Activists to Sue Moscow City Authorities Over Gay Pride Ban article print: 1/19/07

[currentcurrency]

SOURCE: Activists to Sue Moscow City Authorities Over Gay Pride Ban - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

Activists to Sue Moscow City Authorities Over Gay Pride Ban
Created: 19.01.2007 12:11 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:11 MSK


MosNews


Russian gay Pride organizers are planning to take the Moscow city government to European Court of Human Rights over its refusal to allow the event last year, the Gay.com web-site reports.

The city government denied a permit for the May 27 parade. Despite city approval, the Russian gay community carried on, only to be harassed by anti-gay protesters.

Police arrested nearly 200 marchers, many of whom were gay.

A riot among marchers, religious fundamentalists and skinheads left one gay man beaten unconscious.

The decision to move to the European court follows an earlier dismissal of the case by the Moscow City Court, which refused the appeal from the gay group.

“We tried to offer to Russian judicial system yet another chance to review the illegal decision banning the Pride march,” said Nikolai Alekseev of GayRussia.ru.

Before heading to the European court, Alekseev said that the group would appeal to the Russian Supreme Court to hear its case.

“An application to the European Court of Human Rights is now ready and is currently being assessed by legal experts,” said Alekseev.