New Human Rights Council under Russian President includes 62 persons

Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on amendments to the Council under the Russian President for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC). This was reported by the Kremlin's website. The new Council includes 62 persons; meanwhile, the HRC does not include any representative from Northern Caucasus.

In total, 190 applications were considered for membership to the new HRC. Of these, 83 applications were selected. The candidates were divided into 13 nominations. The website organized online voting to elect candidates.

According to the decree, published on the website of the Russian President, the HRC consists of 39 persons, including Elizaveta Glinka, known as "Doctor Lisa", Executive Director of the international organization "Fair Aid", journalist Leonid Parfyonov, Elena Masyuk, observer of the "Novaya Gazeta", Pavel Gusev, Chief Editor of the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets", Lilia Shibanova, Executive Director of the Association "Vote", publicist Irina Khakamada, and others.

Meanwhile, the HRC excluded 15 persons, including Svetlana Gannushkina, Chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance", a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial", Lyudmila Alekseeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and human rights defender Yelena Panfilova.

The new composition of the Presidential Council on Human Rights will include 62 persons. This was reported by Mikhail Fedotov, Chairman of the HRC. "62 persons, including me," the "Interfax" quotes Mikhail Fedotov as saying.