A rally was held in Moscow on Friday, January 6th. prisoner Marat Kasem, Editor-in-Chief of Sputnik Lithuania, in Riga. Several people gathered in front of the Latvian embassy in the Russian capital, contain According to the state agency, Dmitry Kiselev, Director General of the Russia Today media group. DEA News.
According to the publication, the protesters “called for the journalist’s release, called for freedom of expression.” In particular, the following slogans were included in the posters:
“Freedom for Marat”, “Marat we are with you!”, “What’s wrong with freedom of speech in Latvia?”, “Freedom of expression is in free fall”, “EU Regulation withdraws from EU”, “EU is ready” condemn?”
Dmitry Kiselev said: “We have gathered to call for the release of our comrade and to say to everyone, “Freedom to Marat Kasem”.
Marat Kasem is a citizen of Latvia. He lives and works in Moscow in the Russia Today media group, which includes Sputnik Lithuania. On December 30, the journalist arrived in Latvia for family reasons. He was detained in Riga and arrested by court order. Kasem is accused of violating sanctions and is currently in Riga Central Prison.
“People in masks are bloggers and journalists”
In photos from the rally, posters supporting Kasem were held by people in medical masks and hoodies, who stood behind Kiselyov and State Duma deputy Maria Butina. Butina said in a conversation with herself “socialbites.ca”protesters wore masks due to the cold weather.
“They wear masks because it’s -25 degrees outside. Various colleagues. There are bloggers and journalists out there. In particular, you correctly mentioned [Дмитрия] Kiseleva. Petr Lidov came with us and many of our colleagues from Sputnik. It’s really cold. However, despite the frosts, we found it necessary to participate in this action today and unlawful acts are taking place and we express our anger at the fact that a person is being prosecuted for his professional journalistic activities. This is unacceptable,” he said.
According to him, the protesters wanted to attract the attention of Latvian authorities and residents. “The main task of the action is to attract the attention of our journalists. And of course to draw the attention of the Latvian authorities and people to the fact that there is a lawlessness in their state.
For their part, they should agree with this, because they are actually trying to convict a person for an opinion that differs from the opinion of the authorities.
This does not suit the local population, they need to realize that. I’m sure Marat will know about it. This is a man in trouble. He must understand that he stands by the Russian people, stands by his colleagues. We will support and help him. We have already attracted a professional lawyer,” Butina said.
The previous day, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that “Kasem’s arrest violates all of Latvia’s international obligations in the field of freedom of expression” and called on international organizations to get involved. Tatyana Moskalkova, the Russian Federation’s Human Rights Ombudsman, appealed to the UN on Friday.
This is not the first time Dmitry Kiselev has personally participated in public actions in defense of his employees. So, in May 2018, a rally was held in Moscow near the Ukrainian Embassy, where he spoke in support of the editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine, Kirill Vyshinsky, whose participants were detained in Kiev on suspicion of treason. . Subsequently, the journalist was released on personal bond, spent more than 15 months in custody.
“It is almost impossible to control public events”
Police were on duty near the Latvian embassy, where the rally in support of Kasem was held. There were no violations of orders, no arrests during the strike. In the video, the police calmly walk behind the protesters.
Butina said the organizers of the event had agreed with the Moscow authorities to keep a lookout despite the current coronavirus restrictions.
While Marat Kasem’s arrest was the day before, applications for public events must be submitted two weeks before the mass action date.
In December, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the city’s restrictions on holding public mass events, including rallies and demonstrations, as necessary. According to him, these restrictions “will be lifted as soon as possible, but they are needed now due to the epidemiological situation.”
“I think that time will come, and Muscovites will of course freely participate in all events, as in previous years,” he said.
Asked whether it is time to lift restrictions on one-man lookouts, among other things, Sobyanin replied that “it is almost impossible to control public mass events on the streets, and this, of course, is an additional risk zone. ”
“Therefore, as soon as the opportunity arises, of course we will allow public mass events to be held,” he said in a report to the Moscow City Duma on December 21, 2022.