Putin challenged over Russian human rights

President Vladimir Putin heard harsh criticism of Russia’s justice system today from members of his human rights council, who also warned that recent laws and actions by authorities have hampered the development of democracy and civil society.

Putin parried a dark portrait of corruptible courts and abuse-plagued prisons with jabs at the West, lashing out at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and accusing the European Court for Human Rights of succumbing to political motivations.

In a lengthy Kremlin meeting with the council created to promote human rights and the development of civil society, he also said non-governmental organisations should rely on domestic funding because money from abroad could be tainted by the geopolitical aims of foreign countries.

The meeting was in part a show of propaganda meant to demonstrate that Putin, who has faced repeated claims that he is backsliding on democracy, is working to resolve Russia’s persistent problems and protect the rights of its people.

While council members were careful not to criticise Putin, their remarks painted a picture of a country in which the rights of citizens have been curtailed in some ways during his presidency and are often trampled by self-interested authorities.

Ella Pamfilova, the council’s chairwoman, said electoral legislation passed under Putin “limits to a minimum public control” over the electoral process. She said it has narrowed voters’ choices by forbidding them to vote against all candidates and raising the threshold parties must clear to gain parliament seats.

She said the Kremlin-controlled lawmakers, who dominate parliament, “did the maximum to make electoral law comfortable for themselves” before parliamentary elections this December, and that a ban on negative advertising would make it difficult for challengers to air their views.

Pamfilova also said she was “very concerned” by what she called the increasing tendency of authorities to prevent citizens from holding demonstrations and marches.

“Such prohibitive measures will only radicalise many political groupings, marginalise them,” she said.

Putin often acknowledged problems raised by council members, but also used comparisons with the West to blunt the impact of their concerns.

“As for the idea that we are again trying to catch up with America – no, it is not so. I hope we will never have a Guantanamo. For five years international society has paid attention to this camp, where people are held without trial or investigation,” he said.

“And those who are moved out of there are acquitted” in their home countries, he said. “I am unaware of a single conviction.”