Rights granted by the Russian Constitution The Activists refer to their Constitutional / Civil Right of
Freedom of Speech and
Freedom of Assembly. Both rights are granted in the
Russian Constitution (Chapter two, Article 29 and 31), and also in the
European Convention on Human Rights (CETS 005, Article 10 and 11), which was ratified by the
Russian Federation in 1998. Also, both rights are declared as Human Rights in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 19 and 20).
Verdict done by the Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights After a gay pride in
Warsaw, Poland, locally known as the "
Parada Rownosci" (Equality Parade) was banned by the then City Mayor,
Lech Kaczyński, the organizers of that pride introduced a case at the
European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg. Poland, represented by Lech Kaczyński has meanwhile been found guilty by the
European Court of Human Rights for violating basic
human rights such as the
freedom of assembly with his actions against Warsaw Pride. See also
Bączkowski v Poland. Subsequent Prides in Warsaw have been more peaceful events. Organizers of the gay pride in Moscow are sure that there will be a positive decision by the European Court of Human Rights. Up to now, there are 175 cases pending at the European Court of Human Rights. On September 17, the European Court of Human Rights has given Russia until January 20, 2010, to answer the bans of the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Moscow Pride marches and pickets. Later, at the request of Russian authorities, this deadline was extended until February 20. The Memorandum of the Russian authorities insists that all public activities of the prides were banned in full compliance with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Memorandum indicated that the Moscow authorities were not able to guarantee the safety of the participants declared public events in connection with the fact that they had the opposition of the majority of the population. Also, the Memorandum referred to several decisions of the European Court of Justice relating to the limitation of the right to freedom of expression on the grounds of violating "public morality", taken in the 1970s and 1980s. In their application to the European Court of Human Rights the claimants insist that the ban of the picketing on June 27, 2007, and its further confirmation in Russian courts, breached a number of Articles of the European Convention, including Article 11 (right to
freedom of assembly), Article 14 (ban on discrimination) in conjunction with Article 11 and Article 13 (right to court protection). On October 21, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights issued its verdict. The unanimous decision says that there had been a violation of the articles 11, 13 and 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Court stressed that if the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly and association by a minority group were conditional on its acceptance by the majority, that would be incompatible with the values of the Convention. The Court held that Russia was to pay to Nikolai Alekseev 12,000 EUR in respect of non-pecuniary damage and 17,510 EUR for costs and expenses.
Strategy of Visibility The Moscow Pride gave the activists a wide access to mass media or even massive media coverage. Andy Thayer, of the
Gay Liberation Network Chicago, spoke out both before and after the Moscow Pride 2009 event: Peter Tatchell spoke about the aims of media visibility: Possible consequences of ‘quiet lobbying’ instead was commented by Nikolai Baev in July 2009: ==See also==