Human Rights in Russia Week-ending 3 April 2020 - with Lev Ponomarev

This week Simon Cosgrove and Sergei Nikitin talk with Lev Ponomarev (pictured left), long-time head of For Human Rights, one of Russia's leading NGOs. In this podcast, Lev Ponomarev talks about the current state of his organisation, his recent arrest and injury as he took part in a peaceful picket outside the FSB headquarters on Lubyanka Square in Moscow, the proposed changes to the Constitution, the impact of the Coronavirus in Russia, and more generally about the main tasks facing human rights defenders in Russia today, the repressive measures against civil society groups and the right of association, the distinction between civil society activists and human rights defenders, between human rights activism and politics, and between different generations of activists. The recent interview with Sotavision to which Lev refers a couple of times during the podcast can be found here. A summary of some of the week's events in Russia relevant to human rights can be found on our website here. This podcast is in the Russian language. If this podcast does not play immediately on the podcast.com website, please download by clicking on the three dots to the right. You can also hear these podcasts on Spotify and iTunes.