Rally organizers cannot be held liable for damage caused by participants - Constitutional Court
ST. PETERSBURG. Feb 14 (Interfax) - Damage caused by participants in mass events that grew into unrest must be compensated for by the state rather than the event organizers, the Russian Constitutional Court has ruled.
"If an assembly grows into serious public disturbances, responsibility for compensating for the damage rests with the state rather than the assembly organizers or administrators," the court said in a ruling on Thursday.
"In no circumstances can the organizers of a peaceful assembly be held liable if an assembly has caused damage to other individuals," it said.
The law holding the organizers of a public event liable for damage caused by its participants "obliges them to compensate for it even when this damage is not related to the event organizers' action or inaction," the ruling says.
"Already in handing in notification to the authorities, the organizer of an event is confronted with a choice between assuming the obligation to compensate for any damage that could be caused by participants or refraining from exercising the right guaranteed by Article 31 of the Constitution, which not only goes against the commonly recognized democratic standards of freedom of peaceful assembly but also contradicts the common principles of legal liability," it says.