Dáil debates

Wednesday, 31 March 2021

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements

 

3:55 pm

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

More than 5,000 peaceful protesters were arrested in just one day in January this year in Russia and the repression has continued since then. I wish to focus on two of the less high-profile cases. The first is the case of Anastasia Ponkina, a feminist and environmental activist. On 9 March she was charged in Izhevsk for attending a protest in January. She now faces the prospect of up to five years in prison and her organisation, the Russian Socialist Movement, faces being branded by the state as an extremist organisation. On 22 March in a Moscow court, Matvey Aleksandrov, a member of the Socialist Alternative, a sister organisation of the Socialist Party in Ireland, was imprisoned for 15 days, having just completed a 25 day jail sentence for the crime of distributing leaflets promoting protests on International Workers' Day. He can be arrested and charged again on his release, in a revolving door-type scenario. There should be a right to assemble, associate and protest in Russia and every other country. I ask the Minister of State to contact the Russian ambassador to oppose what is being done in the aforementioned cases and to oppose the wave of oppression that is sweeping across Russia at this time. If he contacts me after this debate, I will happily pass on the details.

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