23 October 2009, 21:00
Ideas raised in Internet on how to reform Russian law-enforcement bodies
On October 21, a public campaign "For capital repairs of the militia" was launched in Russia with the aim to impel the federal authorities to seriously and immediately start radically reforming the country's law-enforcement bodies.
The main tool of the campaign is in peaceful civil actions: both virtual and real ones, concentrated in 10-12 major cities of Russia. They are called to show to the authorities the seriousness of public concern of "the militia problem." The peak of campaign should fall on November 10t, 2009, - the Day of Militia.
Let us remind you that the contest "Legal Galosh" for the oddest decisions of the court and law enforcement bodies announced in the end of last year by the "Institute of Supremacy of the Law" received plenty of complaints from the regions of Northern Caucasus. According to Stanislav Markelov, head of the Institute, Chechnya was the leader among regions, where absurd decisions were passed by law enforcement bodies and courts.
Within the new public campaign, the "national order" for a capital reform of the militia will be formed as a list of the principles and main directions for radical reforming of law-enforcement bodies, as reported by the website "Human Rights in Russia".
Among the initiators of the campaign are Igor Averkiev, Chairman of the Perm Civil Chamber; Svetlana Makovetskaya, head of the "GRANI" independent analytical; Artyom Marchenkov, a philosopher and a media-activist from the Youth Human Rights Movement; Andrei Nikitin, a journalist; Anastasia Sechina, editor-in-chief of the Radio Station "Echo of Perm"; and Konstantin Sulimov, a political philosopher from the Perm State University.
According to Mr Averkiev, the campaign is voluntary, public and non-partisan; all the actions within the campaign are peaceful and positive.
The initiators of the action expect to receive from its participants offers into the package of main principles and directions for reforming Russian militia. The campaign already has its website with all the details - http://www.mvdremont.ru.
