Draft Law Revives Practice of Soviets
By ELLEN BARRY
NYT
MOSCOW — The lower house of the Russian Parliament passed a draft law on Friday allowing the country’s intelligence service to officially warn citizens that their activities could lead to a future violation of the law, reviving a Soviet-era K.G.B. practice that was often used against dissidents. The president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, is expected to sign it into law shortly.
The legislation was proposed during the tense weeks after two suicide bombers attacked the Moscow subway, and its stated goal was to stanch the growth of radicalism among young Russians. But rights advocates and opposition parties have warned that the expanded powers could be used to silence critics of the government. In a letter made public on Thursday, 20 leading human rights activists condemned the legislation as a blow to “the cornerstone principles of the law: the presumption of innocence and legal certainty.”
“Our country now objectively faces a dilemma — either we take the long and difficult path toward rule of law, or an anti-constitutional restriction of individual rights and a return to legal tyranny, intimidation of dissenters, and control of special services over the peaceful activities of citizens,” the letter said.
Asked about the bill on Thursday by a reporter in Yekaterinburg, where he was meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Mr. Medvedev intimated that foreign observers had little business questioning it.
(More here.)
NYT
MOSCOW — The lower house of the Russian Parliament passed a draft law on Friday allowing the country’s intelligence service to officially warn citizens that their activities could lead to a future violation of the law, reviving a Soviet-era K.G.B. practice that was often used against dissidents. The president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, is expected to sign it into law shortly.
The legislation was proposed during the tense weeks after two suicide bombers attacked the Moscow subway, and its stated goal was to stanch the growth of radicalism among young Russians. But rights advocates and opposition parties have warned that the expanded powers could be used to silence critics of the government. In a letter made public on Thursday, 20 leading human rights activists condemned the legislation as a blow to “the cornerstone principles of the law: the presumption of innocence and legal certainty.”
“Our country now objectively faces a dilemma — either we take the long and difficult path toward rule of law, or an anti-constitutional restriction of individual rights and a return to legal tyranny, intimidation of dissenters, and control of special services over the peaceful activities of citizens,” the letter said.
Asked about the bill on Thursday by a reporter in Yekaterinburg, where he was meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Mr. Medvedev intimated that foreign observers had little business questioning it.
(More here.)
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