Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




DEMOCRACY
Pussy Riot, Greenpeace activists covered in Putin amnesty draft
by Staff Writers
Moscow (UPI) Dec 11, 2013


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

A draft amnesty issued this week by Russian President Vladimir Putin will cover those charged with hooliganism such as the band Pussy Riot, a Duma leader says.

Vladimir Vasilyev, vice speaker of the Russian State Duma, told broadcaster Vesti FM Putin's draft amnesty decree -- submitted to the legislative body Monday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Russian Federation's constitution -- will apply to about 25,000 people, including those charged with hooliganism.

Among that group are two imprisoned members of the punk rock band Pussy Riot -- Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova -- as well as the 30 participants of a September Greenpeace protest at a Russian oil rig in the Arctic Ocean, who are currently free on bail.

Vasilyev said the amnesty, if adopted by the Duma, would result in the release of 1,300 prisoners and the pardons of 17,500 others from non-custodial sentences. Another 6,000 now facing criminal proceedings would see their charges dropped, he said.

Putin asked Russian human rights activists to assemble a draft amnesty bill in September and a month later it was approved by Presidential Council for Human Rights, headed by Mikhail Fedotov and human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseeva.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are serving two-year prison sentences for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for a performing a "punk rock prayer" in Moscow's main cathedral in February 2012.

A third band member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was tried and released on appeal.

Tolokonnikova's lawyer has argued she has faced brutal conditions since being placed in the Russian prison system. Tolokonnikova went on two hunger strikes after saying she and others at a prison in Mordovia were forced to endure inhumane conditions.

The Greenpeace activists of the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise were arrested in September by Russian authorities after two of the activists tried to scale the side of an arctic oil rig operated by the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

They were initially charged with piracy, but the charges were downgraded to hooliganism.

Greenpeace has paid $60,000 per person to get the activists out of jail.

The amnesty would also apply to some of the 27 people imprisoned as a result of the May 2012 anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported.

A source on the Presidential Council for Human Rights told the publication the decree would cover nine prisoners who are accused of rioting, while the rest -- facing charges of using violence against police -- would not be affected.

Also covered under the amnesty are other high-profile Russian cases which have been condemned by human rights activists, Vedomosti reported.

These include opposition political figure Alexei Navalny, who last month was given a five-year suspended sentence in an embezzlement trial on what he called trumped-up charges.

Another is Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon who has spent 10 years in jail on fraud and tax evasion charges.

However, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev told Interfax last week Khodorkovsky could face new charges.

.


Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








DEMOCRACY
Silesia autonomy backers vow to carry on after Poland ruling
Opole, Poland (UPI) Dec 10, 2013
A group seeking autonomy for Poland's Upper Silesia will go on despite a Supreme Court barring its legal registration, the group's leaders say. Organizers of the Association of People of Silesian Nationality, known by its Polish acronym Sons, said Friday in Opole, Poland, they would continue to push for recognition as a legal group in the face of the court ruling, broadcaster TVN 24 rep ... read more


DEMOCRACY
Google opens first data centres in Asia

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create a Nonlinear Light-generating Zero-Index MetaMaterial

First Boeing-built Inmarsat-5 Global Xpress Satellite Sends Initial On-Orbit Signals

New setback for Canadian gold mine plan

DEMOCRACY
US Navy Accepts MUOS-2 Satellite, Ground Stations After On-Orbit Testing

Boeing Tests Validate Performance of FAB-T Satellite Communications Program

Intelsat General To Provide Satellite Services To US Marines

Manpack Radios in Arctic Connect with MUOS Satellites Orbiting Equator

DEMOCRACY
Kazakhstan to end Proton missions in 2025

Russian Proton-M rocket launches Inmarsat-5F1 satellite

Basic build-up is being completed for Arianespace's Soyuz to launch Gaia

Third time a charm: SpaceX launches commercial satellite

DEMOCRACY
'Smart' wig navigates by GPS, monitors brainwaves

CIA, Pentagon trying to hinder construction of GLONASS stations in US

GPS 3 Prototype Communicates With GPS Constellation

Russia to enforce GLONASS Over GPS

DEMOCRACY
Forecast: Growth ahead in military helicopter market

Northrop Grumman Team Demonstrates Virtual Air Refueling Across Distributed Simulator Locations for USAF

Purdue science balloon, thought lost, makes dramatic return to campus

German helicopter deal examined by federal auditors: report

DEMOCRACY
A step closer to composite-based electronics

50 Meters of Optical Fiber Shrunk to the Size of Microchips

Chips meet Tubes: World's First Terahertz Vacuum Amplifier

NIST demonstrates how losing information can benefit quantum computing

DEMOCRACY
Juno Gives Starship-Like View Of Earth Flyby

China-Brazil satellite fails to enter orbit

Mysteries of Earth's radiation belts uncovered by NASA twin spacecraft

Mapping the world's largest coral reef

DEMOCRACY
US top court examines rules on cross-border air pollution

Chinese newspaper blasts state TV for tribute to smog

Air pollution in Europe kills even at guideline levels

Hong Kong announces new air pollution index




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement