Tatiana Kulbakina from Murmansk has made a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Russia for violations of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The complaint concerns the articles 11 – the freedom of assembly and 13 – the right for an effective remedy before national authorities for violations of rights under the Convention.
In april 2012 Tatiana Kulbakina held a demonstration against the treatment of the punk band Pussy Riot outside the FSB’s headquarters in Murmansk. A week before the planned demonstration she applied to the local administration to hold it outside the FSB building. The authorities declined, saying that the sidewalk outside the building was too narrow for the 10-20 people the organizers hoped to gather, and suggested that the demonstration could be held at a less crowded place.
Kulbakina turned to the court and appealed that the administration’s decision should be acknowledged illegal and the demonstration approved. However, the court did not meet until after April 15, the declared international day of support for the imprisoned women in Pussy Riot.
On April 15, Kulbakina held a demonstration alone outside the police and FSB building in Murmansk. When the court finally heard Kulbakina’s case, they approved the local administration’s decision.
“It is very sad that it is almost impossible to achieve justice in our national courts”, Kulbakina says to the Young Human Rights Newspaper. “I believe that the ECHR will take our side”.
