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EU condemns Russian arrest of elderly protester

01 January 2010, 15:12 CET
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(BRUSSELS) - The European Parliament joined Friday US government criticism of Russia's arrest of an 82-year-old militant during an opposition protest in central Moscow on New Year's Eve.

EU parliament president Jerzy Buzek had been "very shocked and disappointed" that Ludmila Alexeeva had to spend New Year's Eve on Thursday in police custody, his spokeswoman Inga Rosinska said.

Buzek had described the police action as "totally disproportionate", she said.

The White House had expressed its dismay at Alexeeva's detention on Thursday and voiced concern about reports of her mistreatment.

Anti-riot police arrested the octogenarian along with around 60 other other people in a peaceful protest to call on Russian authorities to respect the right to freedom of assembly, according to the agency Interfax.

At the time of her arrest Alexeeva, one of this year's recipients of an European Parliament prize for freedom of thought, was dressed in a pink costume as the Snow Maiden of Russian fairy tales, usually depicted as the granddaughter of the Russian Father Christmas.

According to Echo Moscow radio, 300-500 people were involved in the protest which had not been sanctioned by the Moscow authorities.

Some were rounded up by police when they began shouting slogans and showing placards which read "Putin behind bars!", a reference to strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"I didn't have time to open my mouth, I just made a hand signal," Alexeeva told the Echo Moscow.

"I have no idea why I was arrested," she said. "They offered to release me, but I refused, demanding that they release all those in police vans."

Human Rights Watch said the detention "highlights the severe government restrictions on peaceful protests".

Detained with her was the founder of the outlawed National Bolshevik Party, Eduard Limonov.

Limonov was among 50 opposition dissidents arrested by police on October 31 as they tried to attend a protest in Moscow that had also not received government permission.

Limonov was sentenced to 10 days in prison for organising the rally.

Alexeeva was in 1976 a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, the oldest human rights organisation currently active in Russia and the object of a denigration campaign and arrests under the Soviet regime.

She was forced to leave the Soviet Union in 1977 and was exiled in the United States. She returned to Moscow in 1990.


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