Freedom of Assembly in Post-Soviet states. Report on Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine – 2016-2017. By ed. Eugene Krapyvin, Serhii Bahlai – Kyiv, Expert group “Police under control”, 2017. – 60 p.
Authors:
Dzmitry Charnych (Belarus) – coordinator of legal programs, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Center “Viasna”;
Alexandru Postika (Moldova) – lawyer, head of monitoring on democratic processes program, Promo-LEX Association;
Alexey Kozlov (Russia) – expert of the Moscow Helsinki Group on freedom of assembly, PhD;
Serhii Bahlai (Ukraine) – analyst of the Expert group “Police under control”.
Annotation:
This report presents the main trends in the practical implementation of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in recent years in four countries of the post-soviet states: Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
In recent years, protest movements have intensified in the post-soviet states – the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine (2013-2014); anti-corruption protests in Russia (2017) and Moldova (2015); unproportional activity of Law-Enforcement agencies in Belarus in preparation for the annual action «Freedom Day» (2017) – which raised new challenges for the government, whose duty is to ensure the right to peaceful assembly.
The material will benefit everyone who is interested in the issues of compliance with international human rights standards in sphere of peaceful gatherings and role of Law-Enforcement agencies on guarantee public order during them.
The report was prepared specifically for the annual Conference of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Warsaw in 2017.