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Russia rights commissioner concerned over attacks on activists

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Human rights activists in Russia are being attacked with greater frequency, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin said Wednesday in an interview with Vesti television. Lukin was responding to the recent beating of Lev Ponomarev, leader of advocacy group For Human Rights. Lukin said that even though it wasn't clear whether the attack was politically motivated, it tied into a theme of political intolerance in the country. In January, prominent Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was shot dead by a masked gunman in Moscow. In February, Russian human rights group SOVA Center announced the number of Russian hate crimes rose slightly in 2008 over 2007 levels, with 97 people killed and 525 wounded. In May, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stressed the importance of rights and freedoms at the outset of his inauguration address.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 08, 2009 (boomark / email).