Russia’s Pirate Party Banned as ‘Maritime Robbers’

Russia’s Justice Ministry denied registration to the country’s Pirate Party over gripes with its allegedly misleading title, the party said on Monday. Piracy is defined in Russia’s Criminal Code as maritime or riverside robbery, the ministry said in its refusal note. The title “Pirate Party” thus fails to match the party’s goals of promoting e-democracy, the freedom of information and the protection of personal privacy, the ministry said in a note dated Dec. 29, published on the unregistered party’s website. The ministry also cited 12 procedural violations in the party’s charter, though chief pirate Pavel Rassudov said the complaints were “unfounded, to put it mildly.” “If the decision is judicially flawed, it means it is politically motivated,” Rassudov told RIA Novosti. “They’re worried about us because we cannot be controlled,” said Rassudov, whose party reportedly operates on a monthly budget of 6,000 rubles ($200) and a dedicated grassroots effort. The party, founded in 2009 but still without registration that would allow it to go to the polls, said it would appeal the decision in Russian courts and in the European Court of Human Rights. The ministry reportedly cited the title’s maritime robbery connotations in 2011, when it threw out the first registration request by the party, one of 40-plus such political organizations worldwide.

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