Russia Releases One Bolotnaya Prisoner

[uhnope]

Source: RFE/RL

Sergei Krivov, one of more than 20 Russians convicted of violating public order during a demonstration against election fraud in 2012, has been released from prison upon completion of his three-year, nine-month sentence.

Activists reported on social media on July 15 that Krivov had left Prison Colony No. 6 in Bryansk Oblast and was on his way to Moscow.

Several thousand Russians demonstrated on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow on May 6, 2012 against the reelection of President Vladimir Putin, and there were clashes with police during the event. The investigation into the disorder and subsequent trials have come to be called the Bolotnaya Case.

Krivov was sentenced to four years in prison, including time already served, in February 2014, but an appeals court later reduced that sentence by three months. During his trial, he complained that he had been beaten and he held two hunger strikes. He filed numerous complaints about treatment and conditions during his time in prison, which his lawyers say prompted his transfer to a facility with even worse conditions.

Read more: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-bolotnaya-prisoner-krivov-released/27860146.html

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[uawchild]

1. Another Radio Free Europe article? Ok.

I agree that Russian prison conditions are inhumane. But, would you mind if I post something to put this article in context?

You probably will, since you repeatedly call my attempts to add context to discussions "whataboutism", but let me do it anyways, before any russophobes, not that you are one natch, show up and go over the top about how bad Russia is compared to the West.

Prisoner Abuse: How Different are U.S. Prisons?

The sadistic abuse and sexual humiliation by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison has shocked most Americans—but not those of us familiar with U.S. jails and prisons. In American prisons today, wanton staff brutality and degrading treatment of inmates occur across the country with distressing frequency.

The Pentagon has said it wants to send more people to Iraq who have U.S. prison experience. But before it does, it should look closely at the human rights records of their prisons.

A federal judge in 1999 concluded that Texas prisons were pervaded by a “culture of sadistic and malicious violence.” In 1995, a federal judge found a stunning pattern of staff assaults, abusive use of electronic stun devices guns, beatings, and brutality at Pelican Bay Prison in California, and concluded the violence “appears to be open, acknowledged, tolerated and sometimes expressly approved” by high ranking corrections officials.

In recent years, U.S. prison inmates have been beaten with fists and batons, stomped on, kicked, shot, stunned with electronic devices, doused with chemical sprays, choked, and slammed face first onto concrete floors by the officers whose job it is to guard them. Inmates have ended up with broken jaws, smashed ribs, perforated eardrums, missing teeth, burn scars—not to mention psychological scars and emotional pain. Some have died.

Both men and women prisoners—but especially women—face staff rape and sexual abuse. Correctional officers will bribe, coerce, or violently force inmates into granting sexual favors, including oral sex or intercourse. Prison staff have laughed at and ignored the pleas of male prisoners seeking protection from rape by other inmates.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/05/13/prisoner-abuse-how-different-are-us-prisons

That is from Human Rights Watch, please keep this article in mind while you enjoy the OP. Thank you.

[uawchild]

2. More context about arresting protestors

"It is the photo seen around the world: A young woman in a flowing dress standing with her arms crossed facing down a line of heavily armed police while two armored officers rush forward to put her in handcuffs.
Now Dailymail.com can exclusively reveal the woman to be Ieshia Evans, 28, a mother and licensed practical nurse from New York, who was attending her first protest when she was arrested.
Natasha Haynes said Evans, a lifelong friend, traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, following the shooting of Alton Sterling because she 'wanted a better future for her five-year-old son'."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3683863/Woman-icon-Baton-Rouge-mother-five-year-old-son-attending-protest-wants-better-future-him.html

Hundreds arrested in protests over shootings by police
After a weekend of confrontation, sporadic violence and arrests during protests against the police shootings of black men, the mother of one of the victims has appealed for calm.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/10/us/black-lives-matter-protests/

More than 900 'Democracy Spring' protesters arrested in D.C. - so far
Police have calmly arrested hundreds of people in Washington, D,.C. protesting the influence of money in politics during the last week, in what several participants described as a striking display of restrained law enforcement.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/16/hundreds-democracy-spring-protesters-arrested-dc/83123326/

Hundreds of 'Black Lives Matter' Protesters Arrested Across U.S.
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/hundreds-of-black-lives-matter-protesters-arrested-across-u-s-723030595676

Protests over shootings block roads in U.S. cities, arrests made | Reuters
Protests against the shootings of two black men by police officers shut down main arteries in a number of U.S. cities on Saturday, leading to numerous arrests, scuffles and injuries in confrontations between police and demonstrators.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-police-protests-idUSKCN0ZQ00O

Sorry, for the context (what you call whataboutism) but it seems police always use the excuse of "scuffles" and "violence" breaking out to arrest political protestors.

That 4 year sentence in Russia does seem harsh, but I wonder what effect the arrests of the Black Lives Matter protestors will have on them, those arrests won't trigger any "3 Strikes" automatic LIFE sentences, right?

Is that racially biased "3 Strikes" law still in effect here in the US? Yep, seems so...

"In the United States, habitual offender laws[1] (commonly referred to as three-strikes laws) are statutes enacted by state governments which mandate courts to impose harsher sentences on those convicted of an offense if they have been previously convicted of two prior serious criminal offenses. They are designed to incapacitate those more likely to commit crime.

Twenty-four states have some form of "three-strikes" law. A person accused under such laws is referred to in a few states (notably Connecticut and Kansas) as a "persistent offender", while Missouri uses the unique term "prior and persistent offender". In most jurisdictions, only crimes at the felony level qualify as serious offenses; however, misdemeanor offenses can qualify for application of the three-strikes law in California, whose application has been the subject of controversy.

The popular name of these laws, three-strikes laws, comes from baseball, where a batter is permitted two strikes before striking out on the third.

The three-strikes law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously convicted of two or more violent crimes or serious felonies, and limits the ability of these offenders to receive a punishment other than a life sentence."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-strikes_law

So if a protestor is found guilty of "assaulting" a police officer in these protests, the 3 strike laws would indeed be applicable.

[Igel]

3. She's on a chain-gang in Texas now?

No.

The problem was that the Bolotnaya protestors didn't have the official permits to protest. Why? Because the government doesn't hand out protest permits to groups they don't like, such as groups that protest the government.

(BTW, if you stage an information protest against a banned protest, that's okay--protests in favor of the government aren't subject to the same ban. Think of it as prosecutorial discretion.)

In the US, some places require permission to protest in certain areas that are high demand. This keeps foes from organizing big protests at the same time and claiming the same space, but still really offends people. However, counter-protests are fine. And in many places, you don't need permits.

Notice: The occasional place that requires a permit is deemed horrible, bad, a violation of rights. But arresting everybody in a protest where a permit is (differentially) required for all protestors is fine. This isn't a nuance. "It's good when they do it. It's bad when 'we' do it." That's just a double-standard, made worse because it's not explicit.

[uawchild]

4. Your snide and racist post title is inexcusable. You should apologize now.

So, in response to four articles I posted about black political protestors being arrested here in the US, you replied with a post titled:

"She's on a chain-gang in Texas now?" then you started your post with "No."

Wow, that is just such a snide and, I feel, racist dismissal of black protestors treatment by both the police and criminal justice system it is SICKENING.

Are you even AWARE of the RACIST history of chain gangs here in the US? Apparently not. Let me enlighten you.

"A chain gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land.[1] This system existed primarily[citation needed] in the Southern United States, and by 1955 had been phased out nationwide, with Georgia the last state to abandon the practice.[2]"

Chain gangs and lynchings, good old fashion racist justice, hmmm?

Lets look at some of these chain gangs you joked about:

A chain gang in the southern US, circa 1903


Chain gang of juvenile convicts in the US, circa 1903


Chain gang street sweepers, Washington, D. C. 1909

And now what was the point of your racially insensitive snide title? That political protestors here just get slapped on the wrist and sent home after, MAYBE, a night in jail? That certainly is far from the truth.

Photographing Drone War Protest Lands Peace Activist, Grandmother 6 Months in Prison
An upstate New York peace activist and grandmother is heading to jail today to begin a six-month sentence for photographing a protest at a base where U.S. drones are piloted remotely.
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/19/photographing_drone_war_protest_lands_peace

25-Year-Old Occupy Protester Sentenced To 3 Months In Prison. She Could Have Gotten 7 Years.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/cecily-mcmillan-occupy-protestor-sentenced

A peace activist arrested outside the main gate at Vandenberg Air Force Base during a vigil last year marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima will spend four months in prison for not following the terms of his probation.
http://santamariatimes.com/news/local/vafb-protester-dennis-apel-sentenced-to-months-in-prison/article_b8bf5cdc-d6a1-5a7c-a7dc-fc6bbb0188dc.html

Black Lives Matter Organizer Sentenced To 90 Days In Prison
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/06/07/3785384/jasmine-richards/

Nun sentenced to 35-months in prison for antinuclear peace protest (+video)
Nun sentenced: Along with Sister Megan Rice (an octogenarian nun), a federal judge sentenced two other protesters to more than five years, after the three broke into a high-security, nuclear weapons complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/0218/Nun-sentenced-to-35-months-in-prison-for-antinuclear-peace-protest-video

I could go on posting these, but I am sure they won't change your mind.

But one last question for you, now that you have done chain gang humor, what should we expect from you next? Insensitive comments about lynchings?