UN: 12,700 anti-war protestors unlawfully detained in Russia

Geneva, March 8 (EFE).- Some 12,700 protestors have been unlawfully detained in Russia’s peaceful anti-war demonstrations, the United Nations human rights chief warned on Tuesday.

“In the Russian Federation the space for discussion or criticism of public policies – including its military action against Ukraine – is increasingly and profoundly restricted,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Bachelet added that the use of “repressive legislation that impedes the exercise of civil and political rights and criminalizing non-violent behavior” was cause for concern.

The high commissioner said Russia has implemented “vague and overly broad definitions” of extremism or incitement to hatred, which have resulted in a breach of Russia’s commitment to human rights obligations, based on international agreements Moscow has signed and ratified.

Bachelet said fundamental freedoms were under threat and the implementation of the 2012 so-called ‘foreign agent’ law was undermining the work of activists in Russia. EFE

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