Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Sign the petition in support of repressing art-curators in Russia!

Drop Charges against Russian Art Curators.

In Moscow, Yury Samodurov, a human rights activist, and Andrey Erofeev, a museum curator, are facing criminal prosecution for organizing an exhibition entitled "Forbidden Art 2006" at the Andrei Sakharov Museum. In June 2007, an ultranationalist religious organization, Narodnyj Sobor, submitted a formal complaint about the exhibition to the public prosecutor's office, which brought charges against Samodurov and Erofeev for inciting religious and ethnic hatred under article 282 of the Penal Code. The two men could be sentenced to up to five years imprisonment. The Tagansky District Court in Moscow is scheduled to resume hearing the case behind closed doors on June 5, 2009.

Human Rights First has documented a disturbing pattern of threats and assaults against human rights activists in Russia over the past few years. The Russian authorities have also increased bureaucratic and legal harassment of human rights organizations, launching investigations and prosecutions, disrupting public events, and carrying out raids and searches on dubious grounds. Several human rights defenders and supporters of opposition groups in Russia have faced criminal charges for expressing dissenting opinions or criticizing government authorities.

The charges brought against Samodurov and Erofeev represent the latest attempt to curtail freedom of expression in Russia. Antiextremist legislation-and in particular Article 282 dealing with incitement to hatred-has been misused to target human rights activists and other non-violent activists who are critical of the government. Take action now to demand that the charges against Yury Samodurov and Andrey Erofeev are dropped and the case closed.

You may sign it here:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Art?rk=H720Yd6qPAd5E

No comments: