Source: hro.org (info), 17/05/11

· Ombuds Institution

On 13 May Rossiiskaya gazeta published the 2010 report of the Federal Human Rights Ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, released on 3 March 2011.

In three sections the Ombudsman treats the topic of the unlawful application of anti-extremist legislation, Sova Centre reports.

Right to Private Life

An example of forced fingerprinting and photographing is that of a person D in Smolensk, on the grounds that he was suspected of participating in extremist activity. The fingerprinting and photographing were unlawful since the person detained had his passport with him and this was adequate to establish his identity.

Right to freedom of conscience

In this section of the report the issue of unlawful application of anti-extremist legislation was illustrated by incidences of unlawful arrests, searches and interference by law enforcement agencies in the prayer meetings of believers. In the main, as noted in the report, these violations concern representatives of “non-traditional religions.”

Freedom of thought and speech

In this section the Ombudsman touched on problems such as the use of anti-extremist legislation to limit criticism of the authorities, the excessively broad interpretation of the term “extremism” by many legal experts, and the generally low level of expertise used in the assessment of so-called “extremist” cases.

The full text of the report is available on the website of the Federal Ombudsman.