Early Thursday, after law enforcers searched the home of Vasily Kuzmin – the head of the Moscow branch of the Left Front movement – he was detained and taken to the Investigative Committee. During the search, law enforcers seized a “large amount of electronic data storage devices, Left Front leaflets and symbols, as well as alleged smoke flares,” the Committee’s press service reported. RosUznik – a volunteer project that provides legal help to activists detained at protest rallies – sent a lawyer to the Committee to represent Kuzmin’s interests during the investigation. It was highly likely that the activist would be charged in the ‘Bolotnaya Square case,’ RosUznik wrote on its website.However, later that afternoon Kuzmin left the Committee building “in the status of a witness” in the case, Left Front leader Sergey Udaltsov wrote on Twitter. Udaltsov, who has been under house arrest since February, was earlier charged with conspiracy to organize mass disorder.Police also searched the Moscow house of Udaltsov’s former security guard, boxer Denis Kuraishi. Kuraishi appealed for help from the ‘For Human Rights’ movement, and told them that the search was conducted while he was not at home, Interfax reported. The Left Front activist formerly provided security during mass opposition rallies.A day earlier, Russia’s Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin confirmed the indictment in the ‘Bolotnaya Square case’ and submitted the files to a Moscow court. The trial is expected to start in June.So far, 12 people have been charged in the investigation, accused of “calling to disorders and taking active part in them” during the May 6 protest. Some 82 police officers were injured as a result of the violence. The total damage caused by the clashes is estimated at over 28 million rubles (US$900,000), the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.An investigation into “other participants of the crime” is ongoing; in total, 27 people are involved in the case, 15 of whom are being kept in pretrial detention centers, according to RosUznik.So far, two people were convicted in court in the Bolotnaya case. In November, Maksim Luzyanin was sentenced to 4.5 years behind bars for participating in the clashes. And in April this year, leftist opposition activist Konstantin Lebedev was sentenced to 2.5 years for inciting the mass disorder that took place during the rally on May 6 – the day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as Russian president.The protesters have maintained that police provoked the clashes. … Read More
Presidential Human Rights Council backs proposed amnesty for 2012 rioters
“We call upon you to support the draft statement on granting amnesty to all suspects within the so called Bolotnaya Square case,” reads the address from the council members to the Lower House MPs published on the council’s web-site.The HR activists go on to claim that the prosecutors’ theory of a premeditated mass riot does not appear credible to those who attended Bolotnaya Square on May 6 2012, and that the Bolotnaya protesters hold that the clashes must be blamed on law enforcers.The council members then say that the continuation of investigations and court cases would only prevent the possible ‘settlement in the society’ and aggravate the supposed stand-off between the authorities and the “peaceful civil opposition”. Continuation could lead to more radical protests and undermine the citizen’s trust to the courts and the state system in general.The suggestion of an amnesty for all the suspects was first voiced at the end of April by two Communist Party MPs – Anatoly Lokot and Boris Kashin. They suggested the move to mark the 20th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation (that will be marked on December 12) and promised to formally submit the proposal in mid-May, after the holiday period.The two communists said that the amnesty would become a signal to society that the state is ready for a dialogue.Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov who is heading the pro-business party Civil Platform also supported the call for an amnesty saying that this would be the most reasonable step in the current situation.The riots on Bolotnaya Square took place on May 6 last year during a major protest rally against alleged elections violations.Authorities started about two dozen criminal cases against alleged rioters, one of which has ended in a conviction and a 4 and a half year sentence.Investigators also started a separate case into the suspected preparations for the riots claiming that several leftist activists, including one of the street opposition’s leaders Sergey Udaltsov plotted and prepared the unrest and financed their activities from money provided by Georgian spin doctor Givi Targamadze. Targamadze was also charged in absentia as part of the case but hopes for a trial are slim as Georgia and Russia currently have neither diplomatic relations nor an extradition agreement.One of the suspected plotters – Konstantin Lebedev – was convicted on April 25 and sentenced to two and a half years in a prison colony. … Read More
A march on Washington with loaded rifles
Libertarian activist and radio host Adam Kokesh is hoping to get 1,000 people to march on Washington on July 4th — armed with loaded rifles. The plan, launched with a Facebook group today, is to gather on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where gun laws are lax, and then march across the bridge with loaded rifles slung over their shoulders into the District, where openly carrying weapons is generally prohibited.”This will be a non-violent event,” the Facebook group warns, “unless the government chooses to make it violent.” Already, over 200 people have said they’ll attend the march. Here’s the message:On the morning of July 4, 2013, Independence Day, we will muster at the National Cemetery & at noon we will step off to march across the Memorial Bridge, down Independence Avenue, around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, & the White House, then peacefully return to Virginia across the Memorial Bridge. This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.Continue Reading… … Read More
Powerful explosion rocks central Prague, dozens injured (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Rescuers had previously believed that three or four people were still trapped in the rubble and possibly dead, though Fire Chief Vladimir Pesek said that there are no indications that anyone was unaccounted for.”Most signs indicate that nobody is in ruins, but we will continue removing rubble until we can be sure. Clearing [the site], it seems, will take about 48 hours,” CT 24 cites him as saying. Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda echoed his statements, saying that “no one is missing.” The mayor further confirmed previous police reports that the explosion was not an act of terror.”It was a gas explosion and from all available information it was not a terrorist explosion,” Svoboda said at a news conference.He has offered alternative accommodation to any residents whose homes were damaged in the blast.Officials had previously estimated that up to 40 people sustained injuries, but Zdenek Schwarz, head of the rescue service in Prague later revised that figure to 35. He told reporters that 30 people had been taken to the hospital, two of them with serious injuries.Included among the injured are a German woman, two women from Kazakhstan, two Portuguese women and a man from Slovakia. None of them received serious injuries, the city’s rescue service said.Police say the explosion occurred at around 9:56 a.m. local time on Divadelni Street, and was sparked by a leaking gas pipe. Law enforcers said there were about 15 people in the building at the time of the explosion.The area was littered with debris, and windows in buildings hundreds of meters from the blast were shattered, including some in the nearby National Theater.The majority of injuries are said to be minor wounds like scratches, bruises and abrasions. Everything near buildings isblocked, #prague explosion instagram.com/p/Yrzq-zAddO/ — Katelyn Ferral (@katelynferral) April 29, 2013 Police sealed off a wide area around the blast site and evacuated neighboring buildings. There have not been reports of any deaths.”We were sitting in the classroom, when we heard a huge bang and everyone rushed to the window to see what was happening. Students from the next class started running and then we saw smoke,” an eyewitness reported.Witnesses said that flats at the explosion site were “totally destroyed”.”I was sitting quietly in my flat, making coffee. Then there was an incredible explosion. I thought the building would collapse. I looked out the window, and there was only dust everywhere,” Venceslava Sehnotkova, a pensioner living in a nearby house, told Reuters.The building where the explosion took place is located on a side street near the National Theater, the Prague FAMU film school and the popular Cafe Slavia on the east bank of the Vltava River.Later on Monday, another gas leak was discovered near Cafe Slavia, prompting authorities to seal off the surrounding area.Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said he was “deeply affected” by the incident and was being constantly briefed on the developments.“It’s really immense and huge, almost like after an air assault or a bomb explosion,” Necas said after visiting the scene. He added that it was “very lucky” nobody died in the blast. … Read More
Bahrain arrests 22 over anti-govt protests
The detainees are suspected of attacking security forces and blocking roads during a wave of anti-government protests that rocked the kingdom in the Persian Gulf since late February.The arrests were made in Shiite villages in connection with alleged acts of violence, police said as cited by AFP. Law enforcers were still searching for other suspects.Six people were detained for alleged participation in a March 7 “terrorist attack” on police patrols in the village of Maqaba, west of the capital Manama, police said in a Saturday statement as cited by Bahrain News Agency (BNA).Two more people allegedly participated in attacking police “with firebombs and iron rods” in the village of Wadyan on the island of Sitra on March 28.Among other arrested were also people suspected of blocking roads and burning tyres near Bahrain International Airport on April 14.The police did not clarify when exactly arrests were made. According to Al-Wefaq – the main Shiite opposition group – 14 people were arrested during raids on Thursday and Friday, AFP cites on Sunday.Demonstrations – calling for democracy and an end to the monarchy – have been continuing in Bahrain for two years. Protests particularly intensified as the Gulf country was preparing to host the Formula 1 race on April 21. The protesters claimed the F1 event – that they labeled “race for blood” – overshadowed the ruling Bahraini Sunni royal family’s many human rights abuses and repression of the country’s Shiite population.Human rights groups have reported that at least 80 people have been killed and thousands arrested since the demonstrations began in 2011.One of the best-known cases of the Bahraini regime cracking down on opposition was the arrest of prominent activist Nabeel Rajab, who openly criticized the regime, following an interview on RT in Julian Assange’s show The World Tomorrow. In August 2012 Rajab was sentenced to three years in jail for “participation in an illegal assembly” and “calling for a march without prior notification.”Earlier in the week, the kingdom – which is home of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet – cancelled next month’s planned visit by the United Nations’ torture expert, citing delays in “ongoing national dialogue.””Let me be clear, this was a unilateral decision by the authorities,” Juan Mendez, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture said in a Wednesday statement. “This postponement could be perceived as if there was something to hide,” he added. His February trip to Bahrain was also blocked.According to Amnesty International, the latest cancellation “shows that Bahrain is clearly not serious about implementing human rights reforms.” “The authorities have used the buzzword of ‘reform’ as a smoke screen, when in reality they are not reforming,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, the human rights watchdog cited on its official website. … Read More
Canada to tax Bitcoin transactions – TV
The issue was clarified in response to a letter by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ahead of the country’s tax season.Two separate tax rules are applicable to the electronic currency, CRA spokesperson Philippe Brideau told CBC in an email.When bitcoins are used as money to buy goods and services, the transaction is treated as barter and is taxable as such. When they are traded at a market for profit, they may be taxed as capital gains.”When bitcoins are bought or sold like a commodity, any resulting gains or losses could be income or capital for the taxpayer depending on the specific facts,” the CRA ruled.The Bitcoin community is well aware that governments may soon tax their operations: A Bitcoin wiki page on the issue says taxation depends on jurisdiction, and suggests consulting a professional lawyer or accountant.The currency was created with the idea of protecting transactions from outside control and shielding the anonymity of users; law enforcers have long eyed Bitcoin as a tool for money laundering and illicit deals.”The system of tracking money is based on banking,” David D. Stewart, an international tax reporter for Tax Analyst told Business Insider, when the website asked him to explain how bitcoins are taxed in the US. “I could transfer $100,000 worth of bitcoins to someone and no one would know about it really.”The nature of the currency makes it attractive for would-be tax evaders, whethr motivated by simple greed or the political belief that levying taxes is an act of violence on the part of the government, and should be resisted.Bitcoin drew mainstream media attention recently when the total value of the currency briefly topped $1 billion, and wild price swings in the Bitcoin market promised a high-risk-high-profit opportunity for traders. … Read More
Russian elections monitor fined for failing to report foreign funding
GOLOS will have to pay a 300,000 roubles fine and its executive director Liliya Shibanova was ordered to pay a 100,000 roubles fine (about $10,000 and $3,300 respectively).The magistrate ruled that the association had violated the law on foreign agents that demands that all NGOs engaged in political activities register as foreign agents if they receive any sponsorship from abroad. According to law enforcers, the group received money from abroad in 2012.The representatives of the NGO denied all the accusations saying that they did receive the Sakharov award from Norway’s Helsinki Committee, but refused to accept its monetary part and sent back the money that was mistakenly transferred to their accounts. The activists also claim that their group has never been engaged in any political activities and investigators simply mixed them with another organization with a very similar name – the Regional Public Organization GOLOS.The activists promised to appeal the court ruling and told the press that after the law on foreign agents came into force their group completely refused from any foreign money.GOLOS specializes in the organization of elections monitoring and follow the alleged violations at elections of all levels. The group also analyses the poll results.It was also one of the first Russian NGOs to have legal cases brought against them following a major audit of all Russian groups that started in the end of March. According to President Putin, the checks have already discovered various Russian organizations received almost $1 billion from foreign sponsors in just four months after the law on foreign agents came into force.Earlier, GOLOS representatives admitted that they had received substantial funding from the United States Agency for International Development, but they claimed that this happened before the law on foreign agents was introduced.The approval of the foreign agents law and the following audit of Russian NGOs have drawn some concerned comments from foreign governments and international non-government agencies.Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly explained that the law does not order the closure of any organizations but simply calls for greater transparency as the Russian people have the right to know the sources of income of those who try to influence their lives through NGO political activities. … Read More
