{"id":34507,"date":"2024-06-13T13:23:39","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T10:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=34507"},"modified":"2024-06-13T13:23:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T10:23:39","slug":"the-moscow-times-another-attempt-to-marginalize-us-experts-and-activists-weigh-in-on-anti-russian-separatist-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/publications-about-us\/media-about-us\/the-moscow-times-another-attempt-to-marginalize-us-experts-and-activists-weigh-in-on-anti-russian-separatist-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"The Moscow Times: \u2018Another Attempt to Marginalize Us\u2019: Experts and Activists Weigh In on \u2018Anti-Russian Separatist\u2019 Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Moscow Times:<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Supreme Court last week ruled to ban<\/a> the so-called \u201cAnti-Russian Separatist Movement\u201d and \u201cits structural divisions\u201d as an extremist organization.<\/p>\n

Though no organization with this name formally exists in Russia or elsewhere, the country\u2019s Justice Ministry defined<\/a> the group as an \u201cinternational public movement to destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.\u201d\u00a0Some observers suspect<\/a> that this vague definition may be aimed at the various movements advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities and for Russia\u2019s decolonization. Affiliates and supporters of these groups could now face up to six years in prison if found guilty of involvement in the banned \u201cseparatist movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

To make sense of what this ban could mean in practice, The Moscow Times asked leading Indigenous activists and human rights defenders for their interpretations and predictions.<\/p>\n

Stefania Kulaeva, human rights defender and expert at the Brussels-based Anti-Discrimination Center (ADC) Memorial<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue of criminal prosecution for so-called \u2018separatism\u2019 is not new. People in Russia have been arrested many times before\u2026for simply advocating for federalization of regions like Siberia, [southern Russia\u2019s] Kuban, [the republic of] Karelia, and others,\u201d said Kulaeva, adding that Russians who say that occupied Crimea or the Donbas are Ukrainian lands have also faced criminal prosecution for \u201cseparatism\u201d in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [Supreme Court] ruling gives law enforcement authorities free rein, allowing them to effectively criminalize all human rights activities \u2014 which threatens not only minority rights activists but all minorities,\u201d Kulaeva told The Moscow Times.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more: The Moscow Times<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Moscow Times: Russia\u2019s Supreme Court last week ruled to ban the so-called \u201cAnti-Russian Separatist Movement\u201d and \u201cits structural divisions\u201d as an extremist organization. Though no organization with this name formally exists in Russia or elsewhere, the country\u2019s Justice Ministry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[535,215],"strategy_cases":[],"campaign":[],"archive":[],"filter-content":[],"regions":[503,515],"class_list":["post-34507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-about-us","tag-indigenous-peoples","tag-minorities-rights-en","regions-crimea","regions-russia"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t