Russian Opposition Leader Slams Political System at Rally for Slain Journalist

Excerpt from report by Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, Gazprom- owned, editorially independent on 7 October

[Presenter] A rally was held in the centre of Moscow today in memory of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was murdered one year ago in the entryway to her block of flats on Lesnaya Ulitsa [street]. [Passage omitted]

The leader of the People’s Democratic Union [and former Prime Minister] Mikhail Kasyanov called [on the rally] to boycott the State Duma election scheduled for 2 December.

[Kasyanov] The political murder of Anna Politkovskaya is not just the death of a person that we are bewailing. Her name has in fact become one of the top moral authorities of our society, alongside [late dissident] Andrey Sakharov and [head of the Moscow Helsinki Group] Lyudmila Alekseyeva who, thank God, is sitting here with us. These people have been, and still are, devoting their lives to the struggle for Russian citizens’ freedom.

What is currently going on in this country? Daily trampling on civil and human rights on all levels of the power vertical. There are no longer independent courts. The media are experiencing most serious pressure. We do not need a totalitarian Russian Federation.

The election that will be organized on 2 December is a political farce. We want freedom.

Originally published by Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 1200 7 Oct 07.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.