The organizers of the gay-pride march in Moscow are trying to appeal in court 155 bans on their march. On 17 July, several complaints were sent to the Tverskaya District Court of Moscow to ban marches from 12 to 31 May. Earlier, organizers appealed in court the ban on the gay-pride march, which was planed to be held from 1 to 11 May 2008. (31-JULY-08)

Written by Maria Paramonova/HRH Moscow
Links: http://newsru.com/arch/russia/17jul2008/155.html; http://newsru.com/arch/russia/17jul2008/155.html

“155 notifications for carrying out gay marches in central Moscow from 1 to 31 May, five notices per day on different routes, were forwarded to the government of Moscow. All of them were rejected by Moscow authorities with reference to the fact that “the goal specified in the notification could cause a negative reaction in society and carrying out these activities may entail group violations of public order, posing a threat to the safety of their participants” said Nikolai Alexeev, organizer of the Moscow gay-pride march.

According to Mr. Alexeev, organizers of the Moscow gay-pride march demanded in their complaints to the court that Moscow authorities recognize this decision as illegal since the holding of public events in the Russian Federation requires notification, while the authorities have an obligation to ensure the safety of participants.

The procurator’s rejection for initiating a criminal case
17 July the organizers of the Moscow gay pride march received an official rejection from the city procurator in initiating a criminal case against the Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, whom representatives of the gay minority community accused of preventing their activity. The procurator’s rejection for initiating a criminal case indicates that the question of the legality of the ban on the gay march in Moscow is currently being looked into by judicial bodies including the Tverskaya District Court and Moscow City Court, said Nikolai Alexeev, organizer of the gay minority activities in the Russian capital.

European Court of Human Rights
“If the judicial authorities reject our requirements, as promised earlier, we intend to bring all 155 rejections for consideration of the European Court of Human Rights” Alexeev said. Five of our complaints against the banning of public events for sexual minorities in Moscow are currently in Strasbourg, two of them are related to the gay pride bans in 2006 and 2007 and three others are related to the bans on gay pickets last year. Mr. Alexeev noted: “the mayor established a de facto ban on any public events of homosexual orientation in the capital and deprived a huge social group the possibilities for expressing their opinion”.

Court of Moscow
On 18 June, the Tverskaya District Court of Moscow left without redress of grievance the complaint from the organizers of the gay-pride march in Moscow on the Government´s refusal to agree to hold marches, which are planned for the 1st and 2nd of May in the central part of the capital. On 9 July, organizers of the activity filed a complaint against this decision to the Moscow City Court.