AI declares detainees at May 1 actions to be prisoners of conscience

The detentions and arrests of all those who took part in the May 1 actions, including in the "Monstration" in Makhachkala, have violated people's rights to the freedom of peaceful assembly, the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 1, activists in Makhachkala tried to hold the "Monstration" action for the first time, but it was disrupted by the police. Law enforcers detained eight people; four of them were fined.

All the participants in peaceful demonstrations on May 1, who were deprived of their liberty, are prisoners of conscience, who have suffered only for the realization of their right to the freedom of assembly, the AI has stated.

"We treat them as such regardless of whether these actions had been agreed with the authorities or not, since the freedom of assembly is the legal right of every person, which can be restricted only in exceptional cases," the AI's website quotes Natalia Zvyagina, Director of the Russian representative office on the AI, as stating.