The UN on Tuesday (September 27th) expressed concern over reports of nearly 2,400 arrests in less than a week during protests in Russia against the partial mobilization ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are deeply disturbed by the large number of people who have allegedly been arrestedRavina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva. Russian authorities have cracked down on criticism of the military operation in Ukraine since its launch on February 24. But the arrests multiplied after the announcement of a partial mobilization on September 21.
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Ravina Shamdasani quoted “credible reports (that) some 2377 demonstrators were arrested (…) in various places in the country“. “The number of people who remain detained is unclear“, she added.
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More than 2,300 people arrested
According to the NGO OVD-Info, which specializes in monitoring opposition actions, more than 2,300 people have been arrested since Vladimir Putin’s announcement during actions against military mobilization. Significant departures of Russians to neighboring countries have also been reported.
Ravina Shamdasani notably reported on the protests organized in Dagestan, with clashes between demonstrators and police in this Russian region of the Caucasus which has already paid a heavy price since the start of the offensive in Ukraine. “Dozens of people were reportedly arrested“, did she say. According to OVD-Info, at least 101 people were arrested on Sunday in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, in southwestern Russia.
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A multi-ethnic region with a Muslim majority, the Republic of Dagestan is one of the poorest territories in Russia. It was bloodied in the 2000s by a war between Russian forces and jihadist guerrillas. Since the beginning of the Russian offensive against kyiv, it is also one of the Russian regions with the highest proportion of men killed in action in Ukraine, according to death notices published on social networks and collected by independent Russian media.
“Errors”
On Monday in Oust-Ilimsk, a remote town in the Irkutsk region, a man opened fire at a Russian army recruitment center, seriously injuring an officer who worked there. Many cases of the elderly, sick or students called up have been reported, while the authorities ensured that they were exempt. The Kremlin has admittederrorsduring the mobilization and promised to correct them.
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Ravina Shamdasani stressed that most protests so far in Russia appeared peaceful. “We insist that arresting people solely for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty“, she said. “We call for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained and for the authorities to respect their international obligations to ensure the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.“, she added.
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