Police guarding the entrance to the Dzherzhinsky District Court, in downtown Petersburg, on the morning of June 13, 2017. Many of the people detained during the previous day’s anti-corruption protest on the nearby Field of Mars were brought to this court for their hearings after spending the night in police custody. According to media reports and eyewitness accounts, most of the detainees, who were in fact merely exercising their right to assembly and right to free speech on a site deliberately designated by the mayor’s office as the city’s “Hyde Park,” have been sentenced to several days in jail and heavy fines. Photo courtesy of zaks.ru

Supreme Court Rules Courts Have Right to Deprive People of Right to Speak during Administrative Hearings
Echo of Moscow
June 13, 2017

A plenary session of the Russian Supreme Court ruled today that courts have the right to deprive people of the right to speak…