{"id":151600,"date":"2021-05-06T08:05:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T08:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=195113"},"modified":"2021-05-06T08:05:13","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T08:05:13","slug":"hrw-calls-on-moscow-to-withdraw-draft-laws-targeting-navalny-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/06\/hrw-calls-on-moscow-to-withdraw-draft-laws-targeting-navalny-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW Calls On Moscow To Withdraw Draft Laws Targeting Navalny, Dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Russian lawmakers to withdraw three bills under discussion, saying they “would add new dangerous tools” to an already “significant arsenal of legislative weapons” being used in the country’s crackdown on dissent.<\/p>\n
HRW said in a statement<\/a><\/strong> on May 5 that two of the bills proposed by a group of lawmakers the day before would expand the impact of Russia’s law on “undesirable” organizations.<\/p>\n One bill would extend the ban on participating in activities of organizations blacklisted by Russian authorities as “undesirable” beyond the country’s borders, allowing the government to ban foreigners residing in Russia and stateless persons from taking part in the activities of such groups.<\/p>\n It also would allow the Russian authorities to designate a foreign or international organization as “undesirable” if they decide that such a group acts as an “intermediary,” transferring funds or property to support the operations of “undesirables.” <\/p>\n Another new bill involving “undesirables” introduces amendments to the Russian Criminal and Criminal Procedural codes to make it easier to open criminal cases on charges of affiliation with “undesirable” organizations.<\/p>\n ‘Death By A Thousand Cuts’<\/strong><\/big><\/p>\n The third bill would allow the authorities to impose lengthy bans on potential candidates for the parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, if they are associated with groups deemed “extremist,” even if they were associated with the group before it received that designation.<\/p>\n “These bills are a far-from-subtle attempt to deprive the Kremlin’s political opponents of legal means of political participation and to instill ever more fear into Russia’s civil society.<\/p>\n “For years now, and with particular ferocity in the past six months, the Russian authorities have been trying to inflict death by a thousand cuts on civil society and meaningful political opposition,” Hugh Williamson, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director said in the statement.<\/p>\n