VZCZCXRO5538
OO RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #5528/01 3301607
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261607Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5451
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 005528 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PINR RS
SUBJECT: GOR CLAMPS DOWN ON OTHER RUSSIA; KASPAROV 
SENTENCED TO FIVE DAYS IN JAIL 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  On November 24, following a peaceful, 
sanctioned meeting in central Moscow, about eighty of an 
estimated two thousand Other Russia/SPS demonstrators 
attempted to march to the Central Election Commission in 
defiance of a ban by city authorities. In the melee that 
followed, police and special forces troops briefly detained 
up to forty of the activists, and arrested Other Russia 
leader Garry Kasparov.  Kasparov was denied access to counsel 
until just before the brief November 24 hearing that saw him 
sentenced to five days detention for refusing to obey 
authorities and for organizing an illegal activity.  The 
Ambassador will raise concerns over the GOR reaction to the 
demonstration with acting Foreign Minister Denisov this 
evening.  End summary. 
 
Illegal March Stopped 
--------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) A sanctioned November 24 meeting in central Moscow 
sponsored by Other Russia was attended by about two thousand 
demonstrators and addressed by Other Russia's Garry Kasparov, 
the Union of Right Forces' (SPS) Boris Nemtsov, the outlawed 
National Bolshevik Party's Eduard Limonov, and others.  Other 
Russia estimated attendance at about three thousand, while 
Moscow city authorities pegged it at one thousand, and 
Embassy representative split the difference at two thousand. 
Police presence at the meeting was moderate. 
 
¶3. (SBU) After the conclusion of the meeting, about eighty of 
the demonstrators attempted to march toward the Central 
Election Commission, where they hoped to deliver a petition. 
The police acted aggressively to prevent the march, as the 
permit given to Other Russia sanctioned a meeting only. In 
the melee that followed, police detained forty people, who 
had broken through a thin police barricade, crossed the busy 
Garden Ring Road, then ran down a side street in the 
direction of the CEC. Among those brought into custody were 
Kasparov, human rights activist and SPS Moscow representative 
Maria Gaidar, National Bolshevik Party head Eduard Limonov, 
the head of the NGO "For Human Rights" Lev Ponomarev and 
Yabloko Party youth leader Ilya Yashin.  During the 
confusion, a small group led by the Other Russia's Moscow 
representatives Marina Litvinovich, delivered a petition to 
the duty officer at the Central Election Commission, who 
promised to pass it to the appropriate office when the CEC 
opened for business on November 26. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kasparov was quickly sentenced to five days 
imprisonment for refusing to obey authorities and for 
organizing an illegal activity. (Note:  the speed with which 
justice was rendered was unusual.  The judge apparently 
reversed her earlier decision to reconvene on November 26 and 
delivered her verdict on the evening of November 24.) 
Kasparov and others have complained that the police and the 
judicial system violated their rights after their arrest. 
Kasparov's attorney has claimed that he was not given access 
to Kasparov until five minutes before his quickly arranged 
hearing on November 24 and not permitted to present evidence. 
Of the remaining 39, nine were immediately released and 
thirty were told to report to court on Monday, November 26. 
 
Marches Face Problems Elsewhere 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Attempts to hold un-sanctioned marches in Nizhniy 
Novgorod on November 24 and in St. Petersburg on November 25 
(septel) encountered similar resistance from the police. 
Sources in Nizhniy Novgorod report that dozens of Other 
Russia and SPS demonstrators defied a decision by city 
authorities --who had offered other venues-- and gathered in 
downtown Gorkiy Square, where they were detained by police. 
Some of the would-be demonstrators were reportedly beaten and 
denied access to legal counsel. In addition, a television 
crew from Moscow-based REN-TV was reportedly kidnapped from 
its hotel in Nazran by men wearing special police uniforms 
and warned against trying to film a protest on November 24 
against human rights abuses there (septel). 
 
SPS's Presence Swells Other Russia Ranks 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The November 24 Moscow rally marked the first time 
that SPS had joined Kasparov's group. Their members swelled 
Other Russia's generally more paltry ranks and white flags of 
SPS's Moscow organization outnumbered those of other 
participating.  Many of the speakers led the crowd in 
cheering for a "Russia Without Putin."  Nemtsov even tried to 
capitalize on the Russian national soccer team's recent 
near-miss qualification in the next round of the 2008 
European Cup tournament by evoking a popular chant used at 
 
MOSCOW 00005528  002 OF 002 
 
 
those matches. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Nemtsov told the media that the arrest of SPS 
activists was illegal and that the party would challenge it 
in the local courts.  Nemtsov also noted that although there 
was accurate coverage of the weekend's events in the 
international media, the Russian media had ignored the 
marches and resulting arrests of leading political figures or 
had distorted their reporting.  Moscow television juxtaposed 
a rally of about five thousand members of the pro-Kremlin 
Nashi group near Red Square releasing white balloons to show 
their support for Putin with the gathering of "radicals" in 
the north of the city. The media added to Other Russia's/SPS 
bad press by interviewing drivers angered by the disruptions 
caused in Moscow's car-stuffed city center by the Other 
Russia meeting. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The November 24 meeting seemed likely to follow the 
emerging pattern set by the most recent set of Other Russia 
rallies.  The city had given permission to the demonstrators 
to meet in central Moscow, but not to march.  The meeting 
itself went off without incident, but when an effort was made 
to turn the meeting into an unauthorized march the police and 
special forces troops cracked down.  No doubt contributing to 
the five-day sentence that Kasparov received was his body 
guards' and Other Russia demonstrators' active resistance to 
attempts to detain him.  Video tapes show one presumed Other 
Russia activist strangling an OMON troop and Ekho Moskvy, 
which offered bulletins during the course of Saturday's 
events, noted that Kasparov's bodyguards had "fought off" the 
first efforts to arrest Kasparov after the march to the CEC 
began.  That said, the police seem to have overreacted to the 
threat posed by the few demonstrators determined to defy the 
ban, and Kasparov's treatment once detained --the failure to 
allow him access to his counsel until just minutes before his 
trial-- was a clear violation of his rights. The Ambassador 
will raise our concerns over the treatment of the protesters 
later today with acting Foreign Minister Denisov. 
BURNS