Russia: Sentencing and arbitrary detention of Lev Ponomarev, “For Human Rights” movement’s Director

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the sentencing and arbitrary detention of Mr. Lev Ponomarev, Executive Director of the Moscow-based “For Human Rights” movement [1], for his support to peaceful rallies organised to protest the criminalisation of youth groups under anti-terrorist laws.

According to the information received, on December 7, 2018, the Moscow City Court confirmed in appeal the conviction of Mr. Ponomarev pronounced two days before by the Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court for organising a rally. However, due to Mr. Ponomarev’s health condition, the sentence was reduced to 16 days of detention, including the time already served.

The court found Mr. Ponomarev guilty under part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code of Russian Federation of “repeated violation of the established procedure for conducting a rally” for reposting on his Facebook page a public call encouraging citizens to attend a peaceful rally outside of the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters in Moscow. According to the Federal Law N 54-FZ “On Assemblies, Meetings, Demonstrations, Rallies and Pickets”, any call to participate in a rally amounts to its organisation.

The charges relate to the reposting on October 25, 2018 by Mr. Ponomarev of an earlier announcement made on the website of the radio station Echo of Moscow calling for participation in the October 28, 2018, action called “For your children and ours!” [2], organised in solidarity with a group of more than 20 young activists detained on trumped-up ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ charges [3]. Mr. Lev Ponomarev was also instrumental in seeking the approval for the peaceful marches with the authorities, which was denied.

More than 1,000 people participated in the rally on October 28, 2018, in four Russian cities. 58 persons were arrested in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

According to the same information, Mr. Ponomarev had previously faced harassment for his actions of protest against the harassment of the same youth groups. On July 31, 2018, Mr. Lev Ponomarev was fined with 10,000 rubles (around 130 Euros) for holding a one-man picket in support for two female activists accused in the “Novoye Velichiye” case, which made the presently impugned offence “repeated”. Moreover, on December 10, Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court rejected Mr. Ponomarev’s request to attend the funeral of the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, human rights defender Lyudmila Alekseeva, who died on December 8, 2018, at 92 years old.

The Observatory notes that the current established procedure for conducting a rally contradicts existing, standards on freedom of assembly at European and international level, as stated by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights [4], as well as the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) [5].

Lawyers at “For Human Rights” have filed an application requesting the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to intervene in the case of Mr. Lev Ponomarev. They asked the ECtHR to consider the appeal on a priority basis (in accordance with Rule No. 41 of the Rules of Court) and to urge the Russian government not to keep Mr. Ponomarev under arrest (Rule No. 39).

The Observatory strongly condemns the sentencing and arbitrary detention on Mr. Lev Ponomarev, as it seems only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate exercise of his right to freedom of assembly and expression. The Observatory calls on the Russian authorities to end any act of harassment, including at the judicial level, against him and all human rights defenders in the country.