Garry Kasparov beaten at Pussy Riot trial

[pappy]

Reporting at The Daily Beast Eli Lake
recalls his conversation with the Chess Champion;

Quote:When chess grand champion and Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov showed up Friday at the sentencing of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, he didn’t expect to spend the next five hours in the custody of the Moscow police, recovering from a severe beating.

Now, he says, after being punched in the genitals, thrown in a van and beaten by several police, Kasparov says the police have accused him of biting one of them—an allegation he denies. “They act like animals and they accuse me of biting them,” Kasparov told the Daily Beast in his first interview since being arrested. “Can you imagine what it means to bite someone when you are being beaten? There should be blood on my face. It is beyond any common sense.”

<....>

Kasparov said he went to the trial to show his support for Pussy Riot. While he was waiting for the trial to start, he said, he was giving interviews in the area outside the court cordoned off for reporters and activists. At one point, he said, one of the reporters motioned him to come with him into the courtroom. He said as soon as he walked outside the cordoned-off area, he was rushed by seven or eight police officers.

“At first I asked, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Kasparov said. “Then I became annoyed. I said I want to get out of here.” He said that’s when the police started beating him. “I remember one strong hit between the legs, then they tried to bring me in the bus, and they started carrying me and beating me. When that happens, you resist,” Kasparov said. “They were trying to break my leg.”

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[regnaD kciN]

Boy, isn't it a good thing we got rid of that eeeeeeeevil Commie dictatorship? At least, now, Russians have democracy and civil liberties!

[Treestar]

Looks like there is no right to jury trial there.

And no right to free speech.

Things haven't improved as much as one would have thought, with the communists overthrown.