LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2021) The UK Foreign Office published its annual report on democracy and human rights on Thursday, in which it said the human rights situation in Russia has deteriorated again in 2020, reiterating some of the same points that Moscow had criticized as biased in previous years.
"The human rights situation continued to deteriorate, with an increasingly hostile environment for civil society, a pliant and politically controlled judicial system, and media under pressure," the report said.
It alleged that the "already restrictive" framework for freedom of expression and civil society was further tightened by new laws and recent changes to the constitution. The UK foreign ministry specifically singled out constitutional amendments which asserted the primacy of the country's basic law over the decisions of international bodies, including that of the European Court of Human Rights.
The report further criticized the expansion of the foreign agents law, which was designed and consequently amended following analogous US legislation.
"Existing laws on disrespecting the authorities, extremism and counter-terrorism were used in selective prosecutions to deter dissent," the report said, citing the case of Yuri Dmitriev, head of the Memorial center (recognized as foreign agent in Russia), who was sentenced to thirteen years in jail on pedophilia charges.
Another major human rights violation, according to the UK foreign ministry, has been the case of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, now serving out his term in a prisonbcolony over a financial misdemeanor. The report called his alleged poisoning attempt "a serious blow to democracy and political pluralism in Russia," though Moscow has consistently denied any involvement in Navalny's health issues.
Other cases listed in the report included claims of persecution of LGBT+ people in Chechnya, former journalist Ivan Safronov's arrest on treason charges, the ban of Jehovah's Witnesses (recognized as extremist, banned in Russia), Russian interference in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as purported human rights violations in Crimea and in eastern Ukraine.
"In 2021, the UK will remain committed to the protection and promotion of human rights and civil society in Russia, and we shall continue to urge the Russian authorities to implement its international human rights obligations," the report concluded.
