Becuase Everything Else Sucks

Checkmate: Anti-Putin Presidential Candidate Beaten and Arrested

By Manila Ryce
Published Sunday, November 25th, 2007, 3:04 am
Filed under: Videos: Political, World: Asia, Videos: News, Human Rights, Society/Culture: Civil Unrest, Society/Culture, World Issues, Society/Culture: Law/Order, Videos

Chess grandmaster and Russian presidential candidate Garry Kasparov was forced to the ground, beaten, and arrested by Moscow riot police yesterday during an anti-Kremlin rally of around 3,000 people. Protesters attempted to deliver a petition to the Central Election Commission building, but were stopped and pushed into three police buses. Kasparov is head of Other Russia, an umbrella coalition of several movements opposed to the authoritarian control of President Vladimir Putin.

Kasparov was taken to a city court, where he was sentenced to five days in jail for organizing an unauthorized protest and resisting arrest. “What you’ve heard is all lies,” Kasparov said after the sentence was read. “The testimony is contradictory. There was not a single word of truth.” Two riot police testified in court that they were given direct orders before the rally to arrest Kasparov. One of the policemen did acknowledge that the two reports filed were contradictory.

Kasparov has stated his intention to run for the presidency next March, but his party, along with a number of other opposition parties, has been denied registration for the upcoming parliamentary vote. Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party, was also arrested.

source

Below is one of my favorite interviews with Kasparov. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he is not beaten to death or poisoned in prison. He could probably go without food, but it’ll be impossible for him to survive that long without water.

4 Responses to “Checkmate: Anti-Putin Presidential Candidate Beaten and Arrested”

  1. That’s highly disturbing. I saw that interview on Real Time too, along with his appearance on the Colbert Report. It almost seems like he was making the US media rounds to build recognition because he knew something like this was inevitable.

  2. @Andy
    I agree. That did seem to be his plan, and yet the American media is silent. You’ll notice my source is Canadian. I’ve seen Australian and BBC reports on this story, but no mainstream American ones yet.

  3. I’ve followed Kasparov since the great Karpov-Kasparov Chess matches. I grew up a chess player and fan of the great players. This is terrible that clear thinking honest people cannot oppose a corrupt government. What is this the ‘USA’? In America I could see this happening, but in Russia? I thought they loved their chess masters. Go Kasparov!!! Fight the power!!! Send in Bobby Fischer! He’d kick Putin’s ass!!!

  4. What a disgrace. Kasparov was the only chess grand champion to have any personality whatsoever and now Putin will probably kill him. Damn shame.

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