28 May 2004 16:03
Russian MP calls for protests against bill on rallies
Moscow, 28 May: The majority of State Duma deputies who are not in the One Russia faction are not happy with the bill
"On meetings, rallies, demonstrations and pickets" that was adopted at its second reading today. However, they
do admit that "the document has been substantially improved" as a result of amendments made to the original
version.
All of the independent deputies, except for Aleksandr Nevzorov, voted against the bill. Members of the Communist
Party faction opposed it. In the Liberal Democratic Party faction, only three people voted in favour, as did four from
the Motherland faction, including its leader Dmitriy Rogozin. Even two faction members from One Russia voted against the
document.
Independent deputy Sergey Popov told an ITAR-TASS correspondent that the bill that had been introduced by the
government "was absolutely undemocratic". "Even though it has undergone substantial changes, it still
offers obvious possibilities for the bodies of executive authority to hinder the holding of rallies," he said. The
executive authorities can offer to move rallies to another location, and there are loopholes for arbitrariness, the
deputy noted. He said he was certain that sooner or later a number of the law's norms would be contested in the
Constitutional Court.
A representative of the Motherland faction, Oleg Shein, noted that the structure of the bill had "substantially
improved compared with what was adopted at first reading". "The provisions that evoked the most serious public
concern, for example, the ban on holding public events near administrative buildings, have been excluded," he
continued.
Deputy head of the Communist Party faction Sergey Reshulskiy said that it had changed "from an openly draconian
bill to simply a poor one". "If any trade unions supported it, then they should know that now they, who are
already pressured and monitored, will be obliged to report on every one of their events in written form," he said.
Reshulskiy appealed to all public organizations and political parties to "demonstrate courage and organize rallies,
demonstrations and marches against the bill that has been adopted".
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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