Lyudmila Mikhailovna Alexeyevais a Russian historian, leading human rights activist, founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, and one of the last Soviet dissidents still active in modern Russia... (wikipedia)
Now they'll say that the public chamber is the expression of civil society -- and all the rest of us are marginal. Gradually people will forget that we exist. And to make that happen more quickly, that completely senseless bill has been passed.
What the government wants is to close down civil society in this country. And that means they have to close down us, noncommercial NGOs, which remain the last bastion of the Russian civil society not controlled by the government.
This is an attempt to smear a well-known group with allegations of involvement in espionage activity. They are preparing public opinion for a government move to close us down, which they can now do under the new law.
He told the people the truth - not the whole truth, but it was the first time in Russian history that a leader has told the people the bitter truth.
I hate it when people are wrongly convicted.
In Russia, less than one percent of trials end with an acquittal. With trials that were initiated for political reasons those chances are zero.
In Russia, we have a long tradition of compassion for people who have been put into labor camps or prison.