Putin Rolling Back Civil Rights, Warns Amnesty

President Vladimir Putin has presided over a major "roll-back" of civil rights in Russia, which has seen freedom of expression, assembly and association seriously curtailed, Amnesty International warned yesterday.

In a report ahead of Russia's presidential elections this Sunday the human rights group said the Kremlin was using new laws to persecute non-governmental organizations, forcibly break up opposition demonstrations and wipe out dissent.

The Kremlin had also failed to solve the murder of several prominent journalists -most notably that of Anna Politkovskaya, shot dead outside her Moscow home in October 2006. Prosecutors charged nine people with her murder last October but have given no information about the case since, Amnesty said.

"Human rights defenders, independent civil society organizations, political opponents and ordinary citizens have all been victims of this roll-back on civil and political rights," the report said, adding that this was contrary to international law and Russia's constitution."The space for critical views and for independent media and independent organizations to operate is shrinking ... expressing dissenting views can lead to harassment and may put people at risk of being subjected to human rights violations."

The report was particularly damning over the Kremlin's treatment of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In 2006 a new law came into effect which demands that NGOs submit regular reports about their activities - "an unduly burdensome measure", according to Amnesty. It has forced several NGOS regarded "as a threat to state authority" to close down.

Additionally, the Kremlin has used a law on extremism to target organizations it does not like. The law has been used to close Rainbow House, a Siberian NGO which promoted gay and lesbian rights, and the Russian-Chechnya Society, another NGO that provided information about human rights in Chechnya. Its boss, Stanislav Dmitrievskii, was convicted of extremism after he published an article by Chechen separatist leaders.

The legislation, made in 2002 and updated in 2007, was having "a chilling effect on freedom of expression", Amnesty said. It added: "Amnesty International believes that human rights defenders and human rights organizations, which are funded from abroad, are particularly targeted for harassment and intimidation."

Last week the Kremlin refused a visa to Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch - an unprecedented step. A Human Rights Watch report noted Russia's "growing authoritarianism".

The Kremlin claims it is committed to human rights and democracy. It accuses western governments of using rights as a political weapon to try to thwart Russia's resurgence on the international stage.