Protesters Demand Council of Europe Suspends Russia over Gay Treatment
 ■ Peter Tatchell (left) address the protest against the bans of Gay Prides in Russia outside the Russian Embassy in London. On the right is Derek Lennard who also addressed those at the protest. photo: UK Gay News |
LONDON – The banning of Moscow Pride and arresting participants is both illegal in the country’s constitution and defies a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell of Outrage! said this evening.
Mr. Tatchell was speaking at a demonstration outside the Russian Embassy to protest the bans on Gay Prides in Moscow. The rally was staged on the eve of one of the world’s biggest Gay Prides, Pride London.
Peter Gray, who organised the protest, told the demonstrators that he strongly believed that Russia’s repeated human rights abuses and defiance of the European Court of Human Rights necessitated the call on the Council of Europe to suspend Russia’s membership.
“During the Second World War, Muscovites fought the Nazi onslaught,” Mr. Tatchell said. “Now the Mayor of Moscow is colluding with neo-Nazis.
“He gave them permission to stage a protest calling for violence against gay people, while denying Moscow Gay Pride a permit for a peaceful, lawful march for LGBT equality.
“The Moscow police openly fraternised with neo-Nazis. They arrived in police buses, were allowed to park in a prohibited area outside City Hall and only a handful were arrested for violent attacks and intimidation. This collusion with neo-Nazism is a shameful betrayal of Moscow’s proud anti-fascist traditions.
“Prohibiting Moscow Gay Pride and arresting the participants is illegal under Russia's constitution, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly, he charged.
“It defies a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that the event should be allowed to proceed.
“Some of us are now pressing the Council of Europe to suspend Russia's right to vote in the Council's parliamentary assembly. Russia must not be permitted to defy the European Court with impunity.
“Prior to the attempted staging of Moscow Gay Pride on May 28, the ban was condemned by the Council of Europe’s Secretary-General, Thorbjorn Jagland, and its Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg.
“Russian LGBTs need more than fine words. The Council of Europe must take action to discipline Russia for its flagrant defiance of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“Moscow Gay Pride was about more than gay equality. We were also defending the right of all Russians to freedom of expression and peaceful protest. We express our support for every Russian person whose right to protest has been denied.
“As well as demanding LGBT human rights, we demand human rights for all Russia's minorities, including Jewish, Black, Roma, Asian and Muslim people.”
Mr. Tatchell concluded by praising Russian LGBT activists who, he said, “are courageous, inspirational heroes, risking arrest and beatings.
“I am honoured to support them. They deserve our admiration, respect and support.”
 ■ Some of the protesters holding giant portraits of Russian LGBT activists at the demonstration outside the Russian Embassy in London. photo: UK Gay News |
Mr. Gray, who attended Moscow Gay Pride in May – his first Pride outside UK, said that following Moscow Pride, Louis-Georges Tin, the founder and president of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia called for a suspension of the Russian vote from the Council of Europe.
“I strongly believe that Russia’s repeated human rights abuses and defiance of the European Court of Human Rights necessitate this.
“British activists have been emailing an open letter to every single UK representative on the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe,” he said.
This letter called on politicians to raise the issue within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and also asked that an official recommendation be issued to the Committee of Ministers.
“The recommendation would ask them to suspend the Russian vote until the authorities in Russia have taken a number of steps to show it has changed its ways. These steps are issuing a full apology to Pride organisers, taking steps to prosecute those who are known to have been violent towards peaceful protesters, a committing to the execution of full police protection for future Pride events in Russia.
“Until Russia has done these things, it should not have any sway over policies of the Council of Europe.”
Mr. Gray pointed out that Paul Flynn was the only UK MP to respond to the emails.
“He pledged full support for the cause, and his support is gratefully received. Furthermore, on June 21 at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly, he signed Written Declaration 481, along with 38 other Parliamentary Assembly members from 17 countries and 5 political groups.
“The Declaration expressed the ‘grave concern’ of those who signed over, and I quote, the ‘manifest failure of the Russian Federation to carry out its obligation to respect the European Convention on Human Rights’.
“This declaration fell short of what we have asked, but it is a good first step. Importantly, the declaration recognised two key things. That Russia’s actions have undermined the European courts, and also the Council of Europe itself. This will be important leverage to put further pressure on Russia.
“It only takes a little logic to see that this Declaration will not be enough to enact change in Russian policy. Russia ratified the European Convention on Human Rights in May 1998. The Russians have themselves willingly agreed to provide these fundamental rights to every Russian.
“It remains the case, however, that Russia is the country against which the largest number of applications are lodged through the European courts. 27,250 pending as of December 31 2008. It is clear that Russia pays little regard to its human rights abuses.
“It needs a strong wakeup call,” Mr. Gray insisted.
“The Authorities of Moscow did not listen to a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on the banning of Moscow Pride. Since that ruling, it has banned another Moscow Pride Event. It has banned another Pride Event in St. Petersburg. And further, new Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin has declared that gays can forget about marching in Moscow.
“A court ruling has not changed Russian policy towards LGBT rights protests. Neither then, will this welcome, yet powerless declaration.
“The next session of the Parliamentary Assembly is from the 3rd to the 7th of October. If Russia has not made a formal commitment to allowing future Prides by then, the Parliamentary Assembly must recognise that its concerns have been ignored.
“It must also recognise that the longer Russia is allowed to get away with its defiance of the European Court, the more damage is done to the Court’s standing, and to that of the Council of Europe itself.
“Today, we call upon UK representatives to the Parliamentary Assembly, and upon our foreign minister William Hague, to keep these facts in mind and see that the only way to implement this European Court decision is to bring about sanction against Russia.
“The most appropriate form for this sanction to take is to suspend the Russian vote from the Council of Europe.
“There 18 UK seats on the Parliamentary assembly, and 18 substitutes. That’s 32 people.
“So far, only 3 have even expressed any concern over what has happened in Moscow for the last six years. That’s three out of 32 have signed Written Declaration 481.”
Mr. Gray pointed out: “At least ten of those who have not signed were at the meeting when the declaration was tabled and so have no excuse whatsoever. According to PublicWhip, this is no coincidence. The organisation classifies these ten MPs on average as “against equal rights for LGBTs,” based on their past voting record.
The British public are, thankfully, strongly in favour of LGBT equality. These MPs must join our cause and help bring about equality for Russian LGBTs and to protect the integrity of the European Court of Human Rights. If not, they risk alienating the British public over this issue.”
He concluded with a rallying cry: “President Medvedev. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. Council of Europe UK delegation: take notice as we say together: Suspend the Russian vote.”
 photo: UK Gay News |
Derek Lennard of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association said then he remembered Moscow Pride 2006 – and would never forget his experience.
“I recall the hatred in the eyes of the ultra-nationalists and so-called orthodox religionists when we demonstrated, the collusion of the police, the bravery of the Russian demonstrators, and the resilience of the German politician Volker Beck who was physically attacked,” he said.
“I guess that the feelings that I had when I returned home have been experienced by many activists since –shock and anger at the hatred and contempt shown by many, but proud of those who came together to make a stand for human rights of LGBT people.”
Mr. Lennard went on to insist that the British government “must use it influence to stand up for our human rights in its dealings with the Russian authorities”.
“The Council of Europe must suspend the voting rights of Russia after they flouted [the European Court of Human Rights] ruling about Moscow Pride.
And even in our own community, we urge Pride London to do much more in bringing to the attention of their participants the struggle LGBT people in Moscow have to stage their Pride.
“This must be the true meaning of Pride – not the latest career moves of pop stars to make an appearance tomorrow, or companies to make profits out of our community.
“We must all stand together to LGBT people around the wsorld with pride,” he concluded.
During the protest, participants held giant portraits of some of the Russian activists taken by American photographer Chad Meacham for the Inside Out Project.
Mr. Meacham, who was at the protest, said that taking photographs at Moscow Pride in May had “left a mark on me” that he would remember for ever.
Participants all signed a letter to the Russian Ambassador in London.
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