Russia's Supreme Court has instructed judges to crack down on biased media coverage ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.
"The courts must distinguish between the activities of media outlets to inform the electorate and the use of the mass media for pre-election propaganda," the court said in a statement.
The statement also said presents given to children of voters by presidential candidates could be classified as bribery.
International agencies have accused the Russian leadership of trying to muzzle the free press and clamping down on outspoken journalists.
The upcoming presidential election in Russia is being closely monitored by the European Parliament after last year's parliamentary elections there were marred by allegations of fraud and irregularities. On 16 February MEPs adopted a resolution calling on Russia to carry out reforms to strengthen democracy and allow free and fair elections. But what causes the Parliament to be so concerned?
Observers of last year's parliamentary elections pointed out many irregularities. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which had sent an election observation mission for the elections for the State Duma on 4 December 2011, noted violations of procedure, media bias, state interference and a lack of independence of the election administration. There have been calls for the results to be annulled and people in Russia continue to protest
There are now concerns that Russia will again fail to meet international election standards for the presidential elections on 4 March. Vladimir Putin, who has been serving as prime minister after finishing two terms as president, is the clear favourite to win the election according to opinion polls. Only four other contenders will run. One reason for this is the high registration thresholds: independent candidates had to submit at least two million signatures in their support in order to participate. For example one of the opposition leaders, Grigory Yavlinsky, was denied registration as about a quarter of all signatures he collected were declared invalid by the election administration.
Against this background, the European Parliament urges the Russian authorities to introduce far-reaching reforms to facilitate the registration of political parties and presidential candidates. MEPs would also like to see more freedom for the media and more protection of fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The Parliament expresses concerns about barring opposition candidates from participating as this undermines political competition and pluralism. The Parliament also supports the efforts of the OSCE and other international and Russian organisations to monitor elections and calls on them to follow up on investigations of irregularities.
The Parliament also brought up other concerns about recent events in Russia. It spoke out against the implementation of criminal laws against civil society organisations, including Sakharov prize-winning Memorial and the banning of their materials on grounds of extremism, as well as against legislation adopted by regional authorities to restrict gay rights. It also called for a thorough investigation into the death of Sergei Magnitsky, an attorney who brought to light allegations of wide-scale tax fraud. He was then arrested on charges of tax fraud and died in police custody days before the one-year limit on being held without trial was due to expire.
Satirical play gives new head of state Putin the Berlusconi treatment
Moscow production of BerlusPutin imagines half of the former Italian prime minister's brain being transplanted into the newly re-elected Russian president's head
Matt Trueman .. guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 March 2012 13.09 GMT .. .. with links ..
Head in a state ... BerlusPutin at Moscow's Teatr.doc, in which Putin finally morphs into Harry Potter's Dobby the house elf. Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA
What do you get if you cross Silvio Berlusconi with Vladimir Putin? It sounds like a joke, but it's actually the premise of a Moscow theatre's latest production, which offers a rare, satirical sideswipe at the newly re-elected Russian president.
BerlusPutin, which is based on Dario Fo's play L'Anomalo Bicefalo (The Two-Headed Anomaly), imagines the outcome of half of the former Italian prime minister's brain being transplanted into Putin's head, following the former's death from a heart attack.
The play shows Putin, who claimed victory in this weekend's Russian presidential elections, bare-chested and fondling the bottom of Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, with whom he is rumoured to have had an affair. Elsewhere, Putin is seen overdosing on Botox and, finally, morphing into Dobby the house elf from JK Rowling's Harry Potter novels.
Since opening at the Teatr.doc in Moscow last month, performances of BerlusPutin have sold out until April. Opposition to Putin is at its strongest in the Russian capital, with reports claiming that only 47% of the city's vote went his way this weekend, compared to 64% overall.
"We're not drawing his psychological profile," Serguei Epishev, the actor playing Putin, told France 24. "Our play is telling a story based on his public declarations, news and rumours."
Director Varvara Faer echoed that, adding, "The main idea was to show our political position after 20 years of silence and passivity. People who come here are generally fed up with the way the government has been humiliating them."
The production also incorporates accusations of corruption amongst Putin's team, which have only increased since this weekend's elections.
Fo's original, which sees Putin's brain transplanted into Berlusconi's head, was itself the subject of controversy following its 2003 premiere in Italy. The playwright was sued for defamation to the tune of €1m by a member of Berlusconi's party, Marcello Dell'Utri.
Authoritarian Russia .. Anti-Putin Stunt Earns Punk Band Two Years in Jail
Maxim Shipenkov/European Pressphoto Agency
Band members in their Moscow courtroom enclosure, nicknamed the “aquarium,” after the verdict was delivered on Friday. More Photos » By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN Published: August 17, 2012 894 Comments
MOSCOW — Three young women who staged an anti-Putin stunt .. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/russian-riot-grrrls-jailed-for-punk-prayer/ .. in Moscow’s main Orthodox cathedral, and whose jailing became a cause célèbre championed by artists around the world, were convicted of hooliganism on Friday and sentenced to two years in a penal colony.
Human rights groups and Western governments, including the United States, immediately criticized the verdict as unjust and the sentence as unduly severe. Because the women acted as a group, they had faced a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. Prosecutors had urged a three-year sentence. The stiff punishment was handed down by a Moscow judge, Marina Syrova, who described the women as posing a danger to society and said they had committed “grave crimes” including “the insult and humiliation of the Christian faith and inciting religious hatred.”
As word of the sentences spread, a crowd of protesters outside the courthouse howled angrily, and then seemed to fall into a stunned silence. Sporadic protests and violent arrests continued throughout the evening.
While the courtroom emptied, the three women were left in their glass enclosure, nicknamed the aquarium, and photographers were allowed to take pictures. As she was finally led away, the most outspoken of the three, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, said, “We are happy because we brought the revolution closer!” A police officer snapped back, “Well done.”
Lawyers for the women said they intended to appeal the decision.
But while the case has allowed critics of Mr. Putin to portray his government as squelching free speech and presiding over a rigged judicial system, it has also given the government an opportunity to portray its political opponents as obscene, disrespectful rabble-rousers, liberal urbanites backed by the West in a conspiracy against the Russian state and the Russian church.
The extent of the culture clash was evident this month when Madonna paused during a concert in Moscow to urge the release of the women .. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/world/europe/madonna-defends-pussy-riot-at-moscow-concert.html .., who have been jailed since March, and performed in a black bra with “Pussy Riot” stenciled in bold letters on her back. The next day, Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister, posted a Twitter message calling Madonna a “whore.”
The case began in February when the women infiltrated the Cathedral of Christ the Savior wearing colorful balaclavas, and pranced around in front of the golden Holy Doors leading to the altar, dancing, chanting and lip-syncing for what would later become a music video of a profane song in which they beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Mr. Putin.
Because of the support they have received from stars like Madonna and Sting, the women of Pussy Riot have become more famous, at least outside Russia, than other political opposition leaders here, some of whom are also the subjects of investigations and prosecutions.
But while the women became minor celebrities, Pussy Riot is far more political than musical: Its members have never commercially released a song or an album, and they do not seem to have any serious aspirations to do so.
When their trial opened late last month, the women apologized, saying they had never intended to offend the Orthodox church but rather sought to make a political statement against Mr. Putin and against the church patriarch, Kirill I, for supporting Mr. Putin’s campaign for a third term as president.
But Judge Syrova, delivering her decision, said that the political comments were spliced into the video later, and that the action in the church was therefore motivated by religious hatred. She also cited evidence that the women had psychological disorders, and she criticized them for embracing feminism, though she noted that “belonging to feminism in the Russian Federation is not a legal violation or a crime.”
Although the guilty verdict was widely expected, there were several heartbeats of silence in the courtroom after Judge Syrova finished reading her decision. Then, from somewhere in the gallery came shouts of “Shame!” and “Disgrace!”
The defendants, Ms. Tolokonnikova, 23, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, standing in the glass-plated enclosure in which they were held throughout the trial, smiled to each other as the sentences were announced and rolled their eyes.
Outside the courthouse, supporters of the group chanted “Free Pussy Riot!” and clashed with the riot police. Dozens were arrested, including the former chess champion Garry Kasparov, who is active in the Russian political opposition. Mr. Kasparov fought with the police and appeared to be beaten as he was bundled into a police vehicle.
In Washington, where Obama administration officials followed the trial closely, seeing it as a measure of Mr. Putin’s new presidency and its own troubled relations with Russia, the White House and the State Department each criticized the verdict. The State Department all but called on Russia’s higher courts to overturn the conviction and “ensure that the right to freedom of expression is upheld.”
A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said the verdict was disappointing and the sentences disproportionate. “While we understand that the group’s behavior was offensive to some, we have serious concerns about the way these young women have been treated by the Russian judicial system,” he said.
Amnesty International condemned the sentences, which a spokeswoman said showed “that the Russian authorities will stop at no end to suppress dissent and stifle civil society.”
Mr. Putin, commenting on the case briefly while in London for the Olympics this month, had said that he hoped the women would not be judged “too severely,” but that the decision was the court’s to make.
Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said after the verdict that the president had made his views on the case clear. But Mr. Peskov told the Interfax news agency, “He does not have the right to impose his view on the court.” The trial also showcased the often tilted nature of the judicial system. Defense lawyers were barred from calling most of the witnesses they wanted, including experts and some eyewitnesses, even as prosecutors were allowed to call witnesses who had seen the Pussy Riot performance only on video.
The women were given limited time to meet with their lawyers and also complained that they were not sufficiently fed or well rested.
Stanislav O. Samutsevich, the father of the oldest defendant, said that he had hoped for leniency. “Given that they have been imprisoned for five months, I hoped the sentence would be suspended,” he said in an interview outside the court.
Mr. Samutsevich said that the women were at once going through a classic case of Russian repression, while also getting caught up in a new alliance between church and state.
“This is the experience all generations of Russian people went through,” he said. “Our people were sent to prisons under all governments.” But, he added, “I think that we are rolling down to the practices of Iran, where one can get into prison for religious crimes, or Saudi Arabia. Is that what we want to see here?”
Reporting was contributed by Steven Lee Myers from Washington, and Nikolay Khalip, Anna Kordunsky, Ilya Mouzykantskii, Andrew Roth and Anna Tikhomirova from Moscow.
A version of this article appeared in print on August 18, 2012, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Anti-Putin Stunt Earns Punk Band Two Years in Jail.
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