Russia “Gaga” over Homosexuality Promotion Debate

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – In the latest showing of Russia’s struggle with homosexuality, international pop star Lady Gaga has run afoul of “homosexual propaganda” laws in St. Petersburg.  During her Sunday concert in the city, Lady Gaga made a call for respect for gay rights, attracting the ire of Putin ally and United Russia deputy Vitaly Milonov, who spearheaded the St. Petersburg ban on homosexual promotion.

Long-time advocate of LGBT rights, Lady Gaga spoke out at her concert in St. Petersburg on Sunday. (Photo Courtesy of GlobalPost)

Milonov, a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, promised to lodge a formal complaint with St. Petersburg prosecutors, accusing Lady Gaga of encouraging 12-year-olds to support the LGBT cause.  He told a Russian paper “We will contact prosecutors and the law enforcement agencies to carry out a thorough investigation of the situation. . . When people tell kids ‘you must support sexual minorities’, that can create a false equivalence for them between traditional and non-traditional relationships.”

Attempts were also made, but failed, to place an under-18 ban on concert attendance.  Lady Gaga told local media offstage that she’d been threatened with arrest or heavy fines if she mentioned gay rights.

The controversy surrounding Lady Gaga invokes a comparison to a case involving Madonna earlier this August, who, after a concert in St. Petersburg, was charged with “inciting religious hatred and offending cultural traditions” and faced a potential fine of $11 million.  A district court dropped the charges this November after a trial in absentia, but only after the pop celebrity had spent $10.7 million in legal fees.

The law in St. Petersburg, passed last March, criminalizes “public action directed at propagandizing sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism, and transgenderism among minors.”  St. Petersburg is one of three major cities to have recently passed such a law, which primarily imposes fines.  However, the scope of what constitutes “propaganda” is not clear, although gay rights protesters have been arrested under the law.  The United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled this and similar laws discriminatory and a violation of freedom of expression.  Advocates say that the few human rights hard won for the LGBT community are disappearing under the law.  Although homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993, hostility against gays and lesbians remains widespread in Russia.

“This law will be applied against people who take to the streets, against journalists who write things that displease authorities, against those who simply defend their rights,” says Igor Kochetkov, the head of the LGBT Network, a gay-rights group in St. Petersburg.

Furthermore, on December 19, the Duma (the lower chamber of Russia’s national legislator) will consider similar legislation that would impose fines for promoting homosexuality to anyone under 18.  Russia’s Code of Administrative Law Violations would be amended so that individuals found responsible for “propaganda for homosexuality among minors” could be fined up to 5,000 rubles (US$160), and organizations could be fined up to 500,000 rubles (US$16,000).  However, the legislation fails to define “propaganda,” “homosexuality,” or “among minors.”

Boris Dittrich, advocacy director of the LGBT program at Human Rights Watch, explains that “[t]he draft law’s language is so vague that it could undermine any public efforts to address rampant discrimination of LGBT people in Russia.”

Dittrich further comments: “The proposed provisions attack the fundamental right to free speech, deny LGBT people equal rights, and violate Russia’s obligations under international and Russian law.”

Russia’s own Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, has voiced his opposition to the legislation, saying that “not all relations between people can be regulated by law.”

On Saturday, before her “promotional” concert in St. Petersburg, Lady Gaga tweeted to say she thanks the PM for “not standing by your party’s anti-gay propaganda law.”

For further information, please see:

St. Petersburg Times – Art Exhibition Sparks Outcry – 12 December 2012

Global Post – Russian Lawmaker Goes after Lady Gaga on Gay Rights –11 December 2012

Human Rights Watch – Russia: Reject Homophobic Bill –10 December 2012

Moscow Times – Lady Gaga Thanks Medvedev for Opposing Anti-Gay Laws – 10 December 2012

RFE/RL – Being Gay In St. Petersburg Gets Even Harder – 25 June 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Monday, 10 December 2012

Justify Yourself, Mr. President!

Syrian Revolution Digest – December 10, 2012 

The Obama Administration needs to explain in clear terms and soon its decision to declare Jabhat Al-Nusra as a terrorist group at this particular juncture. Despite being critical of Al-Nusra themselves, too many rebels and activists see in this move an attempt at quashing the armed struggle in favor of a political solution that would accommodate the interests of all and sundry, except those of the revolutionaries. But it’s not only this decision that seems problematic to the revolutionaries, it’s the entire about-face that the Obama Administration did in its stance on the Syrian Revolution that remains unexplained and, hence, subject to misunderstandings. The desire to be so involved in steering the process at this stage is being interpreted as an attempt at appropriating the advances recently made by rebels in order to retain some influence over them after the fall of Assad. While this might come as an oversimplification, as well as a misreading of the facts on the ground, it represents an ethos that is too widespread to be ignored. It’s time for some justifications: why has President Obama been so late in coming to the fore, and what endgame in Syria is he really seeking? It’s not enough to have Ambassador Ford explain Obama’s point-of-view to the opposition. It’s the Syrian people who need to be openly addressed by the Man himself.

Today’s Death Toll:142 (including 7 children and 11 women)

59 in Aleppo (including 10 in Shaikh Maksoud), 50 in Damascus and suburbs, 12 in Daraa, 9 in Idlib, 5 in Homs, 3 in Deir Ezzor, 3 in Hama and 1 in Raqqa

Points of Random Shelling: 213

 Clashes: 108

Regime forces carried out aerial raids against Alkhadra village in Latakia as well as Talbisseh and Houla in Homs using cluster bombs, and Erbin in Damascus suburbs using phosphorous bombs. In Damascus, rebels liberate the Art Institution in Harasta, previously used by pro-regime militias, shelled the military airports in Deir Ezzor and Mazzeh (Damascus) (LCC)

 

News

Syria to U.N.: ‘Serious fear’ it will be framed for the use of chemical weapons

Syria Crisis: Rebels Capture Parts Of Sheik Suleiman Army Base Near Aleppo

Inside Syria: ABC News Reports on the Thousands of Displaced Syrian Refugees and the Threat of Chemical Warfare in the War Torn Country

US designates Syria’s Jabhat al-Nusra front a ‘terrorist’ group at lightning speed

Syrian rebels defy US and pledge allegiance to jihadi group Rebel groups across Syria are defying the United States by pledging their allegiance to a group that Washington will designate today a terrorist organization for its alleged links to al-Qaeda.

Syrian economy to shrink 20 percent in 2012: IIF War-ravaged Syria’s economy will shrink by a fifth in 2012 and all its foreign reserves could be spent by the end of next year, a global finance industry association said on Monday.

Syria’s Assad Will Use Chemical Weapons, Says Former Weapons Program General He listed mustard gas along with the sarin, VX and tabun nerve agents as the main elements in Syria’s chemical arsenal, whose existence Syria doesn’t even acknowledge… “They’re idiots, crazy. Simply they are killers,” he said.

EU moves closer to full recognition of Syria opposition Alkhatib said he expected to get a decision on Wednesday from the EU over whether it would recognise the coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. “This is under discussion because the European countries each have their own point of view and they are debating the issue,” he told reporters after he left midway through the ministers’ meeting. “They will give the final answer in Marrakesh.”

EU: Syria war is ‘stain’ on world conscience The European Union, winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, said at the award ceremony on Monday that the conflict in Syria was “a stain” on the world’s conscience. “Let me say it from here today,” said European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. “The current situation in Syria is a stain on the world’s conscience and the international community has a moral duty to address it.”

Google trends: The moment Syria’s ‘revolution’ became a ‘civil war’ Google users are now almost three times as likely to search for “Syrian civil war” as they are for “Syrian revolution.” A week ago, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights warned that the country risked “a full-fledged civil war.” She’s probably a better judge than Google’s billion-plus users, but, according to the wisdom of this particular crowd, Syria has already crossed the line into civil war.

 

Special Reports

Syria rebels hope arms will flow to new fighter command
Despite using more effective battlefield tactics and acquiring more arms, the mainly Sunni Muslim fighters have so far lacked the firepower to deliver a decisive blow to Assad… “The Qataris and the Saudis gave us positive promises. We will see what will happen,” he said, adding that officials from Western countries, who also attended the meeting in Turkey, had not mentioned arming the rebels but talked about “sending aid”.

Caution urged over Syria chemical weapons
Privately, some western government officials say they think the use of CW by the Assad regime is unlikely. “He knows it would be a game changer that triggers outside intervention, which is why he probably won’t use them,” says one western official. “Nor are these weapons you can use with any safety in close combat guerrilla warfare.” Instead the much greater concern for the US and its allies, especially Israel, is that parts of the chemical arsenal will eventually fall into the hands of militant groups, such as Hizbollah and the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al Nusra.

Inside Bashar al-Assad’s Army
But as Assad’s army weakens, rebels and analysts warn, it is also becoming more extreme in its fight for survival. And two of the grimmest scenarios observers have long feared—that Islamic extremism could come to dominate the rebel fight, and that Assad could decide to attack with chemical weapons—now look more likely than ever to take hold.

The guns have fallen silent in Homs – but the fear remains
The city brutalised by Assad is calm. But this is no easy peace.  Following up on yesterday’s post, the regime continues to pursue a line of action that seems designed to allow it to use chemical weapons while blaming the rebels for it. Today, the regime tells the U.N. that it fears it will be framed for using chemical weapons. So, now we have a video purporting to show rebels experimenting with chemical weapons, and threatening to use them to wipe out the Alawites, and a public protestation designed to build an alternate theory of the would-be crime. Things do not augur well indeed.

 

Video Highlights

This leaked video shows the storming of the Army Headquarters in Damascus that took place on September 26, 2012 http://youtu.be/OY6Dhg14_tY. The car that was brought into the compound was later detonated, and all the Jihadi elements were killed during the ensuing gun battles. The clip was made by a loyalist officer using his mobile phone to capture the video he was watching on a laptop. The original video was taken by security cameras of the compound. The officer was captured by rebels during recent clashes around Damascus.

An incendiary bomb lands in the town of Aqraba, Damascus, sending people scurrying in all directions thinking it was a chemical weapon http://youtu.be/HQhnktKuoHY People are convinced that Assad will be using chemical weapons against them.

A clip showing a reported WMDs storage facility In Mazzeh District on the periphery of Damascus City http://youtu.be/3uG3kPfji1o

A missile launcher recently won by rebels in Damascus suburbs http://youtu.be/l4iXhFOhK7g

But the pounding of restive suburbs in Damascus continues: Yelda http://youtu.be/8tFiZdPmyNg ,http://youtu.be/Bw80zvMa0WM Daraya http://youtu.be/fLJp3KMZxac Zabadani http://youtu.be/WQGgba43row Douma http://youtu.be/7QV61yTJ7fg , http://youtu.be/sk6853KeKRM ,http://youtu.be/FRLTHfQ2rrU

Violent clashes take place in Harasta, Damascus http://youtu.be/YNlkGbFrFrg ,http://youtu.be/hGanJF3kPXQ , http://youtu.be/wMOp1a42lcs , http://youtu.be/FNvtCkFppXU ,http://youtu.be/DyEgPvyH2j8

Sounds of clashes in Salhiyeh Neighborhood in Damascus City http://youtu.be/f2lSYNiWdJU

Rebels in Aleppo showcase their gains from their takeover of the military base of Sheikh Sulaiman http://youtu.be/8kckmjjrCKg

Magnitsky Sanctions Will be Discussed in Hearings in the Canadian Parliament Tomorrow

Press Release
Hermitage Capital

10 December 2012 – Tomorrow, Magnitsky sanctions will be discussed at hearings in the Parliament of Canada. William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, will speak at the Canadian Parliament’s Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Another speaker at the subcommittee is Vladimir Kara-Murza, from the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition. They will both discuss the case of Sergei Magnitsky, theimpunity of Russian officials who were involved in his false arrest, torture and death, and the need for Canada to adopt visa sanctions and asset freezes against those Russian officials who were involved in Magnitsky’s death.

Last year, Irwin Cotler MP and former Attorney General of Canada, introduced a piece of legislation into the Canadian Parliament entitled “An Act to condemn corruption and impunity in Russia in the case and death of Sergei Magnitsky.”

This bill establishes a process by which the Canadian government must prepare a list of individuals responsible for the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky, for the conspiracy to defraud the Russian federation of taxes paid by Hermitage Capital, and for efforts to shield those culpable of those gross violations of human rights. It imposes restrictions on the listed individuals and their family members, such that they are inadmissible for the purposes of entering or remaining in Canada.

The bill notes that “no objective official investigation has been conducted by the Russian government into the Magnitsky case, despite extensive documented evidence incriminating Russian officials in serious human rights violations, in the embezzlement of funds from the Russian treasury, and in the retaliation against Mr. Magnitsky”, and that those individual persons have not been “identified, apprehended and brought to justice in Russia.”

“The ongoing impunity, and indeed, in this instance shocking impunity, regarding Russian officials is as scandalous as it is shocking. This legislation would uphold the rule of law, would assure Russian human rights defenders that they are not alone, would protect Canadian business interests in Russia, and in particular would remember and honour the heroic sacrifice of Sergei Magnitsky. He acted on behalf of all of us in his protection of the rule of law,” said Irwin Cotler, MP.

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital
Phone:             +44 207 440 1777
Email:              info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org
Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     //hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Information on the session at the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5922854&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1

Information on the An Act to condemn corruption and impunity in Russia in the case and death of Sergei Magnitsky”
http://openparliament.ca/bills/41-1/C-339/

Press Release: Human Rights Lawyers Incarcerated in Iran

10 December 2012 – On this year’s Human Rights Day, human rights lawyers like Nasrin Sotoudeh, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Mohammad Seifzadeh, Abdolfattah Soltani and others are incarcerated in the jails of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) for their representation of clients in politically sensitive matters.  Threats to the independence of lawyers in the IRI have increased significantly in recent years, particularly with the passage of legislation designed to diminish the role of defense attorneys in the IRI’s legal system.  To provide a personalized view of these negative trends, IHRDC releases the witness testimony of Mahnaz Parakand, a renowned Iranian defense attorney who was forced to flee Iran on account of the pressures on her ability to do her job.  The full witness testimony can be read here.

Syrian May Be Gearing up to Use Chemical Weapons as U.S. Recognizes Opposition

By Emily Schneider
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria– “The regime started to fall and deteriorate. It’s coming to its end,” said retired Major General Adnan Sillou in an interview in a hotel near Antakya, Turkey. Sillou, a former top general in President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian forces, is now sharing what he believes might be President Assad’s next move.

Former Syrian Major-General Andan Sillou. (Photo courtesy of ABC)

“It’s highly possible that he’ll start using [chemical weapons] to kill his own people because this regime is a killer,” Sillou said.

Sillou told ABC News that he was the chief of staff on the defensive side of the chemical weapons program. In addition to his responsibilities in training soldiers in attacks and contact with chemical weapons, he procured safety equipment to help guard the forces against the weapons. In his most recent post, he was second in command to Said Ali Khalil, a member of Assad’s ruling Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Syria does not officially acknowledge its chemical weapon program, but Sillou says the military has weapons that employ mustard gas, sarin, VW and tabun nerve agents. U.S. intelligence reports confirmed the presence of sarin as recently as last week. In fact, according to U.S. intelligence officials, sarin had already been mixed with its catalyst agent and loaded into bombs to await the final order from President al-Assad.

Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. In 1988, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein used sarin in a single attack, killing 5,000 Kurds

“They’re idiots, crazy. Simply they are killers,” Sillou said of the Syrian regime. He believes that if Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city, falls to the rebels President al-Assad won’t hesitate to deploy chemical weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clintong, has warned President Assad that if he used chemical weapons, he would “cross a red line.”

Today, U.S. President Barak Obama took U.S. support of the opposition to the next level by announcing that the U.S. now recognizes the Syrian opposition as a legitimate representation of the country’s people.

“We’ve made a decision that the Syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people,” he told ABC’s Barbara Walters. Britain, France, Turkey, and the Gulf Cooperation Council already recognized the opposition as legitimate.

But, as one U.S. official put it, if President al-Assad chooses to use chemical weapons, “there’s little the outside world can do to stop it.”

 

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – U.S. Recognizes Syrian Opposition – 11 Dec. 2012

CNN – Obama Recognizes Syrian Opposition – 11 Dec. 2012

ABC – Syria’s Assad Will Use Chemical Weapons, Says Former General, Now Defector – 10 Dec. 2012

NBC – Syria Loads Chemical Weapons into Bombs; Military Awaits Assad’s Order – 6 Dec. 2012