UN human rights chief rips detentions of protesters in Russia

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday slammed the detentions of war protesters in Russia.

“I remain concerned about the use of repressive legislation that impedes the exercise of civil and political rights and criminalizing non-violent behavior,” Bachelet said to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, according to Reuters.

She added that “vague and overly broad definitions” of incitement to hatred have contributed to Russia leaning toward interpretations of the law that do not align with its human rights responsibilities, Reuters noted.

“Further legislation criminalizing circumstances of ‘discrediting’ the armed forces continues down this concerning path,” she reportedly said.

Over the weekend, Russian law enforcement detained over 4,300 people who participated in protests against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

An independent protest monitoring group said that 56 different cities were represented among the total of 4,366 Russian residents who were detained.

Russia’s interior ministry countered that about 3,500 protesters were detained.

“The screws are being fully tightened – essentially we are witnessing military censorship,” a spokesperson for the monitoring group said at the time.