On December 12th 2006 armed law enforcement agents raided the offices of one of the Russian opposition parties “United Civil Front” headed by Garry Kasparov. This incident took place just before a planned for December 16th protest action “March of Dissent”. The march was organized by Kasparov´s movement and other opposition groups and was held in Moscow. (20-DEC-06)

Text: HRH/Moscow, by Yanina Savenko. Sources: grani.ru, newsru.com, gazeta.ru, rufront.ru

Twelve armed Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and Federal Security Service agents stormed the offices of the United Civil Front (USF). They showed a search warrant, which said they could search for extremist literature. During the operation, the policemen ordered employees to stop working, to turn off their mobile phones and computers, threatening to withdraw hard drives. Nobody could leave the office. The agents searched the offices for about two hours, examining all books, documents and newspapers. They made copies of all documents they found to be of interest, including passports of the employees. Moreover, they took ten copies of each of the books and newspapers published by UCF in order to determine whether they contained extremist statements. The newspapers prepared for the “March of Dissent” were among the materials confiscated that day.

Government is using the new law on extremism against opposition Garry Kasparov
«Police didn’t have the right to conduct an office search without court’s decision; they could only make an inquiry”, said lawyer Yury Shmidt. According to Shmidt, names of participants of the investigation should have been printed on the search warrant, made out by MIA. “It is not known who was charged with the job of search actions. Two persons appeared on the warrant, while ten persons, as far as I know stormed the offices”, added Smidt. Meanwhile, the leader of UCF Garry Kasparov believes that the search was connected with a protest scheduled for December 16th and that it was an act of intimidation. On his part, Kasparov is planning to file a complaint about the investigators’ actions.

March of the united opposition was banned
On December 16th the rally, called the “March of Dissent” was held in Moscow. This action gathered former irreconcilable political opponents – democrats and communists – protesting together against Putin’s regime. This time they formed united oppositional coalition which included UCF, Republican Party of the Russian Federation, Peoples’ Democratic Union, Other the Russian Federation, National Bolshevik Party, youth movements “Oborona”, “Smena”, “Red Youth Avant-Guard”. Although, the organizers planed to hold a procession “March of Dissent” in the center of Moscow they were only granted permission to hold a stationary rally at Triumfalnaya Square.

Three policemen for each demonstrator
March of DissentAbout 3000 demonstrators took part in the rally at Triumfalnaya Square, while 8500 policemen and soldiers secured the city. After the one-hour rally Garry Kasparov appealed to the participants to roll up their posters and flags and to break calmly up.  However, dozens of National Bolsheviks proceeded to walk along the city streets swinging flags and shouting slogans. As a result, 70 to 100 activists were detained, including leader of the youth movement “Red Youth Avant-Guard” Sergey Udaltsov. Furthermore, law enforcement officials detained one of the “March of Dissent” organizers, member of Peoples’ Democratic Union Ivan Starikov and six activists of “Oborona” movement, among them was the movement’s leader Oleg Kozlovskiy. These were arrested even though they didn’t even reach the Triumfalnaya Square in time in order to take part in the rally.

Positive results
According to the leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseeva the “March of Dissent” was an undoubted achievement of the All-Russian Civil Congress. “The march entirely corresponded with idea of the Congress – idea of uniting non-political non-governmental organizations and political parties and movements”, said Alekseeva.