RUSSIA: Moscow police search offices of opposition group headed by former world chess champion Gary Kasparov

Record ID: 755706

  • Title: RUSSIA: Moscow police search offices of opposition group headed by former world chess champion Gary Kasparov
  • Date: 13th December 2006
  • Summary: KASPAROV ENTERS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) GARY KASPAROV, UNITED CIVIL FRONT LEADERS AND FORMER WORLD CHESS CHAMPION, SAYING: "It seems to me that all that is happening now with the United Civil Front, what is happening with organisations that are part of the "Other Russia" grouping - like the National Bolshevik party - whatever is happening with the real fighters against the Putin regime - is an indicator that the entire repressive mechanism of state, which is supposed to be geared against extremism and terrorism, is directed to suppress alternative political views in Russia. Of course it will be an exaggeration to say that we have a complete dictatorship, but nevertheless Russia is no longer a democracy, and I don't understand for how long the G7 leaders are going to put up with the leader of an obviously totalitarian country, where the police forces rule." KASPAROV WITH REPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3XF61PK3XL6WX64IW4R65497N
  • Story Text: Russian police searching for extremist literature raided the headquarters of an opposition movement headed by chess champion Gary Kasparov on Tuesday (December 12).
    Police were preparing to take away leaflets advertising a protest in Moscow planned for Dec. 16 by opponents of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Kasparov's spokesman Denis Bilunov told Reuters by telephone.
    "The search is going on right now," he said from the headquarters. "Interior Ministry officers from the central district of Moscow are looking through our leaflets and literature."
    "They have an instruction from the relevant authorities to check our literature and establish if it contains extremist views," said Bilunov.
    Bilunov rang off after a voice could be heard in the background ordering him to end the call. Moscow police could not immediately be reached for comment.
    Kasparov, who was world chess champion for eight years in a row, has retired from competitive chess and is now a full-time opposition politician. He is an ardent Putin opponent and heads a movement called the United Civil Front.
    "It seems to me that all that is happening now with the United Civil Front, what is happening with organisations that are part of the "Other Russia" grouping - like the National Bolshevik party - whatever is happening with the real fighters against the Putin regime - is an indicator that the entire repressive mechanism of state, which is supposed to be geared against extremism and terrorism, is directed to suppress alternative political views in Russia. Of course it will be an exaggeration to say that we have a complete dictatorship, but nevertheless Russia is no longer a democracy, and I don't understand for how long the G7 leaders are going to put up with the leader of an obviously totalitarian country, where the police forces rule," Kasparov told reporters after arriving at the United Civil Front offices in central Moscow.
    Organisers of the Dec. 16 protest said on Tuesday opposition activists in the Voronezh and Orel regions had been ordered to report to local police.
    Police officers spoke to them about their participation in the march and ordered them not to leave their homes, the organisers said in a statement.
    "This is a flagrant violation of human rights and freedoms ... Despite all the attempts of the authorities to stop the march from happening, the organisers intend to go ahead with the march," said the statement.
    Critics of the Kremlin say it has been rolling back democratic freedoms. They say opposition parties have been muzzled and that the Kremlin has established tight control over the media. Putin has denied those allegations.
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