UN human rights experts called on the Russian Federation [press release] Wednesday to release protest3rs arrested during a peaceful demonstration Sunday. Protestors gathered following allegations that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev amassed millions in a property portfolio through corrupt means. Dozens were arrested and a number of the protesters were subsequently sentenced to imprisonment and fines along with numerous journalists who had been covering the protests; the journalists were subsequently released. The experts added:

Freedom of peaceful assembly is a right, not a privilege, and as such its exercise should not be subject to prior authorization by officials. This right, jointly with the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of association, plays a decisive role in the emergence and existence of effective democratic systems, as they allow for dialogue, pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness where minority or dissenting views or beliefs are respected.

Russia’s human rights and right to peaceful assembly record has been the subject of widespread international criticism. Last month the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Russia to pay more than 63,000 euros for arresting Alexander Navalny [JURIST report] multiple times between March 2012 and February 2014. In January the US sanctioned [JURIST report] five Russian officials for human rights abuses; especially in connection with the suspicious 2009 death of Sergei Magnitsky. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced [JURIST report] in November 2016 that Russia would leave the International Criminal Court, expressing disdain over the ICC’s investigation into potential human rights abuses by Russian forces in South Ossetia in 2008. Along these lines, in May 2015 Russian President Vladmir Putin signed a law that allows for [BBC report] foreign “undesirable” NGOs or firms to be sanctioned and banned from operating in the country, drawing criticism from human rights groups.