Fri 22 Oct 2010 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The European Court of Human Rights has told Russia its ban on gay marches is illegal. The court in Strasbourg said that restricting the community's rights of assembly was a form of discrimination. Authorities have been ordered to pay around $53,000 in compensation to Russian gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev, who brought the case. He has described the landmark ruling as "a crippling blow to Russian homophobia on all accounts." The Independent reports the ruling has been welcomed by gay rights activists as having tremendous implications for all civil society in Russia, as it states that the authorities' insistence that protesters must obtain permission to hold rallies or pickets is illegal. Currently, authorities in many Russian cities reject applications for gay marches or demonstrations of the democratic opposition, often claiming that they clash with other hastily-arranged events. Each year a small number of people defy the ban and march anyway, which often ends with riot police wading in and arresting the demonstrators.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 22nd October 2010 - 12:28pm