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Russia: Release Human Rights Defender Lev Ponomarev

10.09.2010

For the second time in two weeks, a justice of the peace for Tverskoi District Court of Moscow has sentenced Lev Ponomarev, a leading Russian human rights defender, to four days of administrative detention for his involvement in a peaceful assembly. On September 7, 2010, the court found Ponomarev, 69, guilty of "disobeying police orders."

Ponomarev's detention prevented him from attending a scheduled meeting on September 8 with Michael McFaul, a senior member of the US National Security Council, during McFaul's visit to Moscow.

The new ruling relates to Ponomarev's participation in a peaceful anti-government protest, called "A Day of Rage," in Tverskaya Square on August 12. At the rally, which was not sanctioned by the authorities, protesters demanded the resignation of Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, for interfering with freedom of assembly. Two other participants were charged with the same offense earlier and have already served administrative detention sentences of three days in one case and four days in the other.

The police claimed that Ponomarev had "obstructed pedestrian traffic" by standing in the street while he spoke with journalists. Two police officers testified that Ponomarev had resisted arrest by pushing one of the officers and stepping on the foot of another. Ponomarev, in his testimony, said the officers treated him roughly, dragging him away and threatening to hit him. The court refused to admit into evidence a video recording of the incident.

Immediately after his arrest on August 12, Ponomarev needed to be admitted to a hospital in a state of a hypertonic crisis, a clinical syndrome characterized by a sharp rise in blood pressure. His court hearing was then postponed to September 7. After the court found Ponomarev guilty, he was taken directly to the special detention center of the Moscow Police Department. According to his colleagues from the Movement for Human Rights, he is attempting to appeal the ruling.

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