"Mr Vollebekk's statements are based on invented facts and don't reflect a real situation in the Gali District with mainly ethnic Georgian population," the MFA of Abkhazia has emphasized.
In the opinion of the MFA, "statements of this sort continue the policy of Georgian leadership to disseminate false information about the situation in Abkhazia with the aim to distract the attention of Georgian and international society away from what happens in Georgia as such."
"The unequivocal support of Georgia's actions by the OSCE has made impossible any ...
comments (0)
CK: Medvedev: Russian Laws On NCOs Need Amendment
|
posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Medvedev: Russian laws on NCOs need amendmentThe legislation on the activities of non-commercial non-governmental organizations (NCOs and NGOs) needs to be permanently amended and improved, as stated today by President of the Russian Federation Dmitri Medvedev at the sitting of the Board under Russian President for promoting development of civil society institutes and human rights.
According to Medvedev, some changes in the legislation are possible and some are even necessary, as the ITAR-TASS reports.
In particular, according to the President, it concerns the issues of taxation of NCOs, their interaction with the authorities, informing citizens on NCOs' activities, state support and public examinations, as well as public hearings on the problems essential to the society.
According to Mr Medvedev, "there are many cases when the activity of such organizations is restricted without any good reasons," since "this activity is viewed by many bureaucrats as a threat to their undivided power", ...
comments (0)
Window On Eurasia: Demonstrations Spread Across Russia, But Few Expect Moscow To Meet Their Demands
|
posted by eagle on as Human Rights
Paul Goble
Vienna, April 13 –Demonstrations took place in 35 cities in the Russian Federation over the weekend to protest specific government policies and, in a few cases, to repeat earlier demands for the removal of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his government, but few participants or observers expect that Moscow will respond with any major concessions.
But at least one Russian political commentator, Dmitry Oreshkin argues that even so, “the appearance of alternative interest groups is a sign that the country is changing, especially since more and more Russians are speaking up in behalf of interests “not directly connected with the government apparatus” (www.newizv.ru/news/2009-04-13/107850/).
As long as these groups – car owners, the unemployed, pensioners, and uniformed military – act independently, he continues, “the powers that be can sleep in peace.” But “if all those ...
comments (0)
The Calgary Sun: Legless Refugee Claims Police Abuse
|
posted by eagle on as Human Rights
April 11, 2009
 | April 11, 2009
Legless refugee claims police abuse
Seeks $350,000 in legal action
By KEVIN MARTIN, SUN MEDIA The Calgary Sun |
|
|
CALGARY - Being dragged from a car by Calgary police brought back memories for a Chechen refugee of the civil war in which he lost both legs, a lawsuit says. The $350,000 claim, filed by Calgary resident Suleyman Salamov, alleges cops broke one of his artificial legs before letting him go without a charge. Salamov's lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by the Sun, says he was a passenger in a car on Feb. 26, 2008, when it was pulled over and the driver arrested. Police stopped the vehicle being driven by Elcha Khazayev, smashed the driver's side window and removed him from the car, the claim says. After being handcuffed, Khazayev yelled to the four arresting officers that Salamov had, "nothing to do with this" and spoke very little English, ...
comments (3)
|
