Human Rights Watch Criticizes Putin Presidential Bid

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International human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the election situation in Russia and expressed its concern that the decision of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to run for presidency once again ruins “the prospect of much-needed political reform.”

“The announcement in September that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would run for president in 2012 led most analysts to believe that his election is a foregone conclusion, and cast a shadow over the prospect of much-needed political reform,” HRW said in its annual statement.

Human rights activists also expressed their concern about the fact that the government refused to register new political parties before Russian parliamentary elections scheduled for December 4, 2011.

“However in 2011, as in previous election periods, pro-government parties benefitted from disproportionate access to media and abuse of administrative resources, resulting again in an uncompetitive electoral environment,” the statement said.

Human Rights Watch criticizes Russian authorities not only for elections and the lack of political competition. Activists also expressed concern about attacks on human rights defenders in Russia. This is especially true about the North Caucasus, where law enforcement in 2011, according to HRW, failed to investigate such crimes effectively.

In addition, human rights activists point to the facts that hundreds of families living in the Adler region of Sochi have lost their property through state expropriations because of the preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

“The regional government provided most homeowners with compensation, but in many cases these amounts and expropriation procedures were neither fair nor transparent,” the statement said.

However, it also noted that steps had been taken towards liberalization, such as President Dmitry Medvedev’s decision in June to lower the threshold of votes for a party to be represented in parliament.

Ria Novosti

RIA Novosti was Russia's leading news agency in terms of multimedia technologies, website audience reach and quoting by the Russian media.

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