SA PEN Calls on President Jacob Zuma to Tackle Russia on Freedom of Expression Issues at the G20 Summit

Free expression in Russia is under considerable threat. During the last 18 months, Russian lawmakers have passed three pieces of legislation that severely curtail writers’ and activists’ right to express themselves freely:

In July 2012, criminal libel law was re-introduced to Russian law. Media outlets now face fines of up to US$ 153,000 if they are judged to have made a libellous statement.

In June 2013, Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code was amended, making any act that insults religious feelings a criminal offence, with punishments of up to three years’ imprisonment.

Also in June 2013, the so-called ‘anti-gay propaganda’ law was passed, banning any activity that could be construed as promoting a non-heterosexual lifestyle. This new law created a series of administrative penalties in the form of fines, suspensions for legal entities, and deportations for foreign nationals.

PEN International raised its concerns regarding these laws and the Pussy Riot case in their submission to Russia’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN in 2013.

Emblematic of this regressive approach to free expression is the continued imprisonment of Nadezhda Tolokonnivova and Mariya Alekhina, two members of the female punk band Pussy Riot. Tolokonnivova, Alekhina and another member of the band, Yekaterina Samutsevich, were convicted in August 2012 on charges of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’. This followed Pussy Riot’s performance of a ‘punk prayer’ at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow in February 2012. Each woman was punished with a two-year prison sentence (Samutsevich’s sentence was later suspended).

The convictions and sentencing of Tolokonnivova, Alekhina and Samutsevich – which have been widely condemned inside Russia and throughout the world – represent a violation of their right to free expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Russia in 1973. On 17th August 2013, PEN International’s President, John Ralston Saul, addressed an open letter to President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, urging the release of Nadezhda Tolokonnivova and Mariya Alekhina, and urging the repeal of the three afore-mentioned pieces of anti-free expression legislation.

SA PEN has written to President Jacob Zuma, who will be attending the upcoming G20 summit, and asked him to call on the Russian Federation to free the two imprisoned member of Pussy Riot, to repeal the three pieces of anti-free expression legislation passed in the last 18 months, and to fully comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to respect freedom of opinion and expression.

For further enquiries contact: Margie Orford, Vice-President, SA PEN
margie@margieorford.com

Deborah Horn-Botha, Secretary, SA PEN
rudebs@icon.co.za