Moscow Pride organizer guilty of disobeying cops

Chief Moscow Pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev was found guilty June 9 of disobeying police orders regarding traffic control at the May 27 pride rally outside City Hall.
The ralliers were protesting Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's refusal to issue a parade permit. Luzhkov has called gay parades "satanic."
Alekseev was arrested as soon as he arrived at the rally. Hundreds of police officers then proceeded to watch anti-gay protesters punch and kick activists, foreign dignitaries and European parliamentarians who had gathered for the event (story: tinyurl.com/2nkl7p).
Alekseev was fined about $39, the same punishment given to fellow activist Nikolai Khramov a day earlier by the same court. Alekseev is refusing to pay the fine and will appeal to the Tverskoy District Court.
"The court session [was] a farce," he said. "The judge refused to admit photo and video evidence proving that we had not disturbed law and order. I am ready to go up to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary to prove that I am innocent and that all the charges against me were fabricated."
Alekseev already has a case pending before the Euro court, challenging Luzhkov's ban of last year's pride march.
In a similar case from Poland, the court recently ruled that a ban on Warsaw's 2005 pride march violated the European Convention on Human Rights' guarantee of freedom of association and assembly, its prohibition on discrimination, and its guarantee of a right to an effective remedy.