■ One of the protestors arrested on September 14 in Moscow during the demonstration over the ban on gays donating blood. photo: GayRussia.ru

MOSCOW, September 26, 2007 (GayRussia.ru)  –  The six gay activists who were arrested when they demonstrated against the ban in Russia against gays donating blood have been fined by a Moscow court.

They were charged under Article 20.2 of the Code on Administrative Offences for staging an unauthorised public event outside Ministry of Health and Social Development in Moscow on September 14.

Alexey Davydov, co-ordinator of the LGBT Right movement and organiser of the demonstration, was fined 1,000 roubles (about £20 or $40) by the Tverskoi district court judge Nalalya Dyatlova.  The other five were each fined 500 roubles.

The activists were protesting the ban implemented by the Russian authorities on September 14, 2001.  Since then, letters of protest have been written by activists to the Ministry asking that the ban on gays donating blood be lifted.

The Ministry said that it would change the instructions, so far has failed to lift the ban.

In a letter to the head of Project GayRussia.Ru and principal organiser of Moscow Pride, Nikolai Alekseev, the General Prosecution office confirmed that the ban is illegal and should be changed by the Ministry.

Yesterday’s court hearing lasted less than an hour.  The judge Dyatlova considered the cases of all activists together and considered unnecessary to hear evidence from the police officers who arrested the activist.

According to the court, the final texts of the judgements will be ready on Friday.

“We are going to appeal the court decisions in Tverskoi district court and in case it is necessary we are ready to take the cases of those activists up to the European Court of Human Rights,” Mr. Alekseev said this morning.

The notification concerning the staging of the picket in front of the Ministry of Health and Social Development was sent to the Prefecture of the Central Administrative Area of Moscow in full accordance with the law on 10 September, the activists claim.

Then, on the following day, the Prefecture asked the organisers to decrease the number of participants from 25 to 10 – which they agreed to.

But next day, September 12, deputy prefect Galina Boryatinskaya totally banned the event, citing Article 11 of the European Convention which says that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly can be limited in the interests of public order, to avoid public disorders, for the protection of health and morality and rights and freedoms of other people.

Exactly the same reasons were used to ban the march and pickets during this year’s gay pride in Moscow.

The difference this time is that not a single protestor came to the event and no one voiced any opposition to its taking place.

On the day of the protest, Moscow police arrested seven participants of the picket who carried a banner “Homophobic Health Ministry Kills”.

They were taken to Tverskoe police station where they spent more than four hours before being released.

On Monday September 17, organisers of the picket appealed its ban to Taganski district court of Moscow which has not yet set the date of the hearing. The organisers are asking the court to judge that the actions of the prefecture were illegal and contradictory to the Russian Constitution and European Convention.

The six activists have vowed, if necessary, to take the matter to the European Court.

“The cases of all activists and the ban of the event will be combined in one application to the European Court of Human Rights,” Mr. Alekseev said.

■  An appeal over last year’s ban of Moscow Pride has already been lodged with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.  Pride organisers plan a similar appeal to Strasbourg against the ban of the Pride in May this year.

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Posted: 26 September 2007 at 12:00 (UK time)