MOSCOW, June 18, 2008 (GayRussia.ru)  –  Tverskoi District Court of Moscow this afternoon dismissed the complaint by Moscow Pride organisers against the ban of one of the Gay Pride marches for tolerance and respect for the rights and freedoms of homosexual people in Russia planned for May 1 this year.

The march was scheduled to take place from the Moscow Central Post Office to Lubyanka Square.

During court hearing, Nikolai Alekseev, principle  the organiser of Moscow Pride, said that the Russian legislation does not give the authorities the right to ban any public event if it does not contradict the Constitution.

According to the law, he told the court, authorities are obliged to offer an alternative place or time for the conduct of such an event if it is not possible to stage it in the place where planned.

Mr.  Alekseev underlined that the references of Moscow Government to Article 11 of the European Convention are not appropriate because Russian legislation does not permit a ban of a public event of sexual minorities.

He cited references to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in which the Court held that the view that the majority can not prevail over the views of the minority and in which the European Court have ruled that public actions of sexual minorities must be provided police protection.

In all the organisers of Moscow Pride sent 155 notifications for the marches between May 1 and 31 this year – five a day.

All of them were turned down by the Moscow Government. However, The court decision delivered today concerns only one march – on May 1.

“As soon as we have the final text of the decision of judge Alexey Sevalkin we will immediately appeal it in Moscow City Court,” Mr. Alekseev following the court hearing.

“Depending on the actual written decision, we will also appeal all the other bans of the marches for which we applied in May.”

He went on to suggest that if “needed, we are ready to take all cases up to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.  Two of our applications concerning the bans of Moscow Pride event in May 2006 and in May 2007 are already awaiting consideration in Strasbourg”.

Earlier this week Moscow Pride organisers sent a new application to the European Court of Human Rights against the ban by the Prefecture of the Central Administrative Area of Moscow of the picketing in support of a call for a travel ban in the European Union by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov.  The ban was ruled to be lawful by Taganskiy District Court of Moscow and by Moscow City Court.

The third Moscow Gay Pride successfully staged on June 1, despite tthe ban by the Moscow authorities.

Around 30 activists, following a little subterfuge, total secrecy and a little ‘cat and mouse’, gathered at the monument of Russian composer Petr Tchaikovskiy, said to have been gay, on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street and then, following a brief march, displayed a huge banner from one of the flats on Tverskaya street opposite the office of Moscow Mayor which read: “Rights to Gays and Lesbians. Homophobic of Moscow Mayor should be prosecuted”.

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Posted: 18 June 2008 at 23:00 (UK time)