MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow authorities have refused to grant permission for an opposition rally against “political repression and human rights abuses” that was to be held later this week.
City Hall denied permission for the downtown Moscow demonstration on the grounds that "political repression" in Russia is a legal impossibility.
“Current law does not provide any measures used by the state for repression based on political motives,” according to the official refusal, which an opposition group scanned and posted online.
Permission had been granted for a similar rally held in July that used the same slogans.
The application was for a rally to take place on Saturday near the Pushkinskaya metro station in support of opposition activists and protesters who have been prosecuted in past months.
At least 18 people have been charged over a May 6 rally on Bolotnaya Ploshchad in Moscow that ended in violent clashes with the police. So far only one man, who pleaded guilty to charges he attacked the police, has been tried and convicted. He received a prison sentence of four and a half years.
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